现代语言学第八章
(2009-11-17 14:19:21)
标签:
杂谈 |
分类: 自学考试英语 |
1,Sociolinguistics:
Sociolinguistics is the study of language in social contexts.社会语言学是语言学的一个分支,它研究的是语言在社会语境中的作用。
In view of language as a primary means of communication among individual speakers of a society, sociolinguists are concerned with the social significance of language variation and language use in different speech communities including regional, ethnic and social groups. Sociolinguists are also concerned with the influence of extralinguistic factors on language use, such as age, gender, profession and social status.从语言是社会个体使用者之间的主要交际手段这个角度来讲,社会语言学家的研究对象主要是不同言语交际社团包括地域、宗教和社会团体之间的语言运用和语言变异的社会意义,社会语言学家们同时也关注着语言外因素例如年龄、性别、职业及社会阶层等对语言运用的影响。
2,Language variation:
(1)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 the speech community. A speech community is thus defined as a group of people who from a community and share the same language or a particular variety of language.
在社会语言学的研究过程中,言语使用者被看作是社会团体中的成员。为了研究方便起见而被单独分离出来的社会团体叫言语社区。言语社区可以定义为拥有同一种语言或同一语言变体并能够形成一个集体(该集体的成员数可以多达一个国家,也可以少到只包括一个家庭的成员。)的一群人。
The imp
(2)Speech variety:言语变体
Speech variety, also known as language variety, refers to any distinguishable from of speech used by a speaker or group of speakers. From the sociolinguistic perspective, a speech variety is no more than a dialectal variety of a language.言语变体也称语言变体,指的是一个或一组语言使用者有别于他人的言语特征。从社会语言学的角度来看,一种言语变体也无非是一种语言的方言变体而已。
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.社会语言学家们主要对三种言语变体(或方言)感兴趣,即地域方言、社会方言和被称之为语域的言语功能变体。
(3)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.地域变异是指由于言语使用者们地区的不同而呈现出来的言语变异现象。语言的地域变异是最明显的,也是最容易界定的。
The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its accent. Accent refers to a way of pronunciation which tells the listener something about the speaker’s regional or social background.地域方言最重要的语言区别性特征还是在于它的口音。口音指的是能够让听话者了解说话者的地域或社会背景的那种发音方式。
(4)Social variation:社会变异
People’s sociolects are defined by linguistic differences associated with respective definable social groups even within the same geographical location.即使在同一个地理环境里,人们的社会方言也是由各自的社会团体所表现出来的那种言语差异所决定的。
Social variation gives rise to sociolects which are subdivisible into smaller speech categories. These categories reflect their socioeconomic, educational, occupational and ethnic background, as well as their sex and age.社会变异现象促成了社会方言的出现,社会方言还可以细分为更小的种类,分别反映出说话者的性别、年龄以及他们的政治经济、教育、职业及种族背景等。
(5)Stylistic variation:文体变异
While most speakers are limited to a single regional dialect, a socially-conscious speaker must employ a variety of styles of speech known as registers.大多数言语使用者要受某一种特定的地域方言限制,一个对社会比较敏感的言语使用者必须使用多种被称之为语域的问题变异。
Stylistic variation in a person’s speech, or writing, usually ranges on a 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 speaking or writing at a particular period of time, or to a way of speaking or writing at a particular period of time.一个人说话或写作时的文体变异主要是由于交际情景的不同而发生的从随便体、口语体到正式文体或礼貌文体等方面的变化。文体也可以指一个人在不同的时期说话或写作时的言语使用方式,也可以指一个人在某一特定时期说话或书写时所特有的言语使用方式。
(6)Idiolectal variation:个人言语变异
The language on
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.当一个个体使用者讲话的时候,他所使用的其实是说话者自己独特的语言体系,只不过这种体系是在某种特定语言的总体体系之中变化而已。这样的个人方言就叫作个人习语。
3,Standard and nonstandard language
Standard language: The standard language is a superposed, socially prestigious dialect of 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 forergn or second language.标准语是语言中一种强制的、享有一定社交声望的方言。这种语言被广泛应用于政府和司法系统,被作为大众媒介的传播形式,并在包括把语言作为外语或第二语言来学习的学校设施在内的教育机构中得以传授。
In most countries,the standard language serves as a standard according to which all other varieties are measured.在许多国家,标准语都是用以衡量所有其他语言变体的尺度。
The standard language of many countries is also designated as the national or official language. 许多国家的标准语也都指定为该国家的国语或官方语言。
Nonstandard language: Language varieties other than the standard are called nonstandard, or vernacular, languages.凡属标准语之外的那些语言变体都被叫做非标准语或本地语。
Lingua francas: A lingua franca is a variety of language that serves as a medium of communication among groups of people for diverse linguistic backgrounds.通用语也是一种在不同语言背景的人群之间用作交际媒介的一种语言变体。
The term lingua franca can be generalized to refer to any other language used as a trade or communication medium. Thus, any language can be a lingua franca.通用语这个术语也可以被进一步引申,用来指代作为贸易或交流媒介的其他类型的语言。
A lingua franca may be used internationally across the world. English is such an international lingua franca.一种通用语也可以在全世界的范围内使用。英语就是这样一种国际的通用语。
Pidgins: A pidgin is a variety of language that is generally used by native speakers of other languages as a medium of communication.皮软语是被其他语言的本族语使用者们用作交际媒介的一种常见的语言变体。
The term pidgin originated from the pronunciation of the English word “business” in Chinese Pidgin English.皮软语这个说法来自于汉语的皮钦语英语单词business。
On
Creoles: A creole language is originally a pidgin that has become estabished as a native language in some speech community. That is, when a pidgin comes to be adopted by a population as its primary language, and children learn it as their first language, then the pidgin language is called a creole.克里奥尔语最初也是在一些言语社区中作为本族语发展起来的一种皮钦语。也就是说,当一种皮钦语被某一人口群体采纳为他们的主要语言,并且儿童也把它作为第一语言来学习的时候,这种皮钦语就被称作克里奥尔语了。
4,Diglossia and bilingualism双言与双语现象
Diglossia: Diglossia usually 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.双言现象经常被用来描述两种截然不同的语言变体共同存在于一个言语社区的情况,每一种变体都具有其特别的纯粹的社会功能以适应某些特定场合的需要。
Usually, on
Bilingualism: Bilingualism refers to a linguistic situation in which two standard languages are used either by an individual or by a group of speakers, such as the inhabitants of a particular region or a nation.双语现象指的是某个特殊国家或地区的居民中一个或团体的语言使用者同时使用两种标准语言的一种语言现象。
Regardless of the differences in the
approximation of perfect bilingualism, most bilingual communities
have in common a fairly clear functional differentiation of the two
language in respect of speech situations known as domains. In
bilingual communities, on
5,Ethnic dialect少数民族方言
An ethnic language variety is a social dialect of a language, often cutting across regional differences. An ethnic dialect is spoken mainly by a less privileged population that has experienced some form of social isolation, such as racial discrimination or segregation.一个少数民族的语言变体是一种语言的社会方言,它经常存在于不同的地域差别之间。少数民族方言主要在经历过某种形式的社会孤立比如种族歧视或种族隔离等之后的不太优越的人口中间使用。
(1)Black English, a case study of ethnic dialect黑人英语,少数民族方言的个案研究
On
It has a number of distinctive features in its phonological, morphological and syntactic systems which are rule-governed and systematic.它在音系、形态和句法体系中也有许多甄别特征,而且这些特征也是系统的、由一定规则所制约的。
1】phonological
On
Another salient characteristic of Black English phonological system concerns the deletion of some word-final stop consonants in words like “side” and “borrowed”.黑人英语音系系统中另外一个显著的特征与爆破辅音作词尾的单词如side和borrow等有关。
2】syntactic systems
On
Another distinctive syntactic feature
of Black English is the systematic use of the expr
Another aspect of Black English which has been frequently attacked is the use of double negation constructions.黑人英语中另外一个经常遭到抨击的方面就是其中的双重否定结构。
(2)The social environment of Black English黑人英语的社会环境
The distinctive features of Black English persist not for racial reasona, but for social, educational, and economic reasons.黑人英语的这些甄别特征之所以能够延续下来并不是因为什么种族原因,而是有其社会的、教育的和经济的原因。
6,Social dialect社会方言
Social dialect: Socal dalect, 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.社会方言是某个特定的社会阶层的人所使用的语言变体。同一种社会方言的使用者通常具有相同的社会背景。
(1)Education varieties:教育变体
Many differences in language use persist for educational reason.语言使用过程中许多差别的长期存在主要是教育方面的原因。
(2)Age varieties:年龄变体
The way language is used correlates, to a greater or lesser degree, with the age of individual speakers.语言使用的方式从一定程度上来讲和个体使用者的年龄有关。
(3)Gender varieties:性别变体
Variation in language use is also associated with the sex of individual speakers.语言使用过程中的变异也和个体使用者的性别有关。
Some general linguistic differences can be observed in the speeches of male and female individuals.从男性和女性个体的谈论中可以看到一些大体的语言差异。
(4)Register varieties:语域变体
Registers are language varieties which are approptiate for use in particular speech situations, in contrast to language varieties that are associated with the social or regional grouping of their customary users. For that reason, registers are also known as situational dialects.与一种语言的习惯性言语使用者们的社会或地域群体的语言变体不同,语域是与一定交际情景相适应的语言变体。正鉴于此,语域又被称为语言的情景变体。
There is a gradation of register ranging along a continuum between two extremes of very formal and very informal.在正式和非正式这两个极端之间存在着一个由语域的不同级差关系所组成的连续体。
Many societies have stricter rules that govern the situational use of language, in which variation in speech register is more formally encoded.许多团体都有严格的规则来制约语言的情景使用,而且语域变异的编码方式也相当正式。
(5)Address terms:称谓语
On
(6)Slang:俚语
Slang is a casual use of language that consists of expressive but non-standard vocabulary, typically of arbitrary, flashy and often ephemeral coinages and figures of speech characterized by spontaneity and sometimes by raciness.俚语是对语言的一种非正式的使用。它由一些表达力极强但不甚标准的词汇,任意的、出现很快但常常稍纵即逝的新词和以自发性抑或是挑逗性为特点的修辞格所组成。
(7)Linguistic taboo:禁忌语
A linguistic taboo refers to a word or
expr
The word taboo was borrowed from
Tongan, a Polynesian language.
In sociolinguistics, taboo, or rether linguistic taboo, denotes any prohibition on the use of particular lexical items to refer to objects or acts.在社会语言学中,禁忌语——或叫语言禁忌——指的是任何被禁止使用某些词汇以指代某些物体和行为的现象。
(8)Euphemism:委婉语
Euphemism comes from the Greek word
euphemismos, meaning “to speak with good words”. A euphemism, then,
is a mild, indirect ir less offensive word or expr