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Essay on How My Spoken Language Changes in Different Situations

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Spoken Language Although I have my own idiolect, the way I speak constantly changes. This is because I try to adapt my spoken language to suit the situation I am in. There are many reasons for why I try to adapt my spoken language some of the main reasons being that I am fearful of the judgements and perceptions that others may make because of the way I speak also being afraid of exclusion or not being able to fit in and sometimes I feel pressurised into speaking in a certain way. With my parents I often codeswitch between Bengali (my mother tongue) and English. ‘Aboo money lagé’ (Dad I need money). Notice how I go from speaking Bengali to English and then once more back to Bengali. I use more Bengali to show my parents that even …show more content…

This is to show my parents that I am in touch with me Muslim heritage, and to show that I am proud of my religion. Also by using Arabic terms it shows my parents that I enjoy learning and practising my religion which in turn would make them proud. However when I am at school, it is a different context so I automatically change the way I speak. For example I use phatic talk, which I would never use in front of my parents because it would show that I am lazy and I am not bothered about the way I speak. However I use it now to show my friends that I am relaxed and do not take things too seriously which is a good thing in this context as it makes me seem ‘cool’. Also sometimes I use slang words when speaking with my friends. The slang words I use are usually words I pick up from friends. I use these words when I am speaking so I feel closer to them and l accepted, as I speak like one of them. I would never use slang in front of my parents because of the way I fear they may see me. In culture using slang words gives the impression that you are unintelligent and uneducated. However these stereotypical views are also view that I fear my friends may have if I was to speak in my mother tongue Bengali. Although we all speak it I find it difficult because my friends may see me as what society calls today a ‘freshi’. A word used to describe illiterate and uneducated people. When I speak with my friends we all usually speak informal.

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