Power of spoken words

2009년 3월, 작성자, 발제자: 조영주
Power of Spoken Words

Is language power itself, or a tool used by power?
The language tells itself a lot of information; nationality, personal history, background, educational standard, or gender of speaker.
Knowledge of various Languages is demanded today, as well as the globalism . 
The mobility, which is accelerated by the globalization, is giving rise to various linguistic phenomenons. We can see that language is becoming more creative, as hybrid words, 1)code-switching , and 2)bilingual pun  are constantly making.
For Example, ‘Kanak Sprak’ is a German sociolect created by Turkish male youth in Germany in late 1980s. Its name means roughly "Kanake-talk", referring to the word Kanake, which is used originally as a pejorative and a will to reclaim it. Kanake has been co-opted by some Turks and used proudly as a term of self-identification. In that context, Kanak Sprak is a term used for the German dialect and manner of speech used among Turks in modern Germany.
In other hand, a national language is acting as an obligation while using the language by way of social integration.

The possibility of distinguished groups by language differences brings a lot of problems of unequal standing in the society, and it obviously appears even in interpersonal relationships. In fact, ‘Language is not just a tool.’ is frequently testified in the daily lives.
Hierarchical language’s position is effortlessly discovered even though the term ‘ Ideology of racial, cultural and ethnic diversity ’ has been considered familiarly.
Perhaps People treat the term ‘multiculturalism’ based on the idea of ‘equality of all’, even cultural hierarchy’s aspect shows itself in reality.
It’s true that dialects and accent of foreigners among same language speakers make some specific preconceptions. In addition, one who speaks certain language as a mother tongue is in a higher standing by the social common notion.


Historical context, for example, colonization, also has brought all those prejudice about the language. We cannot forget how French and Japanese have got their linguistic position as a national language and how English has become important especially by the information of industry and economics.
   
Our main questions are how the language as a communication tool is potentiated, what makes the each language’s position, or how it’s represented the minor/major languages, dominant/ recessive languages, and central/ marginal languages. Global Alien also questions if the economic interests are an important point of reference and if certain language speakers are enjoying privileges.
Is language power itself, or a tool used by power?
If ‘Dominant and dependent relationship among the languages’ exists as Roland Barthre said, how is language related to ‘border,’ ‘approval of cultural diversity ’ and ‘Modern society’s mobility’?



 1)  Code-switching is a term in linguistics referring to using more than one language or variety in conversation. Bilinguals, who can speak at least two languages, have the ability to use elements of both languages when conversing with another bilingual. Code-switching is the syntactically and phonologically appropriate use of multiple varieties.
  2) A bilingual pun is a pun in which a word in one language is similar to a word in another language. Typically, use of bilingual puns results in in-jokes, since there is often a very small overlap between speakers of the two languages.