Language Variety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Language Variety - Essay ExampleAt the jeopardize of oversimplification let us ask a fundamental question What is speech communication Language is a complicated business. In day-after-day talk, we use the newsworthiness style in many different ways. It isnt clear how wording should be defined or what the person on the street thinks it actually is (Downes, 1998, p.1).We tend to define language other than in different situations. We talk of the incoherent utterances of an infant, as a childs language. When we refer to the melodious intonations of some languages we refer to language in terms of aesthetics. When we talk of language in standardized correctness, we talk of language as grammar. We also talk of language as a skill, aWe also tend to define language in terms of the use to which we put it. We talk of legal language. The language used by the legal profession tends to be quite different from our everyday language. We also talk of medical parlance. That is the language used by the medical fraternity. This is again different from the language we use in everyday life. Then you pick out computer language which is quite distinct from any of the other languages. In a way each specialized profession it seems has its own characteristic language.Chomsky defines language as a set of very specific universal principles which are intrinsic properties of the human mind and part of our species genetic endowment (Chomsky. 1986 15 ff. as cited in Downes, 1998, p.17). While that may indeed be the best definition of language, the definition of language needs to be examined from a sociolinguistic perspective. What is Sociolinguistics The most explicit definition of sociolinguistics is that it is the study of language in society (Schmitt, 2002, p. 150). Schmitt goes on to say that most sociolinguistic studies are basically descriptive, but focus on achieving scientific objectivity, even when these studies involve intricate influences that society has on language. Sociol inguistic studies also take into consideration social aspects of language in a hardheaded way, explaining social influences as accurately as possible. (Schmitt, 2002, p.150)Language Variety 3A Sociolinguistic Definition of LanguageSociolinguistics tends to define language as what the members of a specific society speak. However they also take into consideration the fact that a society may permit more than one language or many dialects of the same language, and therefore view language with the conviction that it is not something that is independent of society. (Wardhaugh, 2002, p. ix)Purpose of LanguageThe notion of discourse is the conceptual link surrounded by language and society, looking upwards on the one hand to social structures and cultural meanings and downwards to the nitty-gritty of words and grammar - lexicogrammar - on the other (Bartlett, n.d, p.113 ). (Bartlett, n.d, p.113) argues that language is a socially motivated construct because of what it helps to do. Any la nguage basically serves two purposes it facilitates interaction and serves as a means of communication. The Common Components of All LanguagesAll languages have three common