ENL 227: Language and Society (Sociolinguistics)

Mrs. D.L. Efobi

Language is a system of codes (comprising signs, sounds, words, grammatical structures, and so on) used by

people in a given society in order to communicate or understand each other. As such, language and society

cannot be separated. When talking about language, there is always a reference to society because language is

part of what defines a society and vice- versa.

Language is defined by Bernard Bloch as “a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a group

of people [human beings] co-operate” (qtd Longe 16). It is described as making up a system because it is

patterned in such a way that it forms an organized whole. Sounds, morphemes, words, and sentences do not

just occur haphazardly but perform a function in the linguistic slots in which they are used. Language is also

described as being made up of arbitrary vocal symbols. The reference to its being ‘arbitrary’ means that there

may be no natural link between sounds and words in a language and their referents. Members of a speech

community simply agree to use a particular reference for an object, which may as well have a different reference

(word) in other languages. For example, the Urhobos call ‘mouth’ ‘èwè’, while the Igbos call it ‘ónú’. In the three

instances, there is no natural correspondence between the referent and the words that these groups choose to

represent it with.

That language is ‘vocal’ means that language is primarily spoken, and that it is made up of symbols,

means that language is made up of marks or signs that are used to represent other things. In the context of this

course, the most important element of the above definition of language is the reference to its being used by

‘human beings’. Language is a psychological property of humans and connects us to the society in which it is

used. Other living things have no language and therefore cannot be said to form a society. A society is formed

by a group of people drawn together for a certain purpose or purposes, sharing decision-making and the

execution of work that needs to be done, and all this is only achievable if the communication of needs, intents,
and expectations are passed across using language. This is the reason language and society cannot be divorced

from each other.

Society and Speech Community.

The identity of a society is partly determined by its language use. As such, a society can also be referred to as a

language community or a speech community. This is possibly the reason why people who speak Hausa in Nigeria

are many times referred to as ‘Hausa people’, so also are those who speak Yoruba, Igbo, Urhobo, Esan and so

on. A nation as large as Nigeria can also be said to be a speech community because the English language serves

as a means of communication between Nigerians.

A speech community, according to David Crystal, is “any regionally or socially definable human group

which can be identified by the use of a shared spoken language or language variety” (446). Two vital things to

note about a speech community are that there is shared community membership, as well as shared linguistic

communication. This relationship between how language works and the social behavior that accompanies it is

important because the two entities (language and society) influence each other. Ways of speaking, choices of

expressions and words and even rules of conversing are mostly determined by certain social requirements. For

example, the choices of words that mark the politeness strategies employed by an employee while addressing

her boss will be significantly different and less when the addressee is a subordinate instead.

In a speech community, there is always a level of mutual intelligibility. Mutual intelligibility means that

members usually understand each other when they communicate. Crystal goes on to say that “if two varieties

of speech are mutually intelligible, they are strictly dialects of the same language; if they are mutually

unintelligible, they are different language” (319). The characteristics of language and language use that indicates

that speech communities are different, is mostly a result of declining levels of mutual intelligibility. Even though

the dividing lines between speech communities may be difficult to determine, usually, the farther apart people

are geographically, the less likely that linguistic conventions will be similar. As such, people whose languages
become less and less mutually intelligible as a result of increased distance from each other can be said to belong

to different speech communities.

The relationship between language and society is a two-way street. People influence language and

language influences people. Both arguments are justifiable. For example, the idiolect of some powerful people

in the society can set up a trend that could affect the way language is used in that society. Similarly, before

independence in Nigeria, the missionaries were known to have a level of social importance that had a significant

effect on how Nigerians used English and the number of religious words that found their way into the English

language that was being learned by Nigerians. These are cases where people influenced language.

Language, as previously stated, can affect the social behavior of people in society. A very good example

is the way language is used to create, store, and spread sexism in society. Language in a way affects the way

gender is conceived. For example, the use of words such as ‘fireman’ or ‘chairman’, makes people imagine a

male situation, isolating the women who can also work in those capacities.

Classification of Language

Language can either be ‘natural or ‘artificial’, pidgin, creole, and even ‘spiritual’ so-called. A natural language is

formed and acquired naturally by its speakers. The people who speak it can be located and labeled as speakers

of that language. On the contrary, an artificial language is constructed by agreement to serve a certain need for

human communication and has no native speakers. ‘Wazobia’, a fabricated attempt at a national language for

Nigeria comprising the languages of the three major ethnic groups (Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo) is a good example

of an artificial language. Another is ‘Esperanto’, invented by the Polish scholar, Ludwig Zamenhof in the 90s to

further international communication and understanding.

Most languages that we identify a speech community with are natural languages, as such, natural

languages are our focus in this chapter because they are considered most human, influenced by unconscious

evolutionary factors but at the same time affected by society through innovation and policy making. Most of
the examples used for illustration in this chapter are mostly from English and other Nigerian languages because

they encapsulate a context that Nigerian students can easily relate with.

A language does not just come to being suddenly. Its development follows a gradual process that may

have its base or origin stemming from an already established language. Pidgin is one of such which develops

from the existence of an already established language. Pidgin is defined as “a variety of language which

developed for some practical purpose, such as trading, among people who had a lot of contacts [forced or

voluntary], but did not know each others’ language. As such it has no native speakers” (Yule, qtd in Ekundayo

26). In Nigeria, an incipient pidgin developed as a result of coastal trading contacts with people of different

languages. Nigerian Pidgin is presently a blend of English and other Nigerian languages. It was found useful by

the British missionaries when they first arrived Nigeria as a viable means of communication. It even gave rise to

what one might refer to as ‘elite traders’ in its early stage in Nigeria. It, however, became stigmatized when a

new elitist class of English-speaking Nigerians was trained (Jowitt qtd in Schneider 201). In spite of this, in Nigeria

today, it has become an inter-ethnic lingua-franca used mostly in many communication contexts. As previously

mentioned, pidgin usually has no native speakers, but this may only be applicable to its contact stage. According

to Ekundayo, “[it] may develop to an independent language” (26). He goes on to say that the generally held view

is that Pidgin begins from a restricted contact language and gradually expands to form a Creole (26). As such,

when a pidgin reaches a level of standardization and becomes associated with the speech community in which

it is used one can say that it has become nativised. It can then can be referred to as a Creole. A Creole according

to Crystal is

a term used in sociolinguistics to refer to a pidgin language which has become the mother-tongue of a

speech community, as is the case in Jamaica, Haiti, Dominica, and several other ex-colonial parts of the

world. When a Creole forms, the structural and stylistic range of a pidginised language is expanded,

making the creolized language to be at par in terms of form and function with other languages. (122)
Ekundayo explains that a Creole language passes through six stages from being a contact pidgin before

eventually becoming an ‘expanded Creole’. The first is ‘Contact Pidgin stage’; second, ‘the Pidgin Spreading

stage’; third, the Expanded Pidgin stage; fourth, the Pidgin Creolisation stage; fifth, the Expanding Creole stage;

and finally, the Expanded Creole stage. At the stage when a pidgin has developed to become an ‘expanded

Creole’, it is considered comprehensive enough to express the entire range of human experience of its users; it

becomes the mother tongue of its speakers and can then be considered as a relatively independent language of

its own. Salikoko S. Mufwene however, argues that they are only dialects of their lexifiers (qtd in Schneider 11).

Their lexifiers being the primary language from which most of it structures develop. In Nigeria for example,

though not a Creole, the lexifier of the Pidgin language is English, and as such, Pidgin is regarded as an English

based Pidgin in Nigeria. Examples of Creole languages are the Sierra Leonean Krio and the Jamaican Creole.

An aspect of language classification that may have been given little attention is that of ‘spiritual

language’. Spiritual language may not be restricted to any one particular language but it can be said to form a

sort of identity for those who use in their spiritual pursuits. It can be used to identify a speech community

comprising people who consider themselves members of the same spiritual community. Spiritual language may

refer to the act of ‘speaking in tongues’, or chantings that have ‘spiritual’ implications. Christians, for example,

consider the ability to speak it as a gift that makes them confirmed members of the body of Christ and are

believed to use it to communicate in spiritual contexts.

Language can also be classified according to its social use and functions. It could be a national language,

an official language, a lingua- franca, a mother tongue, a native language, a first language, a second language,

etc.

A national language is closely associated with the concept of ‘nationhood’. It warrants the promotion of

dominant languages in a society for the purpose of unifying the state. The social hierarchy of the language, of

course, has a part to play here. Patrick explains a national language as a language that has been ideologically
constructed to unify nations by creating political and socio-cultural integrity as arguments for its qualification

for use (180). There is a usually a complex history behind the selection of a national language. Its acceptance by

its users to bear that status is of paramount importance because picking the wrong language could rip a nation

apart. As such, the selection of a national language is a political process.

Many times, the language chosen as a national language has to be indigenous. i.e., it should originate

from the nation of its use and may be recognized and adopted by the laws of the land as its national language.

It is usually symbolic of the country of its use and may sometimes also be given official recognition and be used

as an official language. Examples of national languages include Japanese in Japan, French in France and English

in Britain. The concept of a national language is closely related to a ‘native language’.

An official language is expressly mentioned in the constitution of the country of its use. It has official

status and has functions associated with legitimate power, as related to government and the civil service,

education, the judiciary, the media, industry, and trade, etc. it is different from a national language in the sense

that it may not be indigenous to the place of use. For example, Nigeria uses the English language as an official

language. English, as is well known, is an ‘imported’ language that came to be used as a result of colonisation in

Nigeria. The granting of official status to one or more languages in a country usually helps define the character

of the nation.

A lingua-franca is any language that has been adopted by members of a community whose inhabitants

have different native languages or dialects. It is usually a neutral language known by the two groups and used

as a means of communication when the two groups cannot understand the language or dialect of the other.

Crystal notes that it is sometimes also called ‘interlingua,’ and is an auxiliary language used to enable routine

communication to take place between people with different native languages. He also notes that English is the

world’s most common lingua franca. Nigeria also uses English as its lingua-franca, (or in some parts, the Nigerian

Pidgin English). As such, a lingua-franca which is also defined by UNESCO as “a language which is used habitually
by people whose mother tongues are different in other to facilitate communication between them” (qtd in

Wardhaugh 59) develops out of communicative needs of people in a linguistically heterogeneous society. The

development of a Creole language is also born out of the need for communication in this kind of situation.

A language can be a native language, a mother tongue, a first language, or a second language. A native

language speaker, sometimes referred to as a first language speaker or mother tongue speaker, is, according to

Crystal, “a term used in linguistics to refer to someone for whom a particular language is a first language or

mother-tongue, [which is] acquired naturally during childhood, [and] is the one about which a speaker will have

the most reliable intuitions, and whose judgments about the way the language is used can therefore be trusted

(322). There is a need to however differentiate these terms. A first language may not be the native language or

mother tongue of an individual. This means that people may acquire a language that is not native to them as

their first language. The term ‘first language’ is more of a technical term that differentiates the language that is

acquired first in a bilingual or multilingual situation. For example, many children born in this present generation

in Nigeria tend to acquire English as their first language in spite of being of different ethnic origins and may

subsequently learn their native language as a second language. In this case, English becomes their first language

even though it is not their native language (i.e they are non- native speakers of the English language, and as

such may or may not have native-like proficiency in the language, and they may or may not be the best options

to consult about the language).

The native language of an individual usually refers to the language of the region the individual is native

to. One may or may not be exposed to it from birth and through the active stages of language acquisition, which

according to Rod Ellis, should be at a young age (14). The child may then become very proficient in its use up to

the extent that it can now be regarded as the child’s mother tongue. The mother tongue is the language that is

used from birth by a child’s caregivers, family friends, and community. So, while the description of a first

language focuses on the sequence of acquisition, where it is chronologically first, as opposed to a second

language, a mother tongue focuses more on levels of proficiency and not the sequence in which language was
learnt. The native language on the other hand, usually focuses on the linguistic environment that the language

can be identified with. The mother tongue and native language not only capture the entire human experience

of its users but also are those in which one’s knowledge of them may be trusted because it has its roots in its

place of use as opposed to its being spoken as a foreign language by non-native speakers.

An illustration will make the differences between these three terms clearer. John is a British boy, born

to a British father and mother but was born in a Yoruba speaking environment. His father and mother speak

mostly Yoruba and a bit of English to him but he does not have native-like proficiency in English because he was

not born in an English speaking environment. He has been surrounded from birth by Yoruba speaking people.

He acquires the Yoruba language first and it becomes his first language. The language of his origin is however

English. That can be termed his native language, as it is the language that identifies his ethnicity. He, however,

is most proficient in Yoruba as he is continuously exposed to it and can capture his entire life experience using

the language. Yoruba then not only becomes his first language, but also his mother tongue.

If John and his family then relocate back to Britain, and he becomes overwhelmed by the English

language and begins to speak it more often because it takes higher priority in his life, it may or may not become

his mother tongue. It becomes his second language and still remains his native language. Depending on how

proficient he becomes in the language, and how early he was exposed to it, he may be able to express his entire

life experience in it with native-like proficiency, in which case, one can say that it has become a second mother

tongue to him. Yoruba still remains his first mother tongue as long as he became very proficient in its use before

he relocated. If he does return to the Yoruba speaking speech community, he would still speak it with native-

like proficiency. English on the other hand, will remain his second mother tongue, because he ‘acquired’ it

second, and he is able to speak it with native-like proficiency without it being affected in any way by Yoruba.

This is, however, a rare case.

A first language has been known to be relegated to the background in the life of its speaker. For example,

a child born in an Igbo speaking community may acquire the Igbo language at an early stage but then relocating
to an English speaking community where he/she becomes surrounded by English speaking people and situations

has a tendency of becoming less proficient in the Igbo language which happens to be his/her first language,

while becoming more and more proficient, even with native-like competence, in the second language, which in

this case, is English. This, however, is mostly as a result of the language (Igbo), not being fully developed before

the migration to a different speech community (Adegbite 77). This is further discussed in this chapter as a case

of subtractive bilingualism.

A second language as differentiated from a first language is a language other than one’s mother-tongue

used for a special purpose, e.g. for education, government (Crystal, 266). It is the language that is acquired or

learnt after a first language might have been acquired. It is a common practice in many speech communities to

have a second language other than their first language or mother tongue. It is, however, a common belief that

while the development of a first language happens relatively fast, learning a second language is typically

protracted. This is because a first language, being the first language that a child is surrounded by, allows the

child to acquire it with relative ease as a result of natural and largely random exposure to the language. A second

language, on the other hand, may require learning through structured exposure in formal learning environments

such as schools. This does not, however, guarantee the place of a first language in the life of its speakers as

explained earlier. A second language can become the dominant language of an individual, and can even become

the mother-tongue of the individual.

Types of Speech Communities and Language Speakers

Society or speech community is identified by the language it speaks. A speech community can be classified

according to the number of languages it speaks. Accordingly, there are three major types of speech

communities: monolingual, bilingual and/or multilingual speech communities.

Monolingualism can also be called ‘monoglottism’ or ‘unilingualism’. A Monolingual speech community

or individual make use of only one language. While this seems like a very simple and common situation on the
surface, it is quite rare except in cases where the speech community is completely isolated from neighboring

speech communities. An example is the Koma people of Adamawa state in Nigeria, who live in the hills. Because

of their terrain and small number, they tend to not only have their own ‘undiluted’ culture, like wearing leaves

and their men sometimes sharing their wives with their visitors etc, they also have their own language that has

gone mostly unchanged for a long time. The Koma society may maintain its monolingual status for years to come

as a result of their seeming isolation and distance from other speech communities.

Bilingualism and multilingualism, on the other hand, entails the ability to use two or more languages.

While bilingualism is the ability to use two different languages, multilingualism is the ability to use three or more

different languages. These situations are quite common as people who are considered bilingual or multilingual

do not necessarily have to have the same or high levels of competence in the languages they speak. Levels of

competence can range from a command of a few words in a language’s lexicon, greetings, and some

rudimentary conversational skills to an excellent command of the language. Most Nigerians for example, are

bilingual, if not multilingual. Many speak their mother tongue, as well as the English language in varying

capacities. Some tend to have varying levels of competence in several Nigerian languages.

Based on the individual competence in the languages they speak in a bilingual or multilingual speech

community, we can classify them as compound or co-ordinate bilinguals, and also as dominant or balanced

bilingual.

- Compound Bilingualism

A compound bilingual is an individual who learns two languages in the same environment so that he/she

acquires one notion with two verbal expressions. The languages are learned in the same context and used

concurrently or interchangeably as there is a fused representation of the language in the brain of its speaker.

The speaker can easily switch between both languages at will. A good example is a Nigerian child brought up by

a Yoruba mother and an Edo father. They may become bilingual (i.e. speak both Yoruba and Edo fluently), and
may frequently code mix while interacting with their siblings who have been exposed to the same situation.

They might call ‘food’ Yoruba ‘ounje’ in one instance during a discussion, and also call it Edo ‘evbahe‘ in another

instance during the same discussion.

- Co-ordinate Bilingualism

In this case, the languages are learned separately and this separation is maintained even while mastering both.

For example, a child may learn one language via his parents at home and another as an educational requirement

at school. The child may end up restricting the use of both languages to the places from which they had been

learned. For the speaker, the languages are separate both in her mind and their uses, so that if he/she learned

Urhobo at home and English at school, Urhobo would be the preferred language at home, while the English

language would be used in school.

- Dominant Bilingualism

This is when a bilingual tends to be more proficient in one language compared to another. Many Nigerians

today tend to make English their dominant language because of social-cultural demands and the inability to

easily understand and speak other Nigerian languages, thereby, hardly using their indigenous languages. This is

mostly because “the extent to which one language or type of language is preferred depends on the community’s

perception of the role or status of that language or language type in the context of prevailing linguistic attitudes

in the society” (Oyetade 17 ).

For example, Adegbite notes that Nigerian learners do not mature fully in the mother tongue before their

attention is shifted to English. As a result of this, the learners begin to know less about the mother tongue,

making the second language become their dominant language (77). Levels of proficiency can range from

relatively active to passive. In the case of passive bilingualism, there is the ability to partially understand a
second language without being able to speak it. An active bilingual/multilingual can both understand and speak

the languages.

- Balanced Bilingualism

This is when a bilingual tends to have equal proficiency in the two languages and can match a native speaker in

each of the languages he or she speaks. Some Nigerian children are known to be exposed to two different

languages at the same time. Some may be exposed to both English and a local language like is the case with a

compound bilingual, and tend to demonstrate equal proficiency in the two languages. Both languages, in this

case, become first languages, as well as mother-tongues.

- A polyglot is a multilingual person who understands, speaks, reads, and writes a large number of languages,

usually ranging from five to dozens or several dozens.

The second language can either have no effect on the first language or it can replace/ affect the first language.

When the second language replaces the first language, the situation is termed ‘subtractive or folk bilingualism’.

In this case, mastery of the first language decreases while mastery of the more dominant second language

increases; a case of language attrition. A common example is a situation where children born in Nigeria and

learnt to speak Esan to an extent, relocate to the United States and end up replacing the Igbo language with the

English language. Because of the social importance of the English language spoken there, the Igbo language may

become secondary and may not develop past a certain point. When the first language does not pose a threat to

the second language, it is termed ‘additive or elite bilingualism’; as in the case of English and our mother tongue.

A good example of this type of situation is that of English speakers in Canada who also speak French.

Factors Responsible for Bilingualism and Multilingualism

Bilingualism and multilingualism are brought about by several factors. Among them include the following:
- Migration: When people migrate to a different speech society, learning the language of that society

becomes a necessity to be able to communicate effectively.

- Education: Opportunity to learn a new language through education can bring about bilingualism. For

example, some Nigerians sometimes go to Germany where they are usually required to partake in German

language classes for a period of time before continuing their studies. This can give rise to

bilingualism/multilingualism.

- The timing: there are usually stages in one’s life that can be regarded as milestones where certain skills can

be learnt. Learning of a language can be affected by the time in one’s life in which it is learned. The learning

of a language is best achieved before the age of nine when the brain reaches its full size. Rod Ellis makes

this point when he says that “…it is only possible to acquire native speaker’s competence if learners start

very young when their brains are in some sense, open to language” (14). Learning a language at a later stage

in life may be more challenging than it would have been if it was learnt earlier.

- Aptitude: people are born with different life skills. Some are born with a high aptitude for language learning.

These people tend to pick up foreign languages easily. For people with a low aptitude for this skill, learning

a new language can be quite daunting. For example, some people, finding themselves in a new speech

community might pick up the language of the speech community within a very short time. Some other

people may not be able to go beyond some words or phrases, or may not be able to even learn it at all. It

should, however, be noted that interest also has a lot to do with this.

- Motivation: the motivation behind the need to learn a different language can facilitate the learning process.

For some people, it might be the need to secure a dream job. For some others, it may be the need to be

able to communicate with their in-laws who are from a different speech community etc.

- The linguistic relationship between languages: sometimes, a similarity in the sound system, vocabulary, and

grammar of two different languages can facilitate the learning of the other.
- Religion. Some people may become bilingual as a result of their religion. For example, many Muslims tend

to know Arabic because of their religion. Some Catholic Christians also know a bit of Latin because of its use

in their religion.

- Colonization: extensive exposure to a different language as a result of colonization has been known to bring

about bilingualism. Nigeria is a good example of a place where bilingualism was brought about as a result

of colonialism. Many people in Nigeria thus know the language of their colonizers, which is English, as well

as the language of their ethnic origin.

- Commerce: Trade contacts between people from different speech communities can make the learning of

the other language a necessity, even if it is just the learning of its rudimentary form.

- Geographical Location: People in boundary communities tend to be bilingual or multilingual.

Consequences of Bilingualism and Multilingualism

Bilingualism and multilingualism give rise to a situation where an individual may cognitively process two or

more reference for the same referent and this can give rise to the code-mixing, code-switching, a diglossic

situation, and interference.

Code-mixing and Code-switching are conversational strategies that involve switching from one

language or language variety to another consciously or unconsciously. According to Crystal,

Code-mixing involves the transfer of linguistic elements from one language into another: a

sentence begins in one language, then makes use of words or grammatical features belonging to

another. Such mixed forms of language are often labeled with a hybrid name, such as (in the case

of English) Spanglish, Franglais and Singlish (Singaporean English), and attract attitudes ranging

from enthusiastic community support (as an expression of local identity) to outright

condemnation (from some speakers of the related standard languages). (83)

Some linguist, however, differentiates the two terms. Code-mixing is sometimes used to refer to the

mixing of lexical items and grammatical features from two different languages within the same sentence while
code-switching is sometimes described as a situation where linguistic units such as phrases, clauses, and

sentences, are mixed with that of another language. The major difference is that for code-mixing, the mixing

occurs intersententially (i.e in a single sentence), while for code-switching, the mixing occurs intrasentially (i.e

between different sentences), as long as they are used within the same speech context. Code-mixing is many

times used to refer to the two phenomena. When people are bilingual, there is a tendency to code-mix. This

language strategy can sometimes be used to establish relationships or even isolate other people.

Diglossia, another consequence of bilingualism, unlike code-mixing is intra-dialectal. A diglossic situation

is when two very different varieties of a language co-occur in a speech community, each with a distinct range

of social function (Crystal 145). In one situation, a variety of the language may be deemed appropriate, while in

another situation, a different variety may be deemed appropriate. If one knows how to speak these different

varieties, a diglossic situation may be inevitable. This phenomenon is further discussed in this chapter.

Another consequence of bilingualism/ multilingualism is interference. Interference is a term used in

sociolinguistics to refer to the errors a speaker introduces into a target language as a result of contact with

another language. It is also called negative transfer. When a speaker already has a mother tongue, or a first

language, and wants to learn another language, there is a tendency to transfer the forms in that language into

the target language. It can be reflected in the phonological(pronunciation of sounds, accent, stress placement,

etc.), grammatical, lexico-semantic, as well as discourse forms introduced into the target language from the

source language. For example, the Hausas are known to pronounce /p/ in English ‘play’ as /f/. This is because

in the Hausa language, both /p/ and /f/ are both allophones of /p/, and tend to occur in free variation.

Language Change/ Language Variation

Language change according to Crystal is “a general term referring to change within a language over a period of

time, seen as a universal and unstoppable process” (266). It usually begins with the use of irregular patterns,
giving rise to fluctuations that affect all aspects of the language. Crystal notes that most attention has been paid

to phonology and lexis, where change is most noticeable and frequent. Language change, however affects the

entire structure of a language.

Language change occurs for various reasons. Some commentators use the term ‘corruption’ to suggest

that language change is usually as a result of degradation in the quality of a language, especially when it is as a

result of human error. Descriptively linguistics, however does not support this concept, since from a scientific

point of view such changes are neither good nor bad.

Language change can either be as a result of internal forces or external forces. It is ‘internal’ when the

change is as a result of irregular use by the members of a particular speech community. It is, however, ‘external’

when the change is as a result of contact between speakers of other languages or dialects. Language change can

be brought about by the following reasons:

- Contact with people speaking a different language or dialect can give rise to changes in one’s language. For

example, many words used in English today were borrowed from other languages. This has undoubtedly

changed the English language significantly. Apart from borrowed words, language varieties such as Creoles

and Pidgin also develop as a result of migration and contact with people speaking a different language.

- Ease of articulation. Some people may find some sounds a bit more complex to articulate than a slightly

similar sound. For example, many people tend to pronounce ‘igbo’ as ‘ibo’ because the single consonant

appears less complex than the consonant cluster, and also communicates the intended word

unambiguously. This is also because language may sometimes evolve toward a more economical option in

a bid to make utterances as efficient and effective as possible. Other examples include vowel reduction,

elision, and lenition. After sometimes, if these features become widely accepted, it may end up being

treated as a standard.

- A tendency to engage in ‘spelling pronunciation’ can also give rise to language change. For example, it is a

known fact that many English words tend to be spelt differently from how they are pronounced. The word
 ‘island’ is a good example. People who are not familiar with the English language may tend to pronounce it

as /ɪslǝnd/ instead of /aɪlǝnd/, and if this is not corrected and it becomes a widespread tendency, it might

give rise to a change in the language.

- Language change can also be brought about when each speaker learns and retains an ‘imperfect’, or a

slightly different copy of a perceived language. For example, Nigerians tend to speak English differently from

the British from whom they learnt the language and this form of the language is passed on from one

generation to the next, giving rise to a variety of English that is significantly different from its source.

- Introduction of new words as a result of changes in the society can also alter a language significantly.

Speakers will need to reflect new experiences, new places, new situations, and objects in their language.

This is irrespective of an encounter with people with a different language. For example, the Igbo language

ordinarily has no word for television. Its introduction has forced the coining of a word to represent it.

‘ákpàtí-ónyunyò’ literally means ‘a looking box’. This has been introduced in the Igbo language because of

changes in society.

- Geographical separation can also give rise to language change. When people move away from each other,

their language tends to diverge due to different experiences.

- Social prestige of a particular language or dialect can lead to language change. For example, the British

Received pronunciation tends to be the standard that many Nigerians thrive towards. As a result, the kind

of English spoken in Nigeria can be relatively altered when this standard becomes the norm.

Language Variation as a Consequence of Language Change

One of the consequences of language change is language variation and all languages may be susceptible to this
phenomenon. The term ‘Language Variation’ refers to the different ways speakers of a language use their
language. Catford defines it as “a contextual category which correlates sets of linguistic features with recurrent
situational features” (qtd in Longe 15). Language varieties are brought about through social interaction by
individuals or a community with relatively diverse backgrounds. Variations can be dialectal or diatypic (also
referred to as a register by M. A. K. Halliday). A dialectal variety is defined by Halliday as “a variety of language
distinguished according to the user”, while a diatypic variety is “the variety according to use”.(qtd in Longe 15).
When people tend to speak the same language differently they are referred to as dialects of the same language.
The range of mutual intelligibility between the dialects is however, a continuum. Some dialects can be very
similar, while others, extremely different.

On the other hand, when speakers tend to use different words or expressions differently in different

situations it is referred to as a diatypic variety of the language. For example, in a formal context, the word

‘father’ will be appropriate, while in a less formal context, one may say ‘dad’ or ‘daddy’.

Dialectal differences can be demonstrated in the linguistic differences in the use of sounds, words, or

even grammar in different situations. There might be differences between individuals’ varieties (idiolects), the

social class varieties, the language varieties of different age groups, diachronic and temporal varieties, regional

varieties, and so on. Some of these variations can be slight enough to go unnoticed or may be extensive enough

to impede intelligibility.

Other Effects of Language Change

Change as we all know it, is the only constant feature of life. No human society is static. People live and die,

giving room to other people to come to the world. As society changes, culture and ideas also change along with

it. Language, being the engine of society equally keeps changing to reflect socio-cultural changes.

Language reflects change in society. Just like society is subject to change; so is the language. Language

change is observed when a generation of speakers produces linguistic expressions that differ from those of the

previous generations, either in form or in distribution. Language change can occur in ways depicted below:

i. Intralingual change/ language diffusion;

ii. language Attrition;

iii. language death or linguicide; and

iv. language endangerment

Intra-language changes

These are internal changes within a language. They are the changes that a language undergoes over a period of

time and is usually observable in all the levels of linguistic organization (phonological, lexical, syntactic,

semantic, pragmatic etc.). Old words can die out, as new words emerge and surviving words can change meaning

by semantic weakening and shifts. Sometimes, it is due to contact between speakers with different languages

or dialect or the pressure of communication. When immigrants come to a new area, or when an indigenous

people learn the language of a newly arrived conqueror they may learn the adopted language imperfectly and

hand on this imperfection to their children and to other people in their social circle, and eventually alter the

language. Also, language alters as the needs of its users change. Some words may be dropped; meaning may

change completely, new words may be coined out of necessity, while those that are perceived as inadequate

may be modified.

Language attrition

Language attrition describes a process whereby a speaker (of a first language or a later learned second or foreign

language) can no longer speak the language as well as he or she used to in the past. It is characterized by

considerable loss in the vocabulary of language that had previously been acquired by an individual, not due to

deterioration of the brain to age, injury or illness, but by a change in linguistic behaviour and environment due

to severance of the contact with the community in which the language is spoken, or exposure to a language that

exerts overwhelming competition on the former. It happens particularly in bilingual or multilingual societies.

Here, as the speakers acquire and use more languages, the newly acquired one may change or even displace

the earlier acquired one.

Language Endangerment

This term is used to refer to when a language is at risk of becoming extinct in the near future. A language can

become endangered when the new generations of children or adults do not speak the language. The number of
natives who speak the language becomes drastically reduced, with little hope of renewed increase. According

to Baba Zanna Isa et al, languages that are considered safe or viable have a large number of speakers, at least

100,000 speakers or so (46).

Language Death, on the other hand, is when nobody speaks a particular language anymore. According

to Crystal, even if it has been recorded in writing or stored in a sound or video archive, as long as there are no

fluent speakers to speak it, it cannot be regarded as a ‘living’ language (11). This can also be referred to as

‘language extinction’. Extinction of a language usually means the loss of the cultural identity of a group of

people. Language is a powerful symbol of a groups’ identity and because a people’s history and traditions are

passed down through language, when the language disappears, it may take with it important information about

the early history of the community.

The formula below can be used to describe the process of language attrition, through language

endangerment to language death. Let ‘A’ represent ‘Akum’ language(a language spoken across the border

between Nigeria and Cameroon), while B represents the English language.

A – AB – aB – B

In the beginning, it is just the ‘Akum’ language. When English is learned, bilingualism occurs, for certain socio-

cultural reasons, there is language attrition and English (B) becomes the dominant language. ‘A’ might

subsequently become endangered and eventually lost. This linguistic phenomenon can also affect an entire

society, leading to a widespread language loss in a particular speech community.

Language attrition is a common phenomenon in Nigeria. In a study conducted by Emmanuel Adedayo

Adedun and Mojisola Shodipe, they conclude “that while some bilinguals [in Lagos] prefer to use their L2 as a

means of social distance, others simply have lost considerable proficiency in their own indigenous language and

tend to make up for their language loss by exhibiting a preference for English”(np). As a result of this tendency,
many indigenous languages in Nigeria can become endangered. According to Omotolani, “there are over 520

languages spoken in Nigeria and 27 are close to extinction already’ (web).

The word ‘lect’ is used to describe any distinguishable variety of a language or speech. The word was

extracted through back-formation from the word ‘dialect’, from the Greek for ‘speech’, and was coined by the

linguist, Bernard Bloch. It is, however, a preferred term to ‘dialect’ as according to Suzanne Romaine, it helps

avoid the sometimes pejorative connotations that the term ‘dialect’ has (?). The Different varieties/ lects

through which language may project itself include the following:

1. Dialect: This word comes from the ancient Greek word ‘dialektos’, meaning discourse, language. In addition

to Halliday’s definition of dialect, it is can also be defined as a geographical variety of a language, spoken in

a certain area, and being different in some linguistic items from other geographical varieties of the same

language. Dialect is a variety of language that signals where a person comes from. It refers to a form of

language peculiar to a locality or group and differing from the standard language in matters of

pronunciation, syntax, etc.

2. Idiolect: This word is formed from the Greek word ‘idio’ meaning personal or private. Crystal defines it as

“a term used in linguistics to refer to the linguistic system of an individual speaker – one’s personal dialect”

(234). It is the language use typical of an individual. It is the distinctive speech of an individual and includes

his/her unique vocabulary perceived as appropriate for various interests and activities. It also includes

pronunciations reflective of the region in which one lives or has lived as well as variable styles of speaking

that shifts subtly depending on the addressee.

3. Sociolect: A sociolect is defined by Peter Trudgill as “a variety or lect which is thought of as being related to

its speakers’ social background rather than geographical background” (123). The basic concept of sociolect

is that people speak in accordance with their social group. While a dialect has its main identifier as

geography, the main identifiers of the sociolect are variables like age, gender, and socioeconomic class in a

certain speech community. Many linguists recognise the following sociolects:

 i. Basilect: A variety of a language that has diverged greatly from the standard form and is only considered

suitable for very informal contexts by speakers; opposed to mesolect and acrolect. It is the most remote

from the variety that is considered prestigious in a speech community. For example, in Jamaica, the

Jamaican Creole is a basilect, while the Standard Jamaican English is the variety with the most prestige.

People with little or no standard education tend to speak this variety.

ii. Mesolect: this is a variety of language in a post-basilect continuum; intermediate between the basilect

and the acrolect. It is mostly associated with people with an average education.

iii. Acrolect: the term ‘acrolect’ was introduced in the 1960s by William A. Stewart. In sociolinguistics, it

refers to a variety that tends to command respect because its grammatical structures do not deviate

significantly from those of the standard variety of the language. It is considered as the most prestigious

variety of a language and is often spoken by ‘well’ educated speakers.

The varieties in a language can also be explained using a technical term in sociolinguistics known as diglossia.

The word was derived from a French word ‘diglossie’ and was first brought into English by Charles Fergusen in

1959 (Chukwueggu 140). Fergusson describes it as,

a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language

(which may include a standard or regional standards, there is a very divergent, highly codified

(often grammatically more complex) superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected

body of written literature, either of an earlier period or in another speech community, which is

learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but

is not used by any section of the community for ordinary conversation. (qtd in Chukwueggu 140)

One of the varieties is assigned a higher function while the other is assigned a lower function. The higher

variety is used in formal environments while the lower variety is used in informal environments.

Characteristics of a Diglossic Society

The defining criteria for defining the characteristics of a diglossic society include the following:

- Function: The High variety (H) is usually more elegant and formal. The lower variety (L) is used for less

important functions.

- Prestige: Attitudes towards H are more prestigious than those towards the L variety.

- Literary Heritage: the H variety is associated with long literary foundation and is used extensively in writing.

The L variety fulfills few written functions. It may, however, be found in comics or the speech of some

characters in novels.

- Acquisition: the L variety is always acquired as a first language learned through informal education. The H

variety, on the other hand, is usually acquired through explicit teaching in a formal education setting.

- Standardization: Dictionaries and grammars document the forms of the H variety. The L variety usually has

no such support.

- Stability: A diglossic situation is a long-lived phenomenon. Latin- Spanish diglossia survived from

approximately 700BC to the end of the first millennium. The H and L varieties borrow from one another,

although the L variety is shunned when using the H variety.

- Grammar: The grammar of the L variety is often simpler than that of the H variety. Cases of verb inflections,

for instance, are reduced.

- Phonology: The H variety preserves the underlying phonological systems while the L variety diverges from

it, typically having evolved away from the classical form over hundreds of years.

Nigeria can be considered as a diglossic community. A number of linguistic situations in Nigeria reflect the

features of diglossia. In many situations, speakers switch from one variety to another. Nigeria has both the

Standard Nigerian English (SNE or ENE- Educated Nigerian English) which can also pass for the H variety and

some other varieties that can be considered as L varieties. For example, while interviewing traders in a market,

an interviewer might introduce the program and the interviewee in Standard Nigerian English and then proceed

to use the Pidgin English to ask the traders questions. SNE is usually used for teaching in formal education
settings, for official communication, media broadcasts, government activities, writing in textbooks and creative

writings etc. it should be noted however that the Pidgin can also be used for these functions in certain contexts.

Genderlect, Sexism, and Language

Gender refers to the sexual identity of a person. It is understood as the cultural or social difference between

males and females (Lakoff 152). This is quite different from ‘sex’ which covers the biological distinctions between

males and females.

In language, a system of distinction can be used to mark these differences between sexes. For example,

in the English language, nouns and pronouns are assigned any of the three gender categories: masculine (e.g,

actor, he), feminine (e.g, actress, she) and sometimes the neuter gender (e.g, it). Some terms that have however

come into existence, and recognized as aspects of gender and sex are ‘homosexuality’ and ‘transgender’. These

have come with their own unique peculiarities that have a direct effect on the way society is structured and how

language reflects this. For example, the word ‘partner’ is becoming a preferred term for describing a person for

whom another is romantically involved with instead of the traditional ‘girlfriend’ or ‘boyfriend’. As such, there

seems to be an attempt to make aspects of the English language less about sex, or gender.

Genderlect refers to the variety of language which is characteristic of one or the other gender. The term

was coined by Deborah Tannen to describe the way that the conversation between men and women are, not

right and wrong, nor superior and inferior, but just different, with different conversational styles and rituals.

Some scholars like Virginia Wolf have extensively studied what may be termed ‘feminine language’, and claim

that it is different from the ‘masculine’ language, and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell notes “the use of inductive

reasoning, concrete examples, a reliance on; personal experience, a personal tone, and solicitation of audience

participation” as usually considered markers that characterize the feminine style (qtd in Weaver 23). On the

other hand, a masculine style is often characterised by a tendency to assume an aggressive posture, to refute

and debate those opposed to their ideas, and to utilize logic to construct a case (qtd in Weaver 24).
 Sexism, on the other hand, refers to the way in which language users refer to differences between the

sexes to criticise, abuse and condemn. It is a term used to denote prejudice, bias, discrimination, and oppression

on the basis of one’s biological or acquired sex; judging people by their sex when sex does not matter. The origin

of the word is traced by Fred R. Shapiro, who notes that the term ‘sexism’ was most likely coined on November

18, 1965, by Pauline M. Leet in her forum contribution ‘Women and the Undergraduate’, and she defines it by

comparing it to racism, thus ‘sexism’. According to him it first appeared in print on November 15, 1968, in

Caroline Bird’s Speech titled ‘Being Born Female’(web).

A language is a powerful tool through which sexism is expressed. The following reasons could be

responsible for this:

1. Sexism is conceptualized through language. That is to say, that language is used to express a sexist

event.

2. With language, we store them in our brains and mind, and this gives us a sexist mindset, consciously

or unconsciously.

3. We verbalise them using language, before or as we add actions.

In analyzing language, we find that even the existence of language may be along sexist lines. Accordingly, we

can talk about:

a. Genderless languages

b. gender languages e.g. French.

c. Neuter gender

Genderless languages are languages that have no distinctions of grammatical genders. That is, there are no

grammatical markers that indicate morphological agreement between nouns, pronouns, articles, adjectives or

verbs. An example is the Persian language. The English language is not altogether gendered. Gender is not

reflected in the forms that verbs, adjectives or articles take, but some other categories show gender, for example,
nouns (lion/lioness) and pronouns (he/she/him/her etc.). A Gendered language on the other hand, is a language

where Grammatical gender is reflected in the feminine or masculine nouns and pronouns, as well as the forms

that are related to them such as determiners. For example, in the French language, a male singer is ‘un chanteur’,

while a female singer is ‘une chanteuse’. Different inflections are used to differentiate the feminine noun, as well

as their accompanying determiners from the males.

Sexist and Gender-Sensitive Language

Sexist language excludes the opposite sex in a situation or matter that should include them. Sexist language

demeans and oppresses the opposite sex and they are often backed up with concrete actions. Sexist language

can be expressed in the following ways:

a. Harmful sexist language: some sexist expressions can be deeply harmful. An example is ‘bitch’. It refers

to women in a very derogatory manner that can be hurtful.

b. Ambivalent or benevolent sexist language: This refers to attitudes that view women and men in

stereotypical roles. According to Rikki Rogers, “it usually originates in an idealization of traditional

gender roles: women are ‘naturally’ more kind, emotional, and compassionate, while men are “naturally”

more rational, less emotional, and “tougher,” mentally and physically. Translated into the workplace,

ambivalent or benevolent sexism is behind the assumption that women are naturally better administrative

assistants or naturally prepared to organize buying a gift for the boss. Because they’re ‘better’ at it. (web).

This is reflected in language when expressions like “don’t cry like a woman’ are said.

c. unintended Sexist language. This is when sexist expressions are used without even meaning to sound

sexist. For example, the common ‘hey guys’ that people use to refer to both males and females shows

that the peculiarities of the females have been totally downplayed. Another example is ‘mankind’ .

Examples of sexist expressions in Nigerian English and Nigerian Pidgin are: ‘woman wrapper’, ‘man up’, ‘God

created man in His own image’, ‘sissy’, ‘Fisherman’, ‘fireman’, ‘chairman’, ‘mermaid’, ‘weathergirl’, and

diminutive expressions such as ‘girlie’, which shows the lack of power and need for protection, etc. Language is
known to be dynamic, but the influence of sexism is embedded in the language’s history and it tends to be

acknowledged even when the sexist expression(s) become(s) offensive enough over time to give rise to the

stigmatization of the expression(s). Sexist words hardly ever disappear. In an attempt to ‘desexify’ words, they

may be modified, but according to Sara Mills, “the past meanings and usages of a word are what exert

themselves on the current usage and interpretations” (125). For example, the meanings of ‘chairperson’ which

is currently in use to include both sexes cannot be divorced from the meaning of ‘chairman’, else interpretation

might deviate from the intended meaning. However, a sure way of avoiding sexist language is using gender-

sensitive expressions. Gender-sensitive language takes care of the interest and sensibilities of both sexes in the

main. An example as previously mentioned is the use of ‘chairperson’ in the place of ‘chairman’.

Language and Education

There is a very strong connection between language and education. From whatever angle we look at education,

whether formal or informal, language is central to it. Language is what enables education to take place.

However, the language that we use for education is very important. It has been noted that the language used

to deliver the school curriculum may pull down the educational performance of many of those who do not have

access to it outside of school. Some international learning outcomes assessments show that for children who

manage to stay in education, there is a strong negative impact on achievement if their first language is not the

one used for teaching and learning. First language or mother tongue is the language used consistently from birth

to interact and communicate with a child by their caregivers, family, friends, and community (Pinnock 7). It is as

such, advisable to use one’s mother tongue and/or the first language as its use often presents the best chance

of educational success.

UNESCO, as far back as 1953, urges member nations to use their mother tongues. Unfortunately, this is

not the case in many African nations where foreign languages such as English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, etc

are the formal languages of education and mainstream communication. Many times, the native language is not

the same as the language considered important for the child to learn. The impact of this kind of situation and
how it militates against the success of education is of great importance in society today. In Nigeria, this is closely

connected with the ‘National Language Question’ and its effect on education.

In Nigeria today, the National Policy on Education which was formulated in 1977 provides guidance on

how language can be used to facilitate teaching and learning. In section 2, sub-section 20, items 1-7, it states

that at the primary classes 1-6, the English language, one Nigerian language and Arabic (optional) are to be used

as the mediums of teaching and expression (Ekundayo 63). For the first three years in primary school, students

are to be taught with the language of the immediate environment while English shall only be taught as a subject.

Subsequently, English is to be used as the medium of instruction as from the fourth year, while the language of

the immediate environment shall be taught as subjects in addition to French and Arabic. While there is an

appealing desire to preserve the indigenous languages in Nigeria, the policy has not been very successful

because many of the languages lack standardised orthography and grammar for teaching and learning

(Ekundayo 63). In addition to this, the number of languages that children are required to learn (the mother

tongue, English, French/ Arabic, one of the three major languages, the language of the immediate Environment)

can only but cause confusion for the children. Most of these languages cannot even be guaranteed as lingua-

francas beyond a very limited area and may serve very little purpose in a heterogeneous society where people

of different ethnic origins and languages frequently relocate to and away from.

Language and Culture

The meaning of culture goes beyond the tangible artifacts associated with a people. Culture is the totality of a

people’s way of life. It encompasses everything human beings do. Language and culture are major yardsticks for

identifying a people.

A person’s worldview, his/her interaction with the environment, etc are all part of a person’s culture.

The Greek philosophers held the notion that language encapsulates one’s experiences. As such, one cannot

appreciate one’s environment without language because the culture of a people is packaged in their language.
The Sapir- Whorf Hypothesis

Closely related to language and culture is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Also called ‘the theory of linguistic

relativity’ or ‘relativism’ the scholars, Edmund Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, his student, argue that language

and society are intertwined, as the structure of a language greatly influences the modes of thought and behavior

characteristic of the culture of the people where it is used. That is to say that the way people become

conditioned to think is determined by their language. On the other hand, the environment and society at large

could also affect the structure of a language. For example,

Different people usually have unique cultures that determine discourse strategies. Aspects like proxemics

(the distance allowable between interlocutors), kinesics (body movements and gestures), eye contact, etc, greatly

influence the way language is used and understood among people in a society. For example, Japanese people

tend to nod, even when they don’t agree with what is proposed. The reason is that the Japanese word used for

agreement, “hai”, means “I understand” or “I am listening”, which is not the same as “sure, I agree.”

Another example is in terms of colours. An instance is the Zuni Native Americans who do not have

different words to refer to yellow and orange. This does not mean that they cannot see the difference between the

colors, but simply in their way of life the difference is irrelevant. Another example is the variety of greens

distinguished using different words by Amazonian Indians, as opposed to the few greens that are distinguished in

Nigeria. This does not mean that Nigerians do not see shades of green. It simply means that in our world that

linguistic distinction is not as important as it is for the Amazons. And so, our linguistic structure becomes different

from theirs.

Language Attitudes

While attitude is the mental disposition towards something, language attitudes are the evaluative reactions or

feelings people have towards different language varieties or speakers. Research into language attitudes is

necessary because attitudes greatly influence the language learning process and the learning outcomes.
Attitudes towards a language could either be positive or negative. A positive attitude could invariably lead to

increased motivation for learning a language.

Language attitudes can take any of the following forms

- Attitude towards language variation, dialect, and speech styles: some language varieties may be considered

inappropriate in certain contexts, or even non-prestigious. The attitude one may have towards varying one’s

speech with either a different dialect or another language is a factor that can affect not only the structure

of the society but also the changes that can occur in that language variety, as well as the social implications

that its use brings about. For example, in Nigeria today, many people tend to use the Nigerian Pidgin in the

markets. Any attempt to use the Standard English variety instead brings about certain implications which

may include disdain from the seller. It may give the impression that the buyer using the Standard English

variety is more educated and feels more superior and better than the trader.

- Attitude towards learning a new language: the attitude with which one approaches a new language may

sometimes determine how well the language will be learnt. For example, if one decides that learning the

Yoruba language while doing youth service in the Western part of Nigeria will be beneficial, there might be

a tendency to develop a lot of interest in learning the language.

- Attitude towards a specific minority language: if a group is considered a minority group, people might

consider the learning of the language to be less useful. In Nigeria today, everyone wants to learn English

because it is used by the majority of the people in the country. If on the other hand, one considers a group

to form only a minority, there might be a tendency not to want to learn the language.

- Attitude toward language groups and communities. Sometimes, people may have positive, or sometimes,

negative attitudes toward language groups and communities. This can affect the desire to learn the

language of that community. For example, if one despises a group of people, there may be a tendency to

continuously criticize or even mock the language when given the opportunity instead of learning the

language.
- Attitude towards language lessons: Some people may approach language lessons (both teaching and

learning) with wrong attitudes. Some students are known to only engage in the learning of a language only

because they want to pass an exam set in the language course, and not because they want to be able to

speak the language. In this kind of instance, practicalisation of what has been learnt becomes highly unlikely.

- The attitude of parents towards language lessons: the esteem, or lack of esteem with which parents hold

certain languages or language varieties can sometimes determine whether the child will learn the language

or not. Some parents are known to discourage their children from speaking the Nigerian Pidgin because

they consider it less prestigious than the Standard Nigerian English.

- Language complexes: some people might feel very uncomfortable about the language or the variety of

language that they speak, or are expected to speak because of its status in society. Some may feel that their

language is better than others, while some may feel that their language is inferior to others. There have

been instances where people who can very well speak a particular language deny that they can because

they feel admitting they can speak the language and belong to a certain speech community humiliates them.

Conclusion

The relationships that exist between language and society are key to understanding how languages come about.

Languages do not just develop overnight. They are products of gradual processes that eventually determine the

forms that a particular language takes.

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