Generally speaking, China's sociolinguistics is an exotic product, which originated in the United States in the 1960s. Chen Principle, one of the earliest scholars who put forward sociolinguistics in China, pointed out that sociolinguistics originated earlier. Since ancient times, Chinese and foreign linguists have discussed the differences in social functions between ancient Chinese and modern Chinese, literature and spoken Chinese, and Mandarin and dialects. In fact, it is a sociolinguistic work for European dialectologists to investigate various varieties of their own languages at the beginning of the19th century. In fact, the birth of sociolinguistics and the existence of sociolinguistic research are two different things. Studying a certain aspect does not mean establishing a certain discipline. Of course, the emergence of a discipline is by no means a drop from the sky. It must be the result of long-term academic accumulation. Many language movements in China's modern history, such as the Putonghua Movement in the early 20th century, the Vernacular Movement in the 20th century, the popular language discussion in the 1930s and the Latinization Movement in the North, and the promotion of Putonghua and the standardization of modern Chinese in the 1950s, can all be regarded as works of sociolinguistics. But these movements or jobs can be said to be spontaneous, not conscious. At the end of 1970s, with the appearance of the word "sociolinguistics", people's research on sociolinguistics moved from spontaneous to conscious [7].
At this stage, China's achievements in sociolinguistics are mainly manifested in the translation of general works and theories. The former includes Introduction to Sociolinguistics by Chen Songcen (Peking University Publishing House, 1985) and Dialects and China Culture by You Rujie and Zhou (Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1986). Sociolinguistics was introduced to Xu Guozhang as early as the late 1970s, and related papers were later included in Xu Guozhang on Language (Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 199 1). From 1980 to 1982, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics by British linguist Trujiler was translated by Lin and serialized in Foreign Linguistics. 65438-0987 Peking University Publishing House published the Sociolinguistics Translation Series edited by Zhu and Modern Sociolinguistics edited by Vitzel of the former Soviet Union. In addition, the International Journal of Social Sciences (No.5, 1985) published a large number of papers on sociolinguistics in the form of a special issue of "Language and Communication: Cases and Applications of Sociolinguistics Research", which has important guiding significance. Unfortunately, many people didn't see it because of this problem.
There are two major shortcomings in this period: one is the lack of integration with the social reality in China, and the other is the vague understanding of the object and scope of sociolinguistics. For example, some scholars put the relationship between language and thinking into sociolinguistics, which is obviously inappropriate. In addition, influenced by foreign countries, there is also a phenomenon that people are keen on meaningless fame and fortune.
(2) Rapid development stage (1987- 1993): from introduction to integration with China's reality.
1987 65438+February 1-5, the Institute of Language Application of China Academy of Social Sciences held the first sociolinguistic seminar in Beijing. The conference showed the present situation and level of sociolinguistic research in China since 1970s, which marked that sociolanguage in China has entered a hot stage, which is of great significance for promoting sociolinguistic research in China. 1In August, 1988, Shenzhen Institute of Linguistics of Shenzhen Education College hosted the first seminar on "Bilingualism and Bilingualism". 1990165438+10 In October, the Institute of Linguistic Application of China Academy of Social Sciences and Suzhou University held the first seminar on applied linguistics in Suzhou. Many papers at the seminar were also about sociolinguistics.
During this period, many special sociolinguistic studies appeared. He is the author of Exploration of Hutong and Other Sociolinguistics (Beijing Language Institute Press, 1990) and Gao's Theory and Practice of Modern Language Planning in China (Fudan University Press, 1993). There are a large number of papers, including Bilingual (1-4) (published by Sun Yat-sen University Press) and so on. ) Language, Society and Culture-Proceedings of the First Sociolinguistics Symposium (Language Press, 199 1), etc.
At this stage, some translations, introductory works and teaching materials on sociolinguistics continue to be published. In the aspect of translation and introduction of foreign sociolinguistic research achievements, in addition to constantly publishing translated articles in foreign magazines such as linguistics (such as Lesley Milroy's Language and Social Network). ), Zaiki's Lectures on Sociolinguistics (translated by Liu Mingxia and others, Beijing Language Institute Press, 1989) and Hudson's Sociolinguistics (translated by Ding Xinshan, China Society) have also been published. Some of them have more than one Chinese translation. His works mainly include Four Lectures on Sociolinguistics (Language Press, 1988), Essays on Sociolinguistics (Hunan Press, 199 1) and Language and People-Some Explorations in Applied Sociolinguistics (Shanghai Education Press, 1992). The textbooks mainly include Introduction to Sociolinguistics edited by Zhu (Hunan Education Press, 1992), Introduction to Sociolinguistics edited by Beijing Language and Culture Institute Press, 1992, English version) and Sociolinguistics Course edited by Dai (Central University for Nationalities Press, 1993).
According to rough statistics, there are more than 60 sociolinguistic books (including textbooks, translations and papers) published in this issue, and the related papers published in various journals at all levels are even more difficult to count. It is rare that a subject is so popular.
In addition, many schools have gradually set up sociolinguistics courses, and some schools have begun to recruit master students and doctoral students with sociolinguistics as their research direction. Sociolinguistics is also classified as a third-level discipline by the National Academic Degrees Office.
There are also some obvious shortcomings in this period. In addition to the lack of theoretical generalization and material accumulation, there is a lack of methods (such as skills of material collection and analysis, quantitative research is more than qualitative research, etc.). ) is more prominent.
(3) Steady and in-depth development stage (1994-): from upsurge to calm and mature.
From the late 1980s to the first half of 1990s, sociolinguistics flourished in China. However, after 1995, sociolinguistic research in China was relatively deserted. Apart from the biennial "Bilingual Bilingual" seminar, which continues to be held as usual with the unremitting efforts of the organizers, and some people in the applied linguistics seminar continue to pay attention to sociolinguistic issues, no special sociolinguistic seminar has been held since 1992. The number of papers in this field has also decreased. As a result, some friends are worried about the future of China's sociolinguistics, and even compare it with the declining "cultural fever", and propose to revive China's sociolinguistics.
In fact, China's sociolinguistics did not decline during this period, on the contrary, it became mature.
On the one hand, academic circles began to sort out the research results of China's sociolinguistics since its formation. While summing up the achievements, it also points out the shortcomings. Rugao (1996) put forward profound insights on China's sociolinguistic research methods.
On the other hand, most of the new books published in this period pay attention to the close combination with the social reality in China. The issues discussed exceeded the previous two periods in depth and breadth. Among them, Chen Baoya's On Language Contact and Language Alliance-An Interpretation of the Etymological Relationship between China and Vietnam (Dong Tai) (Language Publishing House, 1996), Guo's Sociolinguistics of China (Nanjing University Press, 1999) and Zhou Qingsheng's Language and Humanities (Central University for Nationalities Press, 2008). 200 1), Tang Zhixiang's Contemporary Chinese Words and Their Evolution-A Study of Chinese Words in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the 1990s (Fudan University Press, 200 1), Yan Yuan's Language Contact and Language Evolution (National Press, 200 1), Yu Genyuan. In addition, bilingual publishing continues as planned (5-6 episodes). Other papers, such as Bilingual and Modern China edited by Chen Enquan (Beijing Language and Culture University Press, 1999) and Southeast Asian Chinese Studies edited by Li Rulong (Beijing Language and Culture University Press, 2000), have also opened new horizons for related research.
In addition, a number of original sociolinguistics works were published in English during this period, including Selected Works of Linguistics by William Labauve, an important founder of sociolinguistics (Beijing Language and Culture University Press, 200 1). This provides theoretical "foreign aid" for China's sociolinguistics.
It is not unreasonable to say that sociolinguistics changed from "hot" to "cold" during this period. In the middle and late 1980s, linguistics in China was struggling (Guo, 1996)[9]. The emergence of sociolinguistics has undoubtedly given it new hope. Like cultural craze, it has become the goal pursued by scholars. It has become a fashion that characters must be "cultural" and "social". After 1990s, with the rise of cognitive linguistics and the demand of computer science for linguistic achievements, returning to ontology has become a trend in China linguistics. It may be said that people who have worked hard in the field of sociolinguistics today have probably really recognized this path.