One of my English students is writing a paper about the impact of Language on self-identity for immigrants who have travelled to America. Here's my take:
Language's on one's self identity is directly proportional to how much a person values language in the first place. The more one cares about and preserves his/her language, the more it affects his/her identity. I will use myself as an example to illustrate my point.
Because I care about my language, I make a special effort to remember and speak Russian at home. As a result, I view myself differently in different situations. In public (where I speak English) I view myself as American, wheras at home (where I speak Russian) I see myself as Ukranian. My language also affects how others view me. When others find out I speak Russian, they can no longer think of me as a pure American. Rather, I assume I become somewhat of a hybrid comunocapitalist SlavoAmerican.
On the other hand, a person who doesn't care about language cannot possibly identify himself based on his language simply because he doesn't care about it! This person may define himself as an American based on the flag he puts on his lawn, or the French fries he consumes, but not by language. Similarly, others will not identify this person by his language since that's not what makes him unique. People that don't care about language generally adopt the language of their surroundings, and learning that an Italian speaks Italian isn't exactly interesting. As a result, language does not affect the identity of a person who does not care about language.
So what does my epic tell us? That if you ever hear some English professor trying to stuff the idea that language and identity are "intimately interconnected", make sure to take this statement with a grain of salt.
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5 comments:
Well... I disagree, to some extent. Is it really true that Joe Public speaks American English because he doesn't really care about language, or vice-versa? Intuitively, I wouldn't think so. Also, when I was in Italy, it was very clear that many of the people I met created their perception of me from my language, and, of course, my nationality, which was reflected in the way I spoke.
"Joe Public" speaks American English because that's what he's used to and he doesn't care or worry about what language he speaks. If he moved to France, he'd either learn French (and eventually forget English), or start caring about his American language and make a point to speak/remember English. Yeah people's perception of you changed because you spoke English, but that's just because you're used to speaking English. If you were in Italy for a while, you'd probably learn to speak Italian. Also, most people's perceptions were probably based more off of the way you dressed and looked than how you spoke.
Does Joe Public really not care about the language he speaks? The recent debate within the House over the creation of an official U.S. language suggests otherwise, I think.
That's the point. If you care about langauge, then it will affect your identity. So if he does care about language, it will matter in how others view him. Otherwise, it won't.
Wouldn't apathy toward language itself be a defining part of one's identity, though?
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