GOOD

1. Language culture and identity
Presentation
Topic : Relationship between language and identity
By
Ayesha
Roll no 7
Submitted to
Ma’am Farkhanda
Department
Bs English
Semester 8th
Date : 9 Aug, 2020

2. Language
 Languave can be defined as the system of communication comprising codes
and symbols which is used by humans to store, retrieve, organize, structure,
and communicate knowlegde and experience.
 Language is not a static process. It is the primary instruement in the
expression , transmission and adaptation of culture.
 Language is used to maintain one’s own culture and to acquire a new culture
and new knowledge. The learning of a second or foreign language enables one
to view life through another cultural lens.

3. What is identity
 Identity is not easy to define – it is best seen as plurality and not a unitary
construct. Identity is individual’s concept of the self as well as the individual’s
interpretation of the social definition of the self, within his/her inner group
and the larger society. Identity formation is not simply a consious process but
is influenced by unconsious psychological process ( DeVos, 1992).
 Identity is a dynamic, complex and ongoing process. Norton (1997) defines
identity as “ how people understand their relationship to the out side world,
how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how people
understan their possibilities for the future”.

4. Relationship between language and
identity
 Neither identity nor language use is a fixed notion; both are dynamic,
depending upon time and space( Norton, 1995). How we perceive ourselves
changes with our communityof practice,allowing us multiple identities over
the years or even within a day. In discussions of ethnic identity many have
pointed out that language is not a necessary requirent to identify with an
ethnicity ( e.g. A person may identify themeselves as Irish yet not speak
Gaelic). Additionallt an etnic group or individual ascribing to that group may
have a symbolic attachment to an associated language, but may use another
more utilitarian language instead. More commonly an ethnic group identifies
with a specific language.
 For tbe majority of Hispanics, the Spanish language runs deeply into cultural
and personal identities. Anzadiia’s (1987) points out that “ Ethnic identity is
twin skin to linguistic identity_ I am my language. To relinquish Spanish either
literally ao symbolically is to relinquish a signaficant and powerful dimension
of personal and social identity. ( Johnson,2000).

5.  Hoever, all this persumes the speaker is able to self-select their ethnicity, or
more braodly, their identity.
 The work of sociologist Goffman has been influential in showing that self is
constructed entirely through discourse, making our language choices of
paramount importance to our identity construction. In fact he states that
personal identity is defined by how others identify us, not how we identify
ourselves (1963). The speaker can attempt to influence how others perceive
them, but ultimately it is the hearer who creates the speaker’s identity.
 If the speaker is not allowed any influence on their own output then the
hearer is able to construct an identity for the speaker which may be entirely
disparate from the speaker’s desired identity. This allows the hearer an
inordinate amount of power and diminishes the self sufficiency and
independence of the speaker. This is a frequently used technique to control
populations in settings as diverde as schools, prisions, and workplaces.

6.  It is also used in national language policies to extinguish the power associated
with politically “ subversive” and “ inappropriate” languages , such as
Catalan in Spain or Hokkien in Singapore. Being multilingual in the wrong
languages is seen as an impediment to integration and hegemony which is
equated with harmony, although Phillipson has pointed out that there is “ no
straigh correlarion between a single language such as English and positive
asciption such as progress international understanding or the enjoyment of
human rights.

7. Conclusion
 A broad connection exists between language and identification. Language
defines our ethnic group that we belong to, our status in the social
stratification, and also determines the power we hold in our society. Our
social identity is created by our language and also our future possibilities are
determined by language. With other factors placed in mind, language then
plays a major role in determining who we really are and what our future
possibilities are.

8. Thank you