Language and Society

There are some factors which influence the use of language in the speech community such as social class, kinship system, sex and culture. Social class influences the use of language in society. The high class often uses different language variety from the lower class. The use of different variety in different social class is usually called non-reciprocal, while the use of the same variety in the same social class is called reciprocal. Kinship system also influences the use of language. Different social groups may have more complete kinship terms than the other social groups. The use of language may be determined by sex. There are terms which only refer to male or female. In English, the words she, sister, and daughter have female marker. In Indonesian language, the words dia, saudara and anak do not have sex marker. To refer to she, sister, and daughter in English, Indonesian language needs two words. The words she, sister, and daughter become dia perempuan, saudara perempuan and anak perempuan in Indonesian language. Language is culturally transmitted. Therefore, the culture of the society also plays an important role in the use of language. Based on the description above, the relation of language and society is very close.