I.

Language is central to social interaction in every society, regardless of location and time
period. Language and social interaction have a reciprocal relationship: language shapes social
interactions and social interactions shape language. Language is a tool for interaction with other
humans. So, language cannot be separated from humans. Through language we can relate and
interact with other humans and create communication in the community.

The word “Society” came from the 12 century French ‘société’ (meaning ‘company’). It
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is derived from the Latin word ‘societas’, which derived from the noun ‘socious’ (comrade,
friend, ally; adjectival form socialis) used to describe a bond or interaction between parties that is
friendly. Or at least civil. Society is a collaborative group of people that shares opinions and
aspects with their different cultures and norms. Society can be illustrated as an economic, social,
industrial, or cultural infrastructure made up of. Society can mean the objective relationships
people have with the material world and with other people.

Sociolinguistics is the study of the connection between language and society, and the way
people use language in different social situations. It asks the question, “how does language affect
the social nature of human beings, and how does social interaction shape language?” It ranges
greatly in depth and detail, from the study of dialects across a given region to the analysis of the
way men and women speak to each other in certain situations. The basic premise of
sociolinguistics is that language is variable and ever-changing. As a result, language is not
uniform or constant. Rather, it is varied and inconsistent for both the individual user and within
and among groups of speakers who use the same language. People will adjust the way they talk
to their social situation. An individual, for instance, will speak differently to a child than he or
she will to their college professor. This socio-situational variation is sometimes called register
and depends not only on the occasion and relationship between the participants, but also on the
participants’ region, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, and gender (Salsabilaputri, 2021).

The Relationship between Language and People

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/evolving-roles-multilingual-content-strategist-ai-age-harjai

As language is a social phenomenon, it is inextricably linked with society and its life.
Language is a manifestation of the human mind (Akbarjon. 2021). The connection between
language and society is tightly anchored. The relationship of the two is deeply rooted from each
other. Language performs various functions in the society and the society does the same way.

A. Language influences society and people

 There are two views here - one is more extreme than the other. The first idea is that
language is so powerful that it actually affects how you see the world; the second is that is
influences the way we think and behave.

Language have an effect on the way we think. We need to consider the attitude that some
people have towards their own language, and attitudes that other people have. The language that
we use can make a big difference to the way that we see ourselves, and the way society sees us.
It can also influence the way we relate to society. Accent is very important in Britain.
Advertisers on television only use regional accents for voice-overs if the product is cheap or if
the aim is to amuse. Serious things or expensive products use the voices of middle-class men.
During the war, the BBC had to use "middle class" speakers to read the news because no one
believed the people with regional accents. This has now changed, which goes to show that social
factors in languages do vary and change over time. However, not all regional accents have the
same social acceptability and "broad" (that is, strong) regional accents are still cannot be too
strong for some media broadcasts. Everyone seems to have an idea what is a "good" language or
variety and what is a "bad" one. This opinion is entirely socially conditioned. Sometimes people
with power (e.g. governments or schools) decide what is a good or bad language. Sometimes it is
just ordinary members of a language community who have these views. Linguistically they are
all the same, because they can all communicate in the same way, but they just have different
social values.

Social context will look at the relationship between language and power and attitudes to
language. The language that someone uses may influence other people's attitudes towards them.
People have fought and died for language (e.g. in medieval times people were accused of heresy
for saying that the bible should be translated from Latin into English. In some countries in the
world, you can be arrested for speaking a forbidden language).

This is the same for many languages all around the world, for example, minority
languages in India. People may think their language is not a good language because it isn't the
one taught in schools and isn't used in business. People who use another language make more
money and other people respect them, so people want to use that language.

B. People and Society influence language and language use

We can see this if we look at the way people in different social groups use language
differently. Younger people sign differently from older people; people from different regions
might use different types of language.

Power also comes in here when we discuss the influence of people and society upon a
language: if you have power, you can manipulate the language to suit you. This is important here
for sign languages.
 Importance of Language in a Society

https://www.kemalarikan.com/en/language-and-thought-a-state-of-being-twins.html

There are a lot of importance of language in spite of that in the simplest way, language is
a universal way of communication of each individual whether it is verbal or non-verbal
communication.

1. Language is what makes us human

 It is how people communicate. By learning a language, it means you have

mastered a complex system of words, structure, and grammar to effectively
communicate with others.
 To most people, language comes naturally. We learn how to communicate even
before we can talk and as we grow older, we find ways to manipulate language to
truly convey what we want to say with words and complex sentences. Of course,
not all communication is through language, but mastering a language certainly
helps speed up the process. This is one of the many reasons why language is
important.

2. Language helps us express our feelings and thoughts

 This is unique to our species because it is a way to express unique ideas and
customs within different cultures and societies.
 Though much of human communication is non-verbal (we can demonstrate our
thoughts, feelings and ideas by our gestures, expressions, tones, and emotions)
language is important for personal communication. Whether it’s being able to talk
to your friends, your partner, or your family, having a shared language is
necessary for these types of interactions.
 When two or more than two person meets, they exchange their ideas, sadness,
happiness and enjoy the moment and this helps to remove the boredom, provide
the opportunity to consume time with its actual utilization and people get
entertained. Within the group problem of life can be discussed out and more the
number of people higher will be the mediums of resolution. And this kind of
opportunity helps the person to live own life in the more comfortable way. In this
way, society is the necessity for the person to live the comfortable life with the
fulfillment of his basic needs.

The following are the four Philippine languages with more than five million native
speakers:
1. Tagalog

More than 50 million Filipinos speak Tagalog in the Philippines, and 24 million people
speak the language worldwide. The direct translation of the word Tagalog means, “from the
river.” It combines language influences from China, Malaysia, Spain and America.

2. Cebuano

It is by far the most widely spoken of the Bisayan languages. Cebuano is the lingua
franca of Central Visayas, the western parts of Eastern Visayas, some western parts of Palawan
and most parts of Mindanao. The name Cebuano is derived from the island of Cebu, which is the
source of Standard Cebuano

3. Ilocano

Ilocano, third largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines. When discovered by the
Spanish in the 16th century, they occupied the narrow coastal plain of northwestern Luzon,
known as the Ilocos region

4. Hiligaynon

Language spoken in the Philippines by about 9.1 million people, predominantly

in Western Visayas, and Negros Island Region , most of whom belong to the Hiligaynon people.

Summary

There are still many more aspects of social context that can be discovered and discuss
because language and society plays a great influence on almost everything related to human life.
Language and society are interlinked with each other and with how much language can influence
a society, that is also how much the society influences language. It is important that we are able
to distinguish their roles and impacts and it is also important to consider the societal factors that
determine the relationship of language and society such as gender differences, cultural
differences, community differences and economical differences. At the end of this
comprehensive report, we will be able to understand some key points about language and society
and maybe partake in the point of view of how powerful language is and what it actually does to
society.