Introduction
I am interested in the link with language and identity, I find it interesting that most native English speakers are generally not multilingual and people that are multilingual most likely have English as their secondary language. I find that this may be why native English speakers don’t learn a secondary language because they don’t feel they need to. But some people may have mixed heritage, for example my heritage is predominantly English but I have family from the Basque region of Spain, so when I am asked where I from or what my heritage is I say English and Spanish, however I am not completely fluent in this secondary part of my heritage, though I don’t know if my brothers feel the same way but I do have a better grasp of Spanish than they do, I would consider myself a receiving bilingual, meaning I can read Spanish and understand it when spoken to me, but I do struggle more with the speaking of it. This led me to wonder if my better proficiency in this second language gave me stronger ties to this part of my heritage. So it led to me to the overall question of “Is there a link between language and cultural identity?” My readings however have made me realise that I was talking about a single persons view of their own personal cultural identity so my question has now changed to; “Is there link a link between language and one’s cultural identity?”
Methodology
This is an ethnographic project meaning that “as an approach to learning about the social and cultural life of individuals, communities and institutions through the researcher’s personal immersion in investigative and empathetic participation and observation research.” (Kruger, 2008:1). I decided to use a questionnaire as my main source of data collection, beca...
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... understand. For example earlier I used the term receiving bilingual, a receiving bilingual is “a person who understands two languages but who can speak only one.” (Saunders 1988: xii)
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Language is truly part of our identity: our languages shape who we are. That is why we always have to be tolerant and comprehensive with others’ accents, typical phrases, or grammatical errors. Writers that really make an impact when referring to language and identity are Gloria Anzaldua and Amy Tan, with their readings “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” and “Mother Tongue” respectively. These two writers, with completely different backgrounds, shared their views about how language and identity are intertwined.
Donegan, Craig. “Debate over bilingualism.” CQ Researcher. 19 January 1996. 6, 49-72. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.
When asked to define ones cultural identity people usually take the path that leads to their country of origin. They describe their beliefs and tradition which mirrors the values of people within that geographic location. But what about the people who are torn between two cultures? How would they define their cultural identity? This is the problem faced by Henry Park, the protagonist of the book Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee. Originally from Korea, he immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was little. However, his struggle of trying to find his acceptance into the American culture still continues. The book outlines his endless uncertainty of trying to define his cultural identity and his feelings as an outsider to the American Culture. Not being able to commit to either of the cultures leaves Henry confused regarding his true Cultural identity which Chang very artfully presents as a fuzzy line between the American and Korean Culture.
Culture and language are intertwined and somewhat inseparable. Language determines how culture is delivered and passed down from generation to generation. The book suggest that language is the glue that holds self-perception, experiences, attitude and knowledge together (Appleby, 2011). This means that in order to fully grasp one’s culture you must first understand the
Hammers, J.F., & Blanc, M.A. (1989). Social and psychological foundations of bilinguality. In P. Mardaga (Ed.), Bilinguality and Bilingualism (pp. 110-133). Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.
I definitely identify most with modern American culture. Although I am half Hispanic and half white, I was raised more “white” than Hispanic (e.g. food, language, holidays, music, etc.). On the surface you can see a white American, English speaking, femininely dressed young lady, but I am much more than what is on the outside. Like I stated earlier I was raised more “white”, but I still identify a little with my Hispanic culture. In this paper I will be addressing 10 surface and 10 deep aspects of my cultural identity.
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.
...xpressing her Chinese culture. Mastering a second language allows her to articulate her and her mother’s thoughts; it is a foundation for her pride and a foundation to express herself. For Gloria Anzaldua, instead of choosing one language over the other, she chose a mix of the two and fights for it. She realized the value of her language when she lost it and now treasures it. The kind of Spanish she speaks is neither English nor Spanish, but both. It is overflowing with culture from Medieval Spain, France, Germany, etc., just from the origins of the words. It is her pride and a representation of herself, fighting and living. In conclusion, in addition to Lera Boroditsky’s article proving that the structure of language affects how we think, the articles by Eric Liu, Amy Tan, and Gloria Anzaldua show how language is a foundation for a person’s culture, pride, and self.
Language and ethnicity are known to be closely intertwined (Giles & Coupland 1991). However, prior to analyzing interrelation between language and ethnicity I faced the problem of identifying the concept of ‘ethnicity’ itself. Thus, Fishman (1997: 327) points out that ‘ethnicity’ like other notions it is in a close association with, i.e. ‘race’, ‘people’, ‘nation’, ‘nationality’, is not “an exact scientific term”. Therefore it is not clearly defined and thus is open to interpretations (Ibid). In my search I came across a number of rather vogue explanations, and the most common aggregated dictionary definition of ‘ethnicity’ is ‘a belonging to a particular social group that has a common national or cultural tradition’ (MacMillan Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, etc.). Dictionary of Cultural Literacy does single out and include language into the ethnicity definition saying that it is an “identity with or membership in a particular racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that group's customs, beliefs, and language”. However, is language always an inevitable part of one’s ethnicity or the ethnicity of a group? Definitely, the most understandable case of interrelation between language and ethnicity is the one when a person is born and lives on a specific territory which historically had one dominant ethnos and one dominant language, so ethnicity is predetermined by close bound between language and territory (Fishman 1997). Thus, Tabouret-Keller (1997) gives an example of a school boy from Belize who identifies himself as Belizean because he was born in that country, he lives there and also is a native speaker of its Creole language. But there are two more cases when interrelation of ethnicity and...
Bilingual Education is defined by the National Association for Bilingual Education as the utilization of two languages as mediums for instruction with the goal of language proficiency in one or both languages. The goal of bilingual programs is to achieve second language proficiency by using the student’s first language as the mechanism for instruction. May (2008) states that bilingual education programs can be categorized into either transitional or maintenance models. The focus of transitional bilingual education is to replace the student’s primary language with that of the target language. Maintenance, or dual language, models focus on the student learning both languages, often simultaneously. The most common two programs seen in schools around the United States are transitional models and dual language immersion
8. Simpson, J. A., & Weiner, E. S. (1989). The Oxford English dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press ;.
To commence this discussion, it is first essential to establish an understanding surrounding the role of language in relation to national identity. Theoretically, the more power language has in this relation, the more powerful language planning may be when creating a national identity. However, the role language plays in this respect is somewhat problematic to define and has proven to be a debatable topic among nationalists, sociologists and sociolinguists. For instance, May demonstrates that ‘sociological commentators, unlike sociolinguists, have generally been loath to apportion a prominent role to language in the explanation of minority ethnic and national identity claims’ (2001: 8). Consequently emulating distaste from sociologists to credit language with significant power in a national identity. In a similar sense, de Vries notes that, in relation to a language community, ‘social scientists have generally ignored the systemic properties of language’ (1991: 39), thus, concurrently suggesting with May, a disagreement from the social sciences over the role of language in terms of identity and national identity. Similarly, circa the French revolution, the concept