LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 16:3 March 2016
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Language and Individual Identities

Tanveer Ahmed Muhammadi, M.S. Scholar

Abstract

This article attempts to clarify the link between language and individual identity. An individual plays different roles in society. His or her identity keeps changing according to context in time and space. This identity shift is mainly managed by language. In this article the language has been shown in action by citing different examples and cases from history and day to day happenings to show how language plays its role in defining our identity. In this regard theories about language and identity have been discussed. It is also brought into broad focus how dialect and accent can be the marker of a particular identity.

Keywords: Language, identity, dialect, accent.

Introduction

Identity has become a major theme in the field of linguistics now. And when it comes to language it is sense of our own identity and others’ sense of identity about ourselves that we choose our expressions and words. It is the identity that gives us choice of language. Our language expresses our ethnic, religious, regional, educational, psychological, relational and many other identities. It is because we keep changing our identity according to the context, except for our certain rigid and stable identities that of gender, ethnicity and et cetera. According to Edwards (2013), “language and identity are ultimately inseparable” (p. 20). The direct connection between the two has been acknowledged in the diverse fields such as anthropology, education, applied linguistics, sociology and psychology. The question who we are leads to the consciousness about our identity. But the question who we are depends upon the answer to the question how others look at us. In this way the identity of an individual is a relational matter. It depends upon the view of our role and position in the eyes of other members of the group. We act and speak according to the understanding of the interlocutors about ourselves. And when we are engaged with a different interlocutor our identity, too, would shift automatically. Therefore identity is thought to be dynamic and fluid, always shaping and reshaping according to the context in time and space. So when we speak we constantly construct the meaning keeping our ongoing identity with every passing moment. Our language use is constantly in contact with the mind to alert us about the suitability of our language choice negotiating the needs of our social identity at that time. In this way language and identity have direct influence over each other and are constantly engaged in a process of producing and shaping each other.

According to Bauman (as cited in Hall, 2013), “Individual identity is the situated outcome of a rhetorical and interpretive process in which interactants make situationally motivated selections from socially constituted repertoires of identificational and affiliational resources and craft these semiotic resources into identity claims for presentation to others” (p.34).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Tanveer Ahmed Muhammadi
M.S. Scholar
Mehran University of Engineering and Technology
Jamshoro
Sindh Province
Pakistan
tanveeeer_ahmad@yahoo.com
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