英语语言学概论第八章笔记

Chapter 8 Socio-linguistics

社会语言学

1.

What is socio- linguistics?

什么是社会语言学？

Sociolinguistics is the sub-discipline of linguistics that studies language in social contexts.

社会语言学是语言学的一个分支，它研究社会环境中的语言。

2.

Language variation

语言变异

a)

Speech community

言语社区

In

sociolinguistic

studies,

speakers

are

treated

as

members

of

social

groups.

The

social

group

isolated for any given study is called speech community. A speech community thus defined as a

group of people who form a community (which may have as few members as a family or as many

member

as

a

country),

and

share

the

same

language

or

a

particular

variety

of

language.

The

important characteristic of a speech community is that the members of the group must, in some

reasonable

way,

interact

linguistically

with

other

members

of

the

community.

They

may

share

closely related language varieties, as well as attitudes toward linguistic norms.

社会语言学研究中，

分离出来用于任何特定研究的社会群

体称作言语社区。

因而，

言语社区就被定义 为一个社区

（人数小到一个家庭，

大到一个国家）

使用同样的语言或语言的某种变体的一群人。

言语社区的重要特点是，

这个群体的成员必须

以某种适当的方式与其他的社区成员进行语言交流 。

这些成员不仅可能对语言规范持相同态

度，而且可能使用紧密 联系的语言变体。

言语社区的范畴可以是地域性的，也可以是 跨地区的。社会地位、经济地位、受教育程度、

兴趣爱好、职业、年龄等因素相同的人所 使用的语言往往带有相同言语社区的烙印。

b)

Speech variety

言语变体

Speech variety refers to any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or group of speakers.

A

speech

variety

may

be

lexical,

phonological,

morphological,

syntactic,

or

a

combination

of

linguistic features. Considered a more neutral term, speech variety is sometimes used instead of

standard language, vernacular language, dialect, pidgin, creole, etc. Speech variation moves on a

scale of the national language, dialect, and individual ways of communication.

Sociolinguists

are

particularly

interested

in

there

types

of

speech

variety,

or

dialects,

namely,

regional dialects, sociolects or social dialects, and functional speech varieties known as registers.

The term dialect, as a technical term in linguistics, carries no value judgment and simply refers to

a distinct form of language.

在社会环境中使用的语言都属于某种言语变体。

一种言语变体具有一些与 其它言语变体不同

的特征。这些特征反映在发音、句法规则、词汇上。言语变体可以指一 种不同的语言，如标

准语、

方言、

洋泾 浜等，

可以指同一语言的地域性或民族性变体，

如英语中的澳大 利亚英语、

黑人英语等，也可以指同属一种语言的功能性言语变体，

如法律语体、

正式语体等。言语变

体无论其具有何种社会属 性，在社会语言学家看来它们之间没有高低之分、优劣之分。

c)

Regional variation

地域变异

Regional variation is speech variation according to the particular area where a speaker comes from.

Regional variation of language is the most discernible and definable.

语言的地域变异产生了地区方言。

语言往往随着使用地理位置的变化 而变化。

地域变异是语

言最易辨别的特征。

The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its accent. Often speakers of the

same

language

but

of

different

regional

dialects

of

the

language

have

a

very

difficult

time

communicating. One way out of the communication dilemma is language standardization known

as language planning.

语言地域变异的最显著特征是地域口音。由于口音差异给跨地区的 交流造成理解上的困难，

推广标准化的运动便应运而生。

d)

Social variation

社会变异

Social

variation

gives

rise

to

sociolects

which

are

subdivisible

into

smaller

speech

categories

which

reflect

their

socioeconomic,

educational,

occupational

and

ethnic

background,

as

well

as

their sex and age.

语言的社会变异产生了社会方言。

社会方言 又可以分为更小的语言类别。

导致语言社会变异

的主要因素包括 语言使用者的不同的社会地位、经济地位、学历、职业、年龄、性别等。

e)

Stylistic variation

文体变异

There are differences associated with the speech situation: who is speaking to whom about under

what circumstances for what purpose.

有一些差异是说话者本人的言语在不同的言语情景中所具有的差异：

言语情景即在什么情况

下，为了什么目的，谁与谁讲什么。

Stylistic

variation

in

a

person’s

speech,

or

writing,

usually

ranges

on continuum

from

casual

or

colloquial

to

formal

or

polite

according

to

the

type

of

communicative

situation.

Style

can

also

refer

to

a

particular

person’s

use

of

speech

or

writing

at

all

times,

or

to

a

way

of

s

peaking

or

writing at a particular period of time, e.g., Dickens’ style, Hemingway’s style.

根据交际情景的类型，

一个人的口头语和书面语的文体会发生变化，

变异区间是从随便文体

或口语体到正式文体或文雅文体。文体风格也可以指一个人一直在使用的口头语或书面语，

< br>或指在一个特定的时期内的说话或写作方式，如狄更斯的风格、海明威的风格。

f)

Idiolectal variation

个人言语变异

When an individual speaks, what is actually produced is a unique language system of the speaker,

expressed within the overall system of a particular language. Such a personal dialect is referred to

as idiolect.

一个人在说话时，

他在一种特定语言的总 的体系内表达，

但他实际上所说出的是他自己的独

特的语言体系 。这种个人方言被称为个人习语。

Idiolect

is,

thus,

a

personal

dialect

of

an

individual

speaker

that

combines

aspects

of

all

the

elements regarding regional, social, and stylistic variation, in one form or another. In a narrower

sense, what makes up one’s idiolect includes also such factors as voice quality, pitch and speech

rhythm, which all contribute to the identifying feature

s in an individual’s speech.

因此，

个人习语是说 话者的个人方言，

它以这样或那样的方式综合了涉及地域变异、

社会变

异和文体变异的各方面的特征。

从比较狭窄的意义上来说 ，个人方言也包括音质、

音调、言

语节奏这样的因素。这些因素 都构成了个人言语中的可识别特征。

3.

Standard and nonstandard language

The

standard

language

is

a

superposed,

socially

prestigious

dialect

of

a

language.

It

is

the

language

employed

by

the

government

and

the

judiciary

system,

used

by

the

mass

media,

and

taught

in

educational

institutions,

including

school

settings

where

the

language

is

taught

as

a

foreign or second language.

标准语是一种享有最高社会地位的语言变体，

通常以在一个国家的政治、

文化中心地区受过

教育的本族语的口语和书面语为基础。

标准语为政府和司法部门采用，

也用于新闻媒介、

文