Relationship between language and society

Chapter9LanguageandSociety语言和社会：社会语言学Chapter 9 Language and Society①Questions for discussion:1. How are culture and language related to each other?2. How do different social factors, like age and gender, affect language use?3. How do people talk differently in different situations?4. What are the other varieties of language besides regional dialects?5. Can you imagine two standard languages used in one nation?9.1 Sociolinguistics9.1.1 Definition(p160) ★Sociolinguistics is the sub-field of linguistics that studies the relation between language and society, between the uses of language and the the social structures in which the users of language live.Metaphorically, language is regarded as a mirror of society, through which we can understand social activities of a certain society better.Functionally, society provides language with a suitable context of use, in which we can enjoy aspects fo language vividly and truthfully.9.1.2 Two Fundamental Concepts★Speech community: a group of people who form a community (e.g. a village, a region, a nation) and share the same lanugage or a particular variety of a language. Speech variety (language variety): any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker (e.g. idiolect) or a group of speakers (dialect, sociolect).9.1.3 Two approaches/perspectives(p160)◆Micro-sociolinguistics (sociolinguistic study of language): the study of potential social factors for a description and explanation of some linguistic variations, e.g.regional dialects, social dialects, Pidgin and Creole.Macro-sociolinguistics (sociolinguistic study of society): the study of language use to know more about a given society or community, e.g. bilingualism, language planning, language standardization, etc.Questions for discussion:1. What disciplines/studies have close relevance to the study of sociolinguistics?2. Can feel the differences between micro- and macro- sociolinguistics?9.2 Language Variation —Sociolinguistic Study of Language①本章内容拆自教材第七章，并融入了很多其他语言学教材的相关内容。

Sociolinguistics --- the study of the relation between language and societyRelatedness between language and societyLanguage can be used to fulfill social functions.Language can indicate one‟s geographical background.Language can indicate one‟s social s tatus.What is sociolinguistics about?social significance of language variation andlanguage use in different speech communitiesIncluding regional, ethnic and social groups.Sociolinguistics is also concerned with theimpact of extra linguistic factors on languageuse, such as age, gender, profession, and socialStatus.Section 1 Survey1The scope of enquiry 研究范畴•the relation between language and society between the uses of language and the social structure (in which language users live)Sociolinguistics and related disciplines Sociolinguistics is related to other disciplines such as anthropology, psychology, education and planning as it has drawn a lot (e.g. taking concepts and findings) from the work done by anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, educators and planners who also use much work of sociolinguistics to help their studies.Primary task: to map linguistic variation on social conditions变异现象(variation)1 synchronic共时的variation (variation at a single point of time)2 diachronic 历时的variation (variation over time) or language change语体：语言的功能变体,是以语言交际功能为标准所划分的语言风格类型。

- 226-校园英语 / 语言文化研究The Relationship between Language and Society辽宁工业大学外国语学院/彭丹丹 井思元It is a fact that there is a close relationship between language and culture. Looking back briefly at what has happened in the field of linguistics, we will find some evidence to support this idea.a) Language is a special social phenomenonLanguage is a special social phenomenon, an important communication tool. Like natural phenomena, language also has a process of product, development and death. Its product and development are related closely to society. On one hand, language cannot exist without society. Language develops and dies as society develops and dies. On the other hand, society cannot exist without language. There is a close relationship between language and society. Language is not only a basic communication tool, but also a special social phenomenon. Its special is that as a tool for people’s communication, language serves for the whole society equally. This tool enables people to understand and adjust all their work in human activities.b) Language depends on societyFirstly, Language is the product of human society. There is not language without society. To ensure their existence, people must change, adjust to and take advantage of the nature. They work together and constitute the human society. Human language is produced through work. In fact, what kind of language atmosphere he lives, he will obtain and use what kind of language. If an English child grew up in a Chinese atmosphere, he will get the ability to speak Chinese instead of English and vice versa.Secondly, the progress of society promotes the development of language. With the development of the society, language needs to change to adjust to it. The language is getting more and more accurate, such as the dictionary.c) The development of society causes the development of languageLanguage develops and evolutes with the development and evolution of the society. But language changes slowly, it is difficult to observe. The evolution of language usually begins in a certain area or a group of people. In a small and connected society, the spread of language is rarely blocked. But if the region is separated, the evolution of language cannot spread throughout society. With the popularity of the Internet, and the progress of human science and technology, a series of new words arises at the historic moment, such as “nong min gong”, who come from his hometown to the city to earn money are called “nong min gong” because of his position. Language is a mirror to society. Looking through this piece of mirror, people can see all aspects of the social lives.d) Language is a necessary condition for social developmentLanguage is one of the powers of promoting the development of the society. The product of the language enables the human society to develop from the low level to the high. Without the important communication tool, all activities of the society will stop and even breakdown. During the long history of the human society, people have taken advantages of the language to record and spread their living experience and knowledge to their descendant. So, people can create endless material treasure.Language plays the promoting role in social product. There are two parts in the social product：material one and psychic one. As we know, material product is always the activity that people work together. During this activity, language is essential. Without language, there is no doubt that society production will stop and collapse. With the development of productive force, the approach to the language spreading changes all the time, which promotes the development of the society product in return. Now let us talk about the psychic part.Language and Science：Without language, there would be no thoughts or science. Thanks to the language, every invention, imagination adjustment, foresight and analysis would come true.Language and Literature：”The first factor of literature is the language.” This is a famous saying of Gorky, which makes clear the relationship of language and literature. In the world of literature arts, all types of language play the important role. Its phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics anthropological and etc, form its own style.In a word, language comes from the society lives, changes with the changes of the society lives, develops with the development of the society lives. Language cannot exist without society is like that society cannot exist without language. There is a close connection between the language and society.作者简介：彭丹丹(1995-)，女，河南漯河人，大学本科，英语专业。