A Language Without Limits

This text was published in Toronto Star, 2008 by the author Deena Kamel. Before any text analysis, we should care about the author's purpose. Her surname's origin probably is from Middle East, Arabia or Germany, so this is probably one of the motifs why she cared about this topic. Also this could mean she isn't a 100% impartial, because, at least someone of her family was once an inmigrant and probably didn't spoke the "common" English very well. Although, this doesn't mean I'm against what she writes, but this is just a deductive appreciation of her objectivity in this work, that hopefully will make my analysis more complete. The tone and vocabulary she uses is quite formal, but I can notice that she transfers a little bit of joy of telling this new, as probably her ancestors spoke other types of English and now it is something culturally accepted.

According to David Crystal, "The Hinglish speakers may soon outnumber native English speakers in the United States and United Kingdom", as it's quickly spreading around all the World. But what the text mainly proposes, is about the common misconception of the varieties of English as "worse" than the "common" one. They are just another type of English, that's all. We have to remember that the English is the language with most number of words and many of them have been adapted like a "sponge" from other cultures. People usually don't like changes, but, I have to tell you that everything is always changing! You can't resist to something that is inevitable. Some people feel bad when they realize they aren't speaking English as the native people, but it shouldn't be something to shame of. You should be proud of your origins and don't feel embarrased when your English isn't "perfect". 


Humans change, and with them, language also does!
Remember to be tolerant and not to discriminate!

Internet

I want to clarify that this is just my opinion, so of course you can post your comments showing your posture about this topic. I'll build on my ideas based on the following three questions:

1. What is the issue with identity on the Internet? 

2. Can you be anyone you want on the Internet?

3. Can you be indentified by your use of language?

At first, I would say that I find internet a very important tool in the communications and socializing through it isn't wrong. One of the big problems with this tool, is that you can be whoever you want. So you can say you are a boy, a girl, a policeman, everything. If you read people's posts or comments you can also guess who he really is, because of his language (Chicano English, Ebonics, etc). This isn't a very accurate guess, though. 

Remember to be cautious, but not afraid. If you are scared of using internet because you could be cheated by anyone, you are not being intelligent. If you think that, then I can tell you that also you shouldn't go out to the street, because someone could run over you, steal you or even a thunderbolt could hit you. Security isn't found anywhere, so just live your life and enjoy the internet!

                               Carpe Diem!

Internet and communities

We are back in the topic of communities. The internet has changed many things that our parents or grandparents were taught, such as the types of communities and all. It could be defined as "An online community is a a group of people with common interests who use the Internet (web sites, email, instant messaging, etc.) to communicate, work together and purse their interests over time." (Lee LeFever on CommonCraft). Lets watch a video about Social Media:


                                    Social Media explanation

It's awesome how everything is connected! This Media helps many people to communicate and makes them the life easier!


But, there are many different perspectives when studying the internet. For understanding them better, I read two texts with opposing ideas. They are "Teenagers' Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing", published in the New York Times; and "How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer", published in the UK's Daily Mail.


Even when just reading the titles, you know they aren't both seeing internet as something good. One of them proposes that, as the World is nowadays, teens need to be in touch through the social networks and meet new friends in games. It also says that "Those concerns about predators have been overblown" as it isn't that common as the press publishes it. In the other hand, the second text tells us everything bad of the internet, and that you may die with the use of it. A priori, I would say that the first text is right, but we can't dismiss the facts given by the second one. In the next post, I'll write my idea of the internet and online communities.

Dialect, identity, and power

I have already talked about Ebonics, almost being another language. But now, after I have answered some questions about three different texts written by African Americans, I can tell more about it. The texts chosen where Beloved, by Toni Morrison, Turn my swag on, by Soulja Boy and a Nobel Lecture by the first author I mentioned. What you could appreciate in there was Ebonics in plenitude. In the first one, she spoke with some rhymes and "slangs", something very common in this language. But, at least a fully educated person that usually speaks Ebonics, like Toni Morrison, can change her vocabulary depending on the situation. And that's what happened in the Nobel Lecture, as she spoke "common" English without any problem. Finally, in Soulja Boy's song, obviously he used rhymes, and as it's a rap song, he usually spoke about hating someone or threaten others. The vocabulary used in there was more complex for me to understand, as apart from putting words to find rhymes, he also used many slang.

Communities relationed with language

Latin actress from Modern Family

"A group of people that share the same customs, interests, laws or traditions, and language" (Course Companion IB Book)...And that's what a community is, but lets carry this topic to the practical items.
Communities are also relationed with knowledge (last post), and they are groups of people with the same interests in an area. Probably you are part of many communities, like for example your language, your school/work, your friends, etc. And also we can say that We, as human beings, are a community.
Your community (and knowledges) also affects your accent. You may have noticed that many people speak different Englishs, and you are correct! "Spanish" English is one of the most common types of language in the US. Even in some TV shows there are important characters that speak this English.

                                  Watch it by yourself!

In the last video, you could appreciate by yourself a special accent of the English tongue.
Also Ebonics it's a popular type of English spoken by African American people. As the other types, it has got many mistakes in the pronunciation. But something that makes special the Ebonics, is that they also write their English different, just how they speak it. Words like "goo" (for good) or "gimme'" (for give me) are written by this community. Also they write sometimes with some rhymes along the texts, and it may have similarities with some slang vocabulary. 

Ebonics

Language and Knowledge

Do you think knowledge you have affects your language? I don't know your opinion, but at least, I think so. This helps you to speak some jargons or argots that many other people wouldn't even imagine they exists. For example, the ones that have got knowledge in computers, they can speak a different language that not everybody would understand, and maybe they are still using the English tongue! This is quite amazing, and that's why I think it deserves a post in my blog.

Another feature that you can understand if you have more knowledge about the situation in which you are, is what type of words you can use in that moment. This vocabulary is called "politically correct language" and it's a "neutral" language, one that doesn't bother any other person. It shouldn't disqualify or discriminate others.It's more polite and kind. If you are used to the some words like "nigger", for example, it may be difficult to you to use a synonym, because maybe you don't know any other as you always use the same word to refer to African American people. It may be an uncomfortable moment for you if you are talking with a "nigger" and you say that word.

Identifying a text

Hi again! I arrived from New Zealand a couple of days ago, but now I'm back, and one thing that has been in my head during all the trip was the question about what items do you need to identify in a text to understand it completely. After a bit of reflexion, I'll give you what I conclude. 

The first three ones are the topic, the theme and the main idea (if you want to know what does it mean any of them, just go a couple of posts before). With them, you can make an idea of what's what they are talking about. The source (where it's extracted from) is also very important to identify the author's purpose, as commonly, the place and time where the author wrote the text are very influential items in the ideas spoken and what do they mean. The genre in which it's written its also determinant in the tone, as you can deduct it from there in which tone is the text. The vocabulary is crucial. The register, jargon and argot also help you to determinate which is the target audience. 


After you identify all of this, you have comprehended all the text, so Congratulations!

New Zealand trip

A couple of months ago, I was chosen to be part of the small group that would travel to Wellington, New Zealand. And the moment has arrived. It didn't matter the very long airplane rides, because it was all amazing. The beauty could be found everywhere, in the landscapes, in the buildings, in all. One of the things that surprised me was that the car's horns didn't sound never, just in moments of real danger. Also, everything was with the name "Kiwi" or "All Blacks". The nationalism of the people, the love for their country was enormous.

The family that hosted me was also very kind and nice, and in there I could also live and listen during 3 weeks to a variation of the English because of their community: India. Even if the son and daughter of the family were born in New Zealand, the parents were Indian. Apart from the beauty of the country, I could practise my English the whole day and also listen to many diversities of the same language. It wasn't rare to find a Chinese, Japanese, African, Polynesian or any other, as the cultural diversity of the Pacific Basin describes and explains it.

The most surprising thing was the importance they gave to music and sports. In music, for example, they had two music classrooms and three special rooms to practise instruments, and you wouldn't listen anything when you were inside! Also, the variety of sports they had was awesome, starting from football and rugby to golf or underwater hockey!

It was an awesome opportunity and if I had the chance to travel again, I would do it without even thinking about it. Thanks school for letting me travel to New Zealand!