语言构建的身份——从社会语言学角度看《化身博士》

Language-constructed Identity——A Sociolinguistic Perspective on the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

《化身博士》是英国作家罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森最著名的作品之一。小说的背景为维多利亚时期的伦敦,讲述了外表身份分属完全不同的两个阶层的杰基尔博士与海德先生的故事。维多利亚时代是阶级冲突最为显著的时期,而这一特征也体现在了小说的情节和人物的对话之中。社会语言学家伯恩斯坦曾提出“复杂语码”与“局限语码”的概念,这一理论充分体现了语言与阶级之间的联系。从社会语言学的角度,通过分析《化身博士》中人物对话的语言特征,可以进一步理解作者对于人物身份的构建,双重人格的塑造以及恐怖气氛的渲染,进而探讨作品的主题。

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one of the most famous works by British novelist Robert Louis Stevenson.Set in Victorian London,the novel tells the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,whose outward identities are divided between the two completely different classes.The Victorian era was the most marked period of class conflict,which is represented in the novel’s plot and the dialogue of its characters.The sociolinguists Bernstein has proposed the concept of“elaborated code”and“restricted code”,a theory that fully reflects the link between language and class.From a sociolinguistic perspective,the linguistic characteristics of the characters’dialogue in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde can be analyzed to further understand the author’s construction of the characters’identities,the creation of dual personalities and the creation of a horrific atmosphere,and thus explore the theme of the work.