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Relationship Between Language and Identity
What is identity? Simply expressed, identity is what psychologists refer to as a person’s “self-esteem” or “self-image” and describes an individual’s uniqueness and how he or she thinks about himself as a member of a certain group.
Groups of individuals whose lifestyle, habits, and traditions differ from those of other social groups, as well as those who think, behave, and see the world in different ways, are referred to by terms like social identity, cultural identity, national identity, religious identity, and so on. We all share the same values, opinions, behaviours, traditions, and even a complete way of life that was developed by a society and passed down from one generation to the next. I would feel cut off from my ancestral culture if I were forced to forsake my identity, thus I would fight against it.
One’s culture is greatly expressed via language. We communicate and transmit our cultural identity from one generation to the next through language. People are aware of who I am, where I’m from, which group I belong to, and other information because of my language. Therefore, losing one’s roots would imply losing one’s original language and becoming integrated into a new context. People who abandon their native culture and live abroad (known as diaspora) have a crisis of identity as they struggle to reconcile their two cultures.
They experience no placeness. Their kids lose proficiency in both languages when they speak one at home and another at school. The Emersion Method, which aimed to integrate non-natives into the dominant culture of Canada, fell short of its goal. “Submersion tactics which neither respect the child’s first language nor assist them achieve fluency in the second language may result in diminished fluency in both languages,” the Commission for the Aboriginal Peoples Commission (1996) stated.
As a result, several scholars have questioned educational systems that consciously require minority students to get their education in a majority language. They believe that the dual language strategy poses risks to both monolingual instructors and the kids it teaches, who may become negatively biassed.
According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, Native Americans used languages like Hopi that gave them a different perspective on the world than those who spoke European languages. In kinship terms, the significance of language in a person’s culture is more obvious. For relationships, several languages provide lexicalized terminology.
For instance, there aren’t many kinship words in English. Uncle refers to anybody after the father’s brother, just as cousin refers to anyone after the father’s brother’s son. Father is “mol” in Kashmiri, father’s brother “petar’s son is “piturboi” and his daughter is “pitaerbeni,” father’s brother “maam” (or “mamu” in Urdu) and his wife are “maamen,” and mother’s brother “maam” (or “mamu” in Urdu). When connections are discussed in Kashmiri, we can quickly determine who is being referenced.
Therefore, great philosophers from throughout the world have discussed the significance of language in a person’s and a country’s life.
Below are given a few sayings:
- The art of language is nameless, communal, and unconscious; it is the product of the imagination of many generations. Sapir, Edward.
- Men respond well to communication in a language they can comprehend. Speaking to him in his language touches his heart. Nelson Mandella.
- We may deduce a lot about the nation’s character from its language, which functions as a kind of monument to which each forced person over the course of many centuries has added a stone. Emerson, Ralph Waldo.
- The human mind’s arsenal is language, which simultaneously houses the victories of the past and the tools of the future. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.
- “As a writer, I must acknowledge that Alzheimer’s disease has a menacing allure because it targets the two aspects of writing that are most essential to success: language and memory, which together constitute a person’s identity. A familiar individual takes on a new personality as a result of Alzheimer’s.” Charlie Pierce wrote this.
