Analyzing Social Factors Which Explain How the Social Context Affects Our Choice of a Code or A Variety, Whether Language, Dialect, or Style, with Examples from English- Other languages, and Libyan Arabic

Abstract

People’s pronunciation, their words choice and styles mark their background (socially and culturally). So the relation between language and society is reciprocal. This relationship explains why groups speak differently in different social contexts. Language in the social context is not only a means of communication but also a means of establishing and maintain social relations. Social context accounts the language, variety, code or style that people from different background use. Theses distinct varieties determine the social structure of human groups. Actually, several factors stand behind this linguistic choice. What distinguishes man’s speech from woman’s speech which is controlled by social norms, why speakers use an appropriate register or style at home, whereas a particular language deals with government institutions, and what draws distinction between formal and casual conversation? This is the aim of this paper will be clarified.