Chapter 1 - Language & Society

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WHAT IS LANGUAGE??

A. Language may refer eitherto the specifically human

capacity for acquiring andusing complex systems of

communication, or to a specific

instance of such a system of

complex communication. The

scientific study of language in

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human


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03 WHAT IS LANGUAGE??

B. Language is a system ofconventional spoken or written

symbols by means of whichhuman beings, as members of a

social group and participants in its

culture, express themselves. Thefunctions of language include

communication, the expression of

identit la ima inative
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/275376/human-beinghttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551247/social-grouphttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/146289/culturehttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/129024/communicationhttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/129024/communicationhttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/146289/culturehttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551247/social-grouphttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/275376/human-being


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04 WHAT IS SOCIETY??

A society or a human societyis a group of people related to

each other through persistentrelations, or a large social

grouping sharing the same

geographical or virtual territory,

subject to the same political

authority and dominant cultural
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_relationshiphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_relationship


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RELATION BETWEEN

LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY05

What features of society affect

language? How do they do so?Any important aspect of socialstructure and function is likely to have

a distinctive linguistic counterpart.People belong to different socialclasses, perform different social rles,

and carry on different occupations


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Features of society affecting language useand response may be (more or less):

Static: e.g. ethnicity, gender, classbackground

Changing: e.g. education, age, social

environment, attitudes and fashions Situational/contextual: e.g. immediatesocial situation (workplace, home,recreation, peer group, perceivedformality of situation)


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Language incorporates social values.

What is of value to society isincorporated into language to producestandards, ideals and goals. Society

changes when that which is of value tsociety changes. Social changesproduce changes in language.


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In times of stability the dynamic

structure of consciousness is put onhold, so linguistic values and socialvalues are one.

Language contains traditional values this is what is implied in the ideas ofsocial conditioning and social learning.


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Ronald Wardhaugh (1986)in his book AnIntroduction to Sociolonguistics presents thehypotheses involved in the study of therelationship between language and society :

Society influences the linguistic phenomenon.

Linguistic phenomenon influences the society Society and language together dialecticallyinfluence the linguistic phenomenon.

The process is reciprocal: language use is bothcause and effect of things in society.


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CHARACTERISTICS

OF

LANGUAGE


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CHARACTERISTICS OF

LANGUAGE11

1. Language is a system: it has different linguisticlevels (phonological, related to phonemes,intonation and rhythm; lexical semantic, whichhave to do with lexis, that is, the words, andtheir meaning (semantics); syntactical, that is,the rules of grammar; discourse, written

language; conversation, that is, thecharacteristics of spoken discourse (turn-taking,use of words, etc.); sociolinguistic (socialfactors, such as educational level, age, ethnic,

sex, etc.);


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CHARACTERISTICS OF

LANGUAGE12

2. language is dynamic: it changes constantly;words and meanings may even vary from onegeneration to the other (cf. "cool" and "hot");

3. dialects (language regional variation): varietiesof the same language (such as English) are

spoken in the same country (Southern English vs.Northern English); there are also differencesbetween countries (USA, UK, New Zealand,Australia, etc.) and different dialects as well

(India, etc.);


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Chapter 1 - Language & Society

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