The article on Language and Identity spoke to me more than any of the other readings for this week. The idea that language is a fixed entity and that individuals do not play a role in shaping their language seems strange to me. “However people can make whatever use they want of their language systems since the more traditional view considers individuals to be agents of free will, and thus, autonomous decision makers.” I agree with this statement because people learn their language autonomously by being influenced by other aspects around them, whether it is family teaching them how to speak their first language or watching educational television that can either help them to learn concepts (alphabet, colors, etc.)
When I think about how people use their language and change it into their own, I think of people who speak in a different dialect and use different vocabulary that isn’t necessarily attached to a certain stereotype. For example, there is a strong connotation/stereotype that all people of African American descent speak in what is known as Ebonics. When I think of Ebonics I think improper language use that changes words like “ask” to “ax” and continues to make certain people use incorrect English grammar. I am from a heavily Caucasian populated suburb, however, more and more I am seeing Caucasian people use Ebonics via Facebook, Twitter and even in person. I am a server at Outback Steakhouse and when I wait on tables who are Caucasian that speak in Ebonics or do not use correct grammar, I think to myself, “How did these people start speaking this way? Was it inherited from their parents or what social group they belong to?” After reading “Consequently, since all individual language is seen as involving a high degree of unpredictability and creativity in both form and message as individuals strive to make personal connections to their surrounding contexts.”, I found that each person’s language really is unpredictable. I can’t predicate the way that people speak just because of the way that they look on the outside. However, I believe that most people judge from the outside when it comes to language use. This past week I have been on a Dexter kick and cannot stop watching the seasons that I have in my bookshelf at home. I can directly apply what happens in this series to language. For those of you who haven’t seen this series, Dexter is a blood spatter analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who is a serial killer who “cleans up the trash” of Miami. He only kills for good. This urge to kill comes from his childhood and his police officer father teaches him at a young age how to channel it and how to not get caught. The way that he doesn’t get caught is by using certain language in order to make people believe he is a different person, a good person. He makes personal connections to his surrounding contexts by pretending to like his girlfriend Rita even though he claims to be a hollow shell inside and by acting like a loving brother to his sister Debra and a father figure to his girlfriend’s children. No one knows that during the night he is killing people who he believes deserve to die. In one instance, before he is interviewed by a psychologist when he is a child, his father tells him that after he is asked a question, think of his answer in his head by answer with the opposite. By using that language he is not only lying, but convincing someone that internally he is a good person because he doesn’t have deranged thoughts. I think that not using language is as important as using it. Sometimes when you don't use language, people read your body to determine things that you might want to say but don't.
Another issue that I would like to touch on is social identity. “Our histories are defined in party by our membership in a range of social groups into which we are born such as gender, social class, religion and race.” This article does a good job of talking about social identity and realizing the importance of it. These above topics are not the only things that mold your identity. I never thought that geographical region provides me with a sense of my social identity but it does. Because I was raised in a Caucasian neighborhood, the schools I went to had classes that where the majority were white students. I am part of the northern area of the United States so I will have a different dialect and accent than those who are from the southern states. Having cousins who have moved from Illinois to Texas, I get frustrated speaking with them because their quick talking has now changed into slow paced talking and I want to yell “HURRY UP AND GET TO THE POINT!” because they take longer time to pronounce words and now use different vocabulary that I would never use. Being from Illinois I think that I am used to people talking and moving quickly so that I can move on to the next activity, whatever that may be. There is always a fight in my family between the word closet and whether it is phonetically pronounced Claw-zit or clah-zit. This is because some people grew up in different areas of Illinois where pronunciation is different. This “second layer of group membership” has helped me develop my phonetics and helped me decide the correct pronunciation of everyday vocabulary words. I agree with the article that says “While our social identities and roles are to a great extent shaped by the groups and communities to which we belong, we as individual agents also play a role in shaping them.” I believe that I speak the way I do because that is the way that I want to speak, regardless of what my parents and society have taught me about language.
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