Discussion Of The 'Woman Question'

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.

The rhetorical situation of Gloria Anzaldua’s, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” from her book Borderlands/La Frontera, is the most important piece to her argument. A writer’s rhetorical situation is the use of the elements of the rhetor, audience, text, medium, context and exigence. Through the correct use of these pieces, a writer is able to greatly strengthen their argument and persuasive abilities. In her passage, Gloria Anzaldua is speaking to the unfair and unjust treatment of Spanish speaking children growing up in the United States educational system. These are not just kids who have moved here from a Spanish speaking country, but even those born in the United States that grew up speaking Spanish because of their family’s culture. Through her writing she wants to bring this into light to induce change and help children of the future be able to learn in an environment where they are also able to comfortable speak their own language. She is not looking for them to be able to speak their own language in an American school just because she wants to be difficult. In her eyes, your language is part of your identity of self. And without your language, you are also losing part of yourself. Again, she expresses and increases the persuasiveness of these ideas through the use of her rhetorical situation, which includes the rhetor, audience, text, medium, context and exigence.

The essays, "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan and "Public and Private Language" by Richard Rodriguez are recollections of both of the author’s personal encounters and difficulties with the gap that was created between their families by differences in languages. These two writers grew up with bilingual families, in which English was not the primary language. Consequently, they had a hard time accepting and understanding the issues surrounding the different languages they spoke with their families at home, and within society. Because of this, the gap between their public and private languages that had been created through the introduction of a second language slowly grew larger, and eventually impacted their relationships with their family and caused them to view them in a different light. In their writing, Both Tan and Rodriguez reflect on their personal experiences and memories and illuminate the effects that a private language can have on various aspects of life.

A number of women in the United States and Europe became frustrated with apparent prejudices against women in the 1830s. The women came together by focusing on a specific goals to help their quality of living. It made it hard for women to establish family and marriage laws because women couldn’t divorce and be included in property laws, which men had complete control over women. Rights/laws for women did not make any progress until the late 1800s and early 1900s. Divorce and property rights were at the surface of the women movement. The first right to be granted to women was nursing. Some middle and upper class women were being hears, as they began to gain access to higher education and some occupations mainly filled by men. Amalie Sieveking

Every morning, a 71 year-old male stranger accompanies me on my way to school. I only know of his name, but I enjoy his company and chuckle as he comments on my generation’s use of language. Yet once NPR’s linguistic segment of Fresh Air ends, Geoff Nunberg’s witty remarks fade into the abyss. In the quietness of the car, I am left to revel in my own passion for languages: a transformative journey through Spanish and Chinese.

This address as mentioned before, deals with the notion that they should abandon their mother tongue and replace it with English as their primary language. From my perspective, I believe that the people at that time in general would be offended due to the fact, that they can’t instill knowledge of their own heritage and must cope with the law. This document benefitted us in a way that it helped us reflect upon the of acceptance of language not solely as a means of communication but, value our

By welcoming the diverse languages and religions of the world, America is considered a melting pot of both cultural and ethnic identities. In the essay about bilingualism “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldúa she writes, “So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity - I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself” (172). Anzaldúa believes that her ethnicity and language are what make her who she is. Therefore, by insulting her language, she is insulted as well. Her identity is “twin skin” with how she speaks. Linguistic identity is the ability for a person to speak freely in any language and ultimately their identity is shown through shared language. The things that define a person are their actions, their behavior, the way they walk, and the way they talk. A person’s culture has a heavy influence on their identity throughout their lives. To disrespect an important part of their culture, their language, is to disrespect the person on an extremely interpersonal level. The person would be, therefore, discouraged from speaking their native language. Anzaldúa shows that her language constitutes who she is; it binds her to the existence of her identity therefore a person’s language defines his/her identity.

Tan, “Mother Tongue,” also stated in her essay about broken English that she used with her mother and her husband. She also mentioned that her mother was also not fluent in English, but she felt love and intimacy with her mother when they spoke broken English. Tan said that language which we speak helps to shape our thinking, also helps us to express our feelings in a better way. Tan wants to convey the message to reader that mother tongue is not same as other languages, but they do help to value culture generation to generation. The language tells history about our family and where we are

Abortion is a social and political issue that many people worldwide feel strongly about. Although the thought of “killing” another human being sounds horrific, it may be the only choice. The question that is often asked, does a woman have the right to choose what happens to her unborn child. Since a woman must carry a child during pregnancy and then be responsible for its physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being, as well as the enormous expense associated with raising a child, she should be allowed to decide if she wants an abortion.

Amy Tan’s essay, “Mother Tongue” and Leslie Marmon Silko’s essay, Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective”, share similarities and differences. In both pieces of writing they explain the challenges that language has had on their lives but distinct views of how society perceives language.

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.

The study of San Marcos’ linguistic landscape helps us to understand el contacto de lenguas and the use of the spanish language. It is no surprise that spanish within San Marcos has an affect on society

When we, as people, speak, we convey our beliefs, morals, and inner thoughts through language; therefore, the way in which we do so reveals a lot about our personalities and lives. After reading the assigned essays, it is clear to me that language plays a vital role in my life and helps to reveal who I am as a person. The language used by myself and the people I surround myself with molds my speaks patterns and life as a whole everyday. Amy Tan, author of “Mother Tongue,” explains better than I ever could how the language that we use and are exposed to changes the type of people we are in general. In one excerpt from the essay, she stated that the language she grew up with molded her beliefs and overall perspective on the world. One of the

Obviously, this topic is very detailed, and the article delved deeply into the subject. But, what I want to highlight is that, at least as far as the field of linguistics is concerned, that an approach to preserving language in such a way that each successive generation feels connected to their heritage and community is vital. However, this approach to language preservation and, by extension, the human rights issues connected to the losses does not eliminate a need for a common language in the wider international community.

Why should people nowadays see languages as a big prize? A person speaks more languages have more opportunities are skewed to him because he benefits the profit comparing to a person who speaks only one standard language. It is time for globalization and its effects on children for speaking other languages as a must. In two articles “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez and “Whose Voice Is It Anyway?” by Victor Villanueva, the two authors both expressed their opinions on native language and how the assimilation impacts a child. However, Rodriguez believed that the assimilation was beneficial for him as he had grown up in the English-speaking world and he disliked bilingual education which created many controversy.