Code Talker: The Power Of Language

Language was important in boarding school. For example, when Ned went to the white man’s boarding school at age six the big white man with red face yelled at us “You are forbidden to speak Navajo.” This shows that language is important because he was forbidding them to speak their language showing that their way is correct and the Navajo language is wrong.

Since the dawn of the cave man, men have shown the desire to write or draw on walls. We are a race of people who demand and process information. Our words are images of ourselves and a projection of our inner thoughts and visions. We all differ in how we comprehend and present this information. "Language is seen as one of the key cornerstones that have set humans apart from other animals"(Gray, R 2007. Para. 4). Think of how frustrating it is to communicate your needs and wants with someone who may speak another language when you simply want directions, something to eat or to say hello. Imagine a child who wants to express his/herself emotionally but lacks the skill or vocabulary to do so. Imagine a dog who wants to go outside to use the bathroom; moreover, the owner or interpreter who fails to understand.

Language plays a significant role in defining who we are. It is a method of communication in a structured and conventional way. “Language reinforces feelings of social superiority or inferiority; it creates insiders and outsiders” (p. 242) states Robert MacNeil (2012) in his article “English Belongs to Everybody”.

Language is a very import part in our life, we carry it with us through all the steps, processes, moments experiences of our life, language built us and make us grow and the most important thing is that it grows with us, changes, modifies itself, and becomes more appropriate and specific. As we pointed out language help us to create and understand the world around us, gives meaning to everything and gives birth to emotions and feelings; a world without language would be meaningless and very lonely. Language it’s what help us grow up, the more we learn through it, the more we desire to experience and study in deep, leading us to new prospective, opening our mind to more specific and deep concepts, ideas, projects, goals. We really can’t

Ken Wiwa presents several ideas pertaining to language and culture within his essay, Get Beyond Babel. Wiwa explains that every language has a chance of dying out over time. For any language to survive through years of societal changes, it must be adapted so it can be used to embrace other cultures, new technology and new perspectives. Wiwa presents the concept that language is the same as culture. I do not agree with this concept because I believe that culture is carried by the people, not by the language.

America is a constant changing place, it is the act of becoming different. Throughout history the Native Americans were mistreated by the Unites States Government, it wasn’t until America realized it needed the Native People to accomplish its victory against Japan. America was in need for the Native American language.

Language is powerful and can be used to control instead of uplift. An example of language being used to

Remember back in elementary school when friends of yours would create a language or signs to have a conversation without anyone knowing what you are talking about? Well, Code Talkers is very similar to creating a code in school, but more intense and heightened. William R. Wilson, a writer and photographer goes in debt to explain how the Navajo language was brought to serve as a new code in the U.S. Military in World War II. He also writes about who the military has to use to interpret and send out messages for militia combat plans. The author does an exceptional job at being very clear and informative in this article.

While one may use crippling language to perpetuate endless mental and physical imprisonment upon others, the utilization and knowledge of language allocates for personal freedom and empowerment.

What is the meaning of language? How big the role of language in your life? Have you ever realize the impact of language in your life? In my opinion, language is not as simple as people seen in general. Usually the way people see language just as a tool for communicating with others. For me, behind the general usage of language, it also has a big role in our life because a language has the power to stand and show each person’s identity. Inside the Gloria Anzaldua’s essay “How To Tame A Wild Tongue” and Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” claim that language is an identity. Because they show that language which they commonly use to communicate since the day they were born, showing who are they really are. Language as identity is very arguing phrases, it can be approach from a different perspective. This thing is exactly what are both of these essays are trying to do by approaching differently and using a different tone. Their life and experience give an impact to the way they interpret that language is an identity, and it also seen in each of their essays.

Language is a system of communication used by humans either written or spoken to communicate our thoughts and feelings. Our thoughts and feelings we want to communicate to our loved ones, to our friends, to people we work with or go to school with and even to strangers. Maxine Hong Kingston in her memoir The Woman Warrior explores language and the use of language to express what Kingston finds as several conflicts. The conflict of the immigrant experience and the conflict of having to be a Chinese- American woman along with the expectation of being “silent”. Maxine Hong Kingston provides a remarkable memoir that blends Chinese folktales and personal narratives.

“Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers” (Chavez). Language a puzzle piece of a person’s culture. In history Americans used the demise of others to receive their glory. People like the African slaves and Native Americans suffered at the hand of the Americans. Focusing mostly on the African slaves, Americans cut their culture away from them by forbidding their language in their new “home” and forced their language onto them. Though the Americans believed that they had the upper hand by cutting off the African culture, the Africans exceeded their power by founding their own american culture, through African American Vernacular English.

Although there is no official language in the United States, the English language is the most widely spoken. Language helps to shape our identities, define and limit our expectations of the world around us and who we are. You might ask yourself, how does our language shape our identities and influence our perceptions of the world? Through language, we are able to make meaning, understand, and define ourselves. We are able to communicate what we feel, our ideas, our hopes, and our dreams with others who can respond to our feelings and thoughts. However, our choice of words cannot always capture what we are feeling to the full extent.

Language is a system of communication which consists of a set of sounds and written symbols which are used by the people of a particular country or region for talking or writing. It is considered as an art because when used it able to help a person develop or create a certain picture in the mind. Language being an artifact of culture means that it is an interesting thing that is created by the people. It is an aspect of their way of life of the people. It also helps in development of the people as writers and intellects. As a culture it is a people’s way of life and therefore the impact it has to human beings cannot be under looked.

Languages have been around for thousands of years,it is a unique system of communication that is verbal,symbolic,dually patterned and arbitrary to our use which isn’t invented nor handed down as a gift but the incredible ability to learn.Languages allow us to share ideas,knowledge and emotions to other individuals through the use of language.Without it,we would perhaps be not much better off than gorillas and monkeys who we shared a common ancestors.It is part of our essential human nature and it is what make us what we are and who we are.However,due to the emergence of technology and the way how teenagers use language may affect our beautiful english language but will not destroy our beautiful English language.