Chapter6 Language and Society 英美文化的概论 .pptVIP

Lecture 6;1. Scope of Sociolinguistics 1.1 The relatedness between language and society between the uses of language and the social structures in which the users of language live. Sociolinguists are interested in explaining why we speak differently in different social contexts, and they are concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning. ;?Example 1 Ray: Hi mum Mum: Hi. You are late. Ray: Yeah, that bastard Soot bucket kept us in again. Mum: Nana is here. Ray: Oh sorry. Where is she? ;The way people talk is influenced by the social context in which they are talking. It matters who can hear us and where we are talking as well as how we are feeling. We use different styles in different social contexts. Example 2 Ray: Good morning, sir. Principle: What are you doing here at this time? Ray: Mr. Sutton kept us in , Sir. ; There are many indications of the inter-relationship between language and society. One of them is that while language is principally used to communicate meaning, it is also used to establish and maintain social relationships. E.g .greetings; Robbie-Bob mother affectionate Rob friends brothers most of time Bob friends outside home to annoy Roberts Harris parents when very annoyed Mr. Harris strangers letters , shops ;to some extent, language, especially the structure of its lexicon, reflects both the physical and the social environments of a society. Example 4 Eskimos have more words for types of snow than English speakers do: aput, snow on the ground gana, falling snow piqsirpoq, drifting snow qimuqsuq, a snow drift ; 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. Judgments concerning the correctness and purity of linguistic varieties are social rather than linguistic. ; 1.2 Speech community speech va