order to be capable to speak of dominance. One manner is to examine children’s rankings statistically and solely analyze between language differences as signs of dominance, or the use of base scores to see whether or not children reach age monolingual norms for one language. Despite these issues, the use of such differential rankings makes it possible to evaluate adolescents with the equal language grade and at the same time stay away from the trouble of the cross linguistic validation.
As mentioned earlier, dominance has been put forward with the aid of some researchers as an explanatory issue for certain instances of how cross linguistics has an effect on people. Others, however have shown that cross linguistic influence can happen regardless
Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired.
Most people who grow up with a foreign language spoken in there house grow up with an advantage in society. This advantage can only occur once the individual learning that foreign language also learns the dominant language spoken in that country. Once both of these languages are learned and mastered, the individual has now placed them se...
Maltz, Daniel N., and Ruth A. Borker. "A Cultural Approach To Male-Female Miscommunication." In Language and Social Identity. Edited by John J. Gumperz. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1982, pp. 196-216.
Even nowadays, there still an issue that connected with language and related to cultures such as cultural relativism and ethnocentrism. Cultural relativism is a behavior in one culture that should not be judged by another’s value system which basically is a belief of own culture practice with respect and understand the different of other culture. While ethnocentrism is the opposite of cultural relativism. It is the ideal that one’s own culture is the main standard and better than other cultures such if other’s culture practice is contrary to your cultural norm, that practice would be immediately wrong. In Language Myths provide many examples of this issue in many chapters which I will be discussing below.
Children absorb the world around them as they see it. Due to this reason, judgment of different dialects within the English language exists. Walt Wolfram, the author of the essay, “Challenging Language Prejudice in the Classroom,” states that, “Children acquire attitudes about language differences early and these attitudes quickly become entrenched” (27). This problem has gone on for a long period of time as Wolfram quotes Linguist Rosina Lippi-Green warning that, “Accent discrimination can be found everywhere. In fact, such behavior is so commonly accepted, so widely perceived as appropriate, that it must be seen as the last back door to discrimination” (28). Unfortunately, language prejudice has not been dealt with on a serious note. Linguistic discrimination has become one of the only forms of judgement that experiences promotion. Granted, this happens because adults do not see it as a problem. “Challenging Language Prejudice in the Classroom” points out that, “Adults use words such as “right,” “wrong,” “correct,” and “incorrect” to label speech” (Wolfram 28). This gives children the idea from an early point in life that language is either right or wrong. Hence Wolfram comments that, “Language that “falls short” of Standard English is thrown into a single wastebasket, even when the phrases represent natural regional and socioethnic dialect traits” (28). The school system drills this idea into the
In the essay, “How To Tame A Wild Tongue”, by Gloria Anzaldua and the essay, Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, the ignorance shown by many people is highlighted. Amy Tan’s essay focuses on how some people look down on others who do not speak English without an accent. Anzaldua’s essay focuses on how people do not have a broad view of language and often look down upon others who do not speak the language that they speak. Both of the essays address language, but the broader topic that they acknowledge is more important. The essays both acknowledge how humans feel uncomfortable around people that are different from them, and often demean others. People demean others due to people wanting to look more powerful by giving their views correctness while discrediting
This leads to the negative viewpoint of cultural globalization, that “[it] can lead to a utopian world, [and] some believe it will cause less dominant cultures to be obliterated and economically developed cultures to prosper.” (Issit 1). Although the dominance of English allows for people to speak a common language many can understand, a downside would be losing knowledge of other cultures.
...ese students also felt that their academic abilities were judged on the basis of ethnic stereotypes. (Crosby, p. 136)
...ground or where they are located in the world, it is ignorant to put these differences up as a way to distinguish one people from another, or to say that one race has greater hierarchal significance than another. These constructions provide insight into how people have come to see one another and can also help to see ways through which avoiding racism in modern society may one day be possible.
Another difficulty cultures deal with is language and the way people speak. In some cases, people struggle to belong by making changes in the way they speak the English language just to be assimilated. They attempt to use words and letters, as well as body language that fit in the norm; all in an attempt to denounce their original intonation and style of pronunciation. One ...
1. Does the articles/websites discuss gender stereotypes in the language? If so what did you learn?
Woolard, Kathryn A. “ Language Variation and Cultural Hegemony: Toward an Integration of Sociolinguistic and Social Theory.” American Ethnologist. Vol. 12, No. 4 (November 1985), pp. 738-748. 31 May 2010. Print.
The difference in languages can cause different perceptions of various cultures leading to distinctions or possible clashes. When I lived in France I faced some of the problems a language barrier can cause. The most common and at the same time most irritating problem of language is the inability to translate word for word as some words just don’t have a direct translation into another language. These are normally colloquialisms for example “up the apples and pears” does not translate into “monter les pommes et les poires.” This would cause people to look at you in a very strange manner wondering what on earth you were talking about and it’s not only verbal language which creates different perceptions of people. Body language, such as hand movements and voice intonation can determine or change someone’s perception of a culture. The following paragraphs will illustrate the way language can be misconstrued.
With the increasing popularity of dual immersion programs in schools and the widespread notion that language acquisition is something that needs to happen early on life, is there an ideal age to learn a second language (L2)?
The movie Babel (2006), directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, is an interesting and impressive film. This movie shows four different episodes, which are all related to each other. This movie is about the relationship between stereotypes and communications of people, and the way the film discusses the topic to the audience is very interesting, because there are many episodes. There are four episodes in this film; first is Susan and Richard’s story, second is Yusef’s episode, third one is Amelia’s episode, and the last one is Chieko’s story.