戴炜栋《新编简明英语语⾔学教程》(第2版)课后习题详解(下)【圣才出品】第8章语⾔与社会1. How is language related to society?Key: (1) 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!”, “How is your family?”, “Nice day today, isn’t it?”(2) 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.(3) Language, especially the structure of its lexicon, reflects both the physical and social environment 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.2. Explain with an example that the evaluation of language is social rather thanlinguistic.Key: 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 communication 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 []. While in England accents without postvocalic [] are considered to be more correct than accents with it, in New York city, accents with postvocalic [] enjoys more prestige and considered more correct than without it.3. What are the main social dialects discussed in this chapter? How do they jointlydetermine idiolect?Key:The main social dialects discussed in this chapter are regional dialect, sociolect, age and gender. 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 she/he 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?Key: (1) The standard dialect is a particular variety of a language in that it is not related to any particular group of language users, but it is the variety which any member of a speech community can possibly use regardless of his social and geographical backgrounds, his gender and age.(2) 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.(3) The standard dialect is not a dialect a child acquires naturally like his regional dialect. It is a superimposed variety; imposed from above the range of regional dialects.(4) 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 purpose 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. Key: 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 biology in a technical college could be identifiedas:Field: scientific (biological)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)?Key: (1) Linguistic features of Black English:Phonological features: 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 often pronounced [], mend [], desk [], and told [].Syntactic features one: the deletion of link verb “be”. In Black English, we often come across many sentences without 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 often found in other dialects of English and in languages like Russian and Chinese.Syntactic features two: the use of double negation structure. e.g.He don’t know nothing. (He doesn’t know anything.)I ain’t afraid of no ghosts. (I am not afraid of ghosts.)Some people consider these sentences illogical because they claim that two negatives make positive. But in fact, such double negative constructions werefound in all dialects of English of earlier period.(2) I don’t think Black English is an illogical and inferior variety of English.Linguists are agreed that no variety of a language is inherently better than any other. They insist that all languages and all varieties of a particular language are equal in that they quite adequately serve the needs of those who use them. The only exception they recognize are pidgins, which are by definition restricted varieties, or the varieties we associate with people who are impaired in some way, e.g. certain mentally or physically handicapped people. American English is considered “better”only in a social sense: it has a preferred status; it gives those who use it certain social advantages; and it increases their life chances. Black English, being a nonstandard variety, tends to produce the opposite effect. These are some of the consequences that follow from elevating one variety and denigrating others, but there is no reason to suppose that any one of the varieties is intrinsically more worthy than any other.7. What peculiar features does pidgin have?Key: A pidgin is a special language variety that mixes or blends languages and it is used by people who speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading. Pidgin arose from a blending of several languages such as Chinese dialects and English, African dialects and French. 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 andmissionaries. Pidgins typically have a limited vocabulary and a reduced grammatical structure characterized by the loss ofinflection, gender and case. The “simplified” variety performs its function as trading and employment.8. How do bilingualism and diglossia differ, and what do they have in common? Key: Differences:(1)Bilingualism refers to the situation that two languages are used side by side with each having a different role to play; and language switching occurs when the situation changes.(2)Diglossia, refers to a sociolinguistic situation similar to bilingualism. In a diglossic situation, two varieties (high variety and low variety) of a language, instead of two different languages, exist side by side throughout the community, with each having a definite role to play. One of the most important features of diglossia is the specialization of function of the two varieties. Each variety is the appropriate language for certain situations with very slight overlappings.Similarity:The two languages of bilingualism and two varieties of diglossia exist side by side and have different role to play as situation changes.。