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。

https://www.360docs.net/doc/742010176.html,nguage 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，说话者被当作是社会群体的成员。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，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、文学作品、正式的讲话或写作、正规教育以及对非本族语者的外语教育。

The standard language of many countries is also designated as the national or official language.

许多国家的标准语同时被指定为全国语或官方语。

Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard, or vernacular, languages.

不同于标准语的变体叫做非标准语，其发音、语法和词汇明显有别于公认的标准。

All dialects of a language are equally effective in expressing ideas.

标准语和非标准语无优劣之分。

4.Diglossia and bilingualism 双言与双语现象

a)Diglossia 双言现象

Diglossia describes a situation in which two very different varieties of language co-exist in a speech community, each with a distinct range of purely social function and appropriate for certain situations. Usually, one is more standard variety called the high variety, or H-variety, which is used for more formal or serious matter, such as speeches made in government, the media, school, or church. And the other is a non-prestige variety called the low variety, or L-variety, which is used in colloquial and other informal situations, such as conversations with family or friends, or instructions given to servants, waiters, or workmen. Often the high variety is regarded as a literary standard called a classical language, whereas the low variety remains a local vernacular.

双言现象并存于同一语言社区、用途各不相同的语言变体，通常其中一种被视为高层次变体，具有文言文的特征，另一种则为口语式的低层次变体。高层次变体用于正式场合和书面语，低层次变体用于口头交谈。高层次变体多用于政府机关、大众传媒、教育部门、宗教团体等。低层次变体常见于家庭成员或朋友之间的交谈，也被高身份者用以对低身份者发布指示等。

b)Bilingualism 双语现象

Bilingualism refers to a linguistic situation in which two standard languages are used either by an individual or by a group of speakers. A typical example of a bilingual community is an ethnic ghetto where most, if not all, of its inhabitants are either immigrants or children of immigrants. Bilingualism also occurs to countries which have designated two official languages for nation or regional use. Perfect bilingualism, however is uncommon. A bilingual speaker often uses two languages alternatively during a conversation with another bilingual speaker.

双语现象指个人或社区群体可以同时使用两种标准语言的现象。双语现在在移民群体中（尤其是第二代移民中）较为普遍。双语现象也出现在一些指定了两种官方语的国家。然而理想的双语现象是不常见的。双语者通常具有可以在两种语言之间自由切换、交替使用的能力。

5.Ethnic dialect 少数民族方言

a)Black English 黑人英语――少数民族方言个案研究

Black English is an ethnic variety of the English language. It is spoken mostly by a large section of non-middle-class American Blacks. Black English is stigmatized as “bad English”, a purely social attitude that has no linguistic basis. Like other varieties, Black English has some vocabulary of its own. It has a number of distinctive features in its phonological, morphological and syntactic systems which are rule-governed and systematic.

黑人英语是英语的一种变体，使用者多为身处社会下层的美国黑人。将黑人英语视为劣等英语是一种基于种族歧视的社会观，与语言学观相悖。黑人英语的语音、形态、句法和词汇系统有明显不同于标准英语的特征，但它符合“语言是规则系统”的原则，是语言规则操作的产物，有着明显的自律性和系统性。

黑人英语与标准英语的区别的具体内容见课本182－184页。

b)The social environment of Black English 黑人英语的社会环境

The assumption that Black English is “genetically inferior”, “deficient”, and “incomplete”, is simply ungrounded. The distinctive features of Black English persist not for racial reasons, but for social, educational, and economic reasons. Racial discrimination, accompanied by social isolation, intensified some dialectal differences between Black English and Standard English.

认为黑人语言是一种所谓的“天生劣等”、“欠缺性”、“非完整”的语言的观点是不正确的。

黑人英语的区别性特征继续存在不是由种族因素造成的，而是由社会、教育和经济因素造成的。种族歧视和隔离政策加剧了黑人英语与美国标准英语之间的差异，也使黑人英语使用者难以融入美国主流社会。

6.Social dialect 社会方言

a)Education varieties 教育变体

Social dialects, or sociolects, are varieties of language used by people belonging to particular social classes. The speakers of a social dialect usually share a similar social background.

Many differences in languages use persist for educational reasons. It is, therefore, important to know, for example, whether a group of speakers share similar educational backgrounds.

语言使用中的变体存在都是由教育因素造成的。因此，了解一个说话者群体是否有相似的教育背景是重要的。

社会方言通行于有着相同社会背景的群体之中。社会群体的多样化决定了社会方言的多样化。受过相同教育的人往往使用相同的被称为教育变体的社会方言。例如，语言的高等教育变体和初等教育变体相比，更具有书面语的特征。

b)Age varieties 年龄变体

The way language is used correlates with the age of individual speakers. The importance of age as a social factor in language variation is strikingly demonstrated by children’s language as it develops with age. While some differences in pronunciation are found to correlate with different generation of speakers, the most striking differences are lexical.

语言变体带有使用年龄的烙印。使用语言的方式与说话者的年龄有关。年龄作为语言变异中的社会因素，其重要性可从随着儿童年龄的变化而变化的儿童语言中表现出来。尽管不同时代人的发音存在着一些差异，但更显著的差异是在他们的词汇上。

c)Gender varieties 性别变体

Variation in language use is also associated with the sex of individual speakers. Sex-preferential differentiation in terms of speech varieties of males and females exists in all natural language across the word. In particular, the intentional or unintentional use of sexist language in speech or writing reflects gender-biased cultural traditions in many societies.

语言使用中的变异与说话者的性别有关。从男性言语变体和女性言语变体方面来说的性别差异在全世界的各种自然语言中都存在着。特别是性别歧视语在口头语和书面语中被有意或无意地使用，反映出性别歧视的文化传统。

d)Register varieties 语域变体

Registers are language varieties appropriate for use in particular speech situations, for that reason, registers are also known as situational dialects.

A formal situation may condition a formal register, characterized by formal, standard lexical items and grammatical rules, and speech patterns; while an informal setting may be reflected in a less formal register that exhibits more causal vocabulary, nonstandard grammatical features, and stigmatized speech patterns.

语域是在特定的言语情景中使用的语言变体，因此，语域也称为语域方言。

正式情景可能是正式语域的条件，这样的语域以正式标准的词项、语法规则和言语模式为特征，而非正式场景可能产生不太正式的语域，这样的语域呈现出不是太正式的词汇、不标准的语法特征和略有错误的言语模式等特征。

e)Address terms 称谓语

One specific aspect of situational use of language is that of address term usage. An address term,

or address form, refers to the word or words used to address somebody in speech or writing. It is apparent that the way in which people address one another usually depends on their age, sex, social group, and personal relationship. The English system of frequently used address terms includes first name, last name, title + last name, title alone, and kin term.

语言的情景使用的一个特殊方面是称谓语的使用。称谓语或称谓形式指口头语和书面语中用于称呼某人的词语。显而易见，人们相互称谓的方式通常是由他们的年龄、性别、所属的社会群体和个人关系决定的。英语中经常使用的称谓语包括：名、姓、头衔＋姓以及亲属关系用语。

f)Slang 俚语

Slang is a casual use of language that consists of expressive but nonstandard vocabulary, typically of arbitrary, flashy and often ephemeral coinages and figures of speech characterized by spontaneity and sometime by raciness. The central characteristic of slang comes from the motive for its use: a desire for novelty, for vivid emphasis, for membership in a particular group or class of people, or for being up with the times or a little ahead.

俚语是一种随意使用的语言，这种语言包含有表现力强但却不标准的词汇，尤其是包含任意的、低俗的，而且通常是短命的创新词和比喻，这些创新词和比喻具有自发性特征，有时又具有亵渎特征。俚语的主要特征来源于使用它的动机：渴望创新；渴望生动地进行交际；渴望表明自己属于一个特定的群体或阶层；渴望跟上时代或略微超前。

Although slang is often very vivid and expressive, the term slang has traditionally carried a negative connotation: it is deemed to be undesirable in formal style of language. Most slang terms come and go like fads and fashion, only few remain and become acceptable language by the whole society.

尽管俚语通常非常生动形象，具有很强的表现力，但传统上俚语术语包含有一种负面意义，在正式文体里被认为是不受欢迎的。大多数俚语就象时尚潮流一样很快兴起又很快消亡，只有少数保留了下来，并成为可接受的语言而被整个社会使用。

g)Linguistic taboo 禁忌语

A linguistic taboo refers to a word or expression th at is prohibited by the “polite” society from general use.

In sociolinguistics, taboo, or rather linguistic taboo, denotes any prohibition on the use of particular lexical items to refer to objects or acts. As language use is contextualized in particular social settings, linguistic taboo originates from social taboo. When an act is taboo, reference to this act may also become taboo. Taboo words and expressions reflect the particular social customs and views of a particular culture.

禁忌语指在“上流”社会中一般被禁止使用的一些词语或表达方式。

在社会语言学中，禁忌语，或更确切地说是语言禁忌，指所有禁止使用特定的词项指称一些物体或行为的情况。由于语言使用以特定的社会背景为语境，所以禁忌语起源于社会禁忌。当一种行为是禁忌时，提及这种行为也成为禁忌。禁忌词语和表达方式反映出特定文化的特定社会习俗和观点。

h)Euphemism 委婉语

Euphemism comes from the Greek word euphemismos, meaning “to speak with good words.” A euphemism, then, is a mild, indirect or less offensive word or expression substituted when the speaker or writer fears more direct wording might be harsh, unpleasantly direct, or offensive. Euphemism 来源于希腊词euphemismos，该词的意思是“用好词来说话”。那么，委婉语就是说话者或写作者担心较为直截了当的措辞可能是粗野的、令人不悦的直接或无礼时，而用来取而代之的温和、迂回的或不太无礼的词或表达方式。