Analytical Consolidation of Language and Identity: Does language define who we are?

Prompt:

Language shapes our identity, but doesn’t define who we are.

As humans we are born to curiously discover and explore our surroundings with the use of language as we develop our identity. Language plays a vital role in this case as we are able to express our emotions through words, make sense of abstract ideas, learn to communicate and satisfy our necessities as we create rules and conserve our culture. Merriam-Webster defines Language as “A system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other”. Realizing its role in fabricating our mental lives allows us to understand how language shapes our identity and defines who we are.  Unlike the definition of identity however that is known for being: “The qualities, beliefs etc., that make a particular person or group different from others.” (Merriam-Webster, 2008). This means that one holds onto there master identity that comprises of stable features of people that exists prior such as ethnicity, nationality, social class, gender and age. Though, the way you perceive your self to others or in a specific situation varies therefore identity can be categorized in four different ways including-

1-    Master Identity: Relatively stable and unchanging.

2-    Interactional identity:  Identities refer to roles that people take on in a communicative context with specific other people. IE: A mother, cousin, friend, boss etc.

3-    Personal Identity: Personal identities are expected to be relative stable and unique IE: I like cats.

4-    Relational Identity: Refers to the kind of relationship that a person enacts with for example: In a specific situation or with a particular conversational partner.

With out a doubt, identity is a developmental process that one evolves through in there lifetime. Of course language enables us to express our emotion, satisfy our needs and make sense of abstract ideas. Language shapes our developing identity as it provides us empowerment to establish a sense of identity in the way we picture and distinguish ourselves.

Identities and varying cultures enables the evolvement of the English language into a variety of different pronunciations and accents. The history of the English language really began with the coming of three Germanic tribes whom conquered Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes include the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes replaced the Runic alphabet by the Latin alphabet from the 7th century, and after the 9th century the runes were used mainly in manuscripts and were mainly of interest to antiquarians. This impacted the way one communicated another that influences the way one another perceives each other because an indivuals way of speaking reflects their identity. With over 100 English dialects and 6000 languages around the world, elements of a specific language are not stable but rather developing through time. This allows us to appreciate the fact that there is no “Standard English” in a society because the geographical or social separation of countries causes shared languages they speak differentiates from one another.

The language spoken by someone plays a vital role in defining the way they communicate therefore influencing his or her master identity. Tan expresses this perception in the story “Mother Tongue” as she describes the struggle she had expressing herself through language. This is evident when she explains how her “Mothers English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well”.  Because her mother spoke broken English, she was forced to learn how to speak broken English that is not a common language in reality. This affects her sense of identity in the way people would picture and distinguish her as she became weaker in English. However this made her spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language — the way it can “Evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth.” allowing her to embrace how language shapes her developing identity. Similarly to the text “Names/Nombres” by Julia Alvarez, the text discusses the struggle of conforming to a language. This means that Alvarez focuses on how her classmates were able to tell her ethnicity that is part of her identity by the way she pronounced certain words. Although both texts provide readers insight to the power of language, they also express how language shapes our developing identity as it provides us empowerment to establish a sense of identity in the way we picture and distinguish ourselves.

An extremely significant change of ones identity occurs because of the language that shapes who they are. This is evident in the text ‘Me talk pretty one day’ where the author expresses how he wants to “create some sort of identity for myself” which he struggles to by learning to develop his speaking in French. This portrays how he moves to another country (France) in order to challenge himself and learn another language other than his mother tongue. This is obviously something that requires skill a and patience as he explains being Bilingual is that “its everybody into the language pool, sink or swim.”The technique that varying people decide to communicate with reflects on there evolvement as they are able to grow and establish their development identity.

A language is a powerful tool that gives us the chance to shape and develop ourselves, or allows us to forget about our identity. The mother tongue language you speak is a part of your culture, and your culture is what defines a person the most. Your culture is apart of your identity allowing language to define who you are and shape your identity. Realizing its role in fabricating our mental lives allows us to understand how language shapes our identity and defines who we are. With out a doubt, identity is a developmental process that one evolves through in there lifetime. Of course language enables us to express our emotion, satisfy our needs and make sense of abstract ideas. Language shapes our developing identity as it provides us empowerment to establish a sense of identity in the way we picture and distinguish ourselves.