Language and Social Function - Article Example

Running Head: Language & Social Function Language & Social Function [Institute’s Language & Social Function Since the last three decades, the importance of multilingual societies has become much more significant, and the issues arising from the ascending growth of such societies has left linguist in deep research. Where some believe that multilingualism destroys the inherited speech of a particular society, the young generation accepts it eagerly as the focal sign of globalization, as a symbol of their freedom and their passport to learn the cultures of different inhabitants around the world with greater ease (Mathew, pp. 2164, 2008). Language is the essence of a human’s life, it is the unique way of communication only held by humans, and gives a person his roots to his culture and defines his identity in the society. A man represents himself by the words he selects and narrates. Thus, the first impression that a man gives of himself comes through the particular words he speaks, his accent, and his dialect. Language plays a very important role in developing an individual’s character, giving him his specific identity, and giving him a place in the world to affiliate himself. It is a belief that two thirds of the world’s population speaks two languages, while most people acquire bilingualism through the course of their life, via study and traveling (Norrish, 1997). Such language interventions in a person’s life, especially at a younger age can affect his cultural identity, employment, inhabitance, traveling and to a greater sustainable effect his very thinking. Anthropologists and behavioral scientists (Brown & Lumley, 1998, pp. 80-96) around the world believe that culture is a range of learned human behaviors and patterns, which revolves around us, exhibiting it in lifestyles, architecture, traditions, and most significantly through language. Whereas, societies witness their formation through the interaction amongst different forms of people, with one society catered distinct from another through its traditions and expectations. Therefore, culture creates and transmits to other societies, with its strongest vessel being the language that it speaks. “Sociolinguistics is the study between language and the society, which confronts a large range of encounters, stretching from international relations to narrow interpersonal relations. It studies as to how social structure influences the way people talk & how language varieties and patterns of use correlate with social attributes such as age, gender, class” (Wardhaugh, pp. 13, 2006). Linguists believe that the speech of a local class confronts many attitudes, which include influences through group solidarity, stereotypes, intergroup relations, social status, and ethnicity. They also reckon that individuals living in a multilingual society, may prefer the usage of a particular language on the basis of the community they want to be recognized as a part of, whereas some individuals may also get themselves identified by their language choice; showing loyalty to their own community. Explanation of the development of social varieties is possible through regional barriers and regional distances, with the higher class of the society remaining closer to the standard language, with less of generalization being employed as compared to the lower class forms. Diglossia, a term invented by Charles Ferguson, (1959), explains the phenomena of the existence of two language varieties at the same time in one community; for example Arabic, German, Hindi, Greek, and French. This community’s verbal repertoire may encompass different forms such as, different styles of the same dialect (standard-English speakers), different dialects of the same language (Lowlands Scots speakers), and two relatively standardized varieties (Arabic). Whereas, in some very large societies, where many languages are widely practiced due to the presence of different cultures merged together, one can observe all three switches between languages, such as in Delhi. The phenomenon explains that the users of diglossia may vary their language form depending upon the function. For example, in formal situations, such as in politics, government, education, religion, and legal system they use the high form, whereas, in everyday routine manners, they make use of the lower form. Diglossia begins at home, forming a child’s mother tongue where he learns the informal form of the language, but as he moves up into the education system, it slowly evolves itself into a higher form, and at a certain height stops to evolve, while the low language is believed to keep on changing with time. “The impossibility if stating precisely how many languages or dialects are spoken in the world is due to the ambiguities of meaning present to these terms, which is shown to stem from the original use of dialect. In some usages the term language is super ordinate to dialect but the nature of relationship maybe either linguistic or social, the latter problem falling in the province of sociolinguistics” (Haugen, pp.922, 1966). Haugen, in her paper “Dialect, Language, and Nation,” states that the development of a language into different dialects relates to the development of the growth of nationalism in the country. The number of dialects, which might be spoken of a particular language, is uncountable, whose boundaries cannot be formed or origins cannot be traced. Language is thus a unified means of communication, “a common language on its way to dissolution,” while a dialect through the mixture of culture and society is the change of this common language, formed through either its convergence or divergence. The distinction brought down by the linguists between a language and its dialects is through the study of the areas culture, ideology, and politics. These dialects, which mushroom in a multilingual society, maybe differentiated, based on the regions in which they are spoken their class, ethnicity, gender and even age. In addition, thus, due to the emergence of the same language spoken differently by just through the differentiation of groups, some dialects spoken by a larger group become more of a standard, given a greater acceptance while the rest inferior ones might be stigmatized. A certain dialect maybe given greater acceptance over the rest also, if one codifies it, such as in the dictionary. Dialects in a multilingual society have less prestige as compared to the original language itself, such as the Norwegian and Swedish languages. However, some dialects, due to the large usage, have also acquired the status of complete language, such as Mandarin and Cantonese. Mostly in large countries with high populations, such as India and Africa, people speak hundreds of languages within the border, which does not establish that the country had one language through which everyone communicated and the rest of the languages were spoken by smaller tribes. Rather these different languages were spoken by substantial parts of the populations. An important thing, which needs maintenance while studying the languages of a multilingual society, is the rule of nationality and ethnicity within that community. Nationality is a “group of people who think themselves as a social unit different from the other groups, but not just on a purely local scale” (Fasold, pp. 2, 1984). Whereas, an ethnic group no matter is a part of the nationality, but defines by its socio-cultural organization that is “simpler, smaller, and more localistic.” Thus, the two groups are believed to be more continuum rather than being disconnected from each other, with a nation containing different ethnic groups, making it a multiethnic state; and language with culture, history and religion is an important part of nationalism. Some societies around the world such as Paraguay and India use the language as a test for the nationality and patriotism of its citizens. They believe that the use of different varieties of a single language defines the ethnic identification of these groups who refuse to mingle with the rest of the nation, and want to keep a localized sector, which maintains their own individuality. Thus, the use of this language indicator helps them identify groups, which are willing to give up their ethnic identity to fuse together with the nation against those who want to remain localized (Fasold, pp.4, 1984). If we take the example of India, where hundreds of languages exist at one time, we can clearly see that in such a multilingual society how the varieties of a single language develops with new ones evolving all the time. India gained its independence from the British rule in 1947, where some believed that had the English not ruled over this large area, the country would have broken down into smaller parts, due to the large amounts of ethnic groups and minorities living in it. With Hindi and English as official, the rest of the languages witness their division in mainly into two types, the Indo Aryan spoken in the north of the country, and the Dravidian languages (Laponce et al, 1985, pp. 3-30). However, the task of labeling and cataloging individuals according to the language that they speak has been catastrophic in the country, the reason being that of all the hundreds of languages spoken around one language merging into another, with no defined boundaries or separation between them. For example, Hindi and Urdu, both share grammatical patterns and phonology, but both the languages are written in complete different ways, possess varying vocabularies, with distinct histories and cultures. The groups, which use the language, mark this distinction, when the Hindi is written in the Sanskrit script, is spoken by the Hindus, while Urdu is mostly spoken by the Muslims of India, which is greatly influenced by Arabic and Persian, but in everyday verbal communication these two languages merge together forming varieties of each other (Fasold, pp. 22, 1984). Moreover, it is a belief that a language similar to other things of nature is bound to evolve into different varieties, with the passage of time. For example, research into the English language through time showed that English which was spoken in areas where it was not formally born, or was not practiced officially mutated greatly, forming a new variety, to fit to the habitat of its new speakers. This change claimed more contemplation in countries, which in past had stayed under the British rule, and were naturally confronted more exposure with the English language (Norrish, 1997). Languages are territorial properties, whose survival depends upon their defined space where they are able to assimilate, prosper, and survive, away from their competitors. However, with the evolution of time, and globalization, which has brought multilingualism as a function of modernity and success, the new concept of language that has developed shows that the world is the process of encapsulation in a constant foundation of change and evolution. This new era requires every individual to move across his own due restrictions and communicate far beyond and for that possessing the knowledge of multi languages does not only give a person a forefront position but also wins him an acceptance in another society. It broadens a person’s mental capabilities, inspiring his creativity and developing his personality’s adaptive ability. References Brown, A. & Lumley, T. (1998). “Linguistic and cultural norms in language testing.” Melbourne Papers in Language Testing Volume 7, Issue 1, pp. 80–96. Fasold, W. R. (1984). The Sociolinguistics of Society. Springer. Haugen, Einar. (1966). “Dialect, Language, Nation.” American Anthropologist. Volume 68, Issue 4. pp. 922-935. Laponce, J. A., Mackey, William F. & Pool, Jonathan. (1985). “The Multilingual Mind and Multilingual Societies.” Politics and the Life Sciences. Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 3-30. Mathew, Rama. (2008). “Assessment in Multilingual Societies.” Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer. Norrish, John. (1997). english or English? Retrieved on February 5, 2010: http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/past-issues/volume3/ej09/ej09a2/ Wardhaugh, Ronald. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Wiley-Blackwell. Read More