The Study Of The Changes In English Use Through The Movie Dialogues In "Pride And Prejudice"

Language is by no means in a static condition. It changes all the time. The close relation between language and culture makes the changes of a society can be reflected in its language. The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure points out that time can change every thing, and language is also subject to this universal law.English writer Jane Austin's novel Pride and Prejudice has been adapted into movie twice in the year of 1940 and 2005. Characters'dialogues in the two movie versions are the subject of this research. The purpose of this research is to find out whether language changes have been reflected in movies and what changes are presented in the two movies, and also to give some suggestions to English language teaching and learning.In this thesis, characters'dialogues in the two movies are compiled into two copra (Corpus 1940 and Corpus 2005). The relevant theories of sociolinguistics and pragmatics are employed to compare and analyze the differences in language in the 1940 version and 2005 version. The data analysis and study show: (1) Characters'use of language in the 1940 version is more polite and formal than that in the 2005 version, and, accordingly, the language form in the 1940 version is more complex; (2) Women's way of talking has changed in their communications with men. In the 2005 version, women take more initiative in conversation than they do in the 1940 version. The main possible reasons for these changes can be the widely spread idea of egalitarianism, the increasingly rapid pace of people's life, and the effect of feminist movement.The research findings offer suggestions to English language teaching and learning. Most English learners learn English for communicating, and they communicate with modern English speakers, so it's important for English teachers and learners to realize that what they teach and learn should be modern language which is changing all the time, and their language teaching and learning activities should always keep pace with the constant change of language to avoid being out of date.