Phase 2: Exploratory Essay

Abstract: In this Research Exploratory Essay I decided to focus on the Language Discrimination that goes on in the United States and how it affects individuals not just internally but externally as well. This essay expresses the arguments about different authors who have their point of view on language discrimination and if they believe whether or not oppressing someone’s language is a form of violence. Through the different text we get to see vivid examples of individuals who faced these uncomfortable situations, how they felt through the situations and how they dealt with the people who didn’t welcome their Native language.

Is Linguistic Discrimination a Form of Violence?

              Throughout the centuries there has been a growing amount of discrimination towards an individual’s dialect because it isn’t considered “proper” or “normal” depending in the country you reside in. Criticizing someone’s linguistic involves judging the individuals on their possible accent, native tongue, dialect, vocabulary basically judging the identity of the person.  Disparaging a language helps to put more limits in a society because people who are being judged feel as if they can’t use the language they are most content with and feel safer with because of the perception people have of them. Throughout the United States lately there has been a lot of issues that involves people being racist and discriminative towards another person or group of people because they speak another language other than English or they have an accent when they speak English. These issues are progressing in a negative way because of the hatred that has grown between cultures and not understanding each other’s unique ethnicities, people have become ignorant and believe that if you live in the United States then you should be only speaking English. As authors have researched and written personal stories of language discrimination it has come to my attention that individuals should be informed and aware of the harm they are doing of discriminating someone’s language. Lately we have been experiencing violence on a day to day basis at the Mexican border of people with needs who are escaping their Native countries and aren’t being welcomed to the United States because they are being illiterate as they can’t speak English. We see that the way the U.S forces guard the border happens in a very violent way as they throw smoke bombs physically hurting the adults and children who try to give them an explanation in their native tongue on why they need the United States help but they are ignored as the guards discriminate their language and just use violence in trying to control all the immigrants. We see that when people speak in their native tongue in the United States individuals tend to discriminate because they believe that in this country we should only be able to speak English. Once people tend to feel as they aren’t welcomed in the country they start feeling emotionally attacked and then a counter attack begins which grows into people not being able to control their emotions and then lead to violence to try to resolve the problem.  Therefore, linguistic discrimination is not just a form of emotional violence, but it is also an origin of the increase in the physical violence throughout the United States.

Living in a country where people judge others on their dialect has been difficult for people to feel safe and welcomed in a country where it’s said to be the opportunity for dreams to come true and that they welcome everyone from around the world. Authors like Amy Tan and Kristin Ruth Bratt have informed their audience about vivid language discrimination situations in the United States that has either happen to them personally or around their vicinity and have been dealt with in a form of violence. Amy Tan a language development consultant and freelance writer wrote an essay titled “Mother Tongue” which focuses on the hardships she had to go through as she was growing up in a non-English house hold and all the stereotypes she was put in for being Asian. As the essay continues Tan focuses on horrendous situations that her mom faced for speaking “broken English” and how these moments have made her realize that there is nothing wrong for speaking a language differently than what society expects. The continuous situations her mom went through were really embarrassing for Tan as she claimed “Then she began to talk more loudly. “What he want, I come to New York tell him front of his boss, you cheating me?… And sure, enough the following week…the real Mrs. Tan was shouting at his boss in her impeccable broken English” (Tan, 2). The fact that Mrs. Tan wasn’t taken seriously just for not being the most fluent in a language is discriminatory and it adds to the emotional violence that she goes through daily just because she is considered to speak “broken English”, Tan presents this situation her mom faced in order to educate her readers upon the hardships people face in their day-to-day life when they are taken advantage of for speaking differently than a “Standard American English.” I agree that no one should be taken advantage of because of their dialect and that no form of discrimination should be done as it causes emotional violence upon the victim and with the anger that builds up in the victim it tends to lead into a verbal violence later as it happened to Tan’s mother. In comparison, Kristin Ruth Bratt focused on the creation of the Arizona English-only policies and how it causes violence between the school staff and students. In her essay on “Violence in the Curriculum: Compulsory Linguistic Discrimination in the Arizona-Sonora Borderlands” argues that linguistic discrimination leads to a certain degree of violence when people feel as that is the best way to solve the issue. Bratt uses different situations that have occurred in the Arizona district to present how neglecting a student’s native tongue and imposing so many rules on only speaking English in school has caused violence between students and schools staff. The author illustrates the story of Juan and his teacher who get into an altercation when he decides to break the rules and as the fight evolves the teacher ends up hurt and Juan ends up in jail. Bratt points out that “What I think led up to the teacher’s accident, however, has a great deal to do with institutionalized racism, in which she is seen as complicit by her students and her families” (Bratt, 217). Informing the audience about how if there wasn’t so much limitations on what language a student can speak in school and not get in trouble for breaking the rule of “only English” then the situation between the student and teacher would not be started because there would have been no type of racism which is measured as violence since it hurts the students internally and emotionally. Bratt informs the educators about how discrimination in schools causes physical violence when that is not the way to go. Extending on both author’s observations on the discrimination in the United States I would like to add on that when judgement is created upon someone’s dialect it tends to frighten us since we feel inferior to someone who speaks the language with less of an accent or more fluently. What I am claiming here is that what society doesn’t understand is that we all come from different backgrounds and ethnicities and we won’t all speak the same so why judge, who or what says that their dialect is precise or adequate.

To further focus on the issue of violence being created upon the verbal discrimination going on in the United States expert Walt Wolfram a sociolinguist at North Carolina State University, specializing in social and ethnic dialects of American English, in his essay “Everyone Has an Accent” asserts that everyone’s dialect is unique and it comes along with an accent. Through his essay Wolfram informs the educators about the development of a person’s accent and how in places like school or work people make fun of someone else’s accent not realizing that everyone has their own individual dialect and accent. He as well presents solutions of going to take classes to get informed of the development of accents, dialects to minimize the linguistic discrimination going on in the nation. Wolfram opened his essay by giving us a glimpse of a traumatizing moment that Tanya faced when she spoke, and everyone reacted negatively saying things like “You have a funny accent!” “Where did you learn to talk?” “Did you hear how she said her name” (Wolfram, 40)? in other words as Wolfram decided to write this story of Tanya it pointed out the issue of linguistic discrimination going on in elementary school and how it tends to happen between all age groups because people don’t understand the uniqueness of a person’s dialect. Personally, reading this undesirable story and knowing that this isn’t the only case that it has happened at such a young age it’s obvious people are causing emotional violence to a young person who is just developing their identity which could affect them internally as they might feel ashamed of who they are becoming. Not only do you notice the harm being caused but Wolfram as well included how the teacher giggled when he heard Tanya speak and later noticed how she was upset so he stopped the students from making fun. As you can see by him laughing at first it made the class realize as if she was speaking “funny” and as if it was okay to criticize her accent. Which in my point of view it isn’t acceptable at all because as the adult in the room he should set example and be educated on how everyone has their own accent. A similar story of language discrimination happened in Arizona as author Bratt summarizes that 2 middle school students were fighting in their home language (Spanish) and as one of the security guards heard them, he decided to act in a violent way injuring one of the students with pepper spray. What’s important to notice in this situation is that the “solution” that the officer resulted to be a horrible decision because it just lead to more violence which is never the answer and second because as the adult he should have just broken up the fight and not actually cause serious injuries to the student. In summary it is important to notice that through these two stories presented from these author’s we learn about the violence caused from either a peer or school staff member who don’t recognize that everyone has their own accent and speak different languages because of their family orientation. So far, I have discussed about the different forms of linguistic discrimination and how it forms more violence either being emotional or physical violence and how in the United States people tend to be ignorant in accepting a person’s linguistic.

Not everyone in the United States tends to believe that linguistic discrimination causes more emotional and physical violence but that it tends to minimize violence. For instance, David D. Laitin’s an author who focuses on writing papers on ethnicities and language wrote an essay on “Language Conflict and Violence: The Straw that Strengthens the Camels Back” which argues that forming language policies helps in controlling violence. Laitin affirms that “In fact, under certain potentially incendiary conditions, language conflict can help to contain violence” (Laitin, 532). He believes that depending on the circumstance that these rules are being formed it can help minimize the violence. He further goes on to how “The greater the language difference between the language of the minority group and that of the dominant group, the lower is the probability of violence” (Laitin, 532). He affirms that basically if one person doesn’t understand another person’s dialect and if they judge each other for not comprehending what each other speak it will not cause violence. Laitin’s whole research on language violence and his different test help his argument about how language conflict isn’t considered a form of violence. By focusing on language barrier, I think Laitin overlooks the fact that just because people might not understand each other all the time that doesn’t mean people won’t stop discriminating on each other’s language which will lead to emotional violence as it hurts the individual’s identity. I still believe linguistic discrimination does cause violence because as mentioned before Tan illustrated “The fact that people in department stores, at bank, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her or even acted as if they didn’t hear her” (Tan, 2). Presenting the mistreatment her mom faced when she would speak in her “broken English” and people felt as if it was right to neglect people for their dialect. I agree with Tan that this caused her mom damage since it made her feel unworthy which is seen as emotional violence. As a Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1993 Toni Morrison implored in her speech said, “Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.” This powerful quote is indicating that neglecting one’s form of language is violence and it minimizes the possibility of extending a person’s knowledge since people tend to judge one another putting insecurities each other’s form of language. In my opinion, attacking someone’s language tends to form a lot of more hatred throughout the United States as it doesn’t let a person grow in their full capacity since it limits them to stick to only speaking English just because they live in the United States. Then individuals are forced to follow all standard English rules to avoid judgement and any type of physical or emotional violence and try to live by the “prestigious rules”. Through Tan’s and Morrison’s knowledge and experiences of linguistic discrimination it is clear to see that critics tend to hurt people in a violent way in which it doesn’t help in any way possible but just forms more hatred and stereotypes throughout the United States.

Therefore, it can be concluded that linguistic discrimination not only causes emotional violence but increases the physical violence in the society of United States. Even though some may not agree and feel as if language barriers are better and minimizes violence, when one judges another for their dialect it tends to hurt them emotionally and as the anger grows inside either the victim or the critic then they will tend to resort to a physical resolution which just causes more violence. I feel that with the research done the audience should be better educated upon the horrible effects on judging one’s language and the amount of violence caused from it. People should be free to speak the way they want because as the first Amendment says “we have the right to Freedom of Speech” so there should be no limitations on someone’s speech and it should stop the violence occurring because of this issue. Instead of criticizing people for their dialect or accent we should be more educated and informed on the development of someone’s linguistic and support one another.

Work Cited

Bratt, Kristin Ruth. “Violence in the Curriculum: Compulsory Linguistic Discrimination in the Arizona-Sonora Borderlands.” Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (JCEPS), Vol. 5 Issue 1, May 2007, pp.210-224

Laitin, David D. “Language Conflict and Violence: The Straw that Strengthens the Camels Back.” European Journal of Sociology, 2000, Vol.41(1), pp.97-137

Morrison, Toni. “Toni Morrison Nobel Lecture (1993).” Youtube, uploaded by SilverBuddha, 4 August 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ticXzFEpN9o&t=18s.

Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue” The Threepenny Review, No. 43 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 7-8

Wolfram, Walt. “Everyone Has an Accent” Teaching Tolerance, Issue 18, Fall 2000, www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2000/everyone-has-an-accent. Accessed 5 November 2018.

Reflection: 

              Throughout phase one and two I have learned mostly about summarizing and synthesizing with different articles or texts and how to properly write a summary. I have been able to connect the phase one techniques with the phase two techniques into my writing. Basically, I learned how to incorporate the use of Aristotle’s triangle into my free writes, how to incorporate my past rhetorical worksheets and chartings into my research paper and even into the summary assignment. Through the different text that we have read in class it has given me a great guide into writing my research paper and what topic I should focus on in writing my essay. I learned how to write a précis and what is a very good outline in writing one, it helped me because it taught me how to include a brief description of the author, then what his/her purpose was how they achieved it and what their claim is. I can say that during phase 2 I mostly used articles like “Everyone Has an Accent” and “English Belongs to Everybody” to give me a guide in my essay and they were the most impactful to help me learn how to write well thought out summaries and précis.

The concepts that most impacted me in this phase were as stated above the use of author purpose, who their audience is, their credibility all of this helped me because it helped me form the summary part of my research paper. I also believe the term evidence had a big impact on my essay because I had to investigate different sources to get specific evidence that will support my thesis or even counterclaim it and that has helped me outline the style of essay I wanted to write. During this phase I learned how to synthesize more in depth and how I could tie up my ideas into the author’s ideas based on a specific topic. Then during one of the last few lectures of phase 2 I learned how to narrow down my topic ideas to be focused on one topic and not get my essay to be all over the place. With narrowing down my topic I was able to narrow down my thesis in which it helped me give a clear statement about my position to the issue being discussed.

This phase’s assignment in writing my exploratory research paper as well as in class it has helped me “achieve explore and analyze in their own and other’s writing a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.”  This goal was very important because it was very helpful into using these rhetorical situations in my essay and it has also helped me in using the same techniques. Another goal achieved was “recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages and their users, and be open to communicating across different languages and cultures” this was achieved through reading the text in the FIQWS packet. Furthermore, I accomplished how to “locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, and bias. Produce well-reasoned written or oral arguments using evidence to support conclusions.” This was all accomplished through the reading course packets and through the process of writing my own researched exploratory essay.

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