At first glance, the title of this chapter sparked interest in me. The social manifestations of language is a sub-topic within the topic of language that particularly interests me. The chapter preview presents this chapter's focus with the following explanation: "...the social and cultural knowledge embedded within the language being learned, that is required for appropriate language use." So, it seems that the author is suggesting that truly mastering a language goes far beyond simply knowing what words to say and how to use them, but also in what situations and contexts to use them.
I found the section on input modifications very interesting after careful reading. When I first came upon that word, I instantly thought that I had no idea what it possibly meant, but after carefully considering both of the words linguistically and in relation to what we have learned so far, it makes perfect sense to me. Input is what is being put into something, in this case, what the hearer is hearing. And modifying the input is altering it in some way, shape, or form.
When I first scanned the table discussing characteristics of foreigner talk, my first thought was regarding how native speakers talk to non-native speakers, which is the same meaning that the book gives to it. It describes a number of different strategies such as slow rate of speech and careful articulation to aid in comprehension. However, this strategy is frequently used by non-native speakers when attempting to use the target language, I believe. Thinking back to my early days in learning in Spanish, due to my insecurity or lack of knowledge, I would speak more slowly and use less complicated structures. This is another way in which I am relating the porcess of ELLs to my own experiences in second language learning.
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