英语语言学自编教材第八章.docx

英语语言学自编教材第八章.docx

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英语语言学自编教材第八章

Chapter8LanguageandSociety

1.SpeechCommunity

●RelevantLanguageUseObservationsandQuestionstoPonderover

1）Peopleontheearthformdifferentgroups.Thegroupsmaybeaslargeascountriesorassmallasconsistingofonlyafewpeople.Canyoulistsomeofthesocialgroupsyouhaveobserved?

2）Peoplecanbegroupedaccordingtoeducationalbackground,theoccupation,thegender,theage,ortheethnicaffiliationofitsmember.Canyoucitesomeexamplestoshowthatpeoplewhobelongtodifferentsocialgroupsmayhavesomewordsorexpressionspeculiartotheirgroups.

3）AsChinese,wespeakthesamelanguage,butwespeakChinesedifferently.Whydoyouthinkwespeakdifferently?

Canyouoffersomeexplanationsforthisphenomenon?

4）Apersonmaybelongtoseveralsocialgroups.Listsomeofthesocialgroupstowhichyoubelong.

●SummariestoMakeandLinguisticViewpointstoLearn

Socialgroupsaredynamic.Theycanbeverylargeorverysmall.Peopleofthesamesocialgroupusuallysharesomesimilarities,formingaspeechcommunity.Intermsofage,wehavethespeechcommunitiesofyoungsters,adults,etc..Intermsofoccupations,workersformaspeechcommunitywhileteachersformanotherspeechcommunity.Aspeechcommunitymaydistinguishitselffromotherspeechcommunitiesbytheeducationalbackground,theoccupation,thegender,theage,ortheethnicaffiliationofitsmember,etc..Speechcommunitiescanbemembersofaprofessionwithaspecializedjargon,distinctsocialgroupslikehighschoolstudentsorhiphopfans,oreventight-knitgroupslikefamiliesandfriends.Inaddition,onlineandothermediatedcommunities,suchasmanyinternetforums,oftenconstitutespeechcommunities.Membersofspeechcommunitieswilloftendevelopslangorjargontoservethegroup’sspecialpurposesandpriorities.Sincesocialgroupsaredynamic,soarethespeechcommunities.Withinthesamespeechcommunity,theremightbedifferentsocialgroups.Forexample,weChineseformaspeechcommunity,becausewespeakthesamelanguage,interactwitheachotherandhavesimilarorthesameattitudetothelanguagenorms.However,wearealsodividedintodifferentsocialgroupsbecauseofthedifferencesinsocialfactorslikeeducationalbackground,gender,etc.Apersoncan（andalmostalwaysdoes）belongtomorethanonespeechcommunity.Thenotionofspeechcommunityisimportantwhenweanalyzelanguagevariationandchange.

●Definitionstoclarify

Speechcommunity:

Aspeechcommunityisdefinedas agroupofpeoplewhoformacommunity,sharethesamelanguageoraparticularvarietyofalanguage,havetheopportunitytointeractwitheachotherandsharelinguisticnormssuchasthesharingofunderstanding,valuesandattitudesaboutlanguagevarietiespresentintheircommunity.

2.Relationshipsbetweenlanguageandsociety

●RelevantLanguageUseObservationsandQuestionstoPonderover

Certainlinguisticphenomenacannotbeaccountedforunlesstheyareplacedinthegeneralcontextofsociety.

1）EveryoneknowswhatissupposedtohappenwhentwoEnglishmenwhohavenevermetbeforecomefacetofaceinarailwaycompartment---theystarttalkingabouttheweather.Insomecasethismaysimplybebecausetheyhappentofindthesubjectinteresting.Mostpeople,though,arenotparticularlyinterestedinanalysesofclimaticconditions,sotheremustbeotherreasonsforconversationsofthiskind.Whatdoyouthinkarethepossiblereasonsforconversationsofthiskind?

2）Youmighthavenoticedwespeakthesamelanguage,say,Chinese,butdowespeakthesamelanguage,Chinese,inthesameway?

Discusswithyourclassmatestofindsomeofthereasonswhywespeakthesamelanguagedifferently.

3）Socialenvironmentinwhichwelivemayinfluenceourlanguageuses.Inthetraditionalsociety,womenwereprejudicedagainst.WemayfindintheEnglishlanguageorotherlanguagestherearesomewordsandexpressionswhichshowtheprejudiceagainstwomen.Canyoucitesomeexamplestoillustrateonthispoint?

4）Insomecountriesinsometropicalregionsoftheworld,thereisnoword“snow”intheirlanguages,however,Eskimohasseveralsinglewordstorefertodifferenttypesofsnow.Trytooffersomeexplanationforthisphenomenon.

5）Withthedevelopmentofscienceandtechnology,eachday,therearenewwordscreated.Doyouknowsomeofthewordscoinedbecauseofsocialchanges?

Givesomeexamplesifpossible.

6）Weoftenevaluatelanguagesanddialectsspokenaroundusindifferentways.Forexample,BlackEnglishisoftenregardedas“incorrect”,“vulgar”,“corrupt”or“lazy”whileStandardEnglishisconsideredtobe“correct”,“beautiful”,“nice”,“pure”andsoon.DoyouagreewiththiskindofvaluesattributedtoBlackEnglishorStandardEnglish?

Whyorwhynot?

●SummariestoMakeandLinguisticViewpointstoLearn

Languagesandsocietyarerelatedinmanyways.Therelationshipbetweenlanguageandsocietycanbefirstlydisplayedintheuseoflanguagetomaintainorestablishrelationshipsbetweeneachother.Whenwemeeteachother,weusuallygreeteachother.Wegreeteachothernotbecausewewanttoconveysomenewinformationtoothers,buttokeeporstrikeuparelationship.Ifwedonotgreetourfriends,relationshipwillbecometense.

WhentwoEnglishmenwhohavenevermetbeforecomefacetofaceinarailwaycompartment,theystarttalkingabouttheweather.Itcanoftenbequiteembarrassingtobealoneinthecompanyofsomeoneyouarenotacquaintedwithandyoudonotwanttospeakto.Ifnoconversationtakesplace,theatmospherecanbecomeratherstrained.Probablythemostimportantthingabouttherailway-compartmentconversationsofthiskindisnotthewordstheyareusing,butthefactthattheyaretalkingatall.Languageisnotsimplyameansofcommunicatinginformation;itisalsoaveryimportantmeansofestablishingandmaintainingrelationshipswithotherpeople.

Anotherindicationoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandsocietyisthatthoughwespeakthesamelanguage,we,inasense,speakthesamelanguagedifferently.Thisisbecauseoursocialbackgroundmayaffectthewaywespeak.Thekindoflanguagewechoosetouseisinpartdeterminedbysuchsocialfactorsasourbirthplace,age,sex,educationalbackground,occupations,andsocialclasses,etc..Whenwespeakwecannotavoidgivingourlistenerscluesaboutouroriginandourbackground.

Thethirdindicationoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandsocietyisthatsocialenvironmentcanbereflectedintheuseoflanguage.InthetraditionalEnglishsociety,womenwereprejudicedagainst.Thisprejudicialattitudecanbefoundinthechangeofmeaningsofthesametermswhenappliedtoeachgender.Forexample,whenwesayamanisatramp,wemeanheishomeless,joblessandpoor,butwhenthesametermisappliedtoafemale,sheisaprostitute.Theprejudicialattitudecanalsobereflectedintheuseofamasculinepronountorefertosomebodywhosesexisunspecifiedorunknown.WhenweconsiderthecounterpartsintheEnglishvocabulary,wefindwhilemasterisarespectableterm,mistress,atitlewhichusedtobethecounterpartofmaster,isnowawomanwhoamanhasasexualrelationshipwithbutisnotmarriedto.

Thereflectionofsocialenvironmentintheuseoflanguagecanalsobeseeninthestructuresofvocabulary,forexample,inthestructureofkinshiptermsinourlanguage.Itisgenerallybelievedthatifathing,arelationship,oraconcept,etc.isimportanttoasociety,then,inthelanguageofthatsociety,wecanfindalexicalizedwordorasinglewordtorefertothatimportantthing,orrelationshiporconcept.WecanassumethattheimportantkinrelationshipsinEnglish-speakingsocietiesarethosethataresignaledbysinglevocabularyitems.Forexample,intheEnglishsociety,thedistinctionbetweenbrotherandsisterisimportantbecausetheserelationshipsarelexicalized,whilethedistinctionbetweenelderbrotherandyoungerbrotherisnotsignificantbecausetheyareexpressedinaroundaboutway.

Thefourthpossibilityfortherelationshipbetweenlanguageandsocietycanbeviewedfromtheembodimentofphysicalenvironmentespeciallyinthelexicalstructureofalanguage.Insomecountriesinsometropicalregionsoftheworld,thereisnoword“snow”intheirlanguages,however,Eskimohasseveralsinglewordstorefertodifferenttypesofsnow.Thereasonsforthisareobvious.ItisessentialforEskimostobeabletodistinguishefficientlybetweendifferenttypesofsnow.English,ofcourse,isquiteabletomakethesamedistinctions:

finesnow,drysnow,softsnow,andsoon,butinEskimothissortofdistinctionislexicalized---madebymeansofindividualwords.

Therelationshipbetweenlanguageandsocietycanalsobeseenfromeffectsofsocialchangesonlanguageuses.Withthedevelopmentofsociety,manynewthingscomeintobeing,thusthecreationofnewwordsfortheirreferences.

Asasocialphenomenon,theevaluationofalinguisticformisentirelysocial.StandardEnglishisonlyonevarietyamongmany,althoughapeculiarlyimportantone.Linguisticallyspeaking,itcannotevenlegitimatelybeconsideredbetterthanothervarieties.Alllanguages,andcorrespondinglyalldialects,areequally“good”aslinguisticsystems.Allvarietiesofalanguagearestructured,complex,rule-governedsystemswhicharewhollyadequatefortheneedsoftheirspeakers.Thevaluejudgmentsconcerningthecorrectnessandpurityoflinguisticvarietiesaresocialratherthanlinguistic.Thereisnothinginherentinnon-standardvarietieswhichmakestheminferior.Anyapparentinferiorityisdueonlytotheirassociationwithspeake