LINGUISTIC IMPACT ON SELF-AWARENESS AND SOCIAL AFFILIATION
LINGUISTIC IMPACT ON SELF-AWARENESS AND SOCIAL AFFILIATION

Summary/Abstract: Along with its prime function as a means of human communication, language is also a factor with considerable impact in the spheres of human psychology and social behaviour – psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics have now been well established as innovative branches of linguistic research. In the first part of the paper we examine the role of human language on the4 systemic level with regard to the language – thought correlation and especially against the backdrop of the widely popular Sapir – Whorf Hypothesis. We touch on relativism and linguistic determinism and the impact of linguistically acquired thought patterns on the construal of one’s self-awareness. The second part of the paper tackles regional language variation i.e. deviations from the national norm and the elusive language vs. dialect divide, which has often fuelled morbid nationalism and has even served as casus belli for aggressive regimes.

• Details
• Contents