Language as a Tool for Inclusion and Development: A Critical Appraisal of its Use in Internet Social Networks

Abstract

The third world had before the twenty first century failed to achieve sustainable development as a result of factors such as the deliberate exclusion of some segments of the society from policy formulation process, as well as inability to effectively integrate modernization processes of the West. Towards the end of twentieth and early twenty-first century however, globalization has been greatly facilitated by internet social network in the creation of a global village and the eradication of distance. Unfortunately, minimal attention has been paid to the role of language in this transformational process, as scientific and technological knowledge have been celebrated as the facilitators of communication across cultural boundaries. The paper a descriptive one, relied entirely on secondary data, comprising; published books, scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, relevant materials downloaded from the internet and evaluation of selected social networking sites. Using the sociolinguistic approach, the paper argues that internet social networking though entrenched in technological discoveries, is another social institution breeding on the rich resources of human language. The paper concluded that English language being the primary language used in most internet social networking sites facilitates the eradication of socio-economic distance, creating an atmosphere of inclusion. Governments of the third world nations should utilize it in harnessing the abundant human resources available to them to ensure the achievement of sustainable development.