The loss of a language is the loss of one’s identity.
The use of language has long been a significant factor in an individual’s linguistic and ethnic identity. This literature seeks to explore how language has evolved from just being a convenient tool of communication to an expression of one’s beliefs, principles, and circumstances. If language withers away into nothingness, the user loses an integral part of their identity. The literature will also highlight how language is a defining component of ethnic identity and how its accommodation into prevailing linguistic systems affects the users.
“What joints all languages, and all men, is the necessity to confront life, in order, not inconceivably, to outwit death: The price for this is the acceptance and achievement of one’s temporal identity. “(Baldwin,1979). This portrays the vital role of a language in an individual’s ability to tackle life and its difficulties. Baldwin also highlights the power that language possesses. He says that it reveals one’s private identity, inner hopes and can connect or divorce one from the community. Language, if not used well, may also bring to let things that are better off undiscovered.
The use of language is also a means of constructing an identity. This is seen when Baldwin says,” Black English is the creation of the black diaspora.” He goes to show that the language was taught to blacks under the oppressive rules of the owners. The language transformed in its transition to create a black identity to it. Similarly, Anzaldua also goes on to say. “Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic…” (Anzaldua, 1987). She says she cannot take pride in herself until she can take pride in her language.
The incorporation of one language into another influences the behavior of one of the users of the language. This is evident in the incorporation of Black English into white American dialogue. “Now, I do not know what white Americans will sound like if there had never been any black people in the United States, but they would not sound the way they sound.” (Baldwin, 1979). Baldwin also points out that terms used in Black English changed in their transition to white American dialogue. For instance, white Americans turned the phrase, ‘beat to his socks,’ to the Beat Generation. Some white Americans tried to imitate poverty to appear funky, like blacks. Anzaldua also showcases the assimilation of English and Spanish and the various dialects born of this assimilation.
The language provides an innate need for distinction. Anzaldua mentions that the emergence of the Chicano Spanish was due to Chicano Americans’ need to distinguish themselves from other Latin American groups. The need for distinction also provides a sense of belonging. She says, “For some of us, language is a homeland closer than the Southwest_ for many of Chicanos live in the Midwest and the East.” (Anzaldua, 1987) This distinction of the Chicano Americans has been met with disdain from parent cultures who built these languages as mutilation of their own. Therefore, they are branded “cultural traitors,” as seen in how uncomfortable Chicanos feel when conversing with Latinas in Spanish. Chicanos, therefore, feel alienated due to their dual identity and may thus suffer a psychological conflict.
From the above, it is evident that the loss of identity can occur from a language’s duality. It is also important to note that this duality can lead to creating a new cultural identity of which one can be proud of. The assimilation of a language, such as Black English, does not necessarily erode the former completely into other predominant languages. In conclusion, the value of a language to one’s identity cannot be overlooked. Therefore, it is plausible to say that the loss of one language through various factors such as integration between two languages is the loss of the basic identity of an individual.
References
Baldwin, James. “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” The Black Scholar, vol. 27, no. 1, 1997, pp. 5–6., doi:10.1080/00064246.1997.11430831.
Anzaldua, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue. 1987.