The Relationship between Linguistic Competence and Social Mobility - Term Paper Example

Name: Institution: Professor: Date: The relationship between linguistic competence and social mobility Language is an organized use of sounds ,signs, facial expressions, and symbols to communicate meaning, emotions, opinions and intentions that is commonly used by a collection of people .this group is known as a society .Another commonly accepted definition would be that:“Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.”-lecture 2 notes. According to this definition several aspects of language are highlighted. They include the aspect of language being: a system .an arbitrary collection, vocalized and involving human communication. This meaning would hold each of these concepts is evident in the characteristics of language. Language is a creative and organized system of sounds and symbols that are used to convey meaning of different concepts during communication. This organized system allows one to use a smaller number of sounds over in various combinations forming units of meaning. The system of meaning allows the arrangement of these units of meaning in numerous ways to provide comprehendible expression. Languages are said to be arbitrary set up since there exist no actual relationship between the sounds sign or word and the concept that they are used to represent. That’s why different societies can us very different symbols and signs to represent the same concept and the different symbols are acceptable. Language is vocal since it basically made up of spoken sounds and symbols. A majority of currently used languages and some concepts do not have a formally available written mode. It has been established that all language set up developed from spoken sounds and symbols. However not details in a language can be vocalized. Some form of communication details involve the use of facial expressions and body movement to convey the meaning. It is human communication since language has the properties of productivity, recursively, and change of location and time. It is base on human interrelation with each other and with their environment. A society refers to a group of persons who are united by their common goals and objective or even needs. A society is a group of people who are related to each other through long term ties. A society may also refer to a large social set up sharing the same physical environment or sharing the same political authority and common cultural practices. Human societies are unique in terms of patterns of interpersonal relationships between individuals within that society. Sociolinguistic is defined as “the organized study of how aspects of society influence the linguistic structure. The social aspects evaluated include cultural practices, expectations, and context, and the influence they have to language is used”- lecture 1 note. This is therefore an organized method of investigating how social set up and language influence each other. In order to come up with this interconnection the process of language development and the factors that influence the uniqueness of language are studied. The specific characteristics of a language are also evaluated. How are language and the society related? There are several relationships that exist between language and society: Social structure can influence or determine linguistic structure and behavior of the people based on either age, region, or social background. People from age group communicate differently due to the socialization in the various age group. For instance youths have the tendency of using slung when communicating with their peers. It has been observed that the older an individual is, they are likely to use more complete the language as they communicate speaks. This demonstrates that age has a contribution to how much linguistic competence is likely to have. Children who are still developing may not have acquired considerable competence in language and communication and therefore are not in a position to speak fully developed language Different regions expose the people living in them to varied socialization since language is based on the environment of interaction. for instance a social setup in highland are has their language having many aspects of the highland environment forest ,trees, wildlife, rainy weather and such. A different society near an ocean derives most of the aspects of communication from the sea environment: waves, aquatic life breeze and such. “Linguistic structure and/or behavior may either influence or determine social structure (Whorf, Bernstein)”-lecture 1 note. How people communicate influences how they socialize. For instance, in urban centre people communicate in a liberal way and as a result even their socialization is liberal. However the more conservative rural community uses a language that is rich element. There is a set code of communicating to people from different age groups. In a similar way the socialization of rural community is rich in culture and they value relations and ties. It is observed that the influence is in both directions, that is language and society influence each other. The way of communication in any society would influence the social relationships that exist between persons in the society and hence the social structure. It’s therefore inaccurate to hold the assumption that “There exists no relationship between linguistic structure and social structure (Chomsky)”_lecture 1 notes “Linguistic competence is the system of language knowledge that is demonstrated by native speaker of a language”. Chomsky. It’s the ideal language structure that enable the user of the language make and comprehend infinitely many sentences in their language, and distinguish grammatical sentences from ungrammatical sentences. Linguistic competence is defined by the grammar or set of language rules. It is represented mentally and demonstrated by one’s own understanding of acceptable usage in a given linguistic situation. Grammatical competence therefore defines an inborn knowledge of rules that govern the grammatical constructions in a language. This knowledge inborn because one does not have to go through training to develop it and they will still be able to use it appropriately it in infinitely many situations. Social l mobility refers to the movement of either an individual or a group of persons from one social level to another. It also may refer to classes, ethnic group, or entire nation and may measure health status, literacy, of education. However it commonly refers to the process where an individual or families change their economic status. It also typically refers to vertical mobility movement of individuals or groups up or down from one socio-economic level to another, usually due to changing jobs and economic activities or social relations such as marriage. It can however be used to refer to horizontal mobility movement from one position to another within the same social level. Social mobility can be the change in status between someone or a group and their parents or previous family generations –intergenerational mobility, or over the change during one's lifetime-intergenerational. It can be absolute where total amount of movement of a group of people between socio economic classes, usually from one generation. An example is when education and economic development raises the socio-economic level of a community. It can also be relative mobility when the upward or downward social mobility of a member of one social class is low. A higher level of intergenerational mobility is often considered to be a good indicator of greater fairness, or equality of opportunity and access to resources in a society. Linguistic competence and how it is related to social mobility Language is usually influence by the geographical set up of a place. That is, barriers to movement and the immediate environment have strong influence. This is why different geographical region have unique aspects in their. If a person is linguistically competent in a language that is spoken in a certain geographical region, then they are able to command strong, positive sense of group identity with the society in that region. This way they can comfortably integrate with the people and enjoy the opportunities to try out new idea for revenue generation. This kind of person would experience mobility on the social ladder going ahead to improve on their living standards as compared to if the had barriers in communication. The economic status of a society influences much on their usage of language since context in grammatical constructions may vary. Language has a social construction of enclave status. A person would require having an understanding of this construction before they can make meaningful communication with other persons at the various economic classes. An individual with linguistic competence should be in a position to apply code-switching when communicating to persons of different economic level. Currently in the world there has been absolute intergenerational social mobility especially with the development in technology and communication this has led to a change in the way people communicate raising the requirement for linguistic competence even higher. There has been improvement in the grammar due to idea exchange from various societies in the process of interaction. Currently globalization has become so rampant and a lot attention on bilinguals and/or multilingualism has been observed. Key focus has been on the growing feelings of displacement and loss if an identity. This is usually accompanied by loss of one’s language of communication. However multilingual competence is highly appreciated .this has been motivated by the ability to speak several languages becoming an added advantage in the current globalised world. A proper example would be the wide spread of some languages such as English, French, Arabic, Latin among others. The increased spread of these languages demonstrates a powerful expression of the bond between language and social change. Societies that have embraces this idea of acquiring several language of communication are experiencing upward social mobility of their societies This spread of foreign language s have just occurred solely as a result of the education systems and institutions. This is because there are several ways of acquiring bilingual or multilingual skills depending on whether it is early or late acquisition. For early acquisition can occur when a child learns to communicate in a second language at an early age. This may happen when parent relocate to different country or region and in the course of interaction the child learns another language. Late acquisition adults may occur due to mobility to different work environment or change in the kind of work prompting them to learn the language of communication that is used in their new set up. The world is fast becoming a linguistic network with person communicating in foreign language as they do business and go about their daily activities. Foreign language has become the driving force for in the globalised world. Social relations and group identity define the uniqueness of language and it application. Humans are social beings with the in borne urge to interact with and among each other. The social set up defines how and the extent to which this interaction occurs. Communication also becomes diverse as every person and groups seek to create the feeling of belonging to the group. Linguistic competence would direct the occurrence of social mobility. The mobility can be horizontal where the individual moves to a different position but within the same level I the society. It can also be upward mobility when a person moves to a different social level. They would require applying their competence in communicating with other persons in these level Different social groups and individuals have unique characteristics in relation to these kinds of developments. Some community groups are more advantaged, while others are seriously disadvantaged or even ‘condemned to extinction’. Linguistic competence therefore affects patterns of social set ups and their relation. Development in the economy should therefore be accompanied by the restructuring of other significant social and political institutions that would enhance social mobility. Historical continuity of a language system is very importance aspect in preventing extinction of that language. Usually language is transferred through generations by means of older members of a community. For this to occur the community should provide a social set up where there is interaction across generations for which would persist for at least 2 generations. This would ensure that even with the social mobility the community remains intact with their social setup. Continuous family residency is often a fundamental defining trait of community that has up element for ensuring for continuity of membership in enclave situations. Low in-migration & steady out-migration yield stable population control mechanism. This concept can be explained further by the principles of that explain the unique dialects in every language.tha is ” Principle of Regionalization -- retention of founder effects and independent innovation may lead to divergence from other enclaves and regional communities, leading to regional demarcation. Principle of Social marginalization -- marginalized, subordinate sociolinguistic status for enclave speakers, linguistic structures are socially disfavored.”-lecture 2 notes. The study off semantics would greatly supplement ones innate ability to achieve linguistic competence. It would help the individual to have a deeper view of the various aspects of language and communication. Symbols, words, sign and/or expressions would have many different kinds of meanings in a language system depending on where they are applied. There exist also varied ways of meaning in interaction. So there can be no unique meaning to a symbol or sign. Therefore different approaches should be applied to different modes of meaning and this is based on context. Some meaning attached to words. The comprehension of this meaning can be achieved in the study of relations between items in the vocabularies of natural languages Some sets of words can be split into smaller parts for better understanding of their meaning and where they can be applied appropriately studying the features of a concept form its superficial meaning to the deeper meaning can show basic relations between the vocabulary of certain language and how it’s connected to the meaning in other languages. Some meaning comes from the constructions words that occur in various language set ups. Conclusion It is possible from the above analysis on the relationship between linguistic competence to draw some conclusions that could be well justified. Some relationship exists between competence in communicating in a given language set up and the ability to move through the social set up. This relationship is based on the fact the language and the social set up are closely related. Linguistic competence would offer a broader opportunity to navigate even the mast sophisticated social set up. It also gives a strong and positive sense of belonging to the community when one is in a position to communicate fluently with the native of a give language system. Social l relations are better and well founded with this ability to identify with the community. Competence in communication aspects empowers an individual to navigate even the regions which could otherwise have been inaccessible owing to the nature of the geographical set up which makes the society from such a region to remain greatly isolated from the outside world. Social mobility can be an improvement I socioeconomic status of an individual or a group. This is achievable if the individual or community properly ready’s themselves with the necessary competence for continued progress to maintain the mobility. However social mobility is not entirely dependent on linguistic competence since there are so many other factors that facilitate and influence the mobility regardless of whether it is upward or horizontal. Sometimes mobility I the social set up depend on the dynamic economic environment that keeps on evolving. Mobility may also be as a result of such factors like; education, inheritance or personal dedication and discipline in work. Reference Lecture notes, (2012) Introduction to sociolinguistic methods. Lectures 1-5. Read More