language

(Tanmoy & Yayoi) Language, besides being an important communicative tool, is essential to also develop and preserve our “selves”. Language being a prerequisite for identity-formation follows the well-known finding that established the inter-dependency between linguistic and cognitive developments of the child. This paper thus begins with a review of this inter-dependency and relates it to the formation of the self and therefore, identity. Language as identity also demarcates a microculture. With increasing multicultural practices being adopted, a bilingual’s choice of which language to use and when, influenced as they are by specific situational and psychological variables, has attained significance in studying effectiveness of learning and cognition. As a society undergoes changes brought about by industrial or technological development, the needs for particular skills also change. The rest of the paper will therefore examine these “new” language skills as a response to “new” technological needs and use of emerging technologies for acquiring those skills. //(Mita March, 31: Please start on the paper based on the abstract- 6 pages max, you may decide who will do what.)//
 * 3. Impact of Technology: Language, culture and cognition **


 * Final Version**

Language, besides being an important communicative tool, is essential to also develop and preserve our “selves”. Language being a prerequisite for identity-formation follows the well-known finding that established the inter-dependency between linguistic and cognitive developments of the child. This paper thus begins with a review of this inter-dependency and relates it to the formation of the self and therefore, identity. Language as identity also demarcates a microculture. With increasing multicultural practices being adopted, a bilingual’s choice of which language to use and when, influenced as they are by specific situational and psychological variables, has attained significance in studying effectiveness of learning and cognition. As a society undergoes changes brought about by industrial or technological development, the needs for particular skills also change. The rest of the paper will therefore examine these “new” language skills as a response to “new” technological needs and use of emerging technologies for acquiring those skills. (150 words)