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Difference Between Language And Identity

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HOW LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY CAN BE CONNECTED Language and identity can be connected very well because I believe that every human being is born from a particular family speaking a certain language. Having that language, for example a Zulu language it means that Zulu family have their own identity. The fact of being who they are and knowing their true roots results in them being proud of their language and excelling it on daily basis because it is a language which is close to their hearts and close to their breathing. Defining language and identity Language is defined as a tool used by humans for means of communication, consisting of the use of written words in a structured way (Oxford dictionary of current English, 2006:510) .This definition …show more content…

Your home language becomes the source of your speech that as you grow, you learn to utter with all different angles to make sense of it. It is believed that home language, also known to be our mother tongue is a language we received through our mother’s breastfeeding yet someone might argue saying its lie. Our home language are taught and given to us naturally. This statement also adds up in finding out if language can be connected with identity because as infants listen to people talking around them in their mother tongue that particular sound system becomes their an integral part of their linguistic system. As these infants grow they go to school and get to learn more about their language and identity, some of them even get too interested that they even go for degrees on learning a language and their true identity. Yes, language does identify us as much as my home language identifies my background and my true existence, it is as much as the language learned identifies my field of study, my professionals and my position in the global …show more content…

An example can be English which is used in South Africa for communication. It does not necessarily identify our true existence and background to some of us but can define the field of language we are in. Some people lose their true identity or even forget where they come from because of adopting English or other dominating languages in an environment they live in. This adds on the fact that some people who are from other forms of languages get interested in learning other languages in order to have more knowledge about those languages. In other cases you find a Sotho man marrying a colored woman, this would mean that the colored woman will have to learn the Sotho language and also learn how they expect her to do things according to their identity. After learning the Sotho language the colored woman would be excelling in the language but that wouldn’t mean that it defines her true identity. In conclusion I’ am still agreeing of the fact that language and identity can be connected, as long as there are still existing human beings who speak different languages and having different identities. Language goes a long way with identity because we are who we are today because of our identity. We should honor our true identity and be proud of being who we

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