Language as tool in the socialization and apprehension of cultural meanings

Abstract

Within anthropology there has been a long history of interest in language and communication as they relate to the processes by which children become full and competent participants in their culture. In his classic essay on language, for example, Sapir (1933/1949) asserted, "Language is a great force of socialization, perhaps the greatest that exists" (p. 15). Mead and Macgregor (1951) sought "those sequences in child–other behavior which carry the greatest communication weight and so are crucial for the development of each culturally regular character structure" (p. 27). H. Geertz (1959) conceived of emotional socialization as a communicative process whereby affective and interpersonal messages are transmitted to the child via verbal and nonverbal channels. Language and communication were thus seen as fundamental to the socialization process.