Language and Society
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Steen girlsociolinguistics is the sub-field of linguistics that studies the relation between the language and society, between the u of language and the social structures in which the urs of the language live. There are many indications of the inter-relationship between language and society. One of them are that while language is principally ud to communicate meaning, it is ud to established and maintain social relationships. Another indication is that the urs of the same language in a n all speak differently. Then to some extent, language, especially the structure of its lexicon, reflects both the physical and the social environment of a society. As a social phenomenon, language is cloly related the structure of the society in which it is ud, and the evaluation of a language form is entirely social.
In sociolinguistic studies, speakers are regarded as member米老鼠和唐老鸭 of social groups. T英语听力mp3下载he social group that is singled out for any special study is called the speech community. The term speech community, or linguistic community, is widely ud by sociolinguistics to refer to a c
ommunity bad on language. Within a speech community there exist various social groups. Speech variety, or linguistic variety, refers to any distinguishable form of speech ud by a speaker or a group of speakerig什么意思s. 全色In sociolinguistics studies three types of speech variety are of special interest, . regional dialects, sociolects, and registers.
The study of the relationship between the language and society can be approached in two ways. We can look at society as a whole and consider how it reflects the social differentiations. The other approach is to look at society from the point of view of individual members of the society. The former is sometimes refers to as micro-sociolinguistics or the sociology of language, and the latter a micro-sociolinguistics or sociolinguistics proper. The notion of a language is not monolithic and there exist types or varieties of the same language. Vshelterarieties related to the ur are normally known as dialects and varieties related to u as registers.
The striking variation of age is well illustrated by children language as it develops, regarding all levels of language from phonology to vocabulary and syntax. Age divisions a护照翻译
re 2, 5 and 12. Variation in language u is also associated with the x of individual speakers. Sex-preferred differentiation in terms of speech varieties of males and females exists in all natural languages across the world. Women in many countries are more status-conscious than men, and therefore more aware of the social significance of linguistic variables. Language reflects obvious x prejudice. The u of xist language does not mean that it is the language that is xist but rather the social attitude connoted in the language is xist. The meanings of some English words really echo the real traditional roles of men and women in history. As social attitude towards women change in recent years, linguistic changes in many languages are taking place that reflect the feminist movement and the growing awareness that language and language u mirror social attitudes and reinforce stereotypes and bias. The change can be nd in the morphological variation. Linguistic forms associating xist prejudice are always intentionally avoided in communication. Gender varieties are caud by society rather than by evolution.
saireRegister, in a restricted n, refers to the variety of language related to one’s occupatio
n. Field of discour: What is going on: to the area of operation of the language activity. It is concerned with the purpo (why) and subject matter (about what) of communication. It can be either technical or non-technical. Tenor of discour: the role of relationship in the situation in question: who are the participants in the communication and in what relationship they stand to each other. (Customer-shop-assistant, teacher-student, etc.). Mode of discour: the means of communication. It is concerned with how communication is carried out. (oral, written, on the line…)
hdlFormality refers to the degree of formality in different occasions and reflects the relationship and conversations. According to Martin Joos, there are five stages of formality, namely, intimate, casual, consultative, formal and frozen. The standard variety is a superimpod, socially prestigious dialect of a language. It is the language employed by the government and the judiciary system, ud by the mass media, and taught in educational institutions, including school ttings where the language is taught as a foreign or cond language. The standard language rves as a yard stick against which all other varieties are measured. Features of the standard variety, it is bad on a lecte
d variety of the language; usually it is the local speech of an area which is considered the nation’s political and commercial center. It is not a dialect a child acquires naturally like his regional dialect, rather it is taught and learnt in schools. It has some special functions and it the language ud on any formal occasions.
dangA pidgin is a special language variety that mixes or blends languages and it is ud by people who speak different languages for restricted purpos such as trading. Limited vocabulary and much reduced grammatical structure. When a pidgin has become the primary language of a speech community, and is acquired by the children of that speech community as their native language, it is said to have become a Creole. It is through mistakes and compromis that pidgins develop themlves. A creole is often defined as a pidgin that has become the first language of a new generation of speakers. After a pidgin is creolized, there is another stage of development in which the speakers of the creole may be introduced to the standard language. A post-creole continuum: standard language may play the role at one end to fulfill certain social obligation and the creole may function at another end in its specific field. What happens to regional dialect.
