The Role of Language Communication in the Acquisition and Transfer of Culture in a Developing Nation

Abstract

Language, culture and development are interrelated. No Culture exists without language. Suffice it to say that language plays vital roles in the advancement of a people’s culture. Both language and culture are agents of development- individual and social which on the other hand enhance national development. The activities of the members of a society constitute its culture. The society accomplishes its activities through language. Language then is not only an element of culture itself: it is the basis for all cultural activities, and therefore, the most accessible and rewarding clue to group to group identification. A careful description of a community’s language enables anyone who wants to probe deeper into the ways of that community and its historical origin to do so. As the world is dynamic, so also is changes in language- it is not stagnant, it develops. Again, changes in culture produce changes in language. Those changes reflect changes in dynamic world. No doubt, development, whether individual or societal/national, is enhanced by the language used to communicate thoughts, messages, knowledge or information to the public. All these cannot be achieved with a problematic language communication. This paper, therefore, opined that language communication should be employed in the efforts to learn and transfer culture in such areas as political integration, unity and cohesion, education, religion, technology etc of a developing nation in a dynamic world.