unit 12 Style and Socialinformation.pptVIP

Dickens’s criticism of “the Gradgrind philosophy”, of the utilitarian attitude to life that took account only of facts and statistics and disregarded human feelings, is direct and forceful. Detail is heaped upon detail to create a suitable house for Mr. Gradgrind, a house that hardly resembles an actual house. 2．英语文体与社会信息 William Saroyan (1943)在他的小说 “The Human Comedy”中有这样一段话： Homer sat chewing the dry candy while the Mexican woman talked. “ It is our own candy,” she said, “from cactus. I made it for my Juanito when he come home, but you eat it. You are my boy, too. 作者笔下的Mrs Sandoval是个美籍墨西哥人，还保留着墨西哥人的传统。“candy from cactas”是墨西哥传统的家制糖果。作者选择“I made it for my Juanito when he come home.这一特定的文体风格所要传递的社会信息是，她虽然住在美国，但是却并没有在社会上、文化上融入美国社会之中，同时作者也通过这一文体暗示了Mrs Sandoval没有受过良好的英语教育，社会地位低下。试想作者不是采用这种文体，而是 “I made it for my Janito when he came home”, 那么这种社会语义便会丧失殆尽。 I.V.Morris在他的短篇小说The Sampler中描写了一位家庭败落的绅士。他年岁已高，身材矮小，跛足躬腰，衣衫褴褛。生活的艰辛使他囊中羞涩、饥饿难挨。平时只能利用圣诞节到一家商店假装买布丁去免费品尝布丁。一天，当这位“绅士”再次来到这家商店免费品尝时，一位年青人出于同情主动要给他买些布丁。 以下是小说中的一段对话： “ Pardon me, sir, will you do me a favor? Let me purchase you one of these puddings. It would give me such pleasure.” “Excuse me,” he said,…, “ I do not believe I have the pleasure of knowing you. Undoubtedly, you have mistaken me for someone else.” … “Kindly pack me up this one here. I will take it with me.” The girl took down the pudding from its stand and started to make a parcel of it, while he pulled out a worn little black pocketbook and began counting out shillings and pennies on to the counter. To save his “honour” he had been forced into a purchase which he could not possibly afford. 在以上的对话中，为了不失面子，可怜的老头不只是买下了他实在买不起的布丁，而且通过采用近乎拘谨的文体风格以向年青人传达他的高社会地位的社会信息从而掩盖了他的家庭败落的真相。 那么在交际中为什么人们能够以文体来传递社会信息呢？ 首先社会结构不同导致文体风格不同。文体是适应不同的交际目的、内容和范围的需要运用全民语言而形成的语言功能变体。这里所说的范围包括社会的阶级和阶层的范围。 各阶级或阶层不同的生活方式、思想习惯、社会价值观念、教育背景等都会在语言中留下一定的痕迹，形成语言的社会变体。例如：在中国，封建士大夫称天子死为“崩”，诸侯死曰“薨”。帝王，诸侯自称为“寡人”，等。在唐代，凡丧，二品以上称“薨”，五品以上称“卒”，自六品达于庶人称“死”。因此不同的单词选择体现的是不同的社会信息。 在一个阶级社会中，阶级