英语四级阅读200篇:Unit 49 passage 1_大学英语阅读

英语四级阅读200篇:Unit 49 passage 1

　　In practice we all have a fairly clear idea of what is meant by native-like control . We mean the proficiency of somebody who is fully at home in the language, is confident in his use of it and is able to make judgments about usage with which other members of the language community will normally agree. We generally expect him to be a cultured person familiar with both spoken and written usage. Such at least is the usual picture, but of course there are native speakers of substandard varieties and regional dialects as well, and this last point introduces an element of fuzziness: can an original dialect speaker be accepted as a native speaker of the standard? Another cause of fuzziness is that linguists are becoming increasingly aware nowadays that native speakers sometimes differ considerably in their judgment of what is acceptable usage. Standard languages have been found to be less monolithic than they were traditionally assumed to be.

　　A useful concept wrongly named

　　Despite all fuzziness the concept of the native speaker may still be a useful one, but it needs to be modified and redefined. In the first place the name is wrong: it creates a false impression of causal links. But although linguists are fully aware that birth and early learning in the country concerned are neither an essential condition nor a sure guarantee of native-like control , they tend to cling to the notion of native speakership with great determination.