Variety

[语言]变体

A term used in sociolinguistics and stylistics to refer to any system of linguistic expression whose use is governed by situational variables. In some cases, the situational distinctiveness of the language may be easily stated, as in many regional and occupational varieties (e.g. London English, religious English); in other cases, as in studies of social class, the varieties are more difficult to define, involving the intersection of several variables (e.g. sex, age, occupation). Several classifications of language varieties have been proposed, involving such terms as dialect, register, medium and field. For some sociolinguists, ‘variety’ is given a more restricted definition, as one kind of situational distinctive language - a specialized type of language used within a dialect, e.g. for occupational purposes.

社会语言学和风格学用来指任何一个语言表达系统，其用法受情景变项的支配。有的语言变体，情景的区别性很容易说明，如许多地域变体和职业变体（例如伦敦英语，宗教英语）；而有的情景，如社会等级的研究，语言变体很难确定，因为涉及多个变项的交叉（例如性别、年龄、职业等）。已经提出的语言变体的分类法有多种，涉及方言、语域、媒体、语场这样一些术语。有些社会语言学家对“语言变体”的定义较狭窄，只指一类情景独特的语言，即一种方言内部的一类特殊化的语言，例如用于职业目的的语言。