Obaid Mustafa Assignment#1 English Communication School of Creative Arts

What role does language plays in society and how does it influence its speaker?
Language is what defines us. We communicate through it, regardless of the fact that how much important language is now, we take it for granted Ill say. Living in an age where language is everywhere we cant imagine living without it. Language has a wide history through its development. The ages when human talked or Ill say communicated were signs and for certain type of important communications the sounds were made. Living in the jungles they used sounds to inform the inmates about the invasion of a beast. Then the sounds were given the shapes of signs. Signs, which were drawn on the walls of the caves, on trees and even on the rocks. They all gave communicative signals. Visuals were the mode of acquiring information. This mode involved the human senses of hearing, seeing and to a large extent the process of brain to gather and read the coded message. One has to think for deriving its meaning, but it is so quick that one requires no labor. All these meanings, visuals and sounds were compiled and given a shape of language. Societies are based on the pillar of language. It has to play a major role in the making of a nation. If I talk about the language associating my country it has been developed in large course of time and has been merged by various languages. The history behind Urdu is that it was developed in the times of Genghis Khan. The army men talked in various languages and dialects. Urdu is a language, which has been borrowed by Arabic, Persian, Hindko, and other tribal languages. When Pakistan came into existence the language, which was being imposed on the Muslims, was Hindi. As a matter of fact Hindi was wide spread language and was spoken by large chunk of population. I will love to quote a personal experience, which happened in Dubai in the earlier this year. I have went ot see my dad. Travelling in the metro I was talking to my friend in Urdu. I have a bad habit of using words and sometimes where suitable phrases of English and Punjabi (Punjabi is my mother language). A middle aged Egyptian ma sitting next to me was constantly listening to our discussion. When me and my friend ended he the Egyptian man with a strange expression on his face said, Why do you guys use English and other languages while talking in Urdu?. I couldnt argue and I admit that I couldnt answer his questions. But I considered his question to be eye opening. And I started sneaking in the discussions f Arabs throughout my entire trip and I was surprised that they dont use a single word from another language esp. English. In the context of the society the language has to play major roles in the literary fields as well. Language has been transformed within the social boundaries. People living in the slum or poorer areas of the society have a different way to speak. And when we talk about the students of a particular university theyve a well-mannered and impressive way of talking. But the problem what I consider is effecting to be alarming is the impression of Urdu towards the youth. I an not opposing the English language. I consider English to be the international language but as a matter of fact when the youth gives no attention to their national language it faded out in the chapters of history. The issue of the class difference further supports the issue. Elite society in my country feels pride in speaking English. And just because of this Urdu is widely neglected in the educational institutes.

Language has immense power. It can change the meaning of the entire phenomena in a single word or in a line. I will quotes the examples, which were discussed in the class the other day. Euphemism is what changes the entire meaning of a particular word. Collateral damage is a term, which is used to define death and killing. This has a meaning, which can be understood only by those who know the meaning. Power of language can be clearly seen in advertising. I still remember the one liner tyre brand Goodyear power without control is nothing. Now this one liner explains the entire brand. It has power and control; both are given in a product, which is required when youre driving the car installed with the set of Goodyear tyres. Politicians for their campaigns particularly use this language power. Obamas slogan for his presidential campaign was Change we believe in this particular slogan has an elaborate meaning. The economic situation of US was going through recession. This recession was due to the artificial claps of the economy and the major part was the war on terror, which was fought by the US army in the Middle East. Obamas vision was to bring change through his presidential skills. In Pakistan these wordplays have been in use since the indo-pak partition. Pakistani politicians used highlighted the social issues and geopolitical issues. Lay kar rahain gay Pakistan, ban kar rahay ga Pakistan this slogan was of Muslim League. They were keen and had a vision. These slogans have in turn shape the people think. All the youth parties made under the Muslim league used these slogans in their meetings and protests. The point of discussing these points is to relate it with the social paradigm. Language changes the way people communicate in the social boundaries. If I am sitting in the class with my friends, Ill be talking in a casual manner. Whereas sitting in a meeting with board of directors Ill be way much formal. A large number of people who have good understanding of English language dont read the local Urdu newspapers. They prefer the English daily to the Urdu newspapers. The other main reason, which I have encountered, is the use of the language used in the text messages. Short words are used rather the entire word to convey the meaning. For instance the alphabet u is used instead of the word you. This chain of words is vast. Theyre ruining the true meaning of language especially Urdu language. I will love to quote the example of the Punjabi songs, which are lyrically absurd. The languages they use have negative meaning and to a large extent the euphemism is used. The government bans the singers. They were accused of developing the negative connotation in the films and the society. The Muslim scholars banned the songs and the singers because the sings gave a no Islamic meaning and the listener was tempted towards the sexual inclinations. This is how the songs influence people and masses and the language used in it.