Received Pronunciation (RP), a non-localized form of pronunciation, refers to the particular way of pronouncing standard English, which is an indicator of a public school education and thus a high social status on the part of the speaker.

3. Language and Sex 语言与性别

It is interesting to know that the language used by men and women have some special features of their own. Women are usually more status-conscious than men in English speaking world. Sex differentiation is also reflected in the use of certain intonation patterns and certain lexical items.

4. Language and Age 语言与年龄

In many communities the language used by the older generation differs from that used by the younger generation in certain ways. Certain linguistic features occur more frequently in the speech of one generation than that of the other.

1. Standard Dialect 标准方言

The standard dialect is a particular variety of a language. It is not related to any particular group of language users; it is possible for any member of a speech community to use the standard variety regardless of his social and geographical backgrounds, his sex and age.

The standard dialect has a number of features:

1. The standard dialect is based on a selected variety of the language.

    (2)The standard dialect has a widely accepted codified grammar and vocabulary. It is a superimposed variety and it is the variety which is taught and learnt in schools, not the variety of a language any child acquires naturally.

    (3)The standard dialect is usually used in print, and spoken by educated native speakers and used in news broadcasts, official documents and publications and on other formal occasions.

1. Varieties of Language related to the use 与语言使用有关的变体

1. Register 语域

Language is a very variable phenomenon, and this variability is not haphazard as is usually assumed, but it is also rule-governed, and constrained by social variables. It varies with the circumstances under which the language is used.

Any native speaker of a language is in possession of a variety of ways in using the language. The totality of linguistic varieties possessed by an individual constitutes his linguistic repertoire.

A well-known model describing the relationship between social variables and linguistic features is Halliday’s register theory. According to Halliday, Language varies as its function varies; it differs in different situations. The type of language which is selected as appropriate to a type of situation is a register. Register is determined by the following three social variables:

1. Field of Discourse 话语范围

 It refers to what is going on: to the area of operation of the language activity. It is concerned with the purpose and subject-matter of communication. It answers the questions of ‘why’ and ‘about’ what’ communication takes place. Field of discourse may be non-technical (shopping, personal letters) and technical (scientific report…).

 Field of register determines to a great extent the vocabulary to be used in communication and it also determines the phonological and grammatical features of the language.

2. Tenor of Discourse 话语风格

 It refers to the role of relationship in the situation in question: who the participants in the communication group are and in what relationship they stand to each other. It answers the question of ‘to whom’ the speaker is communicating. To a great extent, it determines the level of formality and the level of technicality of the language we use.

3. Mode of Discourse 话语方式

 It mainly refers to the means of communication. It is concerned with ‘how’ communication is carried out. Fundamental to the mode of discourse is the distinction between speaking and writing. Spoken language may be spontaneous or prepared beforehand and written language may be intended to be read with the eye or to be spoken.

 The three variables are the features of the context of situation which determine the features of language appropriate to the situation, i.e. register.

2. Scales of Formality 正式程度

Language used on different occasions differs in the degree of formality, which is determined by the social variables. Martin Joos distinguishes five stages of formality: intimate, casual, consultative, formal, and frozen.

Different styles of the same language can be characterized through differences at three levels, namely, syntactic, lexical and phonological.

3. Communicative Competence

Dell Hymes defined in 1970 communicative competence as consisting of four sectors:

1. the ability to judge whether something is formally possible, i.e. whether something is grammatical.
2. the ability to judge whether something is feasible, i.e. whether something is psychologically acceptable.
3. the ability to judge whether something is appropriate, i.e. whether something is suitable in a certain social context.
4. the ability to judge whether something is done, i.e. how often something occurs.

   Hymes’ competence covers a wider range than Chomsky’s. While Chomsky takes competence to mean the knowledge of a user about his language. Hymes extends it to cover both tacit knowledge and ability for use.

4. Pidgin and Creole 皮钦语和克里奥耳语

Pidgins are mixed or blended languages used by people who speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading. Pidgins typically have a limited vocabulary and a very reduced grammatical structure characterized by the loss of inflections, gender and case.

When a pidgin has become the primary language of a speech community, and is acquired by the children of the speech community as their native language, it is said to be a creole. The structure of the original pidgin is expanded to enable it to fulfil its new functions. The vocabulary is vastly enriched, and new syntactic-semantic concepts developed.

5. Bilingualism and Diglossia 双语现象和双语

In some speech communities, two languages are used side by side with each having a different role to play; and language switching occurs when the situation changes. This constitute the situation of bilingualism.

The term diglossia refers to a sociolinguistic situation similar to bilingualism. But instead of two different languages, in a diglossic situation two varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the community, with each having a definite role to play.

Exercises

1. Match each of the following terms in column A with one of the appropriate definitions in column B:

      Column A                 Column B

1. macro-sociolinguistics       A. Pidgins are mixed or blended languages used by people who

                              speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading.

2. social class dialect          B. Regional dialects are linguistic varieties used by people living in

                            different regions.

3. standard dialect        C. When a pidgin has become the primary language of a speech

                         community, and is acquired by the children of the speech community

                         as their native language

4. diglossia              D. Two languages are used side by side with each having a different role

                          to play; and language switching occurs when the situation changes.

5. bilingualism           E. It is possible for any member of a speech community to use the

                          standard variety regardless of his social and geographical

                          backgrounds, his sex and age.

6. Pidgin                F. The other approach is to look at society from the point of view of   

                          an individual member within it.

7. creole                 G. Social-class dialect, or sociolect, refers to the linguistic variety

                          characteristic of a particular social class.

8. micro-sociolinguistics    H Two varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the

                          community, with each having a definite role to play.

9. regional dialect          We can look at society as a whole and consider how language functions

                         in it and how it reflects the social differentiations.

II. Explain each of the following terms in no more than 50 words:

1. field of discourse        2. tenor of discourse        3. mode of discourse   

4. scales of formality        5. standard dialect         6. register

III. Develop each of the following topics into a 200-word essay:

1. Varieties of language
2. Hymes’ communicative competence
3. Halliday’s Register theory

IX. Language and Culture 语言与文化

语言与文化基本知识

1. Introduction 引言

Language and culture evolved together and have been mutually dependent through their history.

Much of the recent work has revealed that language is related to cognition, and cognition in turn is related to the cultural setting.

2. What is culture? 什么是文化？

Culture means the total way of life of a people. This simple definition implies that culture refers to the patterns of customs, traditions, social habits, values, beliefs and language of a society.

As culture is so inclusive, it permeates virtually every aspect of human life and it conditions and determines all of man’s behaviour, including linguistic behaviour.

In broad terms there are two types of culture: material and spiritual. Material culture is concrete, substantial and observable. In contrast with material culture, only a small part of spiritual culture, the products of mind, is tangible, and most spiritual culture is indiscernible, that is implicit, hidden and abstract, including ideologies, beliefs, values and concepts of time and space.

The abstract areas of culture not only present problems to foreign language learners, but may constitute potential trouble spots in inter-cultural communication.

3. Language and Meaning 文化与意义

When we learn a new word we tend to look for meaning in the word itself. It is more accurate to say that people have meaning and that words stir up meanings in people. Various backgrounds and experiences can alter meanings.

4. Interdependence of Language and Culture 语言与文化相互依赖

We have seen that language meaning is directly related to our experiences. These experiences are unique to each of us not only because of the differences we encountered as individuals while we were growing up and learning to use language, but also because of what our culture gas exposed us to.

Language is the primary means by which a culture transmits its beliefs, values, and norms. It gives people a mean of interacting with other members of the culture.

If we extend the notion that our culture teaches us an internalized response to a word, then various cultures will have specialized responses to the same words. English-speaking culture teaches its people to name what is practical, useful and important. In general sense, the important things in the English-speaking environment take on specific names while the less important things have more general names that must be modified through additional words to become specific.

In short, each culture presents to its members, in conscious and subconscious ways through words, the ideas and concepts that the culture transmits from generation to generation. It is culture that leads to different interpretations and reactions to language.

Language and culture are not independent of mutually exclusive cognitive systems composed of analogous structure and process. Rather, culture is a wider system that completely includes language as a subsystem. The relation of language to culture is then a relation of part to whole.

5. The Significance of Cultural Teaching and Learning 文化教与学的意义

For teaching purposes, let us classify culture into “culture” v. “Culture”.

The former refers to culture in an anthropological sense, i.e. the total way of life of a people. It includes everyday culture patterns and is highly recommended in selecting culture content for foreign language teaching. It can be subdivided into:

1. Active every day patterns which students need to know to function in everyday use of the target language.
2. Patterns of politics, education, economics, marriage, customs which do not call for active command, but which the learner just needs to know because they facilitate cultural understanding.

The other “Culture” denoting culture in the sociohistorical sense can be defined as the products and contributions of a society. Recent study has revealed the fact: While a little knowledge of the target culture will enable a foreign language learner to observe and analyse his own culture, a little knowledge about the learner’s own culture will also promote foreign language learning.

The differences across cultures can be great barriers to communication.

6. Linguistic Evidence of Cultural Differences 文化差异的语言例证

Cultural differences in language are manifest in many aspects of human life.

1. Greetings 寒暄

It is established that in English there are at least a dozen different greetings, from “Hi” and “Hello” to more specific and longer ones like “How are you getting on?” or “How is everything with you?”. While greetings in Chinese culture form a very limited system, those in English culture a much longer system.

1. Thanks and Compliments 致谢和恭维语

It is noted that people in the West tend to verbalise their gratitude and compliments more than Chinese speakers and that they tend to accept thanks and compliments more than we Chinese.

1. Terms of Address 称呼语

While in our society, “tongzhi” is used for all people irrespective of sex, position, or marital status, in English speaking communities “Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms” would be appropriate in similar situations.

The extension of kinship terms is another feature of Chinese culture, i.e. uncle, aunt, grandpa, granny for strangers. Native speakers of English would puzzled if they are called such by people outside the immediate family.

1. Color Words 颜色语

Some languages have only two color terms: black and white. If a language has three color terms, this third term is invariably red. The other colors most commonly entering linguistic systems are yellow, green, blue and brown, making a total of seven. Even though languages vary somewhat in their color terminology, the variation is apparently not random. It appears to follow a pattern related to the human capacity for perceiving colors.

1. Privacy and Taboos