Anzaldua would disagree with John McWhorter. She believes when a language dies the whole culture and its identity perishes with it as well. Language, to her, is one of the characteristics that make a culture stand out so when it dies out the culture dies as well and the group disperse and vanish. On the other hand, John McWhorter believes differently, that when a language is lost people come together, not drift apart. I agree with McWhorter to an extent.Yes, when a language dies the culture eventually fades out with it. I see it as there are more positives to language dying then negatives. For example, by reading John McWhorter’s essay he taught me about geographic separation. He used the word “disgusting”, displaying that people pronounce the word differently and those different variations of the pronunciation has divided the people but also connected people just because they pronounce a word the same. This shows our diversity and also because of geographic separation new words will form. Making discover new languages over time, replacing the old ones that died off. Eventually people will add these new words to their language thus connected them. That’s why I believe language dying isn't necessarily a bad thing because I think new language is forming and bringing us together little do we know.
To be honest I totally agree with everything you explained, John Mcwhorter wouldn't agree with how language is bringing our society together. There are languages that dimenish, but there are languages that are created as well. I say this because he gives us an example with the word "let us". He shows us as the time period goes by, words are valued much smaller to "let's". He explains how people pronounce certain words like "disgusting" people tend to pronounce it wrong. Saying if two groups were separated, one group say the word differently from the other. Also depending on other languages, how people say words and how they can just be used differently and pronounced differently as well. I do find it convincing how our world is losing languages but at the same time creating multiple languages. Reason I believe his statement because we always create different terms plus slang so as our language evolves, the more we enhance these new languages and the more we add to our word choices.
ReplyDeleteI agree and disagree with your answer to the question. I most definitely agree with that Anzaldua would not agree with McWhorter’s views on the death of language. However, I do somewhat agree more towards Anzadua’s viewpoints then McWhorter’s. I believe that if a language dies, in time the culture will do the same. In today’s world the dominant languages and cultures are becoming more and more common; people are almost forced to result to these languages and cultures to be successful and to fit into this world. Therefore, after generations of the language having such a small part in a household to household, it can only lead to total diminish of the culture and language.
ReplyDeleteI agree with part of what you explained. The part that I disagree with is saying that when a language dies out that the culture would die with it. I don’t believe this is true because culture involves so many more things other then just language. For example “…a language itself does not correspond to the particulars of a culture but to a faceless process that creates new languages as the result of geographical separation.” It does involve language but also religion, social habits, music , arts and etc. Just because one adapts to another language because of where they are located or the type of language they are surrounded by does not mean they will lose the rest of their culture. You can still do everything else and celebrate your culture while speaking the primary language of where you are. That’s why I agree with you talking about geographic separation. I think it is a great example when he talks about the word “disgusting”. The two different groups of people that speak it differently separate and come back later they are both speaking variations of the language they once both spoke. This just proves that languages are dying out but also growing and evolving at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and I like how you explained it. John McWhorter to an extent has a point, If a language died out eventually culture will to, but something new will form. If everything just died out how would language evolve kind of and that's where I like the example about geographic separation. In todays society dominant languages/culture are being seen everywhere. you can still do anything the way you want and/or how your culture does it in a different area. Languages and culture are changing generation after generation they may die out, but something new will form
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