Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
How language changes according to culture essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: How language changes according to culture essay
I don’t know how history shapes a language, but I know that languages do change over time. When Jamila Lyiscott in “3 Ways to Speak English” says, “Now you may think that it is ignorant to speak broken English. But I’m here to tell you that even ‘articulate’ Americans sound foolish to the British.” It means that every language even a broken language is a language to someone and it has to mean to them. Also, people might interpret a word a different way than other people will because of their original language that might never really get the whole understanding. New words are made every day so our language is ever so vastly changing every single day, and it has been changing since the day our language was made. When she says that she is “articulate”
Gloria Anzaldua, wrote the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” communicating and describing her adolescence in a society brimming with sexism, cultural imperialism, racism, low self-esteem, and identity formation. The reason one comes to America is to finer themselves academically, and intellectually. One must learn to speak English to live among the American’s, because that is the language they speak. Though, no one has the right to deprive you of your familiar tongue. At a young age, Anzaldua was scolded, even mistreated for speaking her native “Chicano” tongue. Anzaldúa described this ignorance, cruelty, and discrimination when she states: “I remember being caught speaking Spanish at recess – that was good for three licks on the knuckles with a sharp ruler.” She overcomes this hostility throughout her life.
The writings of Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez’s depicts a bilingual story based on two differing culture. On Mother Tongue, “Tan explores the effect of her mother’s “broken” English on her life and writing” (506). On the other hand, Richard Rodriguez “recounts the origin of his complex views of bilingual education through Public and Private Language” (512). From a child’s eyes, Tan and Rodriguez describe each joys and pain growing up in a non-English speaking family. Hence, may be viewed that cultural differences plays a major role on how one handles adversities.
Is it possible to make vital life changes to become a better person at heart? Who’s the one that can help you? The only person that will get you up on your feet is yourself, and you have to believe deeply to make those changes. In this essay there are many main points that are being brought across to explain the problems and wisdom that arose from Baca’s life as an inmate. It talks about how he was grown up into an adult and the tragedies that he had to face in order to become one. Later I fallow steps that lead to the purpose and rhetorical appeals of Baca’s essay. The purpose dealt with the cause and effect piece and problem/ solution structure.
Demetria Martínez’s Mother Tongue is divided into five sections and an epilogue. The first three parts of the text present Mary/ María’s, the narrator, recollection of the time when she was nineteen and met José Luis, a refuge from El Salvador, for the first time. The forth and fifth parts, chronologically, go back to her tragic experience when she was seven years old and then her trip to El Salvador with her son, the fruit of her romance with José Luis, twenty years after she met José Luis. And finally the epilogue consists a letter from José Luis to Mary/ María after her trip to El Salvador. The essay traces the development of Mother Tongue’s principal protagonists, María/ Mary. With a close reading of the text, I argue how the forth chapter, namely the domestic abuse scene, functions as a pivotal point in the Mother Tongue as it helps her to define herself.
In the essay if Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is? by James Baldwin and Mother Tongue by Amy Tan both shows idea of uses of slang and language in different context. In the essay if Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is? Baldwin states that how language has changed and evolved overtime, Baldwin describes how black English were used as white English, in civil rights movement where blacks were treated as slaves and the used slang language to communicate so that the whites won’t understand. This slang was taken from black language and now everyone uses to make the communication short. In the essay Mother Tongue Tan explains that how language could affect people from different culture. Tan states that how Asian students in America struggle in English. Tan also states that her mother is smart but she couldn’t communicate in English. Tan thinks that’s a big disadvantage for her mother and people coming from different countries cannot show their talent because of their weakness in communication.
No matter what background we come from, we all have some type of language barrier. The immigrants in America, forming and identity means more than just learning English and acclimatizing into the society. People who are born in a foreign country and immigrate to the United States of America (first generation immigrants) have difficulties adapting to the American culture and learning the language. Second generation immigrants usually have no difficulty in adapting but tend to have difficulties in learning to function between the two cultures (American culture and their native culture). A Chicana who grew up in South Texas to a Mexican immigrant mother faces a similar type of problem. In the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldúa. The author expresses her feelings about the social and cultural differences Mexican immigrants face when being raised in the United States of America. Anzaldúa also brings to debate about the important social problems such as sexism, racism, and identity construction.
In its entirety, this poem describes how a language can evolve or die, and how things said in this language can change or die with it. Boundaries between languages may not be clear. Like rivers they can travel close together, or merge completely. All languages, however, act as rivers. They start at a source and travel. They then travel, merge, or fade away. Upon closer examination, the poem also says why languages are difficult to label. The reason is that they change with time. The English language of today is not the same English language spoken hundreds of years ago. As all languages evolve similarly, this applies to all languages. Subtle changes in gestures, writing, or spoken language eventually add up. After a long enough period of time it is as though an entirely new language has formed, but kept the same name as the previous language.
Despite growing up amidst a language deemed as “broken” and “fractured”, Amy Tan’s love for language allowed her to embrace the variations of English that surrounded her. In her short essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan discusses the internal conflict she had with the English learned from her mother to that of the English in her education. Sharing her experiences as an adolescent posing to be her mother for respect, Tan develops a frustration at the difficulty of not being taken seriously due to one’s inability to speak the way society expects. Disallowing others to prove their misconceptions of her, Tan exerted herself in excelling at English throughout school. She felt a need to rebel against the proverbial view that writing is not a strong suit of someone who grew up learning English in an immigrant family. Attempting to prove her mastery of the English language, Tan discovered her writing did not show who she truly was. She was an Asian-American, not just Asian, not just American, but that she belonged in both demographics. Disregarding the idea that her mother’s English could be something of a social deficit, a learning limitation, Tan expanded and cultivated her writing style to incorporate both the language she learned in school, as well as the variation of it spoken by her mother. Tan learned that in order to satisfy herself, she needed to acknowledge both of her “Englishes” (Tan 128).
Language shift, or language attrition, was a feature to a Darwinian evolution in which less complex and adaptable languages, like Creole, died and the more advanced and fittest languages, like English, survived (Carlisle, 2010). Modern linguistics challenges that it is not accurate to focus on the attrition of a language based on its structure, without looking at the social factors involved. There is very little to no development of Louisiana Creole and the reason for this is because of the restricted access to the language, through education and/or everyday interactions (Carlisle, 2010). As of today, there is no evidence of children growing up that speak Louisiana Creole French as their first language. It’s unlikely to find a fluent speaker below the age of 60. The 60-year-old-and-over generation learned the language when they were young, but after having to renounce the language in school, they only taught their children English. They came to appreciate the cultural impact of their abandonment of Louisiana Creole French in the 1960s. They then began to speak the language to their grandchildren (Audisio and Burke, 1988). For those few speakers below the age of 60, “they would be called ‘near-passive bilinguals.’ They may know many words and expressions but cannot construct or manipulate full sentences” (Brown, 1993). Current speakers speak English as well as or even better than
In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” the author, Gloria Anzaldua illustrates her life; growing up in two completely different cultures. While in American school, Anzaldua is discouraged from speaking Spanish and is expected to speak clear, concise American English. In her Chicano Spanish culture, Anzaldua must live up to certain cultural expectations. Throughout this story, there are many images including language, culture, identity, pride, perseverance and oppression.
In the article "Why Good English is Good For You," by John Simon, the intended audience is English speaking Americans. Simon stresses the importance of keeping good English alive, and spreading it. He explains how the influence of adults can greatly impact the future of the upcoming generations. Simon makes it clear to the audience, which consists of young adults, adults, and professionals, that language is a daily necessity that should not be used in a way that makes Americans appear illiterate. Simon uses many rhetorical devices such as analogies, personification, asyndeton, and anaphoras to demonstrate the importance of utilizing English in a proper manner. Those who use English must train themselves to exert the language in the correct
After reading chapter 1 and 2 of ‘’The Right to Speak, by Patsy Rodenburg,’’ one thing that stood out to me was the term of ‘’self judgement’’. I liked the point the author made about self-judgement, which almost everyone is guilty of we turn to judge ourselves every time we speak with our voice. We start to make comments on our voice like, ‘’I think I was too loud, people won’t understand me because my voice sound weird with my accent." Patsy made people understand that self-judgment isn’t true at all she also passed a message across that people shouldn't be so quick to judge their voice, but we should try to concentrate on sounding more confident and
This video was amazing because the professor explained how English and the alphabets started to form. Before watching this video, I never knew where English actually came from. The English language started when the Anglo, Saxons, and Jutes invaded Britain. Dr. Elliot Engel stated that French say English speakers are so sloppy with their language. This is because we can say different words multiple times, which mean the same thing to get a message across. He said that we have 3 vowels instead of 6. I learned that an average 8th grader uses about 890 words. What surprised me the most was when Julius Caesar made the Spain, Italians, and French speak in Latin. The professor warned us that we may lose our English language if we continue to slur
In the first paper we established the influence that culture has on language and the subsequent influence that dominant cultures have on lesser cultures through intimate interaction. We used two historical examples of France and its cultural influence on both Russia (an invited influence from the Russian monarchy) and England (an uninvited influence as a result of the Norman invasion). Now we examine the consequences of language as a social institution utilizing the same subjects (France, Russia, and England). We begin with the definitions of key terms:
In “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, Amy a Chinese American writer in this essay she represent her life with her mother in America, she stated the idea that we speak different languages to talk with each other and that our abilities, intent and our thoughts are judged by the way we speak. Tan has always loved languages. However, Amy says in her essay on her mother’s English as “broken English”. “Lately, l ’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” or “fractured” English” (Tan, p. 141). Tan’s mother cannot speak English fluently, however, she understands it fully and reads considerably. “She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, read all of Shirley MacLaine’s books with ease all kinds of things I can’t begin to understand (Tan, p. 141). Since Tan’s mother cannot speak English very well, sometimes other people have issues with understanding her, nonetheless, Amy understands her mother perfectly. Moreover, people treated her mother in an undesirable way just because she doesn’t speak proper English, and even when Amy was young, she was embarrassed by her mother for her broken English. “I know this for a fact,