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Helen Kilmartin

12/12/11

            What is language? There are a variety of different types of language, but what is it? Language is something that is changing day by day. Every sentence we speak, and all of the mistakes we make are a form of language. We make language and soon we will all speak the same language. We change language daily. What this means is that everything we say or do has and influence on our language. By going down to southern states you might catch some of their accent, by watching a British show you could catch some of their dialect. The more diverse we become and the more we start going to new places our language will change. Were we go, what we do, whom we communicate with, all has an impact on language.

            When the Europeans came to the Colonies they were all from different places inside of Europe. They needed to communicate for all purposes, so they mixed their languages and slang together. Then language started to mix again when the Colonist brought over Africans. The Africans needed a way to communicate, and since they all spoke different languages they needed to make up a new one. Then the Colonists had to adjust to this new language. 

                        When I was five my parents took me up to main. When we went there we sounded funny to everyone else because we had south Philly accents. We only stayed for a week, but in that weeks time they managed to change the way I spoke. I had a Main/Massachusetts accent. As I we traveled back home my accent grew softer, but I kept some of it.

            I always knew I spoke different. I first realized how I spoke this year when my parents and I were discussing SAT scores. “Mom, what will happen if I get a bad grade on the SATs?” I asked. “Well you might not get into the school you want- wait, what school do you want to go to?” My mom wondered. “Well I have been debating on going to either University of Pennsylvania or Bawstan.” “What did you just say?” “I said I want to go to either University of Pennsylvania or Bawstan.” My mom laughed really loud when she tried to talk she paused with laughs in between. “Wait, wait…BAWSTAN?!” Then she continued laughing. “I can’t help it mahm!” “You have such a northern accent its insane!” 

            Who we hang out with also has an effect on our language. When my parents and I went to Jamaica in 2006 we hung out with a great variety of people. As soon as we landed the Jamaican accents were flying everywhere. Of course I picked up some of the words. Then when we went to the resort the accents were mild. I was very friendly with this one Jamaican worker, she was a young adult and very friendly. I picked up some of her Central Jamaican accent. Then I met these nice Canadian kids, Sarah and Rachel. We were close friends; we would hang out every day. Their father would take us out scuba diving on the surface of the water and my dad would take us to the buffet. I picked up some of their Canadian accent and they picked up some of mine.

            What we do also affects our language. My mother is a travel agent and this allows her to meet many different people. She has met people from all over the world, just from working! Although my mom hasn’t picked up any accents from working she has picked up some different slang. Other things that could change our language are watching movies and reading books. I know it sounds crazy but it is true. The way that the dialect is written or acted could change the way we speak. For instance my family and I were watching this old southern movie from 1945, and for a moment we all had a slight old southern accent. It’s incredible that the smallest thing could change our language.

            We all didn’t start off speaking the same language, but we will end speaking the same. Schools are forcing children to learn different languages so they will be better off in life and be able to speak to many different types of people. What they are actually doing is making all of us the same. Soon we will all be able to speak different languages and be able to communicate to everyone. It will end off with us comingling our languages and slang to create, yet another language. But, this time everyone will speak it.

Intro: ¡Hola! Siéntate y escuchar para mi.

Yo: Soy Amani. Tengo quince años. Soy de Filadelfia,   Tengo el pelo rizado y los ojos morrenas. Me fascina practicar/ escuchar música. Me encanta cantar!

Ella: Ella  es Emily. Tiene catorce años. Ella es extraña! Tiene el pelo roja. ¡Literalmente! Como mananza. Es adorable, me gusta mucha el pelo de Emily. Ella es muy boba. Le gusta dibujar y escuchar música. ¡Yo también! La adora  porque ella es divertido.

Ellos: Ellos son Thomas, True y Haneef. Todos son altos y lindos . Todos tiene el pelo marrones y los ojos café. Pero, True tiene el pelo rizado . La apodo de True es Trigga Trig.  True y Haneef son bobos, pero Thomas es serio. Haneef y True jugar  Basquetbol, pero Thomas practicar guitarra. Sin embargo todos Les gustas escribir música.  Me caen bien porque son geniales hermanos.

Ellas: Bryanna, Donesha y Khadija son mis amigas. Todos tienen diferente años. Bryanna y Donesha son bastante boba , pero Khadija es tímido. Khadijah y Bryanna les gusta bailar. Donesha es muy habladora. Todos son trabajadoras. Me encanta ellas porque son buenísimas amigas.

Nosotros: ¡Somos mejor amigas! Nos encanta escribir poesía. La quiero porque ella es importante para mi! Somos son algo exactamente. Somos hablar todo el tiempo.

Conclusión: mis amigos es mucho importante. Ellos son mi familia!!

Reflexión

Jalisa Smith

Introduction/Reflection:

The project that I did was based on how I viewed the language dynamics in America. I thought about how we use it to communicate and how we have to take time, which is if we do not speak English, to learn Standard English. Foreigners, as they are called, have to be understood by Americans, and vice versa. In writing this piece I was grappling with the idea of saying the right things the wrong way. I struggled with telling the right stories at the right time. I knew there was a lot to say, but I didn’t want to offend anyone. Neither did I want to offend America. So in the end, I concluded with something lighter than what I intended on saying. Although, I still do believe I got my point across.

Story:

Jalisa Smith

Language Autobiography

Language is what differentiates one culture from another. A language can evolve, it can morph, it can even grow, but it will always exist. When you think about it, your language is what makes you unique. Sometimes, I wonder what America would be without the variety of languages. It is distinguishable because it consists of so many different dialects, but in the end, we all eventually sound “American”. But what is the American language? It consists of slang, cussing, standard English, and other ethnicity’s entire accent just trying to fit in. Yet as a society, we struggle with the barriers that language builds.

My mother and father are from Barbados. In Barbados, they speak broken English, more British English, if anything. When my mother and father first met my teachers, doctors and friends, they would have to repeat themselves to be understood. I began to realize how it was either good or bad because some people would say, “I love your accent! Say this in Bajan!” or, “What’d you say?” Normally I thought it was ignorant, other times I brush it off because I do the same thing when a foreigner tries talking to me. At the same time, what type of person does that make me? This is where it becomes confusing because I know what it feels like in their position, but now I know what it feels like in an Americans’ position also. So what I can I conclude of this?

I begin to wonder where my place is in this long strand of language. I fit into both roles, (American and Foreigner) perfectly. That is, if I wanted to. So am I wrong for being an interested outsider of another language? I don’t think I am. Because the way I look at it, a language is so influential upon a society. Therefore if a person joins a society that speaks a different language than they do, everyone wants to understand them. When a person decides to open up to you in their language, they assume you are comfortable with the language too. I guess that’s why there are so many people that find it easy to converse with people who speak the same way, because they understand each other. It’s an easy way out of conflict.

 I see it happening everywhere. For example, I was at the African Hair Braiding Shop watching the women doing hair. There was a lot of conversing and laughing. But there were two conversations happening. One conversation was with the hair braiders and the other was with the clients. The division between the two was very obvious but they could have been talking about the same thing, yet everyone stuck to their own group because it’s a comfort zone. Another time I was walking downtown with a group of diverse friends, and we all speak Standard English and all of my Asian friends drifted into a completely different conversation.

It’s the moments like these, which make me wonder if the variety of languages in the United States is good. I know it’s good to be unique, but we all have to come to some sort of understanding. The conflict occurs when there is a frown upon those that don’t speak Standard English. It occurs when Americans train foreign children to create a new language or when a foreigner is speaking to some person who doesn’t understand anything they area saying. But problems such as these are only very hard to solve because in the end we all have to understand what we’re saying because to be successful in America, you should know Standard English.

 In the story, “this is the oppressors language / yet I need to talk to you: Language, a place of struggle” the author, Bell Hooks was discussing the United States and language. She said, “In the United States it [Standard English] is the mask which hides the loss of so many tongues. (LPS, Bell Hooks)” When I was reading this, I thought of how every day, Americans are millions of foreigners who are gathering together to form a country. To be a sufficiently working society, we have to have an understanding. That’s when there is a “mask, which hides the loss of so many tongues”. It can be looked at in a bad way, but in my opinion, it’s the only way we can survive. I do love the word choice for that quotes the author used. She called Standard English a mask; a mask is something that can be taken off. It’s interesting to see the wordplay because she gives the reader a choice. What I got out of it is that there can be a time where we all put on a mask, to hide what others won’t understand, accept and appreciate.

America’s diversity is what makes it so hard to take into consideration every language that it contains. Because our leaders speak Standard English, we have to speak Standard English. It makes it easier for all of us. Like Bell Hooks said, Standard English is a mask in the United States. The barriers that languages build aren’t for a bad purpose. It’s because as a society we have to come to an understanding, therefore, barriers are ways of avoiding conflict. No one wants to lose apart of what makes them the person they are, so we cover it up. I believe the largest problem that can come out of the language in America is when we forget our roots, when we forget to take our masks off.

Digital Story:

Script:

Language is what keeps us united.

As a Country, what would we be without a main language? (English)

As a Country, what would we be without a main language? (Spanish)

As a Country, what would we be without a main language? (French)

As a Country, what would we be without a main language? (Italian)

You see, if I didn’t have translator I wouldn’t be able to have said the things I just said.

The phrase, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, can be very universal.

So when in America, do as the Americans do.

Sit back, and relax from your fast paced daily life.

Take a sip of black coffee and make sure to have only one wife.

Traditions shouldn’t be modified but language can tweaked a bit.

Make sure you make the best of it.

Because there is no way to make a living without understanding what your boss is saying because your time is not only being wasted but it is conflicting with what he/she is making so therefore accept ESOL classes and build a home with crystal glasses.

My mother used to say,

That’s when we have something to offer, make the people listen.

How do you expect to be understood?

If there is no understanding,

How do we expect to be sustainable?

Community, when one can’t understand the other.

Therefore, we all come together.

A language.

Standard English, is what we all use in America

It’s the way we communicate.

Somehow, it’s the only way we navigate,

There only becomes a problem,

When we put down our personal history,

When we forget our roots.

And never look back.

When the youth of the next generation,

Is completely the same.

Lets not make it that way

Let’s enjoy

I will never forget when,

My grandmother told me how hard it was to talk to others.

So she made it easier for everyone,

She began to learn the lingo.

She spoke the slang, but never let her accent go.

Intro

            This project was to make a language autobiography. Our paper had to explain how our language relates to our life and include scenes using words that either we made up, or words that mean something special to us or are they’re just slang. We had to explain how language shaped our life and made us who we are today.

            The parts that I feel that are strong in my paper would be the scenes. I included more than one and I made sure they were really descriptive and included my words. Another part that I think is really strong is my analysis. A place that I struggled in was my final paragraph, because I had to close up the scene I was just talking about and try to include the first scene with it to tie it all together. I learned a lot, one thing that I learned that stood out to me was a thing called "code switching."  "Code switching" means that when you're speaking to someone you have a certain way to speak to them. I knew that I always did that but I just didn’t know that it had a name.

Language might be one thing that travels the fastest around the world. It’s something that everyone knows about and uses everyday.  It is also part of who I am. My language is so different from everyone else that I talk to. Yes, I speak English but I used different words and different dialect than you. Everyone that I ever held a conversation with from school has noticed the way I talk. Everyone else that wasn’t from my school never had anything to say about it.  I believe it’s my “South Philly” accent or some of the slang words that I say all the time. I talk the same way that everyone around my neighborhood talks. I don’t really use a lot of slang but the word that I use most often is “yous.” This word is an Italian slang for “you guys” really simply. If you go into South Philly you would find that out pretty quickly. I must use this word about seventy times a day and not even notice.

I remember the first time that I said it in school. I was sitting at lunch on the second floor near the pool, surrounded by people that I knew, but not well. I had one really close friend that was in my stream her name was Goldie. We were all laughing and everything was great. I was sitting against the wall and Goldie got her trash and all her things together and began standing up.

  “Me and Ellen are leaving do you want to come?” She asked me as Ellen walked over to her.

  “Well, where are yous going?” I asked looking up to her and Ellen. Suddenly everyone around me snapped their heads in my direction. All I heard was a bunch of voices talking about what I had just said. Everyone was just as puzzled as I was but for different reasons.
                    “What did she just say?” A girl asked in between laughter.
                    “What does “yous” mean?” A boy shouted out but he got no answers. Then Goldie asked the same question. I thought maybe of all people she would know because I used this around her before and she never questioned it.
                    “Yeah what does that mean?” She said as she was laughing along with everyone else. I didn’t know that no one knew what that word meant. My face got redder than a tomato and I was suddenly scared that everyone was going to make fun of me. I just wanted to run and hide until it all passed.
                    “You guys. Yous never heard that before?” I asked looking around and I realized that I just said it again but hoped that no one heard me. Laughter was the only thing I heard after that.
                    “No!” She shouted as if I should have known that.
                    “Oh. Well where I’m from that’s what everyone says. It’s weird that no one here knew. But anyway where are yous going?” I said it in a joking manner because everyone made a big deal about it. I felt embarrassed, like I was an alien and no one ever heard the word before. But no one minded, they all thought it was funny and I know now that they would never make fun of me for real. But now everyone is used to it, and a lot more people say it. I guess I just worry too much. It has become a joke between some friends and me all from that one-day. Another thing that I believe makes me who I am today is the fact that I talk with my hands. A lot if not all the people from south Philly do this. Growing up seeing my parents do it, or neighbors or just strangers when I walk in the street. I don’t even realize that I do it but all of my friends do. They sometimes tease me about this also. Either if I am really angry or excited, I wave my hands or clap them. But nevertheless I believe that it has made me part of who I am today. Also, that I impacted some peoples lives because they started to do it also.
                    Which brings me back to my thought that language might be one thing that travels the fastest around the world. If someone says one thing to me and I like it then I will say it, text it, or chat it to my friends and if they like it they do the same and it spreads like wildfire, it’s crazy! Of course there are some words that you don’t want to say around certain people, which is called Code Switching. The way I talk in school is way different from the way I talk when I’m home or around my friends. Just as some teachers talk different when they talk to their class and then when they are around their friends they speak differently also. We can’t help that we do this but it’s just what were used to.  For example, when I went to Drexel to present my water filtration project I spoke perfect English. I had to make sure for a fact that I dropped all of my slang words because I wanted to impress the professors at the school. I had to make sure I didn’t use my hands I didn’t want to clap in the audience faces just to get my point across.
                    “I’m extremely nervous! What if I mess up?” I said looking at Jessica as we were impatiently waiting for our names to get called up to go present. I couldn’t eat the nice food they supplied for us, I could barley drink what they supplied for us. I keep reading over my slide and practicing what I was going to say and how I was going to say it and stand.

            “You’ll be fine! Relax. Breathe. You did this in school a millions times and did it prefect!” She reassured me with a smile. I still couldn’t shake the nervous feeling that I was having. I remember when I first heard that we won this project challenge and I was nervous from then on.
                    “You know me I’m socially awkward I don’t like to talk to people especially professors!” I said laughing and she joined in with me. Then they called us and once I got up there and saw my slide I was fine. I didn’t mess up and I managed to keep my English perfect. I was so proud of myself for not messing up and not clapping in their faces.

Even though I always say “yous” I will never change the way that I speak or stop saying the words that I do because someone has a problem with it. Of course I will if I ever go back to Drexel or present but other then that, I will not. Everything I say and the way I say it makes me who I am. I love it.