Kurdistan Regional Government-Iraq

Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research

University of Garmian
College of Education
English Department

Language and Society

Prepared by: Drivan Jalal
BIDIRECTIONAL INFLUENCE
Language and society have strong
influence on each other. Both are
part of each other so we cannot
strongly oppose the influence of one
on another.
 SOCIETY AFFECTS LANGUAGE
(SOCIOLINGUISTICS)

Social structure may either influence or

determine linguistic structure and/or behaviour.
Certain evidence may be given to support this
view: the age-grading phenomenon whereby
young children speak differently from older
children and, in turn, children speak differently
from mature adults.
 Language Affects Society
(Sociology of Language)
Linguistic structure and/or behavior may
either influence or determine social
structure. This is the view that is behind
the Whorfian hypothesis or the Sapir-
Whorf hypothesis.
,Hence
Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of
language in that the focus of sociolinguistics is
the effect of the society on the language, while
the sociology of language focuses on language's
effect on the society.
 Sociolinguists are interested in explaining

why we speak differently in different social

contexts,

 what are the social functions of language

how language is used to convey social meaning.

 The Relationship between Language and
Society

According to theoretical manuals in sociolinguistics

there are several possible relationships between
language and society.

• The way we speak provides with some information

about our social context or our region.

• Languages provide a variety of ways of saying the

same thing.
 Variety
• Sociolinguists use the term variety (or sometimes
code) to refer to language in context.

• A variety is a set of linguistic forms used under

specific social circumstances

• Therefore, variety is a broad term which includes

different accents, different linguistic style,
different dialects and even different languages
which contrast with each other for social reasons.
Linguistic variation
• Language varieties differ between groups
separated by certain social variables, e.g.,
ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of
education, age, etc., which are used to
categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic
classes. As the usage of a language varies from
place to place, language usage also varies among
social classes.

• Linguistic variation occurs at the levels of

sounds (pronunciation), word-structure,
grammar, dialects and even language.
Language choice
• Our choice of linguistic variety depends on who
we are talking to, where we are talking, what we
are talking and why we are talking.

• Language choices convey information about the

social relationships between people, social status
of people, setting of interaction, topic of
discussion and purpose of discussion.
 Example:
 (a) Refuse should be deposited in the receptacle
provided.
 (b) Put your rubbish in the bin, Jill.

Refuse vs. rubbish

Deposit vs. put
Different words
Receptacle vs. bin
and grammar
Null vs. Jill
Passive vs. imperative
:References

 Language Society And Power by Jean Stilwell Peccei and

Annabelle Mooney

 Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics By

Suzanne Romaine
!Thanks for your patience