社会语言学论文(基础)Understanding-of-Sociolinguistics.doc

Understanding of Sociolinguistics1 Introduction12 Some definitions of sociolinguistics13 The scope of sociolinguistic study24 The comment on Fishmans definition of sociolinguistics35 Conclusion3References4Abstract：Sociolinguistics has drawn more and more attention since it became an independent discipline in 1960sBut scholars from various disciplines look at sociolinguistics from different perspectives，and carry out sociolinguistic study in different waysThis paper tries to understand sociolinguistics in terms of its definitions and the scope of sociolinguistic study to point out the lack of comprehensiveness in Fishmans view on the definition of sociolinguisticsKey words：sociolinguistics；definitions；scope；lack of comprehensiveness1 IntroductionThough the social aspect of language attracted early attention，it was not until the mid 1960s that sociolinguistics became an independent discipline with its representatives William Labor and Dell HymesIt has become an indispensable course in linguistic study together with syntax，phonetics and phonology, semantics. etcBut scholars from various disciplines have different answers to the questions：What is sociolinguistics?，What does the sociolinguist do?，What content should be included in sociolinguistic study?，and What methods should be adopted in carrying out sociolinguistic study? Fishman argued that sociolinguistics is the name commonly given to the study of who speaks (or writes) what language (or what language variety) to whom and when and to what end (cited from Wardhaugh，R1986：16)Before we make any comment on this view，it is necessary to have a basic knowledge about the definitions of sociolinguistics and the scope of sociolinguistic study2 Some definitions of sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is a crossdisciplinary subjectLinguists and sociolinguists are not the only researchers involved in studies of language in societyScholars such as anthropologists，psychologists，educators，and planners have an interest too They study the sociocultural aspect of language from different angles and come up with different understanding Peter Trudgill says that sociolinguistics is a science that combines linguistic and social concerns in varying degrees (cited from Fasold，R1990：FS0)This view seems to p1ay sociolinguistics at a high level by considering it “a science”, but is vague in the failure to specify the “varying degrees”William Labov defines sociolinguistics as the secular linguisticsWhile William Downes sees sociolinguistics as that branch of linguistics which studies just those properties of language and languages which require reference to social，including contextua1 factors in their explanationTo quote Holmes view，sociolinguistics is concerned with the relationship between language and the context in which it is usedGumperz states that sociolinguistics is an attempt to find relations between social structure and linguistic structure and to observe any changes that occurThis definition covers a broad range，therefore is more inclusive of the scope of sociolinguistic studySusan Pinlips in 1980 defines sociolinguistics briefly as the study of the ways in which a persons speech conveys social informationThis view manifests that language is a social behaviorPeoples different choices of linguistic forms may reflect their different social backgroundWolfson expresses his view by saying that sociolinguistics is the study of the interplay of linguistic，social，and cultural factors in human communicationIn Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching Applied Linguistics, sociolinguistics is defined as the study of language in relation to social factors, that is, social class，educational level and type of education, Age, sex，ethnic origins，etc(Richard，JC1992：425)It seems that there is no agreement on the exact definition of sociolinguistics，just like what Dell Hymes has claimed：“Different people may have different understanding of the term sociolinguisticsTherefore，no one has the patent for its definition.”(cited in Fasold1990：F 12) But however different views scholars hold，they are ready to agree at least one pointThat is，sociolinguistics studies the relation between language and societyWhatever sociolinguistics is，it must be oriented toward both data and theoryBut still scholars will come up with different answers to the question What content should be included in sociolinguistic study?3 The scope of sociolinguistic study We can generally divide sociolinguistic study into the broad sense and the narrow senseThe former is also widely called the macro-sociolinguistics，and the latter micro-sociolinguisticsTo make the division clear, Wolfson compared sociolinguistic study to a sort of telescope through which language behavior may be studied in its socio-cultural contextIn looking through the small end of the telescope，we view speech at the level of face-to-face interaction，and this type of study is called micro-sociolinguisticsBy looking through the large end of the sociolinguistic telescope，we are able to see the workings of language contact，choice，use，maintenance，and change at the social level，a field of study called the sociology of language or macro-sociolinguisticsHudson in 1980 made a distinction between sociolinguistics and the sociology of language in stating that the former is the study of language in relation to society while the later is the study of society in relation to language(cited in Wardhaugh，R1986：12-13). That is to saysociolinguistics can be studied either from the perspective of language or from that of societyHudson further argues that the influence which society exerts on language is the major concern of sociolinguistic studySome scholars also classify sociolinguistic study into the theoretical research model and the practical research mode1But no matter how scholars define and understand sociolinguistics，it is generally agreed that sociolinguistic study mainly deals with social variation, language varieties，the differences of language use conventions，and the socio-cultural factors that contribute to the variation, varieties and differencesSocial variation in language including the variation of region，social class, register, style，age and sex has been one of the major focuses of sociolinguistics since its formation in the early 1960Language variety has been and still is the main concern of sociolinguistics，but the scope of sociolinguistic study may be very wide such that it can cover almost everythingSociolinguistics is an empirical scienceit must be founded on an adequate data baseThis requires that when we are considering sociolinguistics，we should take the various kinds of research methods Into accountIt is better to collect data through observing naturally occurring linguistic eventsThe ethnomethodology makes one significant contribution to the development of sociolinguistic study4 The comment on Fishmans definition of sociolinguisticsFishman says that sociolinguistics is the name commonly given to the study of who speaks(or writes)what language (or what language variety)to whom and when and to what endThe American sociolinguist Nessa Wolfson shares the similar view with Fishman in generalizing the scope of sociolinguistics to beWho says what to whom，when and how(cited from Hudson1980：F14)Brief as Fishmans definition is，it includes the major elements in sociolinguistics:“what” represents the language or language variety“who”, “whom”, “when” and “to what end” represent those social variablesThis may be better understood by considering the four components that influence linguistic choices，namely，the participants，the setting or social context of the interactionthe topic and the function(Holmes，Janet1997：12)Hymess SPEAKING theory may also be adopted to account for Fishmans definition to some extentIn spite of its brevity and reasonableness，this definition is not comprehensive enough to inform us the nature of sociolinguistics，the relationship between it and the sociology of language or other disciplinesNeither does it cover the broad range of the scope of sociolinguistic studyIt looks at sociolinguistics from the viewpoint of interpersonal interactions，and covers social variation and language variety, thus belongs to the scope of micro-sociolinguisticsTo mention only the language variety does not make the whole storyIt also fails to mention the research methods and the theoretical base of sociolinguistic studyTherefore，Fishmans definition can not provide us with an overall and thorough understanding of sociolinguistics5 ConclusionThough scholars from various disciplines have shown great interest in the sociocultural aspect of language，different researchers define sociolinguistics differently and come up with different understandingIn fact，sociolinguistic study is characterized by a wide variety or inclusiveness of its research scopeCfMcGregor argues that as long as we are fully aware of this point，questions like “How to define sociolinguistics?” and “