The Influence of Society on Language

According to Chomsky's theory, competence is the child's innate ability to develop language, enabling them to speak, understand, and produce grammatically correct sentences. A child who can produce all grammatically correct sentences would likely be considered a "social monster." Not only does the child learn language from society, but they also learn the appropriate ways to use it - knowing with whom, where, when, for what purpose, and how to communicate. Thus, sociolinguistic competence is a vital part of language acquisition. Without a proper understanding of society and culture, language use cannot be appropriate or correct. For example, a child who utters forbidden words in public may upset others, showing that some speech rules are extra-grammatical but culturally specific - rules the child has not learned or has not applied correctly. Even a grammatically correct sentence, like a tongue twister, can violate sociolinguistic norms if it disregards these contextual rules. The term 'competence' is not sufficiently comprehensive without considering these social and cultural factors.