A Study On Language Variation In Fortress Besieged

Language variation refers to the language form deviated from the convention. Since each language has its own rules of usage, all types of violation of its rules leads to language variation. Variation in literary works plays a very important role in stylistics. If used appropriately it can better express the theme of the literary works and strengthen their aesthetic effects. This thesis will focus on the deviated language in the novel Fortress Besieged by using the theory of language variation.By describing the inside conflict of homogeneous language system, the thesis holds that language variation is in fact based on the Orderly Heterogeneous Theory and is closely related to the society. There are two factors which arouse language variation: linguistic and non-linguistic factors, namely internal and external elements. The thesis tries to explore the heterogeneous variation of Fortress Besieged in its language use, which proves that the Orderly Heterogeneous Theory serves as the base for language variation. The thesis points out that the previous study of the novel Fortress Besieged mainly focuses on literary and linguistic levels. However, from the perspective of sociolinguistics, the language variation in Fortress Besieged are mainly shown on the variation of the internal factors and external factors, namely social variation and artistic variation from the perspective of sociolinguistics. Actually the internal structure of language is a multi-level system and its components are interrelated with each other. Changes in any component may cause a chain reaction which results in language variation. Internal factors in Fortress Besieged refer to lexical variation, phonological variation and grammatical variation. Lexical variation in Fortress Besieged can be divided into 3 branches: breaking the set-phrase by adding words, bringing out a new concept by substituting one word and deviating the conventional semantic meaning. Phonological variation in the novel refers to sound borrowing, transliteration and use of homophony. Grammatical variation includes the change of parts of speech, abnormal word collocation and paradox rhetoric. In the novel, the external factors, which refer to social variation, are the May 4th movement and the psychology of seeking for novelty and change, which is proved by the conversations and utterances of Fang, Su and Zhao. The variation caused by the psychology of avoiding vulgar language, adaptation to the context is unconcealed through the conversations and utterances by these three characters. The paper insists that the violation of the Cooperative Principle will lead to the implicature in variation as well. By the end of the thesis it holds that the pragmatic functions of language variation in literary works can help to smooth the interpersonal relationship, bring humor to readers and satirize the evils in the society, which will bring readers a greater appreciation of the artistic use of the language variation.