Language, Social, and Cultural Aspects

In the form of face-to-face talk, language is generally considered as the primary communicational resource in social and cultural life and, consequently, the foremost communicational medium of children’s socialisation. Language is in effect exhausted by its social and cultural aspects since it is through language that individuals come to exercise membership of communities and contribute to social life. Although language is commonly described [Page 1049]as ‘speech’ or ‘talk’, linguistic communication is effected by diverse modes that include spoken language, sign, and writing. Moreover, all episodes of situated communication presuppose culturally specific proficiencies in the multimodal integration of linguistic and non-linguistic signs in relevant ways. In this entry, some important links between language, society, and culture are noted as well as some of the insights gained ...