A Study Of Chinese Variety Of English From Perspective Of Sociolinguistics

As an important tool of communication, language has been changing and developing dynamically. With the rapid development of society and the constant appearance of new things, the thinking of people is becoming more and more complex, which puts forward new requirements to the communication. Therefore, people will be willing to enrich their vocabularies and improve their grammars. Language is a carrier of cultures; it has the function of adapting to and reflecting different cultures. Then language variation results from the frequent contact of different languages.As a global language, English is used most extensively people around the world. The globalization of English inevitably results in the localization of English. For half a century, the featured English in some areas has become a hot topic for linguists. English with the regional features is playing an increasing important role in people’s communication from many different countries. China has no exception. In China, the interaction of English and Chinese culture has evolved a characteristic variety-Chinese variety of English. It has Chinese linguistic and cultural features and is widely used by the speakers with Chinese and it’s cultural background on purpose of intercommunication and accepted by the users with other different languages and their culture backgrounds. At present, many studies on Chinese variety of English have been performed at home and abroad, which involve in many broad fields, such as the historical and cultural characters of Chinese variety of English, its necessity of existence, the comparison and relationship between China English and Chinese English, the analysis of Chinese variety of English from the linguistic perspective, etc. The sociolinguistic language variety theory initiated by William Labov (1966) provides the full theoretical guidance for the existence and development of Chinese variety of English.Based on the previous study on Chinese variety of English, This thesis focuses on discussing the facts and values of about the Chinese variety of English from the perspective of sociolinguistics. In order to know the foreigners and Chinese English learners’attitudes towards Chinese variety of English and the ability of expressing Chinese local culture in English, the author has made some research by questionnaire. The results of the study shows that the attitude of the foreigners and Chinese English learners towards Chinese variety of English is positive and the Chinese learners’ability of expressing Chinese local culture is poor. Therefore, the author puts forward the implications of Chinese variety of English to English Teaching. The author believes that the study on Chinese variety of English can be helpful to increase Chinese English learners’interest in learning English and can also spread the Chinese local cultures.