Chapter 8 Language and Society 1. How is language related to society? 答： 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. This social function of language is embodied in the use of such utterances as “Good morning!”, “Hi!”, “How's your family?”, “Nice day today, isn't it?”. Another indication is that users of the same language in a sense all speak differently. The kind of language each of them chooses to use is in part determined by his social background. And language, in its turn, reveals information about its speaker. When we speak, we cannot avoid giving clues to our listeners about ourselves. Then to some extent, language, especially the structure of its lexicon, reflects both the physical and the social environments of a society. For example while there is only one word in English for “snow”, there are several in Eskimo. This is a reflection of the need for the Eskimos to make distinctions between various kinds of snow in their snowy living environment. 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. To a linguist, all language forms and accents are equally good as far as they can fulfill the communicative functions they are expected to fulfill. Therefore, judgments concerning the correctness and purity of linguistic varieties are social rather than linguistic. A case in point is the use of the postvocalic [r]. While in English accents without postvocalic [r] are considered to be more correct than accents with it, in New York city, accents with postvocalic [r] enjoys more prestige and are considered more correct than without it. 2. Explain with an example that the evaluation of language is social rather than linguistic. 答： The evaluation of language is social rather than linguistic. This is because every language or language variety can express all ideas that its native speakers want to express. That is to say, language and language variety are equal in expressing meaning. For example, the much-prejudiced Black English can be used by the black people to communicate with each other without feeling any hindrance. But many other people think Black English is not pure English because it does not conform to their grammar and not adopted by educated people. As a result, many people feel shameful to use Black English. From this example we can know that the evaluation of language is social, not linguistic. 3. What are the main social dialects discussed in this chapter? How do they jointly determine idiolect? 答： The main social dialects discussed in this chapter are regional dialect, sociolect, gender and age. Idiolect is a personal dialect, of an individual speaker that combines elements regarding regional, social, gender, and age variations. These factors jointly determine the way he/she talks. While the language system provides all its users with the same set of potentials, the realization of these potentials is individualized by a number of social factors, resulting in idiolects. 4. In what sense is the standard dialect a special variety of language? 答： First of all, the standard dialect is based on a selected variety of the language, usually it is the local speech of an area which is considered the nation's political and commercial center. For example, standard English developed out of the English dialects used in and around London as they were modified over the centuries by speakers in the court, by scholars from universities and writers. Gradually the English used by the upper classes in the capital city diverged markedly from the English used by other social groups and came to be regarded as the model for all those who wished to speak and write well. Second, the standard dialect is not dialect a child acquires naturally like his regional dialect. It is a superimposed variety; it is a variety imposed from above over the range of regional dialects. Some government agency writes grammar books and dictionaries to ‘fix’ this variety and everyone agrees on what is correct usage of the language. So it has a widely accepted codified grammar and vocabulary. Once codification takes place, it is necessary for an ambitious citizen to learn to use the correct language and to avoid ‘incorrect’ language. Therefore, the standard dialect is the variety which is taught and learnt in schools. Then the standard dialect has some special functions. Also designated as the official or national language of a country, the standard dialect is used for such official purposes as government documents, education, news reporting; it is the language used on any formal occasions. 5. What is register as used by Halliday? Illustrate it with an example of your own. 答： According to Halliday, “Language varies as its function varies; it differs in different situations.” The type of language which is selected as appropriate to the type of situation is a register. Halliday further distinguishes three social variables that determine the register: field of discourse, tenor of discourse, and mode of discourse. For example, a lecture on linguistics could be identified as Field: scientific (linguistic) Tenor: teacher — students (formal, polite) Mode: oral (academic lecturing) 6. What linguistic features of Black English do you know? Do you think Black English is an illogical and inferior variety of English? Why (not)? 答： (1) A prominent phonological feature of Black English is the simplification of consonant clusters at the end of a word. According to this consonant deletion rule, the final-position consonants are often deleted; thus “passed” is pronounced [pa:s], mend [men], desk [des], and told [t??l]. A syntactic feature of Black English that has often been cited to show its illogicality is the deletion of the link verb “be”. In Black English we frequently come across sentences without the copula verb: “They mine”, “You crazy”, “Her hands cold”, and “That house big”. In fact, copula verb deletion is not a unique feature of Black English; it is also found in some other dialects of English and in languages like Russian and Chinese. Another syntactic feature of Black English that has been the target of attack is the use of double negation constructions, e.g. (8 — 2) He don't know nothing. (He doesn't know anything.) (8 — 3) I ain't afraid of no ghosts. (I'm not afraid of ghosts.) Some people consider these sentences illogical because they claim that two negatives make a positive. But in fact such double negative constructions were found in all dialects of English of the earlier periods. (2) (略) 7. What peculiar features docs pidgin have? 答： Pidgins arose from a blending of several languages such as Chinese dialects and English, African dialects and French, African dialects and Portuguese. Usually a European language serves as the basis of the pidgin in the sense that some of its grammar and vocabulary is derived from the European language used by traders and missionaries in order to communicate with peoples whose languages they did not know. Pidgins typically have a limited vocabulary and a very reduced grammatical structure characterized by the loss of inflections, gender end case, The “simplified” variety performs its functions as trading and employment. 8. How do bilingualism and diglossia differ, and what do they have in common? 答： Bilingualism refers to the situation that 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. 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. The two languages of bilingualism and the two varieties of diglossia each has different role to play as situation changes.