Language is a crucial part of how people in a group show their solidarity to each other. Discuss Through the use of language, each member of a group is able to construct and reflect their identity. Through the language features present in slang and jargon, users are able to communicate their social identity and group belonging. They are also able to portray their cultural heritage and background through ethnolect varieties of English. Language plays a crucial part in enabling the speaker to communicate belonging to a specific social group, reinforcing solidarity. The use of slang enables the speaker to reinforce group membership and belonging. Slang is often ephemeral in nature; it constantly evolves to suit each generation of users. It is thus harder to understand and follow for an older audience, and can be used exclusively to define group boundaries, simultaneously reinforcing solidarity between members that do belong to the group. There is the use of coalescence “waddup?” and “gotta” making speech less formal and eases conversation flow between speakers. Dysphemisms are also common, where the user might do so to appear cool, as with “oh shit!” or “bitch”. Pop-culture references are common to slang. They allow members to bond of shared or common interests and knowledge, reinforcing group solidarity, such as “winner winner chicken dinner” or “giggidy giggidy”. Blends- the combining of two lexemes- are used, as in “guestimate” or “chillax”, allowing the user to appear imaginative and clever as these soon become outdated and new ones are invented to take their place. There is a proliferation of discourse particles in slang, which enables conversation flow as well as making the conversation more relaxed, such as “like”, “yeah... ... middle of paper ... ... words in ethnolect varieties, such as Singaporean English, differs from the Standard. There word “got” is used to mean “have” and/or “got”, just as the word “send” is used to mean “take” or “send”. This happens as these words represent more than one meaning or word in the speaker’s first language. The use of ethnolect varieties amongst members enables them to bond over shared cultures, reflecting their identity, and reinforcing their solidarity to the group. Through their use of language, speakers are able to communicate their belonging to a group. The use of slang, jargon and ethnolect varieties play a crucial part in enabling a speaker to reinforce their group belonging. Through this use of language, members of the group are thus able to communicate and bond over shared and common interests, knowledge or culture, reinforcing and reflecting group solidarity.
There are two forms of languages; public and private. The "private" language only spoken with family and close intimate relationships. The "public" language used in society, work, and school. Both of these help form two identities, that help us connect and communicate with one another. In the essay “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan and also in the article “Speech Communities” by Paul Roberts ,we will see how both private and public language demonstrate how we view, and grow from each language.
A discourse community has an agreed set of common public goals. It is a group of individuals that have a specific way of interacting and communicating with one another. It is also used as a means to maintain and extend a group’s knowledge, as well as initiate new members into the group. Specific kinds of languages are used as a form of social behavior. Such discourse communities vary in size, purpose and importance.
Another difficulty cultures deal with is language and the way people speak. In some cases, people struggle to belong by making changes in the way they speak the English language just to be assimilated. They attempt to use words and letters, as well as body language that fit in the norm; all in an attempt to denounce their original intonation and style of pronunciation. One ...
All human beings in this world are familiar with atleast one language and other might even speak more than one language. Language Is a way of expressing ourselves to others around us. Language doesnot only constitute speaking, but engulfs all major aspects such as body language, gestures, written language and also behaviours. Usually people who speak only one language also know more than one Dialect. Certainly no one talks exactly the same way at all times. Different people speak and act differently in different situations. Language tends to change at all times. There are several changes and variations in language. First, there is the Vocabulary Change. New words are added every now and then. Other than that, slang terms, in particular, come
The selected chapter Words and Culture is written by Ronald Wardhaugh in his book An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. This chapter focuses on the interreationship between language and culture. The author first introduces the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, which claims that language has strong influence on culture. He then discusses the study of kinship terms, (folk) taxonomies, color terms, prototypes, and taboo and euphrmisms used in different cultures to furthur support the hypothesis.
What does slang mean? If you look in a dictionary you will find the meaning of "Slang" which is " very informal in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playfull, elliptical, vivid, and ephemeral than ordinary language." Slang can be found in everywhere around the world because it is part of the colloquial language that people use everyday, the expressions that you use to communicate with others. Have you ever asked to your self if foreign people understand what you say when you use slang during your conversation or why we add these expressions to our vocabulary?
Since the beginning of human interaction, culture was a driving force with respect to language. Culture completely shapes the how and what people say to each other. Additionally, culture’s influence on language has been so powerful, that the more dominant a culture becomes the more the language of that culture will permeate other cultures that it has interaction with and subsequently comes to dominate the language of neighboring cultures. Some may even argue that language is a sub-culture of culture itself and yet others argue that language is simply a product or manifestation of a particular culture. Irrespective of the position that one may assume in this age old debate the overriding theme is culture significantly impacts language and in-turn, culture drives consequences of social institutions. I will address language as a social institution and its consequences in a separate paper.
Behind every language lies a fascinatingly intricate structure, which contains much more than a simple set of symbols. Language is not merely a code used to switch a text from one idiom to another, but an entity with its own complex, intriguing characteristics. In fact, exact translations do not even exist from one language to another because every dialect possesses unique aspects that have come about from centuries of social change and interaction. In return, language, through everyday speech, as well as literature, shapes society. Therefore, “language is one of the most powerful emblems of social behavior.”[1] From this idea emerged sociolinguistics, one of the most important fields of study in today’s world of increasing international relations. Sociolinguistics studies the relationships between the way a society functions and its language. Areas of the field include, but are certainly not limited to, pidgins and creoles, gender relations, economic status, and age. Researchers examine both the effects of social factors on language, and the effects of language on society. The contemporary world is bringing many people of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds together, perhaps more than any other period of history. Thus, the study of fields such as semiotics, linguistics, and sociolinguistics is crucial to gain a better understanding of how languages are created and how they bring meaning to the world.
Language has been used as a means of communication among society members as time began. Each and every community has its own unique language, which is used to convey a certain message from the sender to the recipient. For a language to be appreciated as a means of communication among society members, it should be clear, simple to use and understandable among the users. There are approximately six thousand different languages, which are used in the whole world. Such languages are unique and distinct from each. Yagmur (2009) supports that; a language acts as a reflection or like a mirror of the society from which it originates. For instance, a language may portray the culture and origin of a certain community.
The way people interact with one another effects how they communicate. More specifically, their verbal and nonverbal communication define their social group, which in turn gives them their cultural identity. For instance, since I live in the Midwestern United States, I call a fizzy beverage ‘pop’, while someone in the northeast might call it ‘soda ' and someone from the southern part of the United States would likely refer to it as 'coke '. This shows the people in my area
Sociolinguists such as Eckert (2000) and Milroy (2004) have made provocative efforts to incorporate linguistic-anthropological concepts into sociolinguistic explanation (Woolard, 2008) and foundational studies by Creese (2008) include major works describing the paradigm. Rampton (2007), described the methodological tenants behind LE. LE research is yet a developing discipline that serves as a way of enriching a fundamentally linguistic project. In fact, the formulation of LE covers a large and older body of scholarship on language and culture (Rampton, Maybin, & Roberts, 2014), while simultaneously necessitating and interdisciplinary collaboration of theories and skills, thus blurring the boundaries between branches of variationist, sociological and ethnographic sociolinguistics (Tusting & Maybin, 2007). LE research on language change (Ekert, 2000) and a cultural model of cognition (Levinson, 1996) are worthwhile examples. However, the examples in the following sections serve more as a focus on contributions of LE to the field of
Language is a part of our everyday lives, and we can describe the meaning of language in many ways. As suggested in Gee and Hayes (2011, p.6 ) people can view language as something in our minds or something existing in our world in the form of speech, audio recordings, and writings or we can view language as a way of communicating with a group of people. Language can be used to express our emotions, make sense of our mental and abstract thoughts and assists us in communicating with others around us. Language is of vital importance for children to enable them to succeed in school and everyday life. Everyone uses both oral and written language. Language developed as a common ability amongst human beings with the change
Slang is mostly used in informal contexts and it would mostly be inappropriate for business communication. The use of words or expressions that take the place of conventional words may give a negative impression in a business context and so the intended message may not be fully appreciated. For example, using the expression “hey, what’s up” to your supervisor at work is likely not going to be the best way of conveying your
The way people communicate varies widely between, and even within, cultures. One aspect of communication style is language usage. Language has always been perceived as a link between people but it can also constitute a barrier. Across cultures, some words and phrases are used in different ways. For example, even in countries that share the English language, the meaning of "yes" varies from "maybe, I'll consider it" to "definitely so," with many shades in between . Furthermore, communication between cultures which do not share the same language is considerably more difficult . Each culture, has its distinct syntax, expressions and structure which causes confusion in intercultural communication. For example , in Asian countries the word “no” is rarely used, so that “yea” can mean “no” or “perhaps”. Therefore, an American traveling to Japan might be considered impolite if he ignores this rule. Furthermore, individuals who are not comfortable with a certain language may not be taken seriously. Such is the case in the classroom, where a student who has a perfect knowledge of the subject in question may have difficulty expressing his idea due to his inability to write properly and therefore he would not receive the grade he truly deserves. Similarly intercultural communication is dominant in the workplace. In the past, many companies and organizations could operate entirely within their country of origin and conduct their activities exclusively in their own native language. But now, due...
The book An Intorduction of Sociolinguistics is an outstanding introductary book in the field of sociolinguistics. It encompasses a wide range of language issues. In chapter 13, Wardhaugh provides a good insight to the relationship between language and gender. He explains gender differences of language-in-use with concise examples. Wardhaugh riases questions about sexist language and guides readers to look closer at how people use language differently because of their own gender in daily life. According to the Whorfian hypothesis, which indicates that the way people use language reflects their thoughts, different genders adapt different communication strategies.