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[误] Some prefer radish but others prefer cabbage. [正] Tastes differ. Chinese dialect
Traditional Chinese classification lists seven groups, comprising: Gan(Jiangxinese)
Guan (Mandarin or Beifanghua) Kejia (Hakka)
Min (including the Hokkien and Taiwanese variants) Wu(including the Shanghainese variant) Xiang(Hunanese)
Yue(including the Cantonese and Taishanese variants)
7. Social dialect
A social dialect is a variety of a language spoken by a particular group based on social characteristics other than geography.
社会语言变异(social variation)社会方言,也称纵向语言,是由社会特征形成的。影响社会语言学变量的重要因素是阶层分化(class stratification)和语体分化(style stratification)。社会语言变异源自社会群体,与各种社会因素有关,如社会阶层、宗教信仰和种族。
Example 1. New York City study (1966)
Labov wanted to test his theory with a bigger population New York City Incidence of final and post-vocalic /r/
While most American accents are rhotic, New York (and Boston) have distinctive non-rhotic accent Post-Depression, such urban accents lost prestige, and rhotic midwest accent emerged as standard
Labov showed that rhotic use of /r/ reflected social class and aspiration, and was more widespread in younger speakers Method：-Not practical to interview speakers extensively, as on Martha‘s Vineyard
-Instead, needed to quickly elicit possible /r/ pronunciations in both spontaneous and careful speech
Walked around 3 NYC department stores, asking the location of departments he knew were on the fourth floor
By pretending not to hear, he got each informant to pronounce the two words twice, once spontaneously, and once carefully
-3 stores catering for distinct social groups: Saks (upper), Macy‘s (middle), S. Klein (lower)
-Informants were shop workers at different grades, giving a further possible stratification Results：
Use of [r] corresponded to higher class of store Furthermore, use of [r] increases in careful speech
Similar finding with rank of employee (management, sales, shelf-stackers)
Table: Attitudes towards the use of non-prevocalic /r/: upper middle class in New York City Age %/r/ used 8~19 48 20~39 34 40+ 9
Example 2.
What happens if we wish to negate the following sentence: I can eat anything. There are two possibilities in the standard variety of English: I can‘t eat anything. I can eat nothing.
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There are other varieties of English, where there is a third possibility – where we can negate both elements: I can‘t eat nothing.
A survey was taken in Detroit, and it was found that there was a clear relationship between employment of double negation and social class: UMC: 2 LMC: 11 UWC: 38 LWC: 70
Example 3. Verbs without –s for the Third Person Singular Present Form Norwich Detroit MMC 0% UMC 1% LMC 2 LMC 10
UWC 70 UWC 57 MWC 87 LWC 71 LWC 97 She like him very much. He don‘t know a lot, do he? It go ever so fast.
美国黑人英语(Afro-/American vernacular English, AAVE)
Some people use AAVE as a way to ?stereotype‘ African Americans. It is systematic and rule-governed.
It is a variety of English as in Singapore English, Indian English, Scottish English, etc… Two views on how AAVE developed: Dialect of English spoken in British Isles
Creole language used during times of slavery, i.e. English with various West African languages Most now agree it is probably a combination of both. AAVE Phonetic features:
Phonological process: diphthongs are reduced to monophthongs word-finally or before voiced consonants now /naow/ → /na/ side /said/ → /sad/ time /thaim/ → /tham/ Consonant cluster reduction: cold cuts /khol kh?ts/ best kind /bεs khaynd/ Syntatic features: Multiple negation
(1) I didn‘t have no lunch.
(2) I don‘t never have no lunch.
Habitual ?be‘ (expresses ?always‘ or ?usually‘) (3) The coffee always be cold. (4) She be late everyday.
(5) The coffee be cold right now. Speaker A Speaker B I did it yesterday. I done it yesterday. He hasn‘t got it. He ain‘t got it.
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It was she that said it. It was her what said it Idiolect
A person?s dialect of an individual speaker. (factors: region, social status, gender, age; reflected in: voice quality, pitch, speech tempo, rhythm)
8. Linguistic variation
语言性变异(linguistic variation)是指来自语言内部的变异,主要表现在四个层面上： (1) 语音变异(phonetic and phonological)。众所周知,英国英语标准语(received pronunication, RP)最显著的语音特征
是字母ａ在单词中的发音为/ａ:/,如fast, grass, path; 而在美国普通话(general American English, GAE)中,字母ａ在单词中的发音为/ /,如fast, grass, path;字母ｏ在单词中的发音为/ａ/(不圆唇),如hot, pot。 (2)词汇变异(lexical)。社会语言学家认为,词汇反映着社会的发展,很多不同的词汇被用于不同的语言变体中。如英国人使用car park(停车场), programme studies(课程),而美国人则使用parking lot, curriculum;加拿大人可能会用些美国人不熟悉的英国英语词汇,如球鞋runners(CnE), sneakers(AmE)。 (3)词型变异(morphological)。不同英语变体的拼写形式亦有所差异,如: 英国英语:centre, honour, traveller;美国英语:center, honor, traveler; 澳大利亚人用truck(AmE),而不用lorry(BrE)。
加拿大人经常会把很多英语词汇混合在法语中使用, le smoked beef, le break drum等等。 (4)语法变异(grammatical)。
Do you have a dictionary?(AmE)或Have you a dictionary?(BrE);
它以前怎样?What was it like?(威尔士方言)或What like was it?(苏格兰方言);
你想洗衣服吗?Do you want your clothes washed?(英格兰南部方言)或Do you want your clothes washing? (英格兰中、北部方言)
Style and register
Styles are varieties of language used by an individual appropriate to a level of formality. Martin Joos suggests five degrees of formality.
The Frozen style.冷冻文体 Very formal, used in kinds of formal ceremony. Used in law, historical literature, international conferences.
The Formal style.正式文体 Used in written English, in speech. The characteristics are long sentences, complex sentences, passive voices, inverted sentences, parallelism.
The consultative style. 商议文体 It is the everyday getting-things-done language and between formal and informal. When you talk to strangers, go shopping, travel, you can use the style.
The casual style. 随意文体 It is used in relaxed conversation between friends. Use ellipses.
The intimate style 亲密文体 used between intimate friends, relatives or lovers. Besides lots of ellipses, there are slang. Labov (1970) examined the speech patterns of New Yorkers. He collected data and classified as (1) casual speech (i.e the relaxed speech found in the street and in bars), (2) careful speech ( eg: the speech found in interviews), (3) reading, (4) word lists, and (5) minimal pairs.
Features of casual speech： Pauses.
Fillers:ers/erms.
Back-channel behavior.
Markers of sympathetic circularity. Repetitions.
False starts and self corrections.
Stylistic variation
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How do stylistic differences emerge?
The attention that speakers and writers take with their expression.
Audience design. Adjusting one‘s speech to be similar to that of a real or imagined listener. Accommodation. Adjusting one‘s speech to be more like that of our interlocutor.
Giles’ Speech Accommodation Theory 语言调节理论(1973)
Speech Accommodation theory identifies three principal types of variation. Convergence occurs when speakers adjust their normal speech to make it more similar to their interlocutor‘s speech or to a stereotype of it. Divergence occurs when the opposite takes place---speakers seek to make their speech dissimilar from that of their addressee. Speech maintenance occurs when speakers do not make any changes.
言语适应理论主要用于解释言语风格变化中的言语趋同(convergence)、言语趋异(divergence)和语言保持(language maintenance)等交际策略的心理动机和情感因素等的影响。
言语趋同指在言语交际过程中,交际一方改变自己原有的言语习惯或语体,以更接近说话对象的言语或语体。它可表现在发音、语速、停顿、语码等方面。一般来说,言语趋同追求的是获得对方的赞同、接受、喜欢或好感,增进理解和交际效果以及相互间的吸引力等。
言语趋异指交际中的一方使自己的言语或语体变得与说话对象的言语或语体不同。言语趋异主要是为了保持说话人自己的社会身份特征和群体特征。
其理论基础是社会心理学中的相似吸引原则、社会交换原则、归因原则和群体特征原则。
相似吸引原则指在交际中说话人(addresser)的话语与受话人(addressee)的话语越相似,对受话人越具吸引力、越容易理解。
社会交换原则指说话人在采取某一会话策略时权衡利弊得失,希望利大于弊,因为言语趋同有可能使说话人的社会身份特征受到威胁和损失。
归因原则指人们对他人的言语行为一般都要追究其动机和原因。群体特征指当交谈的双方分属两个不同的群体或社团时,说话人更多的是被视为其群体的代表,或者说具有类典型性(protypicality)。
适应的本质特征 三个本质特征。
1.主观性。(subjectivity) 2.非对称性。(power) 3.以受话者为中心。（audience design)
2. Register
Registers are sets of language items associated with discrete occupational or social groups. Jargon:Speech used by a marked group of people such as trade or occupation. Cant: Thieves‘ amd underworld jargons.
Slang:A kind of jargon marked by its rejection of formal rules.
Taboo: An inhibition or ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion.
The characteristics of slang：
Special kinds of intimate or in-group speech. Fresh but ephemeral. Claim solidarity relations. Reject the power dimensions.
Associate with peer group and gang speech. Make free use of taboo expressions.
In short, Slang thus serves social functions, setting and proclaiming social boundaries and permitting speakers to assert or claim membership of identity or solidarity groups. Slang is a feature of the speech of the young and the powerless and
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