The connections of language, thought and social structure

By studying language, even the pre-historic, linguists discover a wealth of societal information

By Susan Williams

Languages are tools that allow speakers to communicate and exchange information. So, they must contain words and expressions that refer to the various elements present in their environments.

To turn a phrase, there is much more to the utterance of a single word than meets the tongue.

Ask Julie Auger, assistant professor of linguistics and French at IU Bloomington. Auger is a sociolinguist whose specialization is variation studies. Her research deals with spoken French and a little known language spoken in France called Picard. She also teaches about language and gender.

Not every linguist agrees upon how sociolinguistics fits into the study of the human language faculty. Some see it standing along side of other sub-disciplines, such as morphology, syntax, phonology, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics and anthropolotical linguistics. Others, however, believe that sociolinguistics is a redundant term, that all linguistics must be social. In any case, everyone agrees that we can learn something about a society by studying its language.

“Languages are tools that allow speakers to communicate and exchange information,” said Auger, “So, they must contain words and expressions that refer to the various elements present in their environments.

“The existence of a word reflects the existence of a thing that is recognized as an entity different from some other thing. For example, the existence of the words “water,” “ice,” “snow” and “steam” in English means that English speakers recognize four different things, even though all these things consist of H2O. The reverse is not necessarily true, however. Even if a single word is used for two things, it doesn’t mean that the difference between them is not recognized, so one must be very careful,” said Auger, who points out that while the word “leg” can be used in a general sense, we clearly recognize that the leg of a table and a dog’s leg are not the same.

Sometimes, said Auger, to determine the values of a society, it’s worth looking at how language evolves, how words change in meaning.

“In French, the word ‘crétin,’ which is a regional form of the word meaning ‘Christian,’ has come to mean ‘stupid,’ probably because the Christian habit of not hitting back was seen as a sign of weakness and stupidity,” she said.

Studying the language of a lost culture may not hold its every key, but it still can be revealing. According to Auger, words that a linguist can reconstruct indicate the animals, plants, tools and other objects that were present in the lives of the people who spoke that language. That information can help geographically locate where the language used to be spoken.

“For example, we have been trying to learn more about the people who spoke the language that is the common ancestor of Hindi, Greek, Parsi, Russian, English, French, Albanian and so many other languages spoken in Asia and in Europe,” said Auger. “Based on the names of animals and plants that we believe existed in that pre-historic language, we have a vague idea that these people lived in the temperate forest of northern or eastern Europe.”

Linguistics can also provide important information concerning who was in contact with whom at a certain time. And also which cultures were more powerful and/or prestigious than others.

“French borrowed many words from Italian during the 15th and 16th centuries because Italian culture was so advanced at that time,” said Auger. “Because this took place not such a long time ago, we have many different ways of knowing about this. But, when contact took place 2,000 or more years ago, sometimes the only way we know that group A knew and talked to group B is if we find a word from one language in the other.”

Relatively new as a field of linguistics, but at least as old as Adam and Eve themselves as a concept, is the study of how men and women use language differently. Along with other areas of gender studies, this specialty promises a new wealth of societal information, including whether or not the social changes that are taking place in the roles of women and men are reflected in language. But here, and in all other areas of linguistic study, research will proceed with caution.

“Any analysis we come up with is only a theory,” said Auger, “We must always be ready to admit the existence of alternative theories and be ready to revise our theory. We also must seek confirmation from other disciplines whenever possible—archaeology, sociology, anthropology and genetics, for instance.

“There is a connection between language, thought and social structure, but this connection is incomplete and imperfect.”