Language and Literature: A Reflection of Social Change

The terms social and society have been under a myriad of a definitions, perceptions, delineations and interpretations. A dictionary of sociology defines ‘society’ as: “A group of human beings cooperating in the pursuit of several of their major interests, invariably including self-maintenance and self-perpetuation” (Fairchild 300). The term social is explained as “having to do with the reciprocal relations of interacting human beings, either as individual or groups” (Fairchild 275). It is an all-comprehensive term concerned with man’s behavior, disposition and the mode in which he connects in society. Since no social interaction can take place without communication, every society must have a well- ordered language which can serve as a vehicle of expression. “Language is cardinal in rearing human young, in organizing human communities, in handing down the culture from generation to generation” (Whorf vi). It is not only a great force of socialization, a common speech but also serves as a potent symbol of social solidarity. It is a well- known fact that man has always belonged to a society of one kind or another and that without it he cannot exist. In the words of C.E.M. Joad, “Not only is man a being who only attains his real nature in society, he is a being who has always lived in some form or the other in society, even if his earliest society was only that of the family group” (36-37). As a well- known sociologist rightfully asserts: “That man has not only a ‘capacity’ for social life but also an intrinsic need of it, it is a self -obvious fact. Emotional development, intellectual maturity, the necessity of a certain amount of material goods and comforts for the full exercise of his liberty and progress in self-reflection, are unthinkable without society. No human being is known to have normally developed in isolation” (Gisbert 44). The natural social ingredient of which a man is an integral part is a well- established fact. Same is the case with literature which is fundamentally an expression of life through the medium of language. And since life in a large measure is a social reality, nothing absolute about life can be expressed that is unrelated to society. The writer or the poet is first and foremost a social being and happens to be in every way an intrinsic part or member of it. The very language and idioms, the turns of phrases and the figures of speech he employs draw their forces from the climate of the people among who he lives, imbibes and thrives. Further he is also a citizen and is bound to get involved in contemporary affairs, the socio-cultural flares which he or she imbibes and absorbs very naturally. In such a scenario he is bound to express views of social and political import. He not only gets influenced but also becomes a medium to influence the social temper of his age. Language, literature and society are therefore terms corelative, interrelated and interdependent. Furthermore, literature down the ages have been created in a society which is forever dynamic and vibrant subject to the flow of change. A study of such social change as reflected and evidenced in the language and literature of the region presents some significant facts about the society of that particular time. The reflection of society of that particular time should be of interest to not only to the linguists and scholars of literature but also to social scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists since language as the life line of human being concerns all. The present paper attempts to throw light on this socio-cultural aspect of language and literature by pontificating the changes they undergo related to the transformation taking place in society itself.