Автор: Григорий Степанов
Научные руководители: Елена Николаевна Ксенофонтова,
Мария Георгиевна Ксенофонтова
Social Variation of the English Language. Thesis
This work focuses on social varieties of the English language which occur at the level of the lexicon (vocabulary), phonology (pronunciation), grammar (morphology and syntax) and usage. Together with textual or stylistic (i.e. interaction of genre and theme of the text; its linguistic expressions including the situation of discourse and ways of delivering the information), regional (i.e. differences and similarities of regional language varieties including language contrast) and individual, social variation plays a significant role in the language. If we unscramble the meaning of the term then we’ll see that our attention is drawn not towards the language itself, not towards its inner structure but towards how people of this or that society use it.
So, the aims of this work consist in reporting
· The varieties of the language of people belonging to different social groups;
· The reasons all people speak differently;
· Which factors influencing the quality of the language are the most important;
· The standard British English, the variant which English speakers and English language learners should strive for;
· The differences in the speech of Truman Capote’s personages in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (practical part).
No one speaks the same, language varies. For an English language learner it is important to observe everything concerning the language, the way it’s changing with time, reasons for its change as well as varieties already existing in the language like different grammatical structures, different words standing for one and the same meaning, peculiarities of expressing the same idea in different ways, varieties of the language both in real life and in books. This topic has been chosen for the reason that it is vital for a linguist, for each person learning and speaking English. Besides, it has been a concern of many English writers such as Truman Capote or Bernard Shaw (Pygmalion). From the practical point of view, it is important to study social variation because to get a highly-paid job nowadays, for example, one has to speak good English and you certainly can’t do it without obtaining proper education. So here we speak about the factor of being educated or illiterate.
Through an accurate study and analysis of the social variation, it is possible to improve one’s language and is easier to teach it (knowing that men speak slower than women or taking into account the student’s background). This work has been written by using different sources such as books, multimedia material, statistics, maps and information collected from other people. Thanks to this material, it has been possible to write the work, thoroughly analyzing the topic. This work is the result of an accurate practical research; moreover it can be useful for teachers who can use this knowledge while teaching students of various backgrounds, age, level of culture, type of profession (students obtaining a second higher education), sex or gender, ethnicity or race, etc. This might be of interest to senior students wishing to widen their knowledge about the theme.
XII Российская научная конференция школьников "Открытие"
Степанов Григорий, 11 класс, I место. 2009г.
XXIV Городская научно-практическая конференция школьников "Открытия юных"
Степанов Григорий, 11 класс, II место. 2009г.
