Investigation on Use of Dialects among College Students

作者簡介：李珊珊（1989—），女，河南鶴壁人，北京師范大學(xué)研究生院珠海分院英語碩士在讀，研究方向：英語教學(xué)。摘要：由于普通話是教育中使用的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)語言，人們很少重視大學(xué)生方言的使用。本研究的目的在于找出在什么樣的情況下大學(xué)生會選擇使用他們的方言，以及為什么他們在這樣的情況下使用方言。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，大學(xué)生選擇使用方言有兩種情況：第一，遇見講同一種方言的人而使用相同的方言；第二，來到一個新的地方而努力學(xué)習(xí)這個地方的方言。

關(guān)鍵詞：方言；大學(xué)生；身份；歸屬感

一、IntroductionIn the introduction，some sociolinguistic concepts that referred to in the paper will be introduced：

Dialect：A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation，grammar，or vocabulary，especially a way of speaking that differs from the standard variety of language.The scientific study of dialects is known as dialectology，commonly regarded as a subfield of sociolinguistics.

Identity：Identity is an important research area in sociolinguistics.The concept of identity had already come up in 1960s，but it was a concept of humanities and social science at that time.However，with the development of globalization and urbanization，the 21st century has been called“immigration era”（Castles and Miller，1996），and language identity is the product of population flow.

Act identity：People create their linguistic systems to resemble those of the groups they wish to identity with（LePage and Tabour Keller，1968）.

Language identity：Language identity is not only the speakers identity of the language or the dialect，but also the identity of the political，economic and cultural value a language or dialect carries（Yang Ronghua，2009）.

二、Method of collecting dataThe data was collected by questionnaire，100 questionnaires were sent out to college students at BNUZ and college students online to help finish the questions on the questionnaire.

Q3Q4Q5Q6Q7Q8Q9strongly

disagree111610125214disagree102519117512neutral29201124222431agree11172825191318strongly

agree39223228475625total

number100100100100100100100The number in the table is the amount of people who choose the same item，and the five degrees from strongly disagree to strongly agree on the left of the table are made according to Likert Scale——a widely used scale in questionnaire investigation.

三、Analysis of dataThe data collected by the investigation of questionnaire presents a very convictive statement of my hypothesis：①The use of dialect gives people a sense of identity；②The use of dialect gives people a sense of belonging；③What makes the use of a dialect special to a person or community is the political，economic and cultural value that a dialect carries.Let us have a more detailed observation of the data from Q3 to Q5：endprint

Q3：Do you always use the dialect when communicating with your parents？

Q4：When you are in your hometown，do your classmates and friends always communicate with dialect？

Q5：When you are in the college，do you always hear your schoolmates communicate in their native dialect？

From the table we can get the data that，when students communicate with their parents，50%（agree plus strongly agree students）of them will use their native dialect，21%（strongly disagree plus disagree students）of them will not use native dialect to communicate with their parents.And when students meet fellows in the college，60% of them will communicate with their fellows in native dialect.The data shows that the use of dialect is a kind of identity，people use dialect as a method to claim that they are from the same community，that is also a way to show who they are（Cameron & Kulick，2003），including where they come from and what ethnicity they belong to.

The readers may also notice a very interesting thing revealed by Q4，that when students study in their hometown，they prefer to use mandarin other than native

dialect，39% of them communicate with classmates and friends in native dialect，but 41% of them dont.I account for this phenomenon by claiming this is just the identity of language.Because students study in their hometown want to make a difference from other people，so they try to make clearly of their identity by not using native dialect.

From Q6 and Q7，we can get the evidence that speaking the dialect of a place in which people live will give them a sense of belonging.

Q6：When in your hometown，do strangers will always use the dialect of your hometown to communicate with you？

Q7：While living in a new place，do you will always try to learn the dialect of this place？

The data shows when students meet strangers in their hometown，53% of the strangers will always try to use dialect of the students hometown to communicate with them；Moreover，when college students come to a new place，66% of them will try to learn the dialect of this place，only 12% wont.LePage and Tabour Keller（1968）discovered that people create their linguistic systems to resemble those of the groups they wish to identity with，this is a theory called act identity.

The reason why a dialect is special to the person or community that uses it is that the political，economic and cultural values a dialect carries is special to the dialect users，the identity bringing by a dialect is the shared value bringing by a dialect，that is why people have a special feeling of their native dialect（Yang Ronghua，2009）.

四、Conclusion and further studyThe data collected from the 100 questionnaires confirm that the use of dialect will give people a sense of identity and belonging，and the political，economic and cultural value a dialect carries make the dialect special to its users.

參考文獻(xiàn)：

〖=1〗庫少雄，蘇精靈，李偉梁.方言與社會工作〖=J〗.甘肅社會科學(xué)，2006（01）：198—200.

〖=2〗楊榮華.語言認(rèn)同與方言瀕危：以辰州話方言島為例〖=J〗.語言科學(xué)，2010（04）：394—401.

〖=3〗詹璟.方言影視勃興的社會語言學(xué)解析〖=J〗.安徽文學(xué)（下半月），2010（04）：279，284.

〖=4〗Gumperz，J.J.Language and Social Identity〖=M〗.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，1983.

〖=5〗Milroy，J.& Milroy，L.Authority in Language〖=M〗.London：Routledge，1985.

〖=6〗Omoniyi，T.and White，G.eds.The Sociolinguistics of Identity〖=M〗.London：Continuum，2006.endprint

Q3：Do you always use the dialect when communicating with your parents？

Q4：When you are in your hometown，do your classmates and friends always communicate with dialect？

Q5：When you are in the college，do you always hear your schoolmates communicate in their native dialect？

From the table we can get the data that，when students communicate with their parents，50%（agree plus strongly agree students）of them will use their native dialect，21%（strongly disagree plus disagree students）of them will not use native dialect to communicate with their parents.And when students meet fellows in the college，60% of them will communicate with their fellows in native dialect.The data shows that the use of dialect is a kind of identity，people use dialect as a method to claim that they are from the same community，that is also a way to show who they are（Cameron & Kulick，2003），including where they come from and what ethnicity they belong to.

The readers may also notice a very interesting thing revealed by Q4，that when students study in their hometown，they prefer to use mandarin other than native

dialect，39% of them communicate with classmates and friends in native dialect，but 41% of them dont.I account for this phenomenon by claiming this is just the identity of language.Because students study in their hometown want to make a difference from other people，so they try to make clearly of their identity by not using native dialect.

From Q6 and Q7，we can get the evidence that speaking the dialect of a place in which people live will give them a sense of belonging.

Q6：When in your hometown，do strangers will always use the dialect of your hometown to communicate with you？

Q7：While living in a new place，do you will always try to learn the dialect of this place？

The data shows when students meet strangers in their hometown，53% of the strangers will always try to use dialect of the students hometown to communicate with them；Moreover，when college students come to a new place，66% of them will try to learn the dialect of this place，only 12% wont.LePage and Tabour Keller（1968）discovered that people create their linguistic systems to resemble those of the groups they wish to identity with，this is a theory called act identity.

The reason why a dialect is special to the person or community that uses it is that the political，economic and cultural values a dialect carries is special to the dialect users，the identity bringing by a dialect is the shared value bringing by a dialect，that is why people have a special feeling of their native dialect（Yang Ronghua，2009）.

四、Conclusion and further studyThe data collected from the 100 questionnaires confirm that the use of dialect will give people a sense of identity and belonging，and the political，economic and cultural value a dialect carries make the dialect special to its users.

參考文獻(xiàn)：

〖=1〗庫少雄，蘇精靈，李偉梁.方言與社會工作〖=J〗.甘肅社會科學(xué)，2006（01）：198—200.

〖=2〗楊榮華.語言認(rèn)同與方言瀕危：以辰州話方言島為例〖=J〗.語言科學(xué)，2010（04）：394—401.

〖=3〗詹璟.方言影視勃興的社會語言學(xué)解析〖=J〗.安徽文學(xué)（下半月），2010（04）：279，284.

〖=4〗Gumperz，J.J.Language and Social Identity〖=M〗.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，1983.

〖=5〗Milroy，J.& Milroy，L.Authority in Language〖=M〗.London：Routledge，1985.

〖=6〗Omoniyi，T.and White，G.eds.The Sociolinguistics of Identity〖=M〗.London：Continuum，2006.endprint

Q3：Do you always use the dialect when communicating with your parents？

Q4：When you are in your hometown，do your classmates and friends always communicate with dialect？

Q5：When you are in the college，do you always hear your schoolmates communicate in their native dialect？

From the table we can get the data that，when students communicate with their parents，50%（agree plus strongly agree students）of them will use their native dialect，21%（strongly disagree plus disagree students）of them will not use native dialect to communicate with their parents.And when students meet fellows in the college，60% of them will communicate with their fellows in native dialect.The data shows that the use of dialect is a kind of identity，people use dialect as a method to claim that they are from the same community，that is also a way to show who they are（Cameron & Kulick，2003），including where they come from and what ethnicity they belong to.

The readers may also notice a very interesting thing revealed by Q4，that when students study in their hometown，they prefer to use mandarin other than native

dialect，39% of them communicate with classmates and friends in native dialect，but 41% of them dont.I account for this phenomenon by claiming this is just the identity of language.Because students study in their hometown want to make a difference from other people，so they try to make clearly of their identity by not using native dialect.

From Q6 and Q7，we can get the evidence that speaking the dialect of a place in which people live will give them a sense of belonging.

Q6：When in your hometown，do strangers will always use the dialect of your hometown to communicate with you？

Q7：While living in a new place，do you will always try to learn the dialect of this place？

The data shows when students meet strangers in their hometown，53% of the strangers will always try to use dialect of the students hometown to communicate with them；Moreover，when college students come to a new place，66% of them will try to learn the dialect of this place，only 12% wont.LePage and Tabour Keller（1968）discovered that people create their linguistic systems to resemble those of the groups they wish to identity with，this is a theory called act identity.

The reason why a dialect is special to the person or community that uses it is that the political，economic and cultural values a dialect carries is special to the dialect users，the identity bringing by a dialect is the shared value bringing by a dialect，that is why people have a special feeling of their native dialect（Yang Ronghua，2009）.

四、Conclusion and further studyThe data collected from the 100 questionnaires confirm that the use of dialect will give people a sense of identity and belonging，and the political，economic and cultural value a dialect carries make the dialect special to its users.

參考文獻(xiàn)：

〖=1〗庫少雄，蘇精靈，李偉梁.方言與社會工作〖=J〗.甘肅社會科學(xué)，2006（01）：198—200.

〖=2〗楊榮華.語言認(rèn)同與方言瀕危：以辰州話方言島為例〖=J〗.語言科學(xué)，2010（04）：394—401.

〖=3〗詹璟.方言影視勃興的社會語言學(xué)解析〖=J〗.安徽文學(xué)（下半月），2010（04）：279，284.

〖=4〗Gumperz，J.J.Language and Social Identity〖=M〗.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，1983.

〖=5〗Milroy，J.& Milroy，L.Authority in Language〖=M〗.London：Routledge，1985.

〖=6〗Omoniyi，T.and White，G.eds.The Sociolinguistics of Identity〖=M〗.London：Continuum，2006.endprint