NProf. Bhupa P. Dhamala

Since language is uniquely human, it has an inextricable relationship with society. So far sociolinguists have systematically studied the characteristics of language in relation to society. They have distinguished between different languages of the world and also between different varieties of a particular language in terms of the specific use of words, sentences, and accents. While so doing they assume that language develops its features according to the social structures. But they do not yet seem to adequately explain that it is not simply the society that determines the characteristics of language but instead it is the language that influences the social structures significantly. This brief article seeks to show how language influences society.

Power to Change
We can often see that someone imposes power upon others - little or big power- and that power is often demonstrated through language. People always get many things done through language. For instance, when someone says, "Put that bunch of flowers on the table", this is a command to the hearer in language. When parents tell their children to do this thing and not to do that thing, they do it by means of language. These speeches have simple effects on the hearer but other speeches may have more serious effects on life.
When, for example, a priest gets people married, he pronounces some religious rituals through language. When a judge announces a judgment in the court to put somebody into jail, they do it through language. These expressions are thus not simply performing the referential function but are doing affective function as well.
Most notably, when a teacher teaches students, they do it through language, which can change the student's life tremendously. Let us see a simple example to illustrate this point. In G. B. Shaw's play Pygmalion (1913) Prof. Henry Higgins identifies a flower selling street girl, Elizabeth Doolittle, who speaks very bad English, a non-standard dialect of London working-class people with the cockney accent.
Thinking that English is a glorious language which should be well spoken by everybody, he decides to teach her to speak well in six months' time. As he promises, he is able to teach her to speak like a Princess so nobody suspects her being a street girl. This instance is borrowed from a literary text of a renowned English writer but we can also see this kind of change through language in real life situation of many individuals.

Impacts on Public Sphere
If language can be used to change the life of individuals, then it can obviously be used to impact society at large because an individual is a member of society. When the majority members of a society change, the whole society is subject to change. As said in the opening paragraph of this write-up, language is not simply the photograph of a society that reflects it as it is but it is an instrument which can be used to bring about changes in the society. Despite controversies language has the inherent power to change.
Power is inevitable in all spheres of society. Different people can exercise their power on different communities through language: politicians persuade people to vote for them through eloquent speech; governments control people through the language of law; religious institutions bind people through the language of rituals; seniors lead juniors to follow them through the language that teaches customs, traditions, norms, and values. In a sense, there is nothing in the world where communities and societies are not ruled by language.
A French philosopher Louis Althusser (1970) says the state not only rules by using coercive forces such as police, army, legal system etc. but also using ideological apparatuses such as norms and values established by the powerful to which Norman Fairclough (1989) adds, it is much more effective to persuade people to act voluntarily in the way the rulers want them to act, that is, "to exercise power through the manufacture of consent" meaning what people want is also what the rulers want.
It is by means of the language, therefore, the ruling class constructs ideology despite the possibility that it can have desirable or undesirable effects on the society. One thing is certain, however, that language has the power to change the society for good or bad purpose.

Dominance of Global Language
A rich language can help people to gain important knowledge ingrained in it; it can help them to develop skills in the use of modern technology; it can help them to better communicate experiences to other people. By means of specific language skills such as rhetoric and technical writing students and professionals can change their personal lives. This is a desirable change that has been accepted by many people in all cultures. But if a particular language is used by the people of power to dominate other powerless people, this is objectionable. The use of English language, for example, has both good and bad effects, as we shall see below.
David Crystal (1997) says there are various factors that have made English a global language. One factor for this global spread of English is British colonial expansion. With the military power British Empire carried with it the English language and the English speaking people. There they made the indigenous communities use English as a language of communication as well as an official language. The next factor that left indelible effect on the society is its compulsory use in the field of education.
English became the medium of instruction at schools and colleges in all British colonies. English thus changed American society; it changed Australian society; it changed Indian society, and it changed African society, and many other societies even if the colonial power returned to England. With desirable or undesirable effects language has nevertheless significantly serious social impacts all over the world.

(The author is a professor of
English, TU)