Language is one way through which power was propagated in society. Power actually meant the ability to control the behavior of another individual. Power relationships are in essence non-reciprocal. This means that two individuals cannot have the same levels of power in the same area. Through this, it is evident that language was a medium through which fundamental inequalities in the society were created, sustained and replicated. Inequalities in the contexts of power are quite common in language. For example, superiors used ‘T’ and received ‘V’. This non-reciprocal relationship, in essence, contributed to power imbalances in the society.
Further, in Europe, there was the development of independent distinction which in many ways complicated the relative power distribution systems. According to Gilman and Brown, the personal relationships, as well as the degree of the friendliness of an individual, determined their differences in levels of power and status. To this end, power and status distributions in Europe have not been affected by the variables of solidarity. Theorists posit that power has so far been redistributed and diffused and to an extent disguised. In as much as there exists distaste for face to face expression of differences in status between two acquaintances, the aspect of power differentials still manifest in the sense that one would initiate reciprocal T where reciprocal V would appropriate previously. The right to outline this belongs to the power interlocutor.
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Max Weber, on the other hand, provided accounts as to the fact that power is the essential concept of relations of inequality. This means that when one has power, they have the ability to carry out their will without regard to the oppositions therein. According to Weber the divisions in society into classes, status groups, and even political parties are just basic ways through which power is distributed in the society. Further, power is assumed based on resources as well as military-like physical force.
In sociology, there are two applicable uses of the term ideology. First ideology can be used to refer to the system of ideas, beliefs, cultural practices and speech that in essence exist to the advantage of a specified group of individuals. Classical Marxists outlined that it is through the ideological notions that social, economic and political relations are disguised. Marx and Engel described ideology in this context to be a part of the superstructure as opposed to the common assumption of being an economic base.
Discourse is a term applicable in a different sense of social sciences. Structural linguistics defines discourse as a continuous speech going beyond the levels of the sentence. Discourse also concerns conversational management in the sense that it outlines some of the rules to be followed when taking a turn in similar interactive phenomena. In social theory, discourse can be used to denote different ways through which areas of knowledge and social practices can be structured. This means that discourse presents in different ways of using language as well as the use of other symbolic systems such as visual images.
It is true that wherever there is power, there must be aspects of resistance. This explains the fact that the language of super powerfulness describes the degree of control, as well as persuasion anti-language, is an aspect through which resistance can be carried out against a powerful language. Anti-language is commonly used by a special language which in most cases is a revelation of the oppositional status of the dominant society expressing the same through their language.
