继往开来的西方三代社会语言学

Three Successive Generations of Sociolinguistics in the West

本文基于俄法英美德原始文献的钩沉,围绕核心概念,梳理西方三代社会语言学,揭示其学科形成和发展的关键点。社会语言学的兴起受到19世纪法国社会学的影响。第一代社会语言学(19世纪后期)引进社会学的概念,提出语言科学是"心理—社会学"或"社会科学",强调语言是社会事实,社会结构的变化导致语言的变化。第二代社会语言学(20世纪上半叶)提出"语言社会学""社会语言学"的学科名称,出现社区语言调查、城市方言研究,以及与民族学的交叉。第三代社会语言学(20世纪下半叶),对语言和社会结构的共变展开量化研究,从微观和宏观等方面全面探索语言的社会功能。史实显示,法国学者深受布雷阿尔和梅耶的影响,苏联学者发扬博杜恩的学说,英国学者将其视为情境研究的拓展。深受欧洲社会学派、功能学派等影响的瓦恩里希奠定了美国社会语言学的理论基础,其学生拉波夫和友人费什曼促使其走向前台。

Based on the first-hand documents of Russian,French,British,American and German literature,this paper combs through three generations of Western sociolinguistics by focusing on key concepts.It reveals crucial points concerning this discipline’s establishment and development.Sociolinguistics’upsurge was influenced by French sociology in the 19 th century.The first generation of sociolinguistics(in the late19 th century)introduced the concept of sociology, proposing that linguistics is "психологично-социологическан"or"science sociale".This concept emphasized that language is a fact in the society,the change of whose structure resulted in the change of language.The second generation of sociolinguistics(at the first half of the 20 th century)proposed the terminologies of"sociologie linguistique"and"linguistique sociale"branch.Community linguistic survey,urban dialect study,and the intersection between sociolingusitcs and ethnology came into being.The third generation of sociolinguistics(at the second half of the 20 th century)carried out quantitative studies on the co-variation of language and social structure,comprehensively investigating the social functions of language from micro and macro perspectives.Historical facts show that French scholars were deeply influenced by Bréal as well as Meillet,Soviet scholars promoted Boudouin’s theory,and British scholars regarded sociolingusitics as an extension of context study.Influenced by European sociological and functional schools,Weinreich laid the theoretical foundation of American sociolinguistics.Lavov,the student of Winreich,and Fishman,Winreich’s friend developed it to the fore.