Linguistic and cultural aspects of different kinds of lects (by the example of German officials’ speech)
Alona Koryagina
Most of us belong to a variety of groups (professional, peer, subcultural, hobby-based), and as we join new speech communities, we bring in some words and phrases and absorb new ones. Every group has its own language that is called a lect. The lect which is thought of as being related to its speakers’ geographical background is a dialect. There are lect varieties associated with particular ethnic groups (called ethnolects). The lect which is connected with and reflects speakers’ social background is sociolect. It is the language spoken by a particular social group, class or subculture, whose determinants include such parameters as: gender, age, occupation, and possibly a few others. These parameter can be considered as different kinds of lects too, e.g. sexolect, annolect, idiolect and others. Every lect has its distinctive features on lexical, syntactical and phonetic level. And the speech of person speaks no less about him/her than the appearance.
Key words: communication, sociostylistics, literary-colloquial language, german official
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Academic title: teacher
Country: Ukraine
University: Petro Mohyla Black Sea State University