The History of Language is a Story of Possesssion and Dispossession

Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Dennis Baron’s “Who Owns Global English” both highlight important points in regards to language. While Amy Tan discusses her own mother’s native tongue in a more reflective manner, Dennis Baron compares the use of English on a global standard. Though both have similar messages, the two pieces also differ in their overall themes/arguments.

“The History of the English Language”. http://www.uni-due.de/SHE/. Univ. of Duisburg Essen. April 2013. Web 4 Oct. 2013.

In more modern times the interaction of English speakers with other languages, through first colonialism, and later the emergence of English as a global language has enriched the vocabulary (‘pyjama’) and led to the evolution of different versions of English around the world, for example the hybrid ‘Singlish’ that has emerged in Singapore.

The way in which our world functions today is a result of colonialization. Language death and linguistic endangerment is woven with colonialization and the history of oppression toward indigenous communities. We cannot speak of language death without first acknowledging the speakers and the systematic oppression that indigenous communities continue struggling to resist. In present time language shifts due to economic incentive of hegemony and the mediating role of language ideologies are two of the most important causes of language death. Language shift and language ideologies that ultimately cause language death are current consequences of colonialization. The death of a language has both of linguistic and cultural consequences to the particular community affected and to the world’s diversity as a whole. Languages serve as carries of cultural knowledge, as identity and verbal art, hence when a language is lost cultural resources, identity and verbal art are lost.

In Andrew Clements’ 1998 children’s book, Frindle, Nick Allen, a troublemaking fifth-grader, spent a great deal of effort changing the word pen to the word frindle, exasperating his teacher and gaining national notoriety for his invented word, which, in the story, stuck and was introduced into the English dictionary. In Clements’ book, he questions who it is that decides that words mean what words mean. His teacher, Mrs. Granger, responds, “You do, Nicholas. You and I and everyone in this class and this school and this town and this state and this country. We all agree” (Frindle 197). Unfortunately, deriving the etymology of words is not as simple as Mrs. Granger made it sound. Change in words – their meanings, spellings, and pronunciations - takes place over the divides of continents, ages, and languages. So, the analysis of words is more than a quest for definition; it is an exploration of history. The word “drum” is a fitting example of one suddenly appearing in the English language without strong, direct, reliable linkage to previous tongues.

Have you ever experienced what it feels like to be bullied for your differences? I was in the 5th grade when I first encountered what it meant to be ridiculed for the way you speak. There was a time when my classmates made fun of another boy for the way he was speaking English. The boy was very quiet and only spoke to his cousin during class. The only language he was comfortable speaking was Chinese. My classmates at the time were taking turns recreating what they thought his language sounded like. Every so cruelly they mocked him in a way that was extremely racist; they were bullying him. I specifically remember one girl telling him, “Does your language sound like, ching chong, chong?”, she proceeded to laugh while she asked him. I never stuck up for him when I heard this, and I feel ashamed till this day that I didn’t speak up for him. Language shaming can come from anyone, and it takes many forms. In “Coming to Language” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, the passage gives us a personal experience, he has with language shaming from a teacher and how it affected his life and his journey of finding freedom through writing. In addition we see, another example of language shaming in “Living with Dyslexia” by Gareth Cook where he talks about his learning disorder and how it altered his relationship with teachers and his life. There is great similarity between Baca, Cooks and I’s encounter with teachers and language shaming. Since I’ve been in college, I have had three professors tell me

Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran wrote in his book Anathemas and Admirations, “One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland – and no other.” It is then no surprise that much like the ancient world kingdoms who destroyed idols and devastated a region’s inhabitants to erase their conquered foes’ identities, we see the “definers” in Beloved attempt to suppress the language that which the “defined” inhabits.

Abstract The article focuses on one of the most serious accusations brought against Descartes and modern philosophy, namely “the dualism of substance”. The accusers claim that the human body and soul were viewed as completely separate; consequently, their relationship as such and the united being of man become incomprehensible. As has been shown above, the idea of the separation of the soul from the body did not originate with Descartes; it was formulated much earlier, and repeated by a disciple of Descartes’, Henry Leroy, known as Regius. When Descartes became aware of

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.

The Language Wars have been waged in the realm of English Literature, Language and Linguistics for years. Both sides of the argument are staunch believers in their position, but are more than willing to concede points to the other sides’ favour. In Bryan A. Garner’s essay, “Making Peace in the Language Wars”, he describes himself as a ‘descriptive prescriber’ (Garner, Making Peace in the Language Wars 2008, 270), and offers a truce that fulfils both sides of the argument as the crux of his essay. While the separate sides of the argument are relatively easy to define, it seems that no one sticks to them religiously, and the argument is between individuals fighting over individual points. The two sides are that of the descriptivist and that

This book commits critical time in looking at the centrality of language – explicitly, through Goldstein's statement, or logic, as in when Syme and Winston discuss the Newspeak dictionary – to history, society, life, conduct, concepts, ideas and power.

The way we write today has evolved into something most people think is “killing” our language. Take for example the conversation I was having with my friend, Leah: so wyd Me: lol my aow wbu Leah: sucks to suck, I’m watching Gossip Girl lmao Me: ._. Leah: Ahhaha. As I was looking at what we were saying I noticed we aren’t really laughing at anything because nothing we’re saying is funny, as showed on Ted Talk Lol has evolved into something that people say to fill in the conversation. It has slowly gained no meaning in the “txting world”. So is texting killing the way we speak? No, it isn’t because I would never say “Lol” when I’m having a normal conversation with someone, I would also never shorten “because” into “bc” or “are into “r”. No one

Languages that are spoken and studied today have been transformed, molded and evolved into their current state. Many different factors have influenced the changes and explain the evolution each language has made. The Hebrew Bible illustrates the tale of Babylon. This tale provides a simple explanation that accounts for the difference seen among languages. Demographics and geography attribute to the evolution languages have made as well. Each approach gives a different perspective to the transformation languages have made.

In the bleak new world of Orwell’s 1984, English as we know it has been replaced with “Newspeak,” a language stripped of all subtlety, ambiguity, and meaning beyond that proscribed by the ruling Ingsoc (English Socialist) party. All thought has been broken into two categories: “goodthink” (the reiteration of official party principles) and “crimethink,” and the range of thought is limited to that which is permitted by Ingsoc orthodoxy. Newspeak reads as a strange perversion of English, of all recognized rational thought. It’s bizarre and terrifying, but believably possible – as history has shown it to be. Authoritarian societies have used similar techniques for “linguistic engineering” (qtd. Sellner), many of which were laid out in Orwell’s blueprint for Newspeak. Language policy in totalitarian regimes works in conjunction with the destruction of free speech and press to attempt to control thought. Elements found in most linguistic engineering programs include extensive use of slogans, keywords, and quotations, creation of new political vocabulary, an emphasis on linguistic simplicity, vocabulary stressing communality of the group and the dehumanization of the ‘other,’ and the destruction of minority languages. Once these regimes fall, societies struggle to rebuild free thought into their language. Language control and the inherent politics of speech and words is a fascinating case study into the relationship between

On account of its worldwide use, English has become the most important language in the world. There are two major varieties:American English and British English. Under different circumstance, they have not developed in the same way, which means they have changed a lot in the last centuries.