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1、Languageandsociety1.Thescopeofsociolinguistics1.1IndicationsofrelatednessbetweenlanguageandsocietyAnobviousindicationoftheinter-relationshipbetweenlanguageandsocietyisthefactthatlanguageisnotalwaysusedtoexchangeinformationasisgenerallyassumed,butratheritissometimesusedtofulfilanimportant
2、socialfunction---tomaintainsocialrelationshipbetweenpeople.Anotherindicationisthatusersofthesamelanguageinasenseallspeakdifferently.Thekindoflanguageeachofthemchoosestouseisinpartdeterminedbyhissocialbackground.Whenwespeakwecannotavoidgivingourlistenerscluesaboutouroriginandourbackground
3、.therearemanyexamplesofthephysicalenvironmentinwhichasocietylivesbeingreflectedinitslanguage,normallyinthestructureofitslexicon---thewayinwhichdistinctionsaremadebymeansofsinglewords.WhereasEnglish,forexample,hasonlyonewordforsnow(ortwoifweincludesleet),Eskimohasseveral.Thereasonsforthis
4、areobvious.ItisessentialforEskimostobeabletodistinguishefficientlybetweendifferenttypesofsnow.English,ofcourse,isquiteabletomakethesamedistinctions:finesnow,drysnow,softsnow,andsoon,butinEskimosthissortofdistinctionislexicalized---madebymeansofindividualwords.Thesocialenvironmentcanalsob
5、ereflectedinlanguage,andcanoftenhaveaneffectonthestructureofthevocabulary.Forexample,asociety'skinshipsystemisgenerallyreflectedinitskinshipvocabulary.Wecanassume,forexample,thattheimportantkinrelationshipsinEnglish-speakingsocietiesarethosethataresignaledbysinglevocabularyitems.Associet
6、yisreflectedinlanguageinthisway,socialchangecanproduceacorrespondinglinguisticchange.ThishashappenedinthecaseofRussian.Duringtheperiodfrom1860tothepresentdaythestructureoftheRussiankinshipsystemhasundergoneaveryradicalchangeasaresultofseveralimportantevents:Forexample:theemancipationofse
7、rfsin1861,theFirstWorldWar,therevolution,thecollectivizationofagricultureandtheSecondworldWar.Therehasbeenamarkedsocialaswellaspoliticalrevolution,andthishasbeenaccompaniedbyacorrespondingchangeinthelanguage.Inthemiddleofthelastcentury,wife'sbrotherwasshurin,whereasnownow
