Language, Dialect and Register

Chapter2Language,DialectandRegister1.IstheremorethanonelanguageinChina?Yes,suchasChinese,Tibetan,Mongolian,andUigur2.Saussurearguedthatlanguagecouldbedividedintotwoaspects:Langue—thelinguisticsysteminitsentirety,whichisregardedasthecommonpossessionofallmembersofsociety.Parole—thephysicalmanifestationsoflanguageortheactualutterancesofspeakersandwriters.Thisdistinctioniscentraltomuchmodernlinguisticthought.Saussuresaidthat“languealonewastheproperobjectoflinguisticstudybecause,unlikeparole,itissystematicandcanbedescribedintermsofrules.”ThishashadaninfluenceonChomsky.Langue:competence;parole:performanceSociolinguistshaveconsistentlychallengedthisapproachonthreegrounds:A)Howdoweknowthatknowledgeofthesystemissharedincommon?Isthereanyevidence?B)Howisasocietyorspeechcommunitytobedefined?C)Isitreallyimpossibletoanalyze“parole”intermsofrulesorregularities?Thestudyoftherelationbetweenlanguageanddialecthasbeenfundamentalinprovokingsuchquestionsamongsociolinguists.3.Whatistherealitythatunderpinsourideasaboutlanguageanddialect?Aretheyemotiveterms?Forexample,intheformerYugoslavia:wasSerb-Croatianonelanguageortwo(Serbian&Croatian)?Inittherewere3or4languages.Languageislinkedtoanethnicgroup.Languageordialectisapoliticalterm.IndiaandPakistan:Hindi&UrduFrance:French&Breton(TheCelticlanguageofBrittany.布列塔尼人的凯尔特语Inthissense,alsocalledArmoric)BretonswanttobeindependentofFranceWhyistheretheheat?“Adialectisoftenthoughtofasstandingoutsidethelanguage”----HaugenTheyareasmuchpoliticalandsocialaslinguistic.SothereisaneedforaneutralterminsociolinguisticsVarietyis“asetoflinguisticitemswithsimilarsocialdistributions”(Hudson)Whatisthemostimportantinthisdefinitionisthatvarietyisdefinedintermsofaspecificsetoflinguisticitemswhichwecanuniquelyassociatewithsomeexternalfactors(e.g.regionorclass).Theconceptofvarietyallowsustoaskwhatbasisthereisforthetraditionaldistinctionbetweenlanguageanddialect.Sociolinguistsprefertousevarietyratherthandialect.AccordingtoHudson,alanguageanddialectsarevarieties.Forexample,StandardEnglishandNewYorkspeecharebothvarieties.Speechvariety,orlanguagevariety,referstoanydistinguishableformofspeechusedbyaspeakeroragroupofspeakers.Linguisticfeaturesofaspeechvarietycanbefoundatthelexical,thephonological,themorphological,orthesyntacticallevelofthelanguage.Varietyisconsideredamoreneutraltermthantermssuchasstandardornon-standardlanguageanddialects.4.Thesearchfor“dialects”AccordingtoM.Halliday,adialectis“justasumofvariantshavingastrongtendencytoco-occur”ADialectsmayberegionalorsocial.Linguisticitems/variantsmaybephonological,grammaticalorsemantic.Regionaldialect:NewYorkspeechSocialdialect:upperclassspeechAnexamplefromPeterTrudgill1983:AisanIrishandBisanEnglishman.A:Howlongareyousehere?(are=havebeen)B:TillafterEaster.(SpeakerAlookspuzzled.)B:WecameonSunday.A:Ah,yousehereawhilethen.Stressisonpronunciation,vocabularynotgrammar.“Tosayheis20yearsold,hishairisgrey.”(NorthernEngland)ConsideringBRegionaldialectAregionaldialectisalinguisticvarietyusedbypeoplelivinginthesamegeographicalregion.Sociolinguiststrytodefineregionaldialectsbydrawingisoglosses—alineacrossamapwhichdividesusersofonevariantfromusersofanother.Contrastingvariantswhereaseriesofisoglossesoverlapsignificantly,thenadialectboundarycanbedrawn.Althoughgeographicalbarriersarethemajorsourcesofregionalvariationoflanguage,loyaltytoone’snativespeechandphysicalandpsychologicalresistancetochangeareamongotherreasonsofsuchvariations.Nowadays,thestabilityoflocaldialectsseemstobedecreasing.CNowadays,itisquitedifficulttofindlinguisticitemsthathaveidenticalorsimilarisoglosses.Isoglossestendtointersectratherthanoverlap.“Manydialectologistshavedrawntheconclusionthateachitemhasitsowndistinctionthroughthepopulationofspeakersandthatthereisnoreasontoexpectdifferentitemstohaveidenticaldistributions.”(Hudson)Eachlinguisticitemhasitsowncontributiontothelawratherthanexception.MostofHudson’sresearchwasbasedonEuropeandAmerica.DValidityofinformantsusedindialectsurveys:dotheyreflectonoutdatedstyleofspeech.Survey:oldruralmales’language“Suchselectionledtoprejudicedresultratherthancontemporaryreality.”EOften,whatseemtoexistarenotsharplydefineddialectboundaries,butratherdialectcontinuum,e.g.Dutch—Germanborder.AlthoughpeopleontheborderthinktheyareDutchspeakersorGermanspeakers,theycanunderstandeachotherbetterthantheyunderstandDutchorGermanspokenbypeoplewholivefarawayfromthem.Ontheborder,thelanguagesmergeintoeachotherandtheborderlanguageisamixtureofDutchandGerman.5.Tworelatedquestions:Howarewetodecidewhethertwovarietiesareinstancesofthesamelanguage?Howarewetodecidewhetheravarietyisadialectoralanguage?Criteriaforjudgingtwovarieties:AMutualintelligibility?But…a.Popularunderstandingoftheterm,language,doesnotcorrespondtothecriterion.Forexample,inScandinavia,isthereonelanguageordifferentlanguages?b.Mutualintelligibilityisamatterofdegree,notanabsolutemeasure,fromcompleteunderstandingtolessunderstanding.c.Mutualintelligibilitymayleadtounforeseenandundesirableconclusions.d.Mutualintelligibilitymaybeasmuchamatterofva