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Chapter8LanguageandSociety1.Howislanguagerelatedtosociety?答：Therearemanyindicationsoftheinter-relationshipbetweenlanguageandsociety.Oneofthemisthatwhilelanguageisprincipallyusedtocommunicatemeaning,itisalsousedtoestablishandmaintainsocialrelationships.Thissocialfunctionoflanguageisembodiedintheuseofsuchutterancesas“Goodmorning!”,“Hi!”,“How'syourfamily?”,“Nicedaytoday,isn'tit?”.Anotherindicationisthatusersofthesamelanguageinasenseallspeakdifferently.Thekindoflanguageeachofthemchoosestouseisinpartdeterminedbyhissocialbackground.Andlanguage,initsturn,revealsinformationaboutitsspeaker.Whenwespeak,wecannotavoidgivingcluestoourlistenersaboutourselves.Thentosomeextent,language,especiallythestructureofitslexicon,reflectsboththephysicalandthesocialenvironmentsofasociety.ForexamplewhilethereisonlyonewordinEnglishfor“snow”,thereareseveralinEskimo.ThisisareflectionoftheneedfortheEskimostomakedistinctionsbetweenvariouskindsofsnowintheirsnowylivingenvironment.Asasocialphenomenonlanguageiscloselyrelatedtothestructureofthesocietyinwhichitisused,andtheevaluationofalinguisticformisentirelysocial.Toalinguist,alllanguageformsandaccentsareequallygoodasfarastheycanfulfillthecommunicativefunctionstheyareexpectedtofulfill.Therefore,judgmentsconcerningthecorrectnessandpurityoflinguisticvarietiesaresocialratherthanlinguistic.Acaseinpointistheuseofthepostvocalic[r].WhileinEnglishaccentswithoutpostvocalic[r]areconsideredtobemorecorrectthanaccentswithit,inNewYorkcity,accentswithpostvocalic[r]enjoysmoreprestigeandareconsideredmorecorrectthanwithoutit.2.Explainwithanexamplethattheevaluationoflanguageissocialratherthanlinguistic.答：Theevaluationoflanguageissocialratherthanlinguistic.Thisisbecauseeverylanguageorlanguagevarietycanexpressallideasthatitsnativespeakerswanttoexpress.Thatistosay,languageandlanguagevarietyareequalinexpressingmeaning.Forexample,themuch-prejudicedBlackEnglishcanbeusedbytheblackpeopletocommunicatewitheachotherwithoutfeelinganyhindrance.ButmanyotherpeoplethinkBlackEnglishisnotpureEnglishbecauseitdoesnotconformtotheirgrammarandnotadoptedbyeducatedpeople.Asaresult,manypeoplefeelshamefultouseBlackEnglish.Fromthisexamplewecanknowthattheevaluationoflanguageissocial,notlinguistic.3.Whatarethemainsocialdialectsdiscussedinthischapter?Howdotheyjointlydetermineidiolect?答：Themainsocialdialectsdiscussedinthischapterareregionaldialect,sociolect,genderandage.Idiolectisapersonaldialect,ofanindividualspeakerthatcombineselementsregardingregional,social,gender,andagevariations.Thesefactorsjointlydeterminethewayhe/shetalks.Whilethelanguagesystemprovidesallitsuserswiththesamesetofpotentials,therealizationofthesepotentialsisindividualizedbyanumberofsocialfactors,resultinginidiolects.4.Inwhatsenseisthestandarddialectaspecialvarietyoflanguage?答：Firstofall,thestandarddialectisbasedonaselectedvarietyofthelanguage,usuallyitisthelocalspeechofanareawhichisconsideredthenation'spoliticalandcommercialcenter.Forexample,standardEnglishdevelopedoutoftheEnglishdialectsusedinandaroundLondonastheyweremodifiedoverthecenturiesbyspeakersinthecourt,byscholarsfromuniversitiesandwriters.GraduallytheEnglishusedbytheupperclassesinthecapitalcitydivergedmarkedlyfromtheEnglishusedbyothersocialgroupsandcametoberegardedasthemodelforallthosewhowishedtospeakandwritewell.Second,thestandarddialectisnotdialectachildacquiresnaturallylikehisregionaldialect.Itisasuperimposedvariety;itisavarietyimposedfromaboveovertherangeofregionaldialects.Somegovernmentagencywritesgrammarbooksanddictionariesto‘fix’thisvarietyandeveryoneagreesonwhatiscorrectusageofthelanguage.Soithasawidelyacceptedcodifiedgrammarandvocabulary.Oncecodificationtakesplace,itisnecessaryforanambitiouscitizentolearntousethecorrectlanguageandtoavoid‘incorrect’language.Therefore,thestandarddialectisthevarietywhichistaughtandlearntinschools.Thenthestandarddialecthassomespecialfunctions.Alsodesignatedastheofficialornationallanguageofacountry,thestandarddialectisusedforsuchofficialpurposesasgovernmentdocuments,education,newsreporting;itisthelanguageusedonanyformaloccasions.5.WhatisregisterasusedbyHalliday?Illustrateitwithanexampleofyourown.答：AccordingtoHalliday,“Languagevariesasitsfunctionvaries;itdiffersindifferentsituations.”Thetypeoflanguagewhichisselectedasappropriatetothetypeofsituationisaregister.Hallidayfurtherdistinguishesthreesocialvariablesthatdeterminetheregister:fieldofdiscourse,tenorofdiscourse,andmodeofdiscourse.Forexample,alectureonlinguisticscouldbeidentifiedasField:scientific(linguistic)Tenor:teacher—students(formal,polite)Mode:oral(academiclecturing)6.WhatlinguisticfeaturesofBlackEnglishdoyouknow?DoyouthinkBlackEnglishisanillogicalandinferiorvarietyofEnglish?Why(not)?答：(1)AprominentphonologicalfeatureofBlackEnglishisthesimplificationofconsonantclustersattheendofaword.Accordingtothisconsonantdeletionrule,thefinal-positionconsonantsareoftendeleted;thus“passed”ispronounced[pa:s],mend[men],desk[des],andtold[t??l].AsyntacticfeatureofBlackEnglishthathasoftenbeencitedtoshowitsillogicalityisthedeletionoftheli