If Black English Isn T A Language Summary

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Language: A Political Instrument Language is the inevitable medium that people use as a means of communication. However, how an individual uses language varies from person to person. Some view language as a persuasive political instrument and others view it as a means of expression and empowerment. In the essay “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” by James Baldwin, the author was able to illustrate the history of the discrimination of language and how black English is not accepted as its own language. Baldwin, also, shows that due to the lack of acknowledgement of black English, it lacks the power it needs to empower the people who speak it. In George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language”, the author was …show more content…

Just because two people speak the same language does not mean they would be able to understand one another. For example, French has many different dialects, including Creole. A person from France cannot always understand what a person from Haiti, who speaks Creole, is trying to say. A person is able to express his or her self through their language and by expressing themselves, they are able to show their true identity. He also states that people develop their own language because language is something that cannot be taken away from a person. Since the language is their own, a person is able to feel a sense of empowerment. This was more apparent in early America when slaves were brought to America, so the slaves were able to have a means of communication through language giving them a sense of power. With the development of their own language, African Americans were able to express themselves and their identity. Baldwin shows that language is a means of communication, empowerment, and synonymous with one’s identity. Baldwin …show more content…

Mainly in political writing and speech, Orwell believes that politicians are able to defend their actions only by arbitrary arguments. The examples he provides include the British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, and the dropping of the atomic bombs of Japan. Through these examples, it is shown that the use of language was used to persuade the nation to carry out the decisions. A person had to be able to present this idea to the public, but presented it in a way that would persuade the people into taking his or her side on the aforementioned decisions. Orwell states, “The inflated style is itself a kind of euphemism. A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink” (320). Orwell shows that the use of language should be direct and to the point, however, most people use sophisticated words to hide the meaning of what they are trying to say. He believes that language is only as powerful as the person is, original. The more original the language is, the more likely the audience is willing to listen. Orwell also believes that

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