The Dialect Of My Identity

Currently, I am in the process of not only becoming comfortable in my identity, a black queer woman, but, also attempting to find solace in my identity as well. Something that all women, especially black queer women, should achieve in their lifetime. It is that dream that inspires me to travel to experience other cultures and to unite with women from various cultures across the black diaspora. Throughout many cultures, women’s identities are defined by their male counterparts and the labor they provide to them. Therefore, a major goal of mine is to create a space where women are able to exist outside the scope of their relationships with men and live uninhibitedly to become their best selves. That is why I find it pertinent to travel not only

I come from the small town of Caribou, Maine. “Why so far north?” You might ask. Well, my father took a job as meteorologist for NOAA in Caribou following his retirement from the Air Force after 20 years of service. I moved to Maine in August of 2008, exactly 9 years ago; however, Maine is the 4th location I’ve lived in after Virginia (my birthplace), Alabama, and North Carolina.

My dialect is unique. You will not hear an accent like it anywhere else. Appalachian dialect is different from a southern accent. I have been made fun of because of the way I talk. I get comments on my accent some of which are verbally whereas some are silent. It can be either be “Aw, your accent it so cute or it can be you’re a hillbilly.”

My cultural identity, as I know is Mexican American because both my parents are born in Mexico and I was born here. I can also be defined as a Chicana because that is another way used to call a Mexican American. My culture can be seen in so many different ways like for example it can be seen in food, music, religion, dance, art, festivals, and even more. Most of these traditions have changed a little bit over time as they were brought to the U.S. What I mean by that is that some of those traditions were brought from Mexico, and had a little change into them because they were combined with some traditions that have already been here in the U.S.

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, which has greatly affected my language in my younger years and when I go home. Pittsburgh has its own unique words and pronunciation

What is my cultural identity? Personally, I don’t think I am completely assured on what my cultural identity is, but I can do my best on explaining it. However, I won’t get started on that yet, first I’ll explain the occasion of me learning about my identity. At almost the beginning of the year, it was announced in our English class that we would be doing an essay on our cultural identities. When my teacher announced this I thought to myself, “What in the world is a cultural identity, or even my cultural identity?” In these months, we have gotten to learn the definition of culture, and what it means to us, individually., I believe that culture means a group of people that share the same customs, way of life, and beliefs. Also, over these last couple of months we have been reading texts all about people knowing and understanding their cultural identities, meanwhile I still didn’t understand my own. All I know is that I was born on February 11, 2002, I like movies and music, and my mom is from Chile and my Dad is from Virginia. Now that didn’t feel like enough for me to write on, but then I started thinking about all of the cultural differences that my parents have had raising me as a person, and how those have all combined to make me. In my short 15 years of life, the culture clashes have sometimes affected me on my thoughts and opinions, which I’ll talk about later on. As well as how movies and music have affected my perspectives and opinions.

I grew up in the south. Growing up there was like growing up anywhere else I suppose. Woke up, went to school, came home, ate dinner, and went to sleep. Nothing exciting or special. Just a basic 17 year-long routine.

After reading the three essays (Kirk and Rey, Motz and Katz) ---What do the authors believe are the most important factors affecting our identities and sense of the world around us?

It seems that dialects all boil down to early childhood language development and who a child’s first influences are when they learn to speak. These influences primarily come from a child’s immediate care giver which is usually their parents. The New York dialect therefore is passed down from one generation to the next in a traditional sense. I will make a mental note to resist correcting other people’s English, which is a bad habit of

I am originally from a small city in the middle of Florida named Ocala. It is a family friendly city locate approximately an hour away from the beach both on the East or the West side of Florida. I spent my first eight years growing up playing on the beaches, catching lizards, and going over to friend's houses. Ocala has a strong sense of Southern hospitality and the mindset that you should always help your neighbors. Growing up in this community taught me a lot about being polite to your elders, caring about everyone, to listen the first time, and how to cook some of the best cobbler ever. I'm very proud of being raised with Southern mannerisms that set me apart for the current trend of people who only thinking about themselves. I'm thankful

The Souths that I fit more into are Athens and Savannah, probably because of the people and the atmosphere. For some reason, some students always love to bring up “community” and how it works so great in these small towns. Well, I hate to break it to them, but this community they are so fond of is full of what my coworker Savanah, a Blue Ridge native, calls, “People who want to get in your business and then stab you in the back. Don’t trust a lot of people here because they are fake.” The communities in Athens and in Savannah might not be as small as Blue Ridge, but the people manage to be friendly and are not nosy when it comes to your life. Not all my encounters with people here have been negative. I’ve made friends here and enjoy them, but they definitely are not like some of my classmates. What captivates me in this Blue Ridge South is the nature. It’s my favorite part of this place and it always will be because I sense that I am whole in it.

As many people wouldn’t believe I, Mikayla Ann Lee or Miki, was born up north in Hartford, Connecticut . . . I know the horror! But thankfully my family and I moved down to South Carolina when I was merely two years old. I caught on to the southern ways rather fast besides my quickened voice and unpleasant dislike for sweet tea. Shortly after that we moved to Texas were all you see are trucks, ranches, and open land. This started my love affair with Ford trucks.

¨Pereme-what? That is the weirdest and longest last name i've ever heard of! Where do people get last names like that?¨ My answer? Well, my grandfather is from Siberia, but my family just consider ourselves Russian. Actually not long ago my dad had told me about a city in Russia called Peremyshl, my great great grandparents, as I was told, are from there, Peremyshl is in the Kaluga Oblast near Moscow. And because of my ethnic background, I go to my church's youth, our youth really likes to go and hang out at the park or go someplace else and play volleyball.

Everybody has an identity, it makes them individual and unique, and it defines who you are as a person. This project about my identity showed me what makes me unique. I would have never known how much my friends mean to me or how my identities connect with each other. I have three identities that make me who I am, cultural, personal, and social. A specific quality that covers my cultural identity is being Czechoslovakian. Both sides of my family have at least a part of Czech in them. My great-grandparents are from Czech Republic and my grandpa was the first generation in America, he was born in Ohio. This is very important because I have always identified as Czech and it is a big part of me, as I am so interested in ancestry. For my personal identity, the biggest part is my personality, being loud and outgoing, has always been important to me. The reason being, it is how people view me. A lot of people know me as the loud person or the person who talks a lot. That is meaningful to me considering I like people to view me in a certain way The last identity, social, is one of the most important to me because it involves my friends, and through this project, I learned how vital they really are to my social identity. I realized that I have a good amount of friends in this project. It is nice to have people as a support system and to relate with. These qualities show that I value being loud and outgoing. It also says that I value my family and they are a big part of life. The last one, social, ties in with the first one because it shows I am outgoing and friendly.

“Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man's life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self”. B.R. Ambedkar, in Develop with Fact: Neutralizing the Catalysts of Downturn, p. 57. There are many different languages spoken around the world. Sometimes it can create a barrier when trying to communicate. Other times it may cause you to be judged because you have a different accent, or you use different terminology. Language can play a small role in how people’s identities are formed., The language variety that you speak as a native language is closely tied to your geographical identity.