Taylor McLeod English 1103 Professor Wray November 10, 2013 Speech Community Inquiry This inquiry process

throughout the semester has revealed to me the importance of raising questions about my development as a person in my speech community and my individuality within it. Through a series of questions, I have had the capability of looking more in depth at the speech community that I identify with. At first, it was difficult to pinpoint a relevant speech community that I considered I belonged to, and could identify with extensively. The speech community that I chose, the golfing speech community, is a sports speech community that is very diverse within it. The use of slang terminology within the community is what the individuals within it use to establish an identity and uniqueness, while setting themselves apart from other communities in the sporting world. The community itself possesses and actively uses hundreds of unique terminologies, slang and lingo that can take years of golfing experience to grasp. Some of the questions raised during the inquiry process were: How does use of this vast dictionary of terms identify an individual with the community, and why does using these terms gain a person respect within it. Through my inquiry process of blogs, video captures and readings, I have become more aware to the answers of these questions. The golfing community has had, and still makes a large impact on me as an individual. The community over the years has created a sense of identity, and has allowed me to grow in my understanding of myself and the progress that I have made as a golfer. I can remember when I first began to try to attempt to play a game of golf. As any golfer would tell you, it was

exceptionally frustrating, frequently even missing the ball before I would hit a terrible shot. It was a more of a comedic experience to others trying to instruct me, and was very embarrassing. My patience was running low, but that was the key. The game taught me to accept the downfalls and grow to fix them. Through my experience I can see where the game does this for everyone who pursues the game passionately. Experiences like these instilled an idea in me that patience is extremely important, and to this day, I can see lessons like these have become engrained into my personality. This was the first step in establishing my identity within the golfing community. Through the Wiki Readers Guide, I gave an example of how the First Tee, a program that many in my speech community can identify with, exposed me to these values. How does the use of slang identify a person within the speech community? The main thing here is the differences in experience and knowledge of the game. Because the game of golf is really based off experience and know how, there is a huge diversity within the community. Again Id like to relate to my first experiences as I began to establish my identity within this community at an early age. When I first started to begin to play the game, the use of slang and golf lingo really overtook me. It was hard to understand some phrases and the language was really confusing and I felt out of place. I began to adapt to this new way of speaking, just so that I could fit in, and be accepted by others within the community. In the reading Ways to Belong in America, Bharati Mukherjee tells what it was like for her and her sister Mira to move to America. The two embraced very different viewpoints on ways to adapt to the culture. When talking about her own immersion in American culture, Mukherjee is very proud of her decision to change and adapt to the American way of life. I can relate to this because when I made the decision to adapt to this golf culture, I was very proud and began to display my identity in a public way, because I was proud of whom I

identified as. As I began to play golf more frequently I could see the slang usage become more and more prevalent in my own speech, even outside the golf course. Why did I change myself as individual to gain acceptance into this community? This is a question that still remains unanswered in my mind. The changes that I made in my speech, who I associated with, and even how I dressed became much more different I as began to become more involved with the golfing community. I believe that these changes occurred so that I could feel like I was accepted within it. In reality, it was all a big effort to fit in. I became so infatuated with becoming a part of this group, I wanted to change who I was and gain respect from that. Through my daybook writing and readings from the Language Awareness textbook, I learned that its essential to become an individual that is you, not who others want you to become. I learned that everyone and every community is diverse in everyway, and that we should accept them for who they are, not basing it on certain speech characteristics, etc. At the deepest level, self-acceptance is either complete or not at all, but for most, yes/no feels too limited because you worry about all the things you would like to change about yourself. When I began using slang terminologies around others in my community, I began to feel a sense of acceptance. Through the Wiki Readers Guide I was able to understand more about how these unique words were formed and how it affects others within the group. The Wiki Readers Guide brought to light the great diversity within the golfing family through videos and articles and broke the stereotypes of the community that society, specifically Western, places on them. In one of the Guides, I referenced a site where a glossary of golf was given. The glossary, containing hundreds on unique words and terms showed the extensiveness of the language within my golfing speech community. Through research in one of the other Wiki readings, I discovered that as an experienced player, I found dozens of words, phrases and slang that I had never

encountered before, another testament to the games and communitys speech diversity. When you use these words between each other, it constructs an identity and individuality within the group. Understanding general terms in the game is tremendously important, even if you are there to have fun, because these terms are the backbone of understanding how the game is played itself. Using these various golf slang terms and lingo can even associate you with a certain group, whether it is large or small within the speech community. An example would be my high school golf team, where we developed terms to define certain shot, swings and objects. Throughout this course, I have put more thought into, and discovered more about myself, and my speech community through free writing and inquiry. These processes have led to a clearer understanding of who I am as a unique individual within my community. The answers to these questions are still not evident or exact, but I know the research through these activities as expanded my knowledge, and has given insight on the language and speech questions that I have raised.