Mother Tongue is about the writers struggles with her lingual individuality. her female parents “ fractured” or “ broken” fluctuation of English and the relationship with her female parent. At the beginning of the piece we are told about the different types of English she would talk with her female parent and with everyone else ; we are so state how English wasn’t Amy’s strongest topic and subsequently on we are told about the troubles her female parent experient because of the manner she spoke English and the bias she faced.
In the text Tan uses a assortment of stylistic devices to show herself. sunburns use of parallel constructions is used often throughout the piece. for illustration she starts the first paragraph with the phrase “ i am non a bookman of english” and the 2nd with “ i am a writer” ; this contrast implies to the audience that you don’t have to cognize everything about English to be a author. She besides uses personification in the 2nd paragraph when she says ” linguistic communication is the tool of my trade” . This might propose that the usage of linguistic communication through authorship is the manner she expresses herself or gets her point across. She so goes onto stating ” And one use them all- all the Englishes I grew up with” and in the following paragraph she says “ Recently. I was made keenly cognizant of the different Englishes I do usage. ”
She uses repeat in this case to stress how. in her sentiment. there is no right manner or one manner of talking English there are different fluctuations. in this case the English with her female parent is really different from how she speaks English to her instructors or schoolmates. this can mention back to the rubric of the text “ mother tongue” . Mother lingua is normally reffered to the first linguistic communication a individual is taught. nevertheless one think Tans usage of the word female parent lingua is much more intimate in a sense that she feels that her English or her female parent lingua is alone to her. and that the fluctuation of English she speaks to her female parent is her female parent lingua. Furthermore she besides uses repition when she uses the words “ broken” . “ fractured” and “ limited” as it is shown legion times throughout the text. these words suggest what other people may see of her female parents english. nevertheless Tans usage of an antithesis when she uses the phrase “ impeccable broken english” truly grasps the readers attending. as the construct of something being broken but yet faultless is really unusual.
This phrase may connote that although Tans female parents English might be “ limited” . but in her sentiment it does non strike her as being incorrect as so many would believe ; she clearly states this when she says “ Some say they understand none of it. as if she were talking pure Chinese. But to me. my female parents English is absolutely clear. absolutely natural” . Furthermore She uses personification once more to stress the fluctuation of English she speaks when she says “ the intersection of memory upon imagination” . Towards the 5th paragraph Amy uses many anecdotes or personal experiences to give the audience a spot more of an penetration with the problems she faced when she was younger with her female parent and the bias she faced. Furthermore Amys usage of duologue throughout the text lets the audience experience her female parent lingua.
I think that the chief intent of this article is to demo people that there is no right type of English. and that English comes in many signifiers therefore there should be no bias. She shows this by seting accent on the word “ English” and “ Englishes” throughout the text. Tan implies that many people have really narrow minded and misconceived positions of people from a different civilization or linguistic communication background. she uses the illustration of her personal experience and female parent to demo this. for illustration people would take her female parent earnestly due to her “ broken” English. as it suggests that her female parent might be uneducated. However Tan besides mentions how her female parent “ reads the Forbes repot. listens to Wall Street Week. converses daily with her stockbroker and reads all of Shirley MacLaine books with ease- all sort of things one can’t get down to understand” . most of the audience might be rather surprised with this. as it seems really unusual for a adult females from China and who has “ watered-down” English to understand things of such complexness. This in itself proves Tans point of society’s misconception and generalization of people with different linguistic communication backgrounds.
In this text we notice that Tan uses really simple and easy to read English. nevertheless at the same clip we are able to understand the complexness of her statement. The last paragraph accent how Tan is more concerned about her audience instead than the blessing of critics and she doesn’t demand to compose like a professor to acquire her point across. Furthermore throughout the text has a form of utilizing a personal experience so spread outing on it.
