Friday, May 9, 2014


SOCIAL VARIABLE VS LINGUISTIC FEATURES There is a link between the society and the language spoken by its belonging communities. Communication ,a skills correction ,is developed and equipped n in the twinkling of an eye but in time(history and culture ) and space (society).Communication involves an individual in the mirror of his/her society to respond to the world requirements. The society has provided and historically grounded socially constituted knowledge, skills, beliefs and attitudes, ways of thinking, feeling and acting. Joan Kelly Hall(2012) by quoting both Ochus(1996:424)and Bauman(2000:1) distinguishes Social Identity as labels that people get from roles assignment, position holding, responsibilities accomplishment, relationship belonging, reputation gained ,habitations ,background and other dimensions of social PERSONAE that are conventionally linked to external ,affective reactions ; while Individual Identity is the quest of an individual who actualizes the society package to satisfy external and situational needs or in other words a situated outcomes of rhetorical and interpretive process when interactants make situationally motivated choices from socially constituted repertoires of identificational and affiliational resources and craft these semiotic resources so as for self presentation to others. Language and Society are also featured through Habitus, a social theorist Pierre Baudieu says that the way people are socialized plays a major role on the way they perceive one another in communication(Baudieu1977) According to Bebe Cool a Ugandan artist, his song "AKAMWAKO" stresses the influence that has our personal intimacy on our mouth, He notes that how and what you speak portrays you inner habits. A speaking person cannot omit his/her personality which is shaped by his/her every daily life in the Community/society. In fact a kid does not only grow linguistically (L1) but also Socially(S1) therefore when there is communicative performance, social background is obviously represented. This asserts that the way people speak is not only a fruit of the nature(innateness theory) but mainly the fruit of the nurture, socially constituted and availed items that lead all communicative interactions. In a specific way the Society offers various opportunities that determine Identity in speech: • Social organization: An society that have been socially and historically stable have got time to work on its Literature which is the keystone to its people expression contradictory to an instable society victim of war, massacres, exile ,conquest,.. This society didn't get time for language planning, Corpus,...consequently there is no pure language which is also another identity. If born in Rwanda ,exiled and grew up in Kisangani(DRC) ,studied Primary in Kisangani(DRC) Secondary in Uganda, worked in Dar-Es Salaam, University in South Africa ,returned and studied university in Rwanda, Despite that this person is educated in some instances H/she has no basic Language due to social instability. Rwanda for instance didn't have the word UMUCENGEZI: infiltrator and URWIBUTSO: memorial Site(in their actual sense)before 30 years ago. Socially vulnerable, street kids, orphans, widows, traumatized, historically marginalized all have their specific register and they are linguistically represented. If one talks more around ABAFPUBUZI the audience will create some specificities. • Colonization/Beliefs: This is also a clue to identify social adherence through speech The name in which one swears or the register She/he uses most: W'Allah! this is a Muslim or in another sense a liar(umuryogo) BIKIRAMARIYA W'I SAVE! this is a catholic adherent, member of Legio Mariae and dweller of Save. YEZU AKUZWE/YESU ASHIMWE! Catholic/Protestant IMPAMO YA MUNGU! a believer from the time Imana was replaced by MUNGU. GIRA UMWAMI conservation of monarchy , other conservationist respect exactly linguistic features(NTIBAVUGA BAVUGA) • Professions: cattle herders will include cow metaphors in their speech , IT passionate will use technical loanword , Soldiers will use specific tone and some slung , Educated people will use facts from different authors(References). Lawyers includes law articles in their speech even when it is in casual conversation. Priest and Pastors will use specific gestures and proofs from Prophets and Saints, Biblical verses... • Geographically Frontiers; In a society ,people who stay at national boundaries with connected society will include a diversity of linguistic structures and features. Most of IKINYARWANDA Dialects are localized around the borders and in Towns and accordingly interfered with. Briefly who think communicators are and who they are thought to be by their audiences mediate in important ways of individual uses and evaluations in every communication encounters between interactants. The mutual held perceptions shape linguistic variables when people interpret or are being interpreted .The main root of speech production and speech interpretation is a socially constituted Resource.

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