How Language Use Reflects Social Identity - Essay Example

Show how language use reflects social identity and discuss any implications you can draw for second language teaching Language is the single greatest difference between man and the animal kingdom. The intricate system of sounds made by humans has the power to convey thoughts, emotions, and history. Through the expression of language, individuals can situate themselves in relationship to others, define their in-group, and designate centers of power. People use language to indicate social status, academic standing, and cultural membership. The vast quantity of information that is transferred through language is more than just basic information. Linguistic varieties within a community form significant cultural bonds and in doing so creates a system that corresponds to the structure of the society. As the world becomes more global through communication and immigration, teaching a second language begins to have a greater impact on our society. Language not only expresses thoughts and ideas, it creates a representation of the speaker to their audience. As an example, respect is an aspect of that can be gained through speech and illustrates the broader relationship between power and language. Power is the degree to which one agent is able to control the behavior of the other. Physical strength, age, wealth, sex, or profession, are all unspoken ways to convey power. However, the introduction of a second language creates another center of power. That center derives its power from sociolinguistic solidarity. Using non-solidary forms express distance and formality, while solidary forms express intimacy and familiarity. Solidarity can be achieved in cooperation where communicators share some common attribute, such as attending at the same school or working in the same profession. However, to be a successful communicator in a linguistically diverse environment, it is necessary to know the languages, their nuances, and develop an appreciation for the power derived from language solidarity. A member in a community may have several groups with which he wishes to identify and associate with. The identity that the person creates for each group will be associated with their verbal communications, and there are certain linguistic forms that will construct each identity. People create their linguistic systems to resemble those of the in-group with which they wish to identify. A person participates in many different speech communities that vary according to time, place, audience, and participants. In a speech community, each individual has a range of social identities that creates different roles for all of the different subgroups within the community. The range of linguistic varieties expressed by these relationships is called the communicative repertoire. This repertoire, whether oral or written, can include different languages, dialects, or registers. Language serves as a symbol of association on several levels. On the national level, language attachment can serve an important political function. On a local level, language is a symbol of attachment to a community. Within a social setting, language can be an in-group virtue. Foreign languages are a part of our communicative repertoire. When a person learns a second language, they become a member of a new cultural group within a social structure. They not only learn the appropriate linguistic forms, but it also extends their social identity to include other speakers of the new language. For the community as a whole, socialization through language learning creates conformity to social norms and relates the culture of the community. Teaching a second language encompasses more than just conveying the mechanics and the linguistics. It is an opportunity to construct an identity as a social being. In teaching a second language, it becomes vital to present the context, slang, and cultural attitudes that may be a part of the language. A second language is more than just a means of communication. It identifies the learner as a member of a unique cultural group, establishes their role within that group, and relates the social expectations of the community. Discuss four ways in which cohesion is achieved in written discourse giving examples of each way Cohesion Cohesion, according to Shi (2004), is "[...] the network of lexical, grammatical, and other relations which link various parts of text" (p.1). These relations link sentences together and allow us to understand their meanings by looking at other words or phrases in other sentences. Halliday and Hasan (1976) have identified a number of ways in which cohesion is achieved in written discourse in the English language. Four of the most important vehicles of cohesion are co-reference, lexical relationships, ellipsis, and conjunctive relations. Co-reference Co-reference is a term used in semantics that refers to the relationship that exists between a word and what it represents in the real world (Shi 2004). It has a pragmatic meaning, that is, the meaning of the word can only be interpreted from context (Fromkin et al. 2000). Examine the following sentence. 'John was injured in a car accident yesterday. He will be hospitalized for at least a week'. The 'he' in the second sentence is defined by the context of the first. The reader understands through co-reference that 'he' is 'John'. Another example is the use of the word 'that'. When someone says, "Did you see that Mikey just swallowed a whole hot dog", we know that 'that' meant the swallowing of the hot dog. The co-reference has conveyed an action through the use of the single word 'that'. The first is an example of an anaphoric relationship and the second a cataphoric relationship (Mangubhai 2003). By examining the context we can see that 'he' refers to 'John' and 'that' refers to what Mikey has just done. Lexical Relationships Lexical relationships exist between lexical items that are not cohesive in function such as the pronouns in the previous section. However, when associated with other lexical items, they can have a cohesive relationship (Shi, 2004). This relationship can be due to synonymy, antonymy, sub-ordinates, hyponymy, or even general words. The following examples show the lexical relationship between the various forms of dog. There is a ferocious looking dog in the park. The poodle is going to bite the young boy. (Hyponym) The puppy is going to bite the young boy. (Synonym) The beast is going to bite the young boy. (General word) In teaching a foreign language, great attention needs to be paid to lexical relationships to aid in greater understanding of expressions. Ellipsis An ellipsis is a grammatical relationship that omits items but does not replace them with anything. The ellipse is assumed and indicated by the context of the expression. The item is understood even though it is absent. Here are some examples where the words in Italics are not spoken, but assumed. Kim washed the car, and I polished < the car >. Kim painted the hallway, and I < painted > the living room. Where is the closest bank < The closest bank is > around the corner. When the italicized words between < > are omitted, the statements can still be understood from the grammatical structure of the ellipsis. Conjunctive Relations Conjunctive relations involve the use of markers, such as time or contrast and result to relate clauses, sentences and paragraphs. Unlike co-references and ellipsis, conjunctive relationships do not require the reader to look elsewhere for missing information, but rather 'signals the way the writer wants the reader to relate what is about to be said to what has been said before' (Shi, 2004, pp.5). Here are some examples: Now, let's discuss the semantic/pragmatic distinction issue. (Time marker) It's raining today, but I didn't bring my umbrella. (Contrast marker) It's raining today, so I brought my umbrella with me. (Result marker) References Fromkin, V., Blair, D., & Collins, P. (2000). An Introduction to Language (4th ed.). Marrickville, NSW: Harcourt. Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman. Mangubhai, F. (2003). LIN5001 The Nature of Language: Study Book. Toowoomba: University of Southern Queensland. Shi, A. (2004). The importance of teaching cohesion in translation on a textual level - a comparison of test scores before and after teaching. 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