8.7: Language

Language

Although language is tied greatly in to culture, language also helps children with their self identity. Both culture and language play a role in children's self identity so you will see the two terms being mentioned together to explain the relationship they have with identity. In recent years, there has been substantial scholarly work on the relationship between language – especially second language or L2 – and identity. The common perception is that being proficient in another language can add a new personal identity which inherits traits from the culture in which the language is spoken. We may acquire, along with linguistic skills, nonverbal behaviors (i.e. learning how to bow when learning Japanese), cultural preferences in areas such as food or music, as well as a fundamental worldview shared by native speakers of the language. However, we should be aware of the complex relationship between language and culture, which is not the same for all languages. Learning English, for example, a language which encompasses many different cultures, is quite different culturally from learning Japanese, closely associated with just one country.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Woman showcasing cultural heritage. (Public Domain; HAROLDPH via Pixabay)

Modern theories of language and identity have moved away from the focus on the individual psychological effect of second language acquisition to a greater concern with sociological and cultural dimensions. Contemporary scholars study how language learners construct identity depending on the time and place in which they are using the L2. David Block, one of the leading scholars in the area of language and identity, points out that issues of self-identity arise often when individuals move across socio-cultural and language borders. In this sense, says Block, identity can be seen as "contested in nature as the new and varied input provided to the individual serves to disturb taken-for-granted points of reference" (Block, 2007, p. 20). Block and Cameron (2002) used the term "critical experience" to refer to such periods in one's life:

By critical experiences, I mean periods of time during which prolonged contact with an L2 and a new and different cultural setting causes irreversible destabilization of the individual sense of self. There is, in a sense, an element of before and after in critical experiences as the individual's socio-historical, cultural and linguistic environment, once well defined and delimited, becomes relatively ill-defined and open-ended (Block & Cameron, 2002, p. 4).

In such cases, argues Block, it's not a question of discarding one's identity and substituting something new. Rather the result is what has come to be known as "hybrid" or "third place" identities. This hybrid identity creates a subject position that provides insights into different linguistic and cultural worlds. However, it can also lead to feelings of uncertainty and ambivalence, in particular for migrants, who strive to keep aspects of their home culture while learning a new language and adapting to a new way of life. In order to construct a coherent life narrative, we seek to resolve internal conflict and assuage feelings of ambivalence. In that sense, there is a recognition that as individuals we can make choices in terms of self-identity (see sidebar). We tend to take on different available identities depending on need and context. Block points out, however, that in contrast to the open choice of products in a supermarket, we are constrained in our choice of identity by factors such as social hierarchies, educational systems, or government policies. The language choices we make are influenced by a variety of factors. Socio-economic and historical contexts may play significant roles. In formally colonized nations, the language of the colonizer acquired a hegemony over the local languages, which continued even after the colonizer had left. This in turn left a significant impact on the identity that the speakers of the language of the colonizer assumed or were attributed. The speakers of the language of the colonizer were considered to be socially superior or higher up in society than speakers of the local language.

Shopping for identities at the "cultural supermarket"

The cultural anthropologist, Gordon Matthews, argues that identities are not entities into which one is "raised"; rather, one "assumes" an identity and then works on it. Identity is thus seen to develop in what Matthews calls the cultural supermarket: just as the modern supermarket offers foods from all over the world, in all shapes and sizes, so the international media and advanced technology together make available to individuals around the world a range of identities to be assumed.

Block, 2007, pp. 21-22

The dynamics of identity formation has led to an interest within applied linguistics in what is called the imagined community that language learners may aspire to join when they learn a new language (Anderson, 1991). The imagined community may be a reconstruction of a past culture or a construct of the imagination, a desired community that offers a range of possible identities for the future. Often language learners are motivated by such imagined futures and may develop extensive fictional personae around these possible future selves: "An imagined community presupposes an imagined identity—one that offers an enhanced range of possibilities for the future" (Pavlenko & Norton, 2007, p. 598). Learners of French might envision a future in which they live in Paris and are fluent enough in French to converse in cafés and to read French poetry in the original. The "imagined self" available through a second language might involve personal growth (Dörnyei, 2009). Pavlenko & Norton (2007) cite research that has shown that "many young Japanese women consider English to be intrinsically linked to feminism and thus are motivated to learn it as a language of empowerment" (p. 597). In fact, in many parts of the world English has become the language which represents opportunities for personal growth and professional advancement (Lin & Byram, 2016). At the same time, English may be seen as an instrument of colonialism and imperialism and as a repressive force on the development of indigenous cultures.

Another intersection of language, place, and identity is represented in the concept of linguistic landscapes, the often multilingual urban signage now encountered in cities throughout the world (Shohamy & Gorter, 2008). An analysis of signs in particular neighborhoods can reveal the dynamics of different language and ethnic communities. Examining the changes over time, as Dutch scholar Jan Blommaert has done for his neighborhood in Amsterdam, can show not only how neighborhoods change but also how they identify themselves linguistically (2013). This interest in signs is a branch of semiotics, the science of signs and their significance. Increasingly linguists are looking beyond traditional uses of language to "multimodal" understanding of how communication takes place and how identities are created through language use in context and in combination with other modes of communication.

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): In culturally diverse cities such as New York, many different languages are used for public signs. (CC BY 2.0; MK Feeney via Wikimedia)

References

Anderson, J. R. (1991). The adaptive nature of human categorization. Psychological Review, 98(3), 409–429.

Block, D. (2007). Second Language Identities. Journal of Language, Identity and Education 9 (3)

Block, D., & Cameron, D. (2002). Globalization and language teaching. London and New York: Routledge.

Blommaert, J. (2013). Ethnography, Superdiversity and Linguistic Landscapes: Chronicles of complexity. Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies.Tilburg University

Dornyei, Z. (2009). Individual Differences: Interplay of Learner Characteristics and Learning Environment. Language Learning. A Journal of Research in Language Learning 59(1). University of Michigan

Lin, W., Byram, M. (2016). New Approaches to English Language and Education in Taiwan: Cultural and Intercultural Perspectives. Tung Hua Book Company, 1st Ed

Pavlenko, A., Norton, B. (2007). Imagined Communities, Identity, and English Language Learning. International Handbook of English Language Teaching. Springer International Handbooks of Education, Vol 15. Springer, Boston, MA.

Shohamy, E., & Gorter, D. (Eds.). (2008). Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the scenery 1st ed. Routledge.