社会语言学论文(基础)UnderstandingofSociolinguistics.doc

Understanding of Sociolinguistics TOC \o 1-3 \h \z \u 1 Introduction 1 2 Some definitions of sociolinguistics 1 3 The scope of sociolinguistic study 2 4 The comment on Fishman’s definition of sociolinguistics 3 5 Conclusion 3 References 4 Abstract：Sociolinguistics has drawn more and more attention since it became an independent discipline in 1960s．But scholars from various disciplines look at sociolinguistics from different perspectives，and carry out sociolinguistic study in different ways．This paper tries to understand sociolinguistics in terms of its definitions and the scope of sociolinguistic study to point out the lack of comprehensiveness in Fishman’s view on the definition of sociolinguistics． Key words：sociolinguistics；definitions；scope；lack of comprehensiveness 1 Introduction Though the social aspect of language attracted early attention，it was not until the mid 1960s that sociolinguistics became an independent discipline with its representatives William Labor and Dell Hymes．It has become an indispensable course in linguistic study together with syntax，phonetics and phonology, semantics. etc．．But scholars from various disciplines have different answers to the questions：‘What is sociolinguistics?’，‘What does the sociolinguist do?’，‘What content should be included in sociolinguistic study?’，and ‘What methods should be adopted in carrying out sociolinguistic study?’． Fishman argued that sociolinguistics is the name commonly given to the study of who speaks (or writes) what language (or what language variety) to whom and when and to what end (cited from Wardhaugh，R．1986：16)．Before we make any comment on this view，it is necessary to have a basic knowledge about the definitions of sociolinguistics and the scope of sociolinguistic study． 2 Some definitions of sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is a cross—disciplinary subject．Linguists and sociolinguists are not the only researchers involved in studies of language in society．Scholars such as ant