Prominence of language essay

The Prominence of Language I believe that of all possible human qualities, the one that wields the most power is the ability to use, understand and communicate effectively through language. Language is both powerful and useful but it is also what sets people apart from each other. After reading “ Aria” and “ Black English” and watching the Pidgin film, I have come to understand that language is also your identity. I conclude that your identity, both private and public, will affect your use of language. Language will define your identity no matter who you are, and it could include or separate you from a larger, moon identity.

The power of language comes from community, or, for lack of a better word, dominance. If you speak fluent English and a little Spanish, you would have little power in a Spanish community, and a person who does not speak English well would have less power in a conversation with a fluent English speaker in America. And so, the dominant language spoken has more power, this is proof of power in language. In “ Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez, he shows his readers a part of life that many have never experienced. Rodriguez uses this essay to show owe he fought through his childhood to understand English. He believed that speaking clear English would help him to fit in to society. He faced society head on while Jeopardizing his happy home life, Just to try and become an ordinary English- speaking student (public identity vs.

. Private identity). He went to a Roman Catholic school that was intent on making English the only language they spoke. His parents spoke little to no English and this was a big obstacle for Rodriguez because one Saturday morning, the nuns from his school informed his parents that it would be est. if they spoke English at home. Destroyed by this new policy, his home was sent spinning.

His sacred family language, now banished from home. In an article “ Language and Social Society: a Psychosocial approach” by Rust Jasper explains that “ The ethnic group might be considered an important group identity in early life; the value and emotional significance attached to that group is likely to be high”. Jasper urges that in the early stages of life, ethnic groups hold a great emotional value to children and teens. In the case of “ Aria,” Rodriguez had great value for his ethnic roof, and that’s why it was hard for him to let go of his Spanish language.

Language wields great power, but this power may shift within a blink of an eye. A good example of this is Rodriguez and his family; he had no means of communicating with his Spanish-speaking parents. When he would catch them speaking Spanish, they would become silent. His parents wanted to encourage English in their home and so, in the end Rodriguez identity in public had affected what language he spoke at home and everywhere else. “ Each time I’d hear myself addressed in Spanish, I couldn’t respond tit any success. I would try to speak, but everything I said seemed horribly Anglicizes. My mouth wouldn’t form the right sounds” (Rodriguez 458-459).

So did proof of power and his public identity affect the languages he spoke? Yes! Because his identity in public affected what language he spoke at home and thus eliminating his private identity as well. Can language define the individual who speaks it? According to Came answers to this question would be “ yes”. In James Baldwin “ If Black Language, Then tell me, What Is? ” he reveals the way language shape Prominent arson’s identity. In reading “ Black English,” I could feel the anger of writing. Baldwin writes, “ Language…

Is the most vivid and crucial key reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one FRR public, or communal identity’. This tells us that culture affects how and it allows a person to identify with or separate from a different cue reveals how important a language is because it has the ability either or bring a people together. Language is crucial for your identity.

Wit person, you don’t have a single clue about them until you hear the la speak. In a book called “ Handbook of language and ethnic identity,” t Joshua A. Fisherman and Offline Garcia argue, “ Language is a central fee identity. When we hear someone speak, we immediately make guess education level, age, profession, and place of origin. Beyond this India language is a powerful symbol of national and ethnic identity. ” Fishes book adds “ language, ethnicity, and identity are defined by the circus which they are created. ” This relates to Baldwin views in “ Black Engle considered Black English a language that can define him and his HTH was furious to find out that many people considered Black English a t was his haven, his identity and the identity of the people who spook argument had nothing to do with language itself but with the role of Language reveals the speaker and is meant to define your true identity As Eve mentioned earlier, language is also a means of separation.

N a sense that it distinguishes us into ethnic categories by the langue Language defines us, but in the case of Baldwin in “ Black English,” hi want to be defined by a language that has never been able to recon took measures to create one that made him feel like a part of cometh evolve a language in order to describe, and thus control their circus order not to be submerged by a situation that they cannot articulate’ English Language first discriminated against Baldwin but in the end part of a bigger identity, which was Black English. Language can make out but it can also make people feel like a part off bigger identity. T situation with many of the people of Hawaii. In a film by Marlene Boo Young, “ Pidgin: The Voice of Hawaii,” it portrays that the pidgin langue the plantations of Hawaii by half of the Hawaiian population. The Bid part English, part Hawaiian, combined with influences of other langue captures the essence of a multi-culture Hawaii.

Pidgin was created f communication for people who worked on the plantations. Many of t speak proper English and creating a language of their own made the of something bigger. Almost half of the Hawaiian population spoke pi the government tried to banish the language from schools thinking away with the years. But little did they know Pidgin made some peep and accepted. A good example of this is a strong Pidgin speaker, Earl Pastor of the New Hope Church. In the film, Earl says “ People tint Bid language. Yeah, this my language, this the language of my Heart.

” In watching the elm, Eve come to realize that many people grew up with Pidgin and see it as their firs language. Many people think that Pidgin is not a language and is hard to understand but they only assume things they’ve never experienced. In “ Is Testing Killing the English Language? ” by John Micrometer, he defends testing as a writing form for testers but in the article a critic categorizes testing as a “ penmanship for illiterates. ” Micrometer states, “ Testing properly isn’t writing at all -? it’s actually more akin to spoken language.

And it’s a ‘ spoken’ language that is getting richer and more complex y the year. ” Micrometer is simply stating that testing isn’t proper English writing buy has seems to have found an identity of its own. Just like how some people feel more comfortable with speaking pidgin instead of English. I have given examples of how people feel inferior towards the dominant language in their area, but they have stood up and found a language that suits them better and makes them feel involved, allowing them a sense of understanding and comfort. Pidgin, Black English, testing o whatever it may be, language has a special way of making people be part of something much bigger than them. Eve said as much as I can about language but I don’t think these four pages are enough to describe its importance to humanity itself.