Chapter 2 Language, Dialects and Varieties

AnIntroductiontoSociolinguisticsLecturePresentor:Prof.XuZhisuoSchoolofForeignLanguagesWuhanUniversityofTechnologyChapter2Language,Dialect,andVarieties1LanguageandDialects234ContentsStylesandRegisters5SocialDialectsRegionalDialectsDefinitionofVarietyRegistersandDialects62.1GlobalandspecificstatementsTotheextentthatdifferentlinguisticitemshavedifferentrelationstosociety(intermsofpeopleandcircumstances).Thusontheonehandtherearestatementsaboutglobalcategories,likewholelanguages,andontheotherhandtherearestatementsaboutindividuallinguisticitems;andineachcasethestatementreferstospeakerseitherasmembersofsomecommunityorasindividuals.Whatisalinguisticitem?Thereareitemsofvocabulary(called‘lexicalitems’or‘lexemes’).Therearealsosound-patternswithinthemandlargersyntacticpatternsinwhichtheyareused.Wecallthem‘lexicalitems’,‘sound’and‘constructions’.Lexicalitemsarelisted(inalexicon),butthatsoundsandconstructionsaredefined(‘generated’)bygeneralrulesorprinciples.Forexample,thelexicalitemscat,dogandhorsearesimplylisted,alongwiththeirmeaningsandtheirvariousothercharacteristics(word-class,pronunciation,etc.-justasinanydictionary);2.1.1Linguisticitemsbutthereisnolistwhichcontainsthepattern‘word-final/r/(asincaranddaughterinaccentsofEnglishwhere/r/ispronounced)ortheconstruction‘barerelativeclause’(asinthebookIbought,incontrastwitha‘wh-relativeclause’thebookwhichIbought).Iftheyaretreatedsodifferentlyinthegrammar,whyshouldtheybesimilarsociolinguistically?Andhowdothesocialfactscombinewiththelinguisticones?Itisreasonablyeasytoincludesocialfactsaboutlexicalitemsalongwiththelinguisticfacts.Differentlinguisticitemsin‘thesamelanguage’canhavequitedifferentsocialdistributions(intermsofspeakersandcircumstances).2.1.2WhatdowemeanbyVariety?Hudson(1996,p.22)definesavarietyoflanguageas‘asetoflinguisticitemswithsimilardistribution,’adefinitionthatallowsustosaythatallofthefollowingarevarieties:CanadianEnglish,LondonEnglish,theEnglishoffootballcommentaries,andsoon.AccordingtoHudson,thisdefinitionalsoallowsus‘totreatallthelanguagesofsomemultilingualspeaker,orcommunity,asasinglevariety,sinceallthelinguisticitemsconcernedhaveasimilarsocialdistribution.’Avarietycanthereforebesomethinggreaterthanasinglelanguageaswellassomethingless,lesseventhansomethingtraditionallyreferredtoasadialect.Ferguson’sOpinionFerguson(1972,p.30)offersanotherdefinitionofvariety:‘anybodyofhumanspeechpatternswhichissufficientlyhomogeneoustobeanalyzedbyavailabletechniquesofsynchronicdescriptionandwhichhasasufficientlylargerepertoryofelementsandtheirarrangementsorprocesseswithbroadenoughsemanticscopetofunctioninallformalcontextsofcommunication.’SimilaritybetweenHudsonandFergusonHudsonandFergusonagreeindefiningvarietyintermsofaspecificsetof‘linguisticitems’or‘humanspeechpatterns’(presumably,sounds,words,grammaticalfeatures,etc.)whichwecanuniquelyassociatewithsomeexternalfactor(presumably,ageographicalareaorasocialgroup).2.1.3VarietiesoflanguageIfonethinksof‘language’asaphenomenonincludingallthelanguagesoftheworld,thetermVARIETYOFLANGUAGEcanbeusedtorefertodifferentmanifestationsofit,injustthesamewayasonemighttake‘music’asageneralphenomenonandthendistinguishdifferent‘varietiesofmusic’.Whatmakesonevarietyoflanguagedifferentfromanotheristhelinguisticitemsthatitincludes,sowemaydefineavarietyoflanguageasasetoflinguisticitemswithsimilarsocialdistribution.‘Varietyoflanguage’:English,French,LondonEnglish,theEnglishoffootballcommentaries,thelanguagesusedbythemembersofaparticularlong-houseinthenorth-westAmazon,thelanguageorlanguagesusedbyaparticularperson.Theverygeneralnotion‘variety’includesexamplesofwhatwouldnormallybecalledlanguages,dialectsandregisters.Whydowecallsomevarietiesdifferentlanguagesandothersdifferentdialectsofthesamelanguage?Avarietymaybemuchlargerthanalay‘language’,includinganumberofdifferentlanguages.Conversely,accordingtothedefinitionavarietymaycontainjustahandfulofitems,orevenintheextremecaseasingleitem,ifitisdefinedintermsoftherangeofspeakersorcircumstanceswithwhichitisassociated.Forinstance,onemightdefineavarietyconsistingofthoseitemsusedsolelybysomeparticularfamilyorvillage.Thusavarietycanbemuchsmallerthana‘language’,oreventhana‘dialect’.Theflexibilityoftheterm‘variety’allowsustoaskwhatbasisthereisforpostulatingthekindsof‘package’oflinguisticitemstowhichweconventionallygivelabelslike‘language’,‘dialect’or‘register’.以日常交际中的流行用语、社会用语为例：n所谓流行语，指在一定时期、一定地区、一定社会群体中，被人们广泛使用、流传、熟知的用语，往往多指一些词语。它们的出现与使用涉及特定的范围、职业或某些社会现象等，有的只在一定范围内、一定人群中是流行语，而有的流行范围可能更广，是一种社会流行语。n“时尚流行语”、“体育流行语”、“教育流行语”、“IT流行语”、“媒体流行语”、“校园流行语”等。也即，流行语的分类也可进行领域的细化。有的流行语是新词语、新用法，与新的社会文化现象或某些行业特征密不可分；有的则是旧词新用；有的流行语与特定人群、地域、领域有关。因此，流行语能够真实地反映某些社会现象或社会文化趋向。流行语的出现在一定程度上反映了社会发展与人们关注的主要议题、主流现象等。作为一种“流变”的符号表征，流行语能敏锐地反映社会、经济、文化、心理等变化与发展的某些特征。●2001年“中国青年十大流行语”9·11；本·拉登；申奥成功；入世；WTO；翠花上酸菜；出线；QQ；反恐；Flash2002年“十大社会流行语”:飞机失事；沙龙；阿拉法特；十六大；靖国神社；世界杯；QQ；晕；倒；吐血2002年“中国报纸十大流行语”十六大；世界杯；短信；降息；三个代表；反恐；数字影像；姚明；车市；CDMA2003年“中国报刊十大流行语”非典(SARS)；神舟五号；伊拉克战争；全面建设小康社会；十六届三中全会；三峡工程；社保基金；奥运公园；六方会谈；新一届中央领导集体2004年春夏“中国报刊十大流行语”中国市场经济地位；欧锦赛；虐俘（虐囚）；科学发展观