The Essence of Language Is History: A Theoretical Introduction to the Connection between Social Relations and Language Relations in 19th Century Brussels.

An examination of language use in 19th century Brussels seeks to explain how and why a link between language and social class came into operation. Hypotheses relating the social characteristics (material circumstances and consciousness) of social classes and segments of social classes to various resulting language patterns are proposed. This approach addresses the socialization function of language, whereby language becomes an instrument for the advancement of social and cultural unity and serves the interests of a given class or group in its struggle for cultural and political hegemony. In this context, language is found to acquire a role in the creation of a situation of dominance, in the penetration of bourgeois society by a system of values, convictions, and attitudes that perpetuated bourgeois order. A powerful ideology of language thus led to an improved social control. The analysis looks at the situations of the working class, the "petite bourgeoisie," the bourgeoisie, and the intelligentsia and their interrelations as manifested in and determined by language usage. (MSE)