language is our way of communicating therefore it should be something to be proud of and not something you can manipulate as you please. By the opening of our mouths we are able to identify someone comes from and their educational background. we should all value our grammar not as a set of rules but as a mean to establish a common ground so everyone can enjoy a well spoken conversation without the fear of hurting someones feelings because the content of a word was taken out of content.

Riddle Me This

So I took the racial profiling quiz. The voice I most readily identified was the white female, followed closely by the Jamaican, Indian, and Arab voices. All of the others were a little more difficult, and it took me three attempts to identify two hispanic voices. What does this mean? Am I racist towards hispanics, or is it the opposite? Are we supposed to be language-blind as well as color-blind? All of the voices were saying the same thing, so the issue is accent, not language correctness, and I don't think identifying a race implies any value-judgement. Is this merely supposed to prove that we can identify race through accent? Don't we know that already? Someone interpret this test for me.

Sincerely,

Sullen in Salt Lake

Language and Identity

I am certainly more confortable when I speak with a person that is from a french speaking country. Particularily if she or he is from France, Switzerland, and of course Belgium. I think that speaking with someone whith whom we share a lg, translates in sharing cultural messages. By that, I mean that it is not necessary to go into details or explanations for the "deeper" meaning of the messages to be very well understood.

I Learned how to Blog

The topic of language varieties in different social situations is very common. I see this many times with my friends as well as myself. I see this in myself especially through my boss, my teachers, and my different groups of friends. Depending on which boss that I talk to I consciously change my language. One of my boss's does not care about swearing and is more relaxed during the job. My other boss is straight to the book and does not leave any room for relaxed conversations. I notice this also when I am with different friends. I have a group of friends that is more in to rap and lives that life style. When I am around those kids, I tend to talk the slang and start talking similiar. This situation was made clear to me after when I was with one of my other friends that didn't talk with that language.
Once realizing that I changed my speech, I was able to see how I changed depending on what group of people I was with. I eventually took enough notice to the change in language that I stopped the switch.

This happens a lot with people who are the first generation immigrants in tis country. Trying to fit in by learning the language is the first process of integration, unfortunatly sometimes that is not enough. The accent gives away your status as a foreign, some people find it "sexy" others move away from you they stop talking completly making you feel like you're stupid. I have personaly been in both of these situations, it made me angry and i fielt like i was being judged. The good experiences outnumber by far the bad ones, i realize that there are still a lot of ignorant people out there and the best policy is to just be better than them. Never allowing yourself to be desrespected you can gracefuly "insult" them without them even realizing what's taking place or my favorite by giving them a lesson in history. i have an accent and always will if someone doesn't like it well i beleve that is your problem. But i understand the pressure and how hard it can be to fit in.

This was a "cute" story i got the idea that her mom was a very smart and proud person. Proud in the sense that she was aware of the fact her language skills were very poor. The fact she wanted to improve her verbal abilities was impressive. It proves it is never to late to learn and that if given the oportunity no one would choose to be born slave or poor or ignorant. Self-awareness is like your sight "instinct" you can see where you're at in life and what the cicunstances around are that prevent you from going foward and be what you wanted to be or do what you wanted to do.

OLd Post #2

I lived on t he north shore of oahu my first year of college, it was quite a culture shock to move to a place where I was the minority and received my first racial discrimination. To survive in that kind of environment I had to adopt the lg. of the locals which was pigeon. It deals a lot with raising the tone and using a type of argot which drops descriptive words. If out surfing a local would ask "How's it" instead of asking "How is the surf." I had to switch between using this lg. and standard english so I would be accepted instead of bullied.

2. I would have to say I can relate to this topic alot. I change how I speak depending on who I am with. For example with my friends I speak very loosely and open. In all reality not really thinking before hand how I am speaking. On the other hand at home I watch what I say very much. I have great respect for my family and how they are. At work I tend to be a little more reserved than usual making sure I carry myself in a professional manner. I would say overall I am very different in the way that I express myself in about every situation. That doesn't mean I don't respect my friends or that I am fake with my family. I still have the same views and feelings I just express them differently

3. What does it mean to "talk wrong"?

I can relate to this question very well because I often find myself "talking wrong" at least twenty times a day and I don't really think its a big deal to most people. It seems like everyone disregards grammar at least some of the time. I think that people should be responsible for speaking properly but as far as that goes for grammar specifically, I believe if it can be understood by the majority then to hell with grammar.

Question two.......

Switching between languages or manner of speech seems to be a natural habit of people in a civilized culture. I have noticed myself changing how I talk depending on the environment and people around me. For example, with my friends I will take on a more relaxed tone and the conversation flows naturally. I don't have to think so much, just say what I feel. However, when I am at work or talking to my boss, I take on a more reserved, formal type of speech. My words are more carefully chosen.
It seems that we change the way we talk according to what is called for, and how comfortable we are with our environment. I will speak like a 19-year-old with my friends and family because that is how they see me and the level on which they expect me to communicate. But in a professional or academic place people usually choose their words more carefully and try to communicate clearly and effectively.
Our speaking changes just as our posture and mannerisms change. Another cause of this is how we wish to be perceived by those listening. I personally would like to be perceived as someone who thinks clearly and therefore I continue to work on my clarity and using less "slang" in my speech.

Don't Call Me White

The name of any group of people tells us something about them. It matters because any one individual interpretation of the name cause assumptions and expectations of how meetings with other groups should work and how each fits into the social community. A tipping in the scales of power. It works along with any socioeconomic group; rich vs. poor, male vs. female, old vs. young, etc.

I think that in earlier times of human history skin color could more accurately define to others the differences among two groups of people. But, not in today's world, where there is great deal of ethnically mixed individuals, especially in the United States. Someone's general geographic look doesn't have to mean anything at all about their social status and/or background, and that is not becoming any less prevalent.

So, as classification by an outward appearance slowly becomes less reliable for us to make the assumptions that we srtive to make, the next point of judgment is in the language used by any individual or a group. I often find myself trying to guess where a person is from by listening to accents. I think we gauge people on many levels when we interact with language. Things like; how much money someone might make, their profession, religious leanings and many other simple assumptions.

Language is definitely intertwined with ethnicity. Being from a mix of European ancestry, I have learned to associate myself with the term "white". Somewhere along the way, I started feeling that the label carried a weight that I didn't feel that I should have to carry. For whatever reason when the question is asked, I like to check the "other" box and write in "European American". Though some can argue that the two have the same meaning, I don' think they do.

I also think that there is the possibility that the "white" ethnicity dominance in the United States is slightly exaggerated by way of the term "white" being one of the most broad options available (except for maybe "American Indian"). This map didn't exactly match up to my own personal definitions of the races. I think if I were to create my own version of this map I would want to add 10 more naming of races to the list. Is that a good or a bad thing?

Aint aint a word and you aint supposed to say it.

My family on my Dad's side, the Mangum clan, hails primarily from New Mexico, West Texas, and Oklahoma. Has anybody seen "King of the Hill"? These are my relatives. My Grandfather, referred to one and all as "Papa", owned a large cattle ranch near Bloomfield, New Mexico, and in addition to the usual "y'all"s and "aint"s, had a stock of cowboy colloquialisms like his beloved interjection "dadgummit!". New Mexicans sound roughly similar to rural Utahns, but in Texas you will hear a more pronounced twang and drawl which makes one say "Ah thank" instead of "I think", and "caint" instead of "can't". To me, this is nothing more than accent, the flavor of the speech, like spicy instead of mild sauce (and you will find little of the latter in Texas), implying nothing about the speaker but local origin. Yet whenever someone wants to caricature someone without intelligence, manners, or education, they inevitably adopt a bit of the twang or drawl.

Our arbiters of culture tend to congregate in the populous Northeast, especially the New York, the nation's publishing capitol. I have observed that the prejudice against all Southern flavors of speech is strong amongst those that create our media, from Hollywood to New York and Washington, D.C.

My Dad, unlike his Dad, could not make a living as a cattle rancher, and as a consequence I spent my childhood in such exotic places as California and Canada (where my Mom is from). Also, there can be little doubt that I am more widely cultured and educated than any Mangum of preceding generation, so I don't speak as they do (even now I resist writing "talk like").

Sometimes it's not just the culture that we are part of which influences our language, but the culture we want (or don't want) to be a part of.

Hebrew

I don’t really know how many of you have ever been to a Kabbalat Shabbat service. For those of you that don’t know, it’s the religious service that takes place on Friday nights to begin the Sabbath for the Jewish people. Because of work, I don’t get to go to services as much as I would like, but I usually make Friday nights (Kabbalat Shabbat) a few times a month. At orthodox synagogues the entire service is performed in traditional Hebrew. Hebrew is not, in all truth, a language that I speak. I can read it fairly well, but don’t have the abilities to speak it on a conversational level. In the arena of a religious service, however, that language is almost as comforting to me as a chocolate bar. It’s very hard for me to explain this.

Growing up, my grandmother spoke a great deal of Yiddish to me, but with most of her peers she spoke Hebrew or German. I was exposed to quite a bit of all of these while growing up. I’m not by any means a very “religious” Jew in that I am not horribly active in the community. But while being at Shabbat services, I am reminded of home and really who I am as a person. That being said, being Jewish and all that comes along with it is very much a part of my “identity.” It isn’t something that I consciously do or act upon at work or school. I say prayers in Hebrew under my breath before I eat and a have a mezuzah on my door (if anyone has questions, let me know), but being Jewish doesn’t consume every act that I do in the same way it does for some other people. It’s almost the silent partner in a company that weighs in on decisions without every really saying anything. In the realm of the synagogue while I am surrounded by the singing and chanting of Hebrew, I am allowed to “do” Jew. I have found that when I attend Conservative or Reform synagogues that share English and Hebrew, I have a completely different, more detached, experience.

(Sorry about the late post! I had a difficult time with my internet. I really wanted to respond to question four, but I didn't even know where to start. I was also afraid that if I started talking about it, I might never stop. Is this something we will talk about more in class?)

BethAKnee

Question Two

I believe it’s a human trait to act differently depending of the situation and people we are surround by. we do not communicate the same way with our friends as we do with our co-workers; we adapt our language and manners depending of the environment. For example, at work I tend to be more corteous and polite, since I work at a restaurant I need to make the customer feel welcomed; with my friends it’s a different story, I have more freedom to express myself. At school I am forced to use a more sophisticated language, in order to demonstrate my academic skills, with my family I have to be respectful to my elders but I still feel comfortable with the way I converse. As a bilingual individual, I have notice it is easier to speak my ideas out loud in my native language than in English; I am more careful when I talk in English, I tend to give importance to the word choice and tone of my voice, when I speak in Spanish, my first idiom, I just say the first thought that comes to my mind, without further analyzing it.

respond for question 2

Before I read this question, I though what I did for switching the varieties of language when I talk to different people was a nature thing. I have not really noticed the switching. Right now, when I sat down to think about it, I really did switch very often. I am living with my husband who is a Hispanic-American. I also have my cousin who is from China as a roommate. When I talk to my cousin, I can never stop. Because I was using my native language, and I am a person that talks a lot when I know you. I and my cousin grew up together; we have a lot of things in comment. We talk just about anything, use swear words even. To my husband, I have to use my second language, which is English. Since he is my husband, I can talk to him anything I want to, but at the same time, I talk to him nicer and softer than I talk to my cousin. Furthermore, when I talk to my mother-in-law who is Hispanic, I automatically become more polite and very nice. Even four of us all sit by one table for dinner; I still talk to them differently. I might change a bit when I talk to my husband or my cousin by that table. But to my mother-in-law would be always the same no matter where we are. So I do switch really often not just for the varieties of the language, but also the language itself.

im in

well i hope i'm in, how is everybody doing?
Diferent cultures have diferent ways of naming themselves and their ancestral background in a way that is only acceptable to them or someone from the same cultural group. I have a lot of friends from diferent parts of the World. The ones from South America don't like the term Latino or Hispanic they tell me "Im Mexican or Peruvian or Brazilian" the ones that entitle themselves Hispanic usualy have a connection to the old World, and are very proud of it to the point they become defensive of those who use it without having no connection to Spain. Perhaps we are too concern with being too politicaly correct and loose ourselves in translation somewhere along the way. Can't please Romans and Trojans at the same time they are two distinct cultures. It comes down to respect and tolerance within reason of course or abuse will take place and lawsuits will follow because the correct term was not used to address a certain person or group.

You Say "Hispanic" I Say "Latino"

As an immigrant from Venezuela, South America, I honestly don't have any preference on being called "Hispanic" or "Latino." Based on the definitions of both terms given in the reading, I could say that I have a little bit of both. I was born in Latin America, but my grandmother's side of the family emigrated from Spain.

However, even if I were strictly Latino or Hispanic, I would not mind being referred to as either one. At times, I have also been called Mexican, and I never see it as an offense. Besides identifying myself with parts of the Mexican culture, some of my best friends, and needless to say quality individuals, are from Mexico. Honestly, I have more important things on which to focus my energy than fretting over what I'd like to be called.

Ultimately, the tone used along with any term being used to describe an individual--and the intention behind it--is what matters. Other than that, I feel I have things in common with people from all Spanish-speaking countries.

As far as my identity is concerned, and as a citizen of this country, sometimes I identify myself as an American, and others as a Venezuelan. There are always positive and negative aspects of any culture, and it is up to me which to adopt to then identify with.

Jairo Toro

Language and Identity

Hi everyone,

Thanks for a good class today. I'm sorry that I lectured too long and we didn't get to talk much as a group. I'm sure it will be better in the future.

For this first blog 'assignment' can you please respond to one of the questions below OR if you have something else you'd like to write about regarding today's readings, that would be fine too.

1. Have you ever been in a situation when you really identify with a language? Maybe it is your native language, or perhaps a language that you have learned to speak? What was that like? What aspects of the language connected with your 'doing' of identity?

2. Everyone switches among language varieties depending on the context/situation they are in. Have you ever consciously noticed yourself doing this switching? In what circumstances have you done this and what did you have to do?

3. What does it mean to "talk wrong"? Do you ever feel like you talk wrong? Heard anyone do it? Do people have a responsibility to "talk right"?

4. Why does it matter what a certain socioeconomic (ethnic, class, gender, sexuality, etc.) group is named?

Thanks, and I look forward to reading your posts.

Tiffany