Language is a salient marker of group membership and social identity. Positive distinctiveness of an individual's language enables an individual to achieve a positive social identity. "If there is negativism attached to an individual's language by a dominant group then an individual may adopt several strategies to attain a more positive social identity. One is to assimilate into a group that is viewed more positively. If language is a salient marker of group membership, the individual may face linguistic adaptations that may result in subtractive bilingualism or even language erosion if a large number of members of a particular group assimilate into another to achieve a more positive group membership" (Giles and Johnson, 1981, 1987).
LANGUAGE MARKERS
SOCIAL IDENTITY
Language is one of the most powerful emblems of social behavior. In the normal transfer of information through language, we use language to send vital social messages about who we are, where we come from, and who we associate with. It is often shocking to realize how extensively we may judge a person’s background, character, and intentions based simply upon the person's language, dialect, or, in some instances, even the choice of a single word.
Given the social role of language, it stands to reason that one strand of language study should concentrate on the role of language in society. Sociolinguistics has become an increasingly important and popular field of study, as certain cultures around the world expand their communication base and inter-group and interpersonal relations take on escalating significance. |
ETHNIC IDENTITY
Language and ethnicity interact in several ways. Specifically, ethnicity may limit an individual's ability to participate in some social situations and networks and may signal a shared ethnic background, which is reinforced by sharing of behavior, values, language, and lifestyle. Language may "symbolize group identity and become emblems of that identity, especially when there is contact with other groups whose ways of being are different" (Heller, 1982).
A slightly different concern with language and society focuses on the effect of particular kinds of social situations on language structure. For example, language contact studies focus on the origin and the linguistic composition of pidgin and creole languages. These special language varieties arise when speakers from mutually unintelligible language groups need a common language for communication. Throughout the world, there are many socio-historical situations that have resulted in these specialized language situations--in the Caribbean, Africa, South America, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. In examining language contact situations, it is also possible to examine not only the details of a particular language but also the social and linguistic details that show how bilingual speakers use each language and switch between them. |
NATIONAL IDENTITY
National identity is one's sense of belonging to one state or to one nation It is the sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, language and politics National identity may refer to the subjective feeling one shares with a group of people about a nation, regardless of one's legal citizenship status. National identity is viewed in psychological terms as "an awareness of difference", a "feeling and recognition of 'we' and 'they.'"
Sociolinguists might investigate language attitudes among large populations on a national level, such as those exhibited in the US with respect to the English-only amendment--the legislative proposal to make English the ‘official’ language of the US. (Did you know that there is no official language of the U.S?) Similarly, we might study the status of French and English in Canada or the status of national and vernacular languages in the developing nations of the world as symbols of fundamental social relations among cultures and nationalities. |