Language and society

1
Language and society
2
1. The scope of sociolinguistics 1.1
Indications of relatedness between
language and society
3
An obvious indication of the inter-relationship
between language and society is the fact that
language is not always used to exchange
information as is generally assumed, but rather it
is sometimes used to fulfil an important social
function--- to maintain social relationship
between people.
4
Another indication is that users of the same
language in a sense all speak differently. The
kind of language each of them chooses to use is
in part
determined by his social background. When we
speak we cannot avoid giving our listeners clues
about our origin and our background.
5
there are many examples of the physical
environment in which a society lives being
reflected in its language, normally in the
structure of its lexicon---the way in which
distinctions are made by means of single words.
6
Whereas English, for example, has only one word
for snow ( or two if we include sleet), Eskimo
has several. The reasons for this are obvious.
It is essential for Eskimos to be able to
distinguish efficiently
between different types of snow.
7
English, of course, is quite able to make the
same distinctions fine snow, dry snow, soft
snow, and so on, but in Eskimos this sort of
distinction is lexicalized---made by means of
individual words.
8
The social environment can also be reflected in
language, and can often have an effect on the
structure of the vocabulary. For example, a
society's kinship
system is generally reflected in its kinship
vocabulary.
9
We can assume, for example, that the important
kin relationships in English-speaking societies
are those that are signaled by single vocabulary
items.
10
As society is reflected in language in this way,
social change can produce a corresponding
linguistic change.
11
This has happened in the case of Russian. During
the period from 1860 to the present day the
structure of the Russian kinship system has
undergone a very radical change as a result of
several important events
12
For examplethe emancipation of serfs in 1861,
the First World War, the revolution, the
collectivization of agriculture and the Second
world War. There has been a marked social as
well as political revolution, and this has been
accompanied by a corresponding change in the
language.
13
In the middle of the last century, wife's brother
was shurin, whereas now now it is simply brat
zheny, brother of wife. Similarly, brother's
wife, formerly nevestka, is now zhena brata, wife
of brother. In other words, distinctions that
were formerly lexicalized, because they were
important, are now made by means of phrases. The
loss of importance of these particular
relationships are due to the fact that social
changes in Russia have led to the rise of the
small, nuclear family.
14
In the last century most Russians lived in large
patrilocal extended-family households. brother's
wives, at that time part of the family now
normally live,
in different households. Similarly, the term
yatrov, signifying husband's brother's wife has
now disappeared entirely.
15
As a social phenomenon language is closely
related to the structure of the society in which
it is used, and the evaluation of a linguistic
form is entirely social.
16
2. Varieties of language It is an obvious fact
that people who claim to be users of the same
language do not speak the language in the same
manner. For example all the English speaking
people do not speak the same type of English. And
the language used by the same individual varies
as circumstances vary.
17
Varieties related to the user are normally known
as dialects and varieties related to use as
registers.
18
2.1 Varieties of language related to the
user 2.1.1 Regional dialect Regional dialects
are linguistic varieties used by people living in
different regions.
19
North You need your hair
cutting. South You need your hair cut
20
English Scottish
It needs washing
It needs washed
21
He's a man who likes his
beer. He's a man that likes his
beer. He's a man at likes his
beer. He's a man as likes his
beer. He's a man what likes his
beer. He's a man he likes his
beer. He's a man likes his beer.
22
Regional dialect boundaries often coincide with
geographical barriers such as mountains, rivers,
or swamps.
This differentiation is accounted for by the lack
of communication in the old days when travel was
difficult.
23
2.2.6??? 1) la ???????????????? la
????? la ???????????? (1)
???????????,??
No need to count la. There are 30 stones la.
?????? p.203
24
(2) ?????????,?? You tell him la! Im so
scared of him. (3) ????????,????
??,????,?? I was absent,
because I was ill la.
?????? p.203
25
(4) ???????,???????????????,?? You can
take an umbrella, some clothes or whatever la!
(5) ?????????,?? I was lucky la.
(6)??????,?? Chinese New Year ah? Okay, la!
?????? p.203
26
2) What???????????????????
(1)?????????????,?? Father Jane was
foolish for she failed the
test. Mother She has only failed once
what.
?????? p.203
27
(2) ??????????,? I am late what.
He himself is always late. (3)
???????????,?? I am your friend what.
( It is obvious that I am your friend.)
?????? p.203
28
3) le (1) ???????????????,?? You cant
walk there, very far le.
?????? p.203---204
29
(2) ?????????????????????,?? A to B (
looking at a dress ) 40 dollars only le.
?????? p.204
30
Its raining le. Shall we take an
umbrella?
(3) ????????,?
?????? p.204
31
4) Hoh (1)???????????,?? This is not
true, hoh? (2)???????????,?? You wait
for me here, hoh.
?????? p.204
32
2.3???? 2.3.1???????????,??? or not??,??
a) Hunt or not? b) John, smart or not? c) Lets
take a walk, want or not? d) We set off
tomorrow, can or not? e) You notice or not, they
all learn their songs er only at this time er. We
all learn twenty-four hours, remember or not ?
?????? p.205
33
2.3.2?? is it???????, ?????? 1) ?is
it???????????,?? a) Is it Freddie is number
eight? b) Is it you eat fish?
?????? p.205
34
2) ? is it ???????????????,????????????????
a) You really want to learn, is it ? b)
Lucy and Chin Lais rooms are vacant,
is it ?
?????? p.205
35
3) is it??????????????????? really?? Is
that so?,?? A John is ill and has been
hospitalized for a week B Is it ? b) A I
never eat fish. B Is it ?
?????? p.205
36
2.3.3?????????????????????? a) that
fat-fat man b) I like hot-hot curries.
c) I speak broken-broken English.
?????? p.205---206
37
2.3.4?????????????????????,?? a)
extremely essential b) very vital c)
more ideal d) very unique e) most
precious f) very essential
?????? p.206
38
2.3.5??????????,?? a) This film I dont
like b) Ten per cent off we give our
customers 2.3.6??? be????,?????????,??
a) That book very boring. b) New York a
very modern city.
?????? p.206
39
2.2.2??????????????
Singapore English Words Meanings
Aksy
Affected Ang-moh red-hair a person
of European
ancestry Boleh tahan tolerably
good chap chye a mixture
of
everything
?????? p.199
40
tamby office attendant office boy kaypoh greedy
interfering in others
affairs kayu stupid dull kiasu a
feeling of fearing failure on
inferiority to others
?????? p.200
41
Nowadays, as there is a marked increase in
communication brought about by mass media, and by
the development of modern transport, the
stability of local dialects seems to be
decreasing.
42
2.1.2 Social-class dialect Just as regional
dialect is associated with separation caused by
physical conditions, social dialect has to do
with separation brought about by different social
conditions.
43
Social-class dialect, or sociloect, refers to the
linguistic variety characteristic of a particular
social class.
?????? p.83---84
44
?????????,??????????America,cake,helping,ice,lavat
ory, looking glass, pudding, relatives, rich,
Royalties, scent, scurf, sick, sofa, spectacles,
writing paper?,??????????the States,
pastry,portion, ice-cream,toilet,mirror, dessert,
relations,wealthy, Royals, perfume,
dandruff,ill,settee,notepaper,glasses??
45
When we look at the language used by two speakers
A and B, we can estimate roughly their relative
social status Speaker A
speaker B I did it yesterday. I done it
yesterday. He hasnt got it. He
aint got it. It was she that said it It was
her what said it.
46
In Britain, one of the most important markers of
status is accent. Received Pronunciation , a
non-localized form of pronunciation, refers to
the particular way of pronouncing standard
English, which is an indicator of a public school
education and thus a high social status on the
part of the speaker.
47
In the past the possession of an RP accent was
extremely important because it served a s a
high-status marker, and also as a qualification
for high-prestige employment no matter what other
abilities the work might require.
48
???????,???????/ ai /??????????/ei /,?? ??
????? ???? refine
/ rifain/ /rifein/ define
/difain/
/difein/
?????? p.81
49
??,???????/ i? /???????????/e ? /,?? ??
????? ???? really /
ri?li/ /re?li/
?????? p.81
50
?? ????? ???? house
/haus/ /hais/ hello
/hel?u/ /helei/
?????? p.80---p.81
51
?? ????? ???? family
/fæmili/ /femili/ factory
/fækt? ri/ /fekt?
ri/ landscape /lændskeip/
/lendskeip/ ax / æks/
/iks/
?????? p.79
52
??,?????????????/i/???????????/e/,?? ??
????? ???? gloomy
/glumi/ /glume/ army
/ami/ /ame/ surfy
/s? fi/ /s? fe/
?????? p.79
53
?? ????? ?????powerless
/pau?lis/ /palis/ fire
/fai?/ /fa/ tired
/tai?d/ /tad/ our
/au?/ /a/
?????? p.83
54
Investigations have been carried out by linguists
to obtain evidence for the correlation between
certain phonetic features and social
variables. Percentage of speakers Using n for
Middle middle class 3 Lower middle class
42 Upper working class 87 Middle working
class 95 Lower working class 100
?
55
It should be clear that social-class dialects are
not distinct entities they merge into each other
to form a continuum. It is only the proportions
which are different.
56
2.1.3 language and sex
57
Differences between women and men have always
been a topic of interest to the human species and
supposed linguistic differences are often
enshrined in proverbs
58
A woman's tongue wags like a lamb's tail.
(England)
Foxes are all tail and women are all tongue.
( England-Cheshire)
The North Sea will sooner be found wanting in
water than a woman at a loss for a word.
( Jutland )
59
1. Lexical Items
1.1Adverbs
Compared with men, women tend to use such
adverbs. horridly, abominably, immensely,
excessively, amazingly,so, most,etc.
60
Women often use these intensifiers to excess so
that the intensity of these words have weakened.
What is more, the overuse of these words imply
that the users are sentimental, shallow and not
objective enough.
61
In Chapter III in Jane Austens novel,Pride and
Prejudice,Mrs Bennet, excited after
participating in a party, talked to her husband
about Mr.Bingley as follows
62
Oh! My dear Mr. Bennet, we have had a most
excellent ball. Jane was so admired. Every body
said how well she looked. Mr. Bingley thought her
quite beautiful, I was so vexed to see him stand
up with her. I am quite delighted with him. He
is so excessively handsome! Mr. Darcy is a
most disagreeable, horrid man. So high and so
conceited that there was no enduring him! He
walked here, and he walked there, fancying
himself so very great! Not handsome enough to
dance with.
?????? p.2---3
63
In this chapter,Jane Austen has taken advantage
of these intensifiers to indicate that Mrs Bennet
is shallow, superficial and exaggerating.
64
Because females often use these intensifiers,
these intensifiers have become greatly weakened
in the degree of intensity. In a sense, the
overuse of the words of absoluteness or extremity
may cause changes in the meaning of a word at
least in the eye of a man.
65
Wife You always leave your papers
about,dear! Husband Really? Didnt I put
them in place yesterday?
?????? p.4
66
Women may use the intensifiers at the sacrifice
of the literal meanings of these words.
67
For instance, the adjective "vast" and its adverb
vastly, mean anything and are the fashionable
words of the most fashionable people.
?????? p.4
68
A fine woman...is vastly obliged, or vastly
great small ones are vastly little and a purse
could be vastly pretty, because it was vastly
little.
?????? p.4
69
1. Women prefer to use the following colour
words while most men do not
mauve, beige, aquamarine, lavender, magenta
Imagine a man and a woman both looking at the
same wall, painted a pinkish shade of purple. The
woman may say
The wall is mauve.
70
The wall is mauve.
If the man should say the above sentence, one
might well conclude he was imitating a woman
sarcastically, or was a homosexual, or an
interior decorator.
71
2. Women have their own vocabulary for
emphasizing certain effects
females so good, such fun,
exquisite, lovely, divine,
precious, adorable, darling,
fantastic. neutral great, terrific, cool,
neat
?????? p.5
72
females so good, such fun, exquisite,
lovely, divine, precious, adorable,
darling, fantastic. neutral great,
terrific, cool, neat
The above words, besides their specific and
literal meanings, can indicate the speaker's
approbation or admiration for something.
73
females so good, such fun, exquisite,
lovely, divine, precious, adorable,
darling, fantastic. neutral great,
terrific, cool, neat
Where a woman has a choice between the neutral
words and the womens words, as a man has not,
she may be suggesting very different things about
her own personality and her view of the
subject-matter by her choice of words of the
first set or words of the second
74
A. What a terrific idea! B. What a divine idea!
It seems to me that example A might be used under
any appropriate conditions by a female speaker.
But Example B is more restricted. Probably it is
used appropriately only in case the speaker feels
the idea referred to be essentially frivolous,
trivial, or unimportant to the world at large--
-only an amusement for the speaker herself.
75
One may ask whether there are terms that are
available to men----terms that denote approval of
the trivial, the personal that express
approbation in terms of ones own personal
emotional reaction.
There does in fact seem to be one such word "
groovy" ,which does not mark the speaker as
feminine or effeminate.
?????? p.6
76
a. What a terrific steel mill! b. What a
lovely steel mill! ( male
speaking ) c. What a groovy steel mill!
77
3. Aside from specific lexical items, there are
differences between the speech of women and that
of men in the use of particles that grammarians
often describe as " meaningless".
78
a. Oh dear, you've put the peanut butter
in the refrigerator again.
b. Shit, you've put the peanut butter in
the refrigerator again.
79
It is safe to predict that people would classify
the first sentence as part of " women's
language", the second as " men's language".
80
Now we may ask what we mean by " stronger" and "
weaker" . The difference between using " shit" or
" damn" as opposed to " oh dear", or " goodness",
or " oh fudge " lies in how forcefully one says
how one feels.
81
Choice of particle is a function of how strongly
one allows oneself to feel about something, so
that the strength of an
emotion conveyed in a sentence corresponds to the
strength of the particle.
82
a. Oh fudge, my hair is on fire b.
Dear me, did he kidnap the baby ?
?????? p.7
83
2.1.4 language and age 2.1.5 Standarddialect.