Editing Language (section)

===Culture===
{{see also|Culture#Language_and_culture|l1=Culture|Speech community}}
[[File:Arnold Lakhovsky Conversation.png|thumb|right|[[Arnold Lakhovsky]], ''The Conversation'' ({{Circa|1935}})]]
Languages, understood as the particular set of speech norms of a particular community, are also a part of the larger culture of the community that speaks them. Languages differ not only in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, but also through having different "cultures of speaking." Humans use language as a way of signalling identity with one cultural group as well as difference from others. Even among speakers of one language, several different ways of using the language exist, and each is used to signal affiliation with particular subgroups within a larger culture. Linguists and anthropologists, particularly [[Sociolinguistics|sociolinguists]], [[Anthropological linguistics|ethnolinguists]], and [[Linguistic anthropology|linguistic anthropologists]] have specialized in studying how ways of speaking vary between [[Speech community|speech communities]].<ref name=Duranti2003>{{harvcoltxt|Duranti|2003}}</ref>

Linguists use the term "[[Variety (linguistics)|varieties]]" to refer to the different ways of speaking a language. This term includes geographically or socioculturally defined [[dialect]]s as well as the [[register (sociolinguistics)|jargons]] or [[style shifting|styles]] of [[subculture]]s. Linguistic anthropologists and sociologists of language define communicative style as the ways that language is used and understood within a particular culture.<ref name="Foley">{{harvcoltxt|Foley|1997}}</ref>

Because norms for language use are shared by members of a specific group, communicative style also becomes a way of displaying and constructing group identity. Linguistic differences may become salient markers of divisions between social groups, for example, speaking a language with a particular accent may imply membership of an ethnic minority or social class, one's area of origin, or status as a second language speaker. These kinds of differences are not part of the linguistic system, but are an important part of how people use language as a social tool for constructing groups.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Agha|2006}}</ref>

However, many languages also have grammatical conventions that signal the social position of the speaker in relation to others through the use of registers that are related to social hierarchies or divisions. In many languages, there are stylistic or even grammatical differences between the ways men and women speak, between age groups, or between [[social class]]es, just as some languages employ different words depending on who is listening. For example, in the Australian language [[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]], a married man must use a special set of words to refer to everyday items when speaking in the presence of his mother-in-law.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Dixon|1972|pp=32–34}}</ref> Some cultures, for example, have elaborate systems of "social [[deixis]]", or systems of signalling social distance through linguistic means.<ref name="Foley 1997 p">{{harvcoltxt|Foley|1997|pp=311–328}}</ref> In English, social deixis is shown mostly through distinguishing between addressing some people by first name and others by surname, and in titles such as "Mrs.", "boy", "Doctor", or "Your Honor", but in other languages, such systems may be highly complex and codified in the entire grammar and vocabulary of the language. For instance, in languages of east Asia such as [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Burmese language|Burmese]], and [[Old Javanese|Javanese]], different words are used according to whether a speaker is addressing someone of higher or lower rank than oneself in a ranking system with animals and children ranking the lowest and gods and members of royalty as the highest.<ref name="Foley 1997 p"/>