Chamoro Language Essay

The Ap Spanish Language and Culture Exam contains two sections, each worth fifty percent of the final composite score. The first section is all multiple choice and the second section is all free response question. The first section tests over reading and listening, which it would evaluate how well one could comprehend. (30 questions, 40 minutes) The reading section contains multiple texts that is in a variety of forms. (Journals, Literary text, Letters, and etc.) After each text, there would be questions that tests one’s understanding of the materials, which includes vocab, author's purpose, main idea, and details. The listening portion of the exam contains two audios, one that is provided with printed materials, possibly the text, and one that’s solely the audio.(35

Scholar, Gloria Anzaldúa, in her narrative essay, “How To Tame A Wild Tongue’, speaks her many experiences on being pressured on what language to use. She then expresses how the discrimination made her to realize the ugly truth--that people reject languages that aren’t their own. She adopts logos, ethos and pathos in order to appeal toward her audience who is anyone who is not bilingual. One of the perspectives she takes on in her piece clearly expresses the relationship between language and identity and how it creates a conflict between her and the world.

I am the youngest of five sisters and two brothers. My family is Mexican- American, both of my older brothers were born in Mexico and were brought by my parents at a very young age. My parents were also born in Mexico and like every immigrant migrated from their home countries to pursue what is called the American dream. I very much enjoy being from Mexican roots, because my traditions, foods, dances, culture and kindness makes me who I am today. I have three nieces and one nephew from the ages six on down. We are all Mexican American ancestry.

The film “The Linguists” follows linguists Gregory Anderson and David Harrison on their journey to learn about and document endangered languages in Bolivia, India, Arizona, and Siberia. Through their quest, they are able to interact with some of the few remaining speakers of languages that are near death and they manage to make an impact on how these communities view their heritage language. Focusing on the moribund languages of Siberia and Arizona, it becomes evident that speakers of the heritage language feel a love for the language and the culture it represents, but went through periods of oppression and embarrassment for being speakers of a minority language that ultimately shaped their attitudes on the language.

Leslie Marmon Silko's essay, "Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective," and Amy Tan's essay, "Mother Tongue," share similarities and differences. Both authors discuss the challenge of language, each from their own perspective.

In the nonfiction/ autobiography, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Anzaldúa is able to show her personal experiences of how she learns to accept that she is her language. She is able to incorporate her audience of other Chicana women who are still struggling with their identity throughout the nonfiction/ autobiography through the use of code switching, personification, and synecdoche. Through this she is not only to precious experiences to show her audience how she become who she is today through them, but show her audience how they are not alone if they are struggling as she was to find her identity through her language.

Although our society is slowly developing a more accepting attitude toward differences, several minority groups continue to suffer from cultural oppression. In her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explores the challenges encountered by these groups. She especially focuses on her people, the Chicanos, and describes the difficulties she faced practicing her mother tongue. She argues that for many years, the dominant American culture has silenced their language. She claims that by forcing them to speak English and attempting to eliminate their accents, the Americans have robbed the Chicanos of their identity. She also addresses the issue of low self-esteem that results from this process of acculturation. Growing up in the United States, Anzaldúa says she had to accommodate to the American culture. The fact that she was discouraged from practicing her native language induced her to become ashamed of her roots. In addition, she explains that she constantly felt suppressed on account of her gender. By incorporating Spanish words, powerful personal anecdotes and historical facts about her people, Anzaldúa produces a unique composition in which she depicts an unfair and repressive world and reprimands the prejudices that hinder certain cultures from flourishing and establishing themselves.

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.

The Pachuco is supposed to contrast the other languages in the Chicanos while it is secret and unheard cultural language, which makes other people who are not native in the country, doesn’t know about their new form of transition culture. In addition, since the Pachuco is a secret and unfamiliar language to the dominant discourse, the Chicanos people then able to translate their new form of cultural language to each other without feeling embarrassed and create a homogeneous society.

Reading response to “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” by Gloria Anzaldua. In Gloria Anzaldua’s 1987 article, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she expresses some of the cultural struggles and lifestyles of the central American culture that Americans do not think about, let alone know about. She starts off illustrating an experience she had at the dentist office which triggered many thoughts and feelings about her culture. The Dentist claimed her tongue was “strong and stubborn,” in other words, “you need to tame your tongue.” She then thought back at a time, in her childhood, where she was punished for not “taming her tongue.” Only, this recollection was of a time she hadn’t tamed her native Spanish speaking tongue, which set off her memory of how her family and culture felt about children speaking at all. Gloria went on to tell about the different dialects of the Spanish language such as, how each differed, how each was generated, what the culture was like behind them, and which ones she closely identified with. Those who speak different dialects, from those in other parts of North America, have developed this feeling of isolation due to the views of those who speak the more formal dialects. Those who speak a more formal dialect may judge someone who speaks an Americanized version of Spanish dialect such as Chicano Spanish because it is seen as improper or culturally incorrect; therefore, many Spanish speakers may resort to speaking English with one another to avoid embarrassment or

Language is unique to the human race and it is vital to communication. Language varies from land to land but the point is to get the message across and every language was made to do so, even creole. Creole language is a language that is specific to a community or even state. Although, nations argue that one language should be central to the whole world. That’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed. In Lisa Kanae’s novel, “Sistah Tongue”, it was very inspiring when she stated that “Speakers of Creole languages should never be perceived as mere casualties of insularity, ignorance, and social isolation” (Kanae ?). This is inspiring because I myself speak Hawaii Creole English (HCE) and it is based on a foundation of many historical and

Language plays an important role in communication by bringing people together and enriching their relationships. Language can also alienate those who do not speak it properly, or at all, from those who do. The essays, Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan, best known for her book, The Joy Luck Club, and Se Habla Espanol, by Tanya Barrientos, delve into the many powers that language holds. These essays reflect how by not speaking a language in proper form and by not speaking a language at all, affects the lives of the subjects of the stories.

Christopher Columbus was determined to find new trade routes to India and so, in 1492, after gaining permission he set out in order to accomplish this task. However, what Christopher Columbus would actually encounter was not new trades routes to India, but a whole “new” world. What exists, however, when you travel to a new country is the possibility of a language barrier between you and the native individuals. This barrier existed when Christopher Columbus first made contact with the native indigenous inhabitants. Luckily, letters from Columbus’s first voyage have survived, and have offered a look into his encounters with the different languages of the indigenous people. Through his accounts a question arises: how does Christopher Columbus describe language and communication is his late 15th century letters? In this essay, I will discuss how Columbus’s use and description of language and communication was a way to show superiority among those Indigenous people he encountered.

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.

Linguistic imperialism is a concept used by scholar Robert Phillipson, he mostly spoke about the imperialism of the English language, although this concept can be applied to all the world’s major international languages with imperialistic origins, when the original population had to adopt the invader’s language because of the benefits that accrue to the speakers of the languages when the dominant language has been imposed (Phillipson 31). Linguistic imperialism in Latin America started with the ‘discovery’ and the occupation of the New World by the European powers. Spanish and Portuguese language were imposed on the local populations and therefore many indigenous languages vanished. This essay will especially focus on Brazil and the