#3: Language and Identity

In the article by Hall, the concept of language and identity is discussed. I thought that one of the most interesting things stated was “cultural identities are like cloaks that individuals can put on or take off” (Hall 32).  There are many different ways that one can express their cultural identity.  For example, I don’t not speak the same when I am talking to, say, my parents, teachers, sisters or friends. 

I am usually very formal when talking to a teacher or boss.  When talking to my parents, I am not formal, but I try to be polite, and I never use offensive language. 

I may say a lot of things to my friends that I may not feel comfortable saying to my sisters, but at the same time, I may get angry at my sisters some times and say rude things to them that I would never say to my friends. 

Within my group of friends, I will use different language to the ones who I am close with, to the ones that I am not so close with. 

Even more different than this, when talking to my ex boyfriend who is Scottish, I typically try to refrain from using a lot of “Americanized” words or sayings, and I have even taken a lot of Scottish words out of his vocabulary that I used when talking to him or my other friends from abroad.  However, I would not use this same language while talking to my American friends because they would just have no idea what I was saying.

To go along with all of this, I liked when Hall stated that while being abroad, “national identity is more relevant than gender or social class.  While being in Scotland, I was definitely identified as an American more than anything.  In the workplace, people can often be identified by their social class or who is getting paid the most.  Within a classroom, where no one knows me personally, I would be identified by my gender, as a girl.

All in all, the article summed up that social identities influence our linguistic actions, they do not determine them.  I do not think that each person has “one identity”, and it doesn’t make us fake that we change our linguistic actions from place to place.  It would be extremely rude if I talked to my grandma the way that I talk to my friends.  If I did this, she would probably not talk to me anymore.  It is natural for our social identities to influence out linguistic actions, but at the same time, it’s something that will change throughout our lifetime.