New Mexican Dialect

We all have some form of language limitations, no matter where we come from and what our background is. “Mother tongue” by Amy Tan and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua both share similar themes in their stories that demonstrate how they both deal with how different forms of the same language are portrayed in society. In both stories they speak about what society declares the right way of speech and having to face prejudgment, the two authors share their personal experiences of how they’ve dealt with it. Both authors go in detail about their ethnic backgrounds and blend their language for us to better understand throughout their story.

In writing, authors chose particular words and phrases to effectively convey their message or to engage the reader. Writer's word choices, also known as diction, can help communicate ideas, reveal emotion and opinions that they may have toward something or someone. There are many different levels of diction such as formal diction, used by Richard Rodriguez in his autobiography The Hunger of Memory, and neutral diction, used by Charles Bukowski in his novel Ham on Rye. The use of diction in these pieces make the stories come to life in the reader's head.

Amy Tan’s purpose in her article “Mother Tongue” is to show the influence of her mother’s style of english. She also relates this to a more broad topic of the idea that there are many different types of english that people speak that are tailored to whoever they are speaking to. She begins this piece by stating plainly that she is not an english scholar. Instead of decreasing her credibility it actually increases it and paints this piece as a more personal set of observations rather than a bland overview of the entire language. By making it more personal it allows the reader to connect to the author because she seem like a normal person you might run into on the street rather than an isolated scholar. She also mentions that she is a writer and an english major which gives her credibility by implying that she has

Who is this subculture group? Where are they from? The Mexican Americans are a population of Spanish speaking individuals whom inhabit an area of Southern Texas named Hidalgo County. This cultural group often refers to themselves as being “true Texans” while referring to those individuals who speak English as being outsiders.

The Anglo or English speakers felt that if she “wanted to be American” she must speak ‘American’ (page 26). I believed that this somewhat angered her, because she was being pressured to eradicate her accent, but there is no way for her to get rid of it. This conclusion was drawn when she states, “So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language” (page 30). The title “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” reveals about the text that it’s hard to control someone or something that has been well accustomed to a habit or way of

The United States is made up of some of the most diverse and interesting cultures in the world. Jamila Lyiscott proves this by showing her different dialects and how they are all equally important. Lyiscott believes that the way she speaks towards her parents, towards her friends, and towards her colleagues are all one in the same.

American, Asian, Russian, Mexican; we all belong to an ethnic group. While some let their culture and ethnic background define them others allow it to shape your life. Being a Mexican-American I’ve had to simultaneously learn two languages at once; Spanish for when I’m at home or with family and English only at school and with friends. Growing up, my parents didn’t speak much English, so my sister and I had to step up as the family translator. Speaking Spanish is important to my family in many ways, not only is it a way for us to communicate with our family in Mexico, but also a reminder of where we come from. Being from a Mexican family and growing up in Washington has influenced my life to be the way it is.

Up until the 1960s Anglo social scientists wrote most of the literature about the people of Mexican- descent in the United States. Their analysis of Mexican American culture and history reflected the hegemonic beliefs, values, and perceptions of their society. As outsiders, Anglo scholars were led by their own biases and viewed Mexicans as inferior, savage, unworthy and different. Because Mexican scholars had not yet begun to write about their own experiences, these stereotypes were legitimized and reproduced in the literature. However, during the mid- 1960s scholars such as Octavio Ignacio Romano, Nick Vaca, Francisco Armando Rios, and Ralph Ricatelli began to reevaluate the literature written by their predecessors. In their work they analyze

For this book review, I am going to be talking about David Montejano’s book entitled Quixote’s Soldiers, A local history of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981. The author’s purpose is very well explained and it is not hard to understand. The author clearly tries to explain different ideologies, individuals and organizations located in one of the Southwest’s major cities, San Antonio, Texas, during the late 1960s and early 190s.

I’m the first generation of my family to be Mexican -American, but I have been introduced to the Mexican culture since I was born. I appreciate the difficulties my parents have faced to make me the person that I am today even though I wasn’t born in Mexico my parents have taught me the language and the culture which I’m so proud of being part of. For others being Hispanic is actually being born in any Latin American countries which is not true at all. Being Hispanic is much more than my cultural background it actually describes how much I appreciate my culture and how I get to experience things other people don’t. I fit into the Hispanic community through the experiencing the culture first hand ,participating in traditions and planning to include my culture in my future.

Throughout generations cultural traditions have been passed down, alongside these traditions came language. The language of ancestors, which soon began to be molded by the tongue of newer generations, was inherited. Though language is an everlasting changing part of the world, it is a representation of one’s identity, not only in a cultural way but from an environmental standpoint as well. One’s identity is revealed through language from an environmental point of view because the world that one is surrounded with can cause them to have their own definitions of words, an accent, etc. With newer generations, comes newer forms of languages. Although these new generation 's’ way of speaking has come from elsewhere, there is a kind of shame that comes from this. Shame, because their ancestors spoke

Selena Quintanilla’s father once said, “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans.” In today’s society, many have encountered the challenge of not being able to be who they really are because they fear not being accepted by others, more specifically their culture. But, what happens when an individual is part of two worlds that have just as many rules? Gloria E. Anzaldúa was a Mexican-American writer and poet who made a major contribution to the fields of cultural, feminist, and queer theory. Anzaldúa identifies as a Chicana and speaks different variations of Spanish, some of which she exhibits in her works. In her short story “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, she centers on the struggles of self-identity that

As a Mexican American I was raised acknowledging both of my cultures, but as I got older the concept of being Mexican American became more complicated. I remember watching the movie Selena when I was younger and being able to relate to one scene that involved the discussion about how tiring it is to be Mexican American. The characters discussed how Chicanos have to prove that they are American enough for America and at the same time being Mexican enough for Mexico. Additionally, if they are too much of one or the other, they are faced with constant criticism. An identity crisis builds up for Chicanos because of the uncertainty of who they are and where they belong. The balance of being both Mexican and American has made it difficult for Chicanos

Who are we? What forms one's identity? Language is a important element of culture and culture is known to be crucial definer of one's identity. Language connects people to a certain identity and allows them to communicate their ideas and values to themselves and the world... In other words language is important as it allows people to express their thoughts as well as beliefs. Language does not necessarily define one's identity and identity does not define language, however it does affect it. Depending on how many languages people know, they are able to decide on what language they want to use in order to communicate with other communities according to their identities.One's identity defines and regulates the use of language and not the contrary.

Phonetics, the sub-area of linguistics that studies the sounds of speech, defines an accent as a specific pronunciation which is determined by the phonetic habits of the speaker 's native language carried over to his or her use of another language (O’Grady, Archibald, Aronoff, Rees-Miller, 2005). In terms of phonetics the accent is viewed as the speaker’s ability/ inability to pronounce the phonemes of a second language correctly. So the accent is what makes the speech of non-native speaker sound differently. In the process of acquiring the first language we learn how to accommodate our articulatory apparatus in order to produce the phonemes, interestingly, when speaking the native language we almost never think how the sounds are articulated.