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1、Chapter 6,Linguistic and Social Inequality,6.1 Introduction,Question: Are some languages or dialects inherently better than others? Lay people: Some varieties of language are considered to be better than others. Linguists opinion ?,6.1 Linguistic Inequality,6.1.1 Introduction Equality among language
2、s All languages are equal: no language is inherently “better” than others. Each variety displays characteristics common to all human language: complex and rule-governed. Equality among speakers All normal people are equal with regard to their grammars. Even if there are differences between the gramm
3、ars of two people, there is no way of knowing which has higher prestige in society simply by studying the grammars.,6.1 Linguistic Inequality,Therefore, linguistics should be descriptive, not prescriptive. Problem one It is harder than many linguists realize to avoid prescriptivism, since the histor
4、ical development of linguistic theory has been so closely linked to the description of prestigious varieties such as standard languages. Linguists have studied standard varieties far more than non-standard varieties.,6.1 Linguistic Inequality,Problem two The doctrine of linguistic equality deflects
5、attention from language as a possible source of social inequality. There are identifiable differences between people of the same age in aspects of language such as vocabulary, certain areas of syntax, skill at using speech for certain tasks and the arts of reading and writing, which can only be desc
6、ribed as examples of inequality.,6.1 Linguistic Inequality,Linguists and lay people differ. When linguists make claims about linguistic equality, they are referring to the basic core of language structure, which is the area linguistic theory has been most concerned. Lay people take the basic core co
7、mpletely for granted, and are more concerned with more peripheral aspects such as vocabulary and register-specific constructions.,6.1 Linguistic Inequality,6.1.2 Three types of linguistic inequality Subjective inequality It concerns what people think about each others speech: some people are credite
8、d with more intelligence, friendliness and other such virtues according to the way they speak. Language, in the form of variety differences, contributes to social inequality by being used as a yard-stick for evaluating people, and by being a highly unreliable yard-stick.,6.1 Linguistic Inequality,St
9、rictly linguistic inequality It relates to the linguistic items that a person knows. People of different experiences know different ranges of items. Some people are more confident in using an item than other people, and those who do know it fare better in those social situations where it is needed.
10、Social inequality arises on each such occasion. Some occasions are more important than others in their effects on overall life-chances. (education vs. fishing),6.1 Linguistic Inequality,Communicative inequality It is concerned with knowledge of how to use linguistic items to communicate successfully
11、, rather than simply with knowledge of the linguistic items themselves. It refers to the kind of knowledge or skill that is needed when using speech to interact with other people. It also includes inequalities in the ways in which speakers select variants of linguistic variables in order to present
12、a favorable image, which means that communicative inequality subsumes subjective inequality.,6.2 Subjective inequality,6.2.1 Language-based prejudice It involves prejudices about particular ways of speaking. This is socially problematic in that the conclusions may be wrong. We do it because we need
13、the information, and we have no better source. A language prejudice is a characteristic which we expect people to have because of the way they speak.,6.2 Subjective inequality,6.2.2 Evaluation of language When we evaluate speech as rough, posh, effeminate, affected and so on, this evaluation is base
14、d on the evaluation of the speakers, and not on the speech forms themselves. The most important questions is how people evaluate the dialect or language that they speak themselves, because this is closely related to their self-evaluation.,6.2 Subjective inequality,Linguistic insecurity: a feeling of
15、 insecurity experienced by speakers or writers about some aspect of their language use or about the variety of language they speak. This may result, for instance, in MODIFIED SPEECH, when speakers attempt to alter their way of speaking. Modified speech: a term used by linguists to describe speech wh
16、ich is deliberately changed in an attempt to make it sound more educated or refined. The change is usually temporary and the speaker lapses back to his or her normal speech pattern.,6.2 Subjective inequality,Overt prestige: the prestige of the high-status group representing, symbolically, the whole
17、community. Covert prestige: that of the local, non-prestige group.,6.2 Subjective inequality,6.2.3 Stereotypes and how to study them People use the speech of others as a clue to non-linguistic information about them, such as their social background and even personality traits.,6.2 Subjective inequal
18、ity,Subjective reaction test The method of recording people talking with tape-recorders. The tape might typically contain a dozen voices, each speaking for a minute or so. The subjects (the people whose stereotypes are being investigated) are asked to listen to these voices, one at a time, and answe
19、r a questionnaire about each. The results typically show clear differences both between voices and between subjects - different voices evoke different stereotypes in the mind of the same person, whilst the same voice may suggest different stereotypes to different people.,6.2 Subjective inequality,Ma
20、tched guise technique (in studies of language attitudes) the use of recorded voices of people speaking first in one dialect or language and then in another; that is, in two guises. The recordings are played to listeners who do not know that the two samples of speech are from the same person. The rea
21、ctions of the listeners to the speakers in one guise are compared to reactions to the other guise to reveal attitudes towards different language or dialect groups, whose members may be considered more or less intelligent, friendly, co-operative, reliable, etc.,6.2 Subjective inequality,6.2.4 Prejudi
22、ce of teachers There is some evidence that teachers base their first impression of pupils on speech-forms in preference to other sources of information which might appear to be more relevant. Teachers are of at least two kinds: those who evaluate on the basis of standardness, and those who pay more
23、attention to fluency.,6.2 Subjective inequality,If a teacher expects children to perform poorly, her behavior towards them may be such as to encourage them to do just that. Negative expectations by the teacher will similarly lead to negative performance by the pupils.,6.2 Subjective inequality,6.2.5
24、 Prejudice of pupils Some children already have quite well-developed linguistic prejudices by the time they go to primary school. The teachers accent may affect the childrens willingness to be influenced by what she says, and even their ability to remember it. Children will pay more attention to thi
25、ngs said in an accent which arouses their group loyalty than in one which does not, and will consequently remember more of the former.,6.2 Subjective inequality,It thus seems that the linguistic prejudices of both teachers and pupils are potential sources of serious problems in the education process
26、.,6.3 Linguistic incompetence: strictly linguistic inequality,deficit theory (deficit hypothesis) the theory that the language of some children may be lacking in vocabulary, grammar, or the means of expressing complex ideas, and may therefore be inadequate as a basis for success in school. Linguists
27、 have criticized this hypothesis and contrasted it with the difference hypothesis, which states that although the language of some children (e.g. children from certain social and ethnic groups) may be different from that of middle-class children, all dialects are equally complex and children can use
28、 them to express complex ideas and to form a basis for school learning.,6.3 Linguistic incompetence: strictly linguistic inequality,The deficit hypothesis is dangerous nonsense: nonsense because it is simply not true that any normal children are so short of language, and dangerous because it can dis
29、tract attention from the real shortcomings of many school systems by putting the blame for educational failure on inadequacies of the child.,6.3 Linguistic incompetence: strictly linguistic inequality,It should be remembered that no two speakers know precisely the same range of vocabulary and syntac
30、tic constructions, so we can not rule out the possibility that some such differences are relevant to success at school. Wells (1981) confirmed that children are unequal from a strictly linguistic point of view, and that at least some of the inequality is due to their experiences.,6.3 Linguistic inco
31、mpetence: strictly linguistic inequality,It seems likely that, although some children learn academic words (the vocabulary that teacher use when teaching) at home, others may not, which leaves them at a disadvantage when they first meet the words at school, and the fact that some children do underst
32、and the words may blind the teacher to the need to explain them.,6.3 Linguistic incompetence: strictly linguistic inequality,At one extreme are children who are fully competent in a language, but not in the language of instruction. At the other extreme are children who speak a non-standard dialect o
33、f the schools language of instruction, but who are expected to learn the standard dialect for purposes of reading and writing, and possibly also for speaking.,6.4 Communicative incompetence: inequality in communication,It is easy to see how inequality can arise in communicative competence to the ext
34、ent that this is learned through experience. A particular obvious kind of inequality in communicative competence distinguishes native speakers of a language from non-native learners.,Term paper,Topic: Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching Typed A4 paper Font: Times New Roman Font size: Main body (1
35、2) Title, abstract, key words, main body, references Cover: Students name, Student number, Course name, teachers name,Suggested Topics,Introducing culture into language teaching What is communicative competence Inequality in the language classroom English teaching policy in China What to teach our students in the classroom,