ARCHIVE - The Shadow of the Enlightenment - Language & Identity

ARCHIVE - Dave Raileanu

raidav20 — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:12:48 -0800

While I agree that language and identity are related in a positive and significant way, I do not agree that the one cannot exist without the other. A cultue can define a language as its own, but it is not necessary to use that language in order to be a part of that culture. For example, hebrew is the language of the Jews; I am a Jew who does not speak hebrew. I can identify myself as Jewish independent of language. Thus, despite their close ties, language and identity are not inextricable.

ARCHIVE - Janet Williford

wiljan05 — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 13:44:32 -0700

Certainly language and identity are inseperable. The way one chooses to speak whether through a certain vocabulary, accent or dialect is a large part of how one identifies when in a group of people and how one views oneself. With all the variation in languages it is an important choice one makes when considering how one presents oneself to others through language.

ARCHIVE - Stephanie Ash Word Choice

ashste04 — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 13:41:32 -0700

Word choice is critical in the conveying bits of insight about the speaker or writer's world-view to the listener or reader. Does it matter if I use stewardess or steward, waitress or server, witty or sarcastic to describe someone? Does it matter if I describe a policy as flexible or supple? In France right now the use of the words flexibilite and precarite are fighting words for employers, employees and politicians. Flexible implies that the state is not the guarantor of the collective interest, an idea that is entrenched into the French people. So important is this identity that Segelone Royal even denied using the word flexibilite in a recent interview and claimed later she had said souplesse instead so she would not be identified with economic liberalism.