On Tuesday, Dr. Reid Gomez brought up the idea of language and its role in colonization. I can't stop thinking about it.
For years I've been into languages, not just the spoken ones, but that's where I've been living for the last few years.
I grew up speaking both Spanish and English and started learning German about five years ago.
For years, I've admired the power of language, of words. How much little scribbles can mean and how much can convey -- everything from love to hate and desire and even who has power.
I'm breaking from the "don't bring in too much outside knowledge to the class" thing we sometimes have going.
I'm used to making connections from class to class and bringing in everything together and I gained a lot from sticking to single texts but I was in another class where the role of language was brought up. I guess I've been trying to link language to ethnic studies in a more direct way than what we have kind of touched up on in class, as evidenced in my last post also being about language.
In this other class, we discuseed the role of language in society and identity formation.
I line up closest with the idea that the original telos of language is to facilitate communication -- but that it has been used in it's parasitic forms to facilitate subjugation.
I'm bilingual. Two tongues. Both brought to this land chunk centuries ago by colonizers.
I can't speak either language "properly." I have an accent when speaking English, when speaking Spanish.
Which tongue holds more power? I have no idea. I don't know if that is a valid question, at least I wish for it to not be. But I guess that is why I'm so interested in this and have made it a point to read Mignolo again and to get my hands on some Jose Medina books and understand language more.
I too am captivated with the idea of language, and the power that it holds. This means of communication, whether it be through words, body movement, or art, is an essential part of the human existence. From our class readings, I dwelled on the concept of translation between languages, it's necessity as well as the discrepancies it produces.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that you feel in limbo with your bilingualism because of your accents, as opposed to feeling apart of two different worlds simultaneously. Language seems to be just that; doors to these separate elsewheres from which some are barred.