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Importance of language essay
Language, culture, and identity
Language culture and identity essay
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Language, the tool by which humans communicate with each other, can be very diverse and is absolutely essential in documenting what it truly means to be a member of any ethnic, political or social group existing in the world today. However, it also follows that with the destruction or decline of a group, so too does the language dwindle in speakers and die. There are many factors responsible for this, such as local attitude shifts towards the language in question, ethnic subjugation/strife, social motivations to push the language to be come moribund; but although it is troubling that with the language death, the “intellectual wealth of the people who use it” (Hale, 1992) is lost as well, it is important to note that this is a natural social occurrence, and is not inherently a disaster every time it happens.
Regardless, the pursuit of the preservation of linguistic diversity is not by any stretch of the imagination a bad idea, as it helps restore not only a dying language, but fortifies communities based on the identity associated with their native language. According to Colette...
For this summary I watched a video called Voices of the World: The Extinction of Language and Linguistic Diversity. The video starts off with how people believe that there are about 6, 000 languages. David Crystal talks about how with all these different languages half of them are endangered of becoming extinct. Each different language offers a different point of view of the world and culture. He said that if different languages are lost then “we lose the meaning what is it to be human.”
The article The Strange Persistence of First Languages by Julie Sedivy was an intriguing and eye-opening piece of writing to read. The concepts she brought to life through her explicit writing revealed many things I had never heard of before. The further I read, the more I wanted to know and the deeper my interest became. As a monolingual, this article was insightful, captivating and ultimately provided me with a new perspective on language.
In “Why I Choose to Write in Irish, the Corpse that Sits Up and Talks Back”, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill argued for the survival of minority languages, especially her own Gaeilge (Irish) language. She compared the issue of preserving minority languages as important as the issue of the “preservation of the remaining rain forests is for biological diversity”. She fears that the death of minority languages and the dominance of English would “reduce everything to the level of most stupendous boredom”. (53) The author did not bash on the English language, only that if all other minority languages died and it was the only one that remained then the lack of diversity will just be plain dull.
Language is our power and expression is our freedom. Through a puff of air, we are able to communicate and influence the environments that surround us. Over the course of time humans have evolved, but by the means of language, humans have matured into humanity. The possibility of thought and emotions such as empathy show the ability to think with complexity. A crucial element that helps Suzanne K. Langer’s illustrate the essence of humanity throughout her essay “Language and Thought.” Langer thoroughly depicts what sets humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom by explicitly stating “The line between man and beast […] is the language line” (120). Consequently, this implies that if a person is declined the freedom of language they are hardly considered human. Many people around the globe have had their voices silenced due to corrupt governments and the oppression of their culture. These individuals are subjected to the devastating effects of the loss of language, which in turn, translates to the loss of power. Language is our foundation for hopes and opportunity, for with out it a person is shell of possibility that is subjected to a passive existence.
Greg Lewis in “An Open Letter to Diversity’s Victims” advocates against the need for many languages in school programs, in American. Greg describes that those who are after what they refer to as “diversity” have been insisting that the American schools should be taught both in English and Spanish. The so called liberals base their arguments on the fact that, teaching a single language would obsolete the cultural identity of the Hispanic people. Greg’s arguments, use of quotations, tone, and mood show the need as to why single language system should be continued.
Throughout time the flexibility of different languages within the world today are always being tossed up in the air, if there’s disadvantages or advantages to being capable of more than one language. Although all individuals have there own opinions on being able to speak fluently with different languages, there isn’t any other way to see it besides it being a huge advantage; fully appreciating the beneficial chance to be bilingual or trilingual and sometimes even more. Communicating with more than a single voice will represent who one is and where they came from. Within two articles “Speaking in Tongues” written by Zadie Smith and “How to tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzalduas’s both demonstrate the different languages they encounter. Smith looses her chance in speaking from her voice being forced upon to change without resistance while Anzalduas’s aggressively puts up a battle to be able to keep her voice. The acceptance of varies languages isn’t in everyone category, however in time we should be more accepting and realize from articles like such that’s beneficial to learn and accept the difference languages of different cultures within the world today. Although there may be struggles upon learning the knowledge to something new, its nothing but an advantage to have with one throughout a lifetime!
Daniels, Harvey A., and Urbana, IL. National Council of Teachers of English. Not Only English: Affirming America's Multilingual Heritage. 1990. ERIC. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.
Language is a mean of communication in any given society. It represents the ability to evolve and progress through the ongoing process of living with other human beings. Many can perceive this instrument as tool of liberation and transformation but others as an instrument to enslave, manipulate or oppress a group of people. Whichever the case one need to acknowledge that it is necessary and not a waste of time the many different discussions about this ongoing topic regardless of the time period or social context any country might have. In Puerto Rico, there has been an ongoing dilemma about languages; Dr. Alicia Pousada examines on her essay what many might define “the language madness on the island”. Throughout this paper some of her most interesting ideas will be shared and discussed so that this already extended topic might find another page to take place.
One outstanding challenge that the Canadian policy presents is the subjective concern towards language as both a marginal and intrinsic loss to the minority populace. The challenge is not the coexistence and complexity of multiple lang...
Even though the dominance of a language can allow for the loss of a culture, it can also bring awareness. In schools, local community centers and other various places, foreign languages are taught, not only do non-native speakers take on these languages but native speakers do as well to keep their culture. By doing so it “revitalizes cultures and cultural artifacts through foreign influences, technologies, and markets.” (Gerdes
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 ...
Language is a means of communication and it varies from one community to another. Everyone has a mother tongue which depended on the family’s upbringing. A second language can be learned along the way. There are also instances where a person is born in a community that speaks two languages and therefore, had to learn both languages. The quality of the languages learned will be affected by how well the community speaks both languages. This can later develop into a new form of language. The essay describes the frustration of the author who felt rejected by different groups for speaking a different form of language. Her essay aims to gain sympathy from readers by seeing the issue from her point of view. Anzaldua attempts to achieve this in her essay by raising issues on identity and discrimination. She wanted to highlight that language is not determined by a country’s physical borders.
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
Being multilingual has great importance. As previously presented, it keeps cultural diversity alive and creates better communication with the rest of the ...
To fuel a global economy, efforts are made to establish a standardized language that will make communication as simple as possible for all foreign endeavors. It could be said that creoles undermine this philosophy, individualizing and personalizing languages rather than uniting them. As authors Pieter Muysken and Norval Smith, (1995) state “It is clear in fact that creole languages develop as the result of ‘linguistic violence’ and, as we shall see, frequently social violence too” (P. 4). Social and linguistic violence are key factors in the development of creoles as societal and governmental persecution have shaped the languages of regions in the world. In the U.S. and other countries in the world that speak English as a primary language, great efforts have been taken to establish standardized English as the primary or secondary language of use. Words such as slang, dialects, and language mixtures have all been attributed to non-standard usages of a language. Yet, Even in Hawaii, a U.S. state, Hawaiian English and Pidgin English have become official languages. Kerry Chan, (2015) from CNN explains “The results from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed a number of Pidgin and Hawaiin Pidgin speakers. Both languages were added to the census list that included over 100 languages, representative of the islands diversity” (pp. 3). From these results, it can be seen that cultural diversity is an important aspect of society on this island. Why then, should any language hold precedence over another when there is a clear example of how developments in language can prosper while having multiple or even a hundred officially spoken languages? From this example, it seems that the development and success of creoles is not only accepted, but also