First and foremost, language can be defined by the 8th
edition of the oxford dictionary as “the system of communication in speech and
writing that is used by people of a particular
country or area or it is a way
of expressing ideas and feelings using movements, symbols and sound. Merely by
looking at the definition we have already seen the numerous values of language
in the development of the society which science and technology and other
factors will not be able and have not been able to do.
The coming of
science and technology in this century has led people into many inventions and
discoveries but mostly spurned them farther away from their various languages.
However, inspite of the laudable contributions and lofty accomplishments of
technology, it has, nevertheless succeeded in introducing several anomalies
and, in some cases, reduced the value attached to our language.
Language is
largely valued as it tends to in so many ways help in the development of our
society. Firstly, it acts as a means of communication. Members of a language
community control at least two dialects and use both dialects in different
situations but in the rural areas the native dialect is used in most situations
since there is less movement. Therefore, rural dwellers tend to be parochial
and maintain the homogeneity of their dialect. In the urban community, on the
other hand, there is more demand on the standard dialect than on the rural
area. This is because people from different regions coverage here so in order
to ensure mutual intelligibility resulting from the pressure of communication a
great deal of demand is made on their language which now becomes the lingua
franca amongst them.
Secondly,
language also helps in the peaceful co-existence of people in the society. For
example, Nigerian, American, Irish and British English differ from one another
in many respects and each is identifiable, yet in every case the standard
variety approaches a single and hypothetical classification known as
international English.
Meanwhile, it is
quite noticeable that the present trend that acts like a “recurring decimal”
threatens to push away the value of our language thereby causing chaos and
misunderstanding between the masses which is not meant to be so. Our language
acts as a uniting factor in our various families, tribes and even our country.
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