語言與社會身份(989)

1、語言與社會身份一個人的語言與其在社會屮的身份其實密不可分。記得我在澳大利亞生活 時，一位鄰居要競選議員，他便每天早上起來練習(xí)發(fā)咅，以令口己的講話讓人聽 起來悅耳、有身份。的確，語言是一個人社會身份的標(biāo)志，特別是在多民族、多元文化的社會里。 所謂“身份”，也是一種知識結(jié)構(gòu)，表明你來口那個社會群體的文化背景、知識 程度其至地理位置等。語言會影響對于相應(yīng)文化的認(rèn)知。例如，有人調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，對于講雙語的中國 人，在用屮文問到其關(guān)于文化觀念等問題吋，他們的回答顯然比用英文問他們此 類問題時顯示出更多的中國人的做派。有意思的是，當(dāng)講廣東話的港澳人被用普 通話問到關(guān)于中國的文化、信仰等問題時，他們的回答往往比聽

2、到用廣東話問到 此類問題時的回答更接近西方人的表達(dá)方式。其實，對于學(xué)習(xí)外語的華人來講，大部分的還不是真止意義上的所謂“雙語 人”，而是“雙語使用者”；后者是在語言與表達(dá)層次，而前者則是思維與生活 習(xí)性。但是，這個過程并不是靜止的，而是可以轉(zhuǎn)換的。所以，語言學(xué)習(xí)者所學(xué)習(xí)的實際上是一種社會關(guān)系，一種他所理解的跨越時 空所形成的關(guān)系。因而，他所而對的不僅僅是語言學(xué)的，而更是多重、變換著的 社會身份問題。研究還表明，一個人的講話風(fēng)格并非是固定不變的，而是隨著社會環(huán)境和講 話對象而變化的。i般來講，個人講話有一種趨同的傾時（即隨大流），但冇時 也會有趨異傾向（即顯示自己的特征）。譬如，我回到北京時，我的

3、“北京腔” 自覺就濃了很多；而我的英國朋友在澳大利亞時，其“英國腔”保持得更為明顯, 不知是否有意顯岀其身份。人們在適應(yīng)異國文化的過程中，對丁自己母語的態(tài)度，也會有積極或消極兩 種選擇。有的人，在積極投入其他主流文化的同時，有意消弱自c的母語能力； 有的人，反而更加強、突岀了這方面，認(rèn)為是一種優(yōu)勢。一般來講，若某一社會群體所講、所用的語言是為社會所尊敬的那一種（如 在英國，以女王為代表的貴族所講的語言），會有更高的社會優(yōu)越感，而其成員 也會有意顯示出與眾不同，以保持其正面的群體特性。當(dāng)然，也難免會有他人向 這一群體的講話方式靠攏。一個人的語言，還可成為他人對其進行評判的對象。據(jù)研究，可以從中判

4、斷 出其社會地位、教育程度、善良與否、智力、能力其至財富等。可見，語言對個人z意義。如果說服裝是人的形體修飾，那么語言便是人的 綜合價值的外在體現(xiàn)。所以，語言就不應(yīng)當(dāng)被視為僅僅是一種工具，而應(yīng)是i種 素質(zhì)。language and social statusan inseparable relation exists between a man" s language and his social status. when i was living in australia, a neighbor, standing for pariiament, worked on pronunc

5、iation every morning to make himself sound sweet and dignity.language is, indeed, a label of one person s social identity, especially in a society with multi-nationalities and multi-cultures. the so-called social status, also a knowledge structure, is a symptom of cultural background, knowledge degr

6、ee and geographic position in the society you come from.the corresponding cog nition in culture is influcn cod by lan guagc. for example, a survey shows that when asked about cultural conception and other questions in chinese, a bilingual chinese person is more prone to act in a st ere otype of chin

7、ese t han asked in english. interestingly, whe n a man of hong kong or macao speakin百 cantonese is asked about chinese culture, belief emd somcthing like this in putonghua，compared with being queried in cantonese their answers are more similar to the expression way of westerners.actual 1y, most of c

8、hinese people who are learning foreign language are not literally bilingual person” but "the user of two languagesv ; the latter one is in a verbal and expressive level, while the former one emphasizes thinking and living habits. this process, however, is convertible instead of being static.hen

9、ce, what a language learnet studies actually, is a social relati on ship, which is shaped by hi s understanding t hrough t ime and space. consequently, the problem confronting him involves not just linguistics but multiple and changeable social statusthe survey also indicates that the speaking style

10、 of one person is not fixed but changes with the different social environment and people whom he or she speaks to. general ly, in di vi dual speak ing shows a tendency to convergence (namcly follows the majority), but it is somctimes inclined to divergence (unfold his or her individuality). for inst

11、ance, my beijing accent is naturally stronger when i return to beijing; while an english friend of mine in australia, speaks english with a clear british accent. t wonder if he intentionally memifests his status by doing so.people" s attitude to mother tongue, during the course of exotic cultur

12、e adaptation, has two choices, one is positive and the other is negative. some actively pitch into other mainstream cultures, andsimultaneously weaken their capacity in mother tonguc on purpose. while regarding native language as an advantage, some people strengthen and make it stand out.generally s

13、peaking, if a 1anguage spoken by a ceriain social group is one respectable in society (e. g. language used by nobles in britain, taking the queen as a representativc). this kind of language will enjoy a higher social position. its users wi 11 be disposed to demonstrate their distinction to maintain

14、the positive character of group. it is hard to avoid, of course, other people imitating the speaking style of this group.furthermore, one person al so can be judged on his or her language- according to the research, somconc，s language reflccts his or her social status, educational level, kindness or not, intelligence, ability, even wealth.it，s thus evide nt t hat lan guage is of impor