Language and Identity

The meaning of identity has changed over time. A static idea was preferred. For Example when you lived in China, you spoke Chinese/Mandarin and you were simply Chinese. Today, globalisation has grown with not only being able to have more than two languages per person but, people are on the move, migrating across continents settling in areas that suite their comfort. Earlier understanding of identity has no significant play today.

According to Christopher Williams The True Dogs of War: Nation, Language, and Identity in 'Valiant Hearts' 17^th March 2015, the idea that misperception and misinterpretation lead to misunderstanding and a dislocation of a basic sense of humanity and our adherence to the seemingly essential identity markers of nationalism and language that define us.

The Role Of Translation In Enhancing Language and Identity

Language translation plays a critical role in promoting language and cultural identity. The reality is that translation is a strong tool to promote identity and strengthens intercultural discourse. Through translation we can use language and develop its course and origin and hence continuous presence. In the global world today where people traverse their borders, translation is a weapon to proper understanding of how cultural identity originated

Language Origin

The world as I see it is a motley assortment of languages and cultures. A flamboyant grain of humanity that is merely overlooked. But to understand language, digging deep and trying to figure out how communication became so diverse, how did it even become? No other species apart from humanity was able to develop speech faculty however with experiments apes appear to have the ability to vocalise their communications with instruction. That’s about how far back I will go trying to express my romantic readiness for the subject, we will express more on the next article on “language evolution.”

Relationship Between Language and Identity

There is so much to go on with trying to understand the relationship between language and identity. So many, I inclusive, mistook identity to have one formidable link, and that was language. Riddled with ignorance, it is easy to disdain other influences to get an unencumbered objection.

Identity can be a stable and fixed aspect of selfhood things you check off on census forms such as: 

-         Race

-         Nationality

-         Social class

-         Gender

-         Age

However, through life, identity consists of small disconnected parts and is in constant change.  To some, identity is an accomplishment, not who you born as and what name is given to you at birth or baptism, but how you lived out your life and at the hour of your death, what will you be known for, and who will you be remembered as.

According to Kelly (2011), Set of essential characteristics unique to individuals, independent of language, and unchanging across contexts. Language users can display their identities, but they cannot affect them in any way. Language use and identity are conceptualised rather differently in a social-cultural perspective on human action. In this book, human identity is not seen as fixed and intrinsic but conceptualised rather differently as a socially dynamic product of the social, historical and political of the individual’s life experiences.

Language and Social Groups

We are born into these social, historical and political and our identities are provided in part of our memberships of various social groups. For example gender, race, religion, geography and social class- Born as a man or woman into a certain income level defined as poor, middle class or well-to-do.  We are born as Christians, Muslims, or into any other religious faction. Geographical region in which we are born defines in part our memberships assuming specific identities such as French, German, Kenyan, European, Chinese or Mexican and even in-bound the geography we are associated in groups such as Northerners or Westerners.

We have gone on in our lives to develop more layers of membership into different assortment of groups within our schools, workplace, and family.

These institutions give shape to the kinds of groups to which we have access and to the role relationships, we can establish with others. For family, we take on roles as parents, children, siblings, cousins, brother, mother, sister, husband wife and many more. At work we assume roles as subordinates, supervisors, colleagues, managers etc.

Our involvement in everyday socio culturally significant activities, we take on different social identities that however are not stable, for example taking up a job has its roles and the position you fill is your identity, however job security is not a guarantee but constantly being reconstructed. Social action is a site of dialogue in agreement or disagreement, in selecting the various lingual resources available, not so available, we shape something up and define those moments.

Link between Culture and Language

Language and identity give a heightened sensitivity to the promises of life. When discussions arise on language and identity  , so many are quick to their feet to define it as an unresolved argument inclined to language giving existence to identity, with less reactions on the other side that identity is not limited to language. It is mostly true that what and how I speak will subject me to a social group, classified extensively on my geography background, my race, and religion and income status.

According to UCL, a London Global University, the situation is far too complex. Identity is not a static notion and cannot always be linked to language, culture or origin. Speakers of the same language do not necessarily share a culture. Just think about it, for example Namibia and South Africa both speak Afrikaans but have different cultural practices. Another clear example is how over so many years Scotland and Ireland have tried and fought to win secessions from United Kingdom to stand on their own, demanding self-rule.  Therefore, sometimes we may not always assume there is a link between origin, language, culture and identity.

In lieu of the above, culture exists in unison with language. On this note, no language user is considered to be cultural free. As globalisation takes an inevitable toll, language features heavily with social groups. In so many parts of the world, it is not easy to access some of these groups if you do not speak the common tongue among them. When people migrate and constantly interact with different groups, this causes original group borders to shift or fade. The relationship between language and identity is “fragmentary and in flux.”