Jennifer Guzman

Professor Connelly
English 2
14 September 2016
Formal Writing Assignment 1
The article, How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua exposes the thoughts of
what it is like to be Mexican-American individual living in America. She defines the meaning
and the complexity of the language for Mexican-Americans, in hopes of making a connection
with her targeted audience. Language is a form of identity, and Anzaldua makes various
statements about the language and includes personal experiences throughout the article. She
effectively conveys her message to her audience through rhetorical techniques such as inductive
reasoning and providing claims to connect with her audience.
She adequately approaches the topic of language from the beginning and uses the
scenario of being in the dentist. The dentist representing the suppression of the mexican language
and the girl representing the Mexican-American population. She asserts, El Anglo con cara de
inocente nos arranc la lengua (Anzalda 54). This translates to: the American with an innocent
face has ripped out our tongue. The premise of her argument is the Americans who have changed
the tongue (language) of the Mexican Americans. Although it is her belief, she goes onto giving
reasons as to why she declares this. Anzaldua includes many of her background beliefs in hopes
to engage with her audience. In this article, the main audience appears to be directed to the
Mexican-American population, but from a broader perspective, she is as well speaking to other
ethnical groups who have lived through the suppression of their first language. The premise of
argument in this section is in fact the difference in cultures and reactions.

Anzaldua transitions into the variations of languages. Oppose to simply explaining the
different aspects of the Mexican-American language, she uses Inductively valid arguments.
Inductive valid arguments are regularities observed in our experiences and onto other possible
experiences (Kahane, Howard, Cavender 10). Gloria Anzaldua states And because we are
complex, heterogeneous people, we speak many languages (Anzaldua 55). In this section she
goes onto summarize the six languages which include: standard english, working class and slang
english, standard spanish, standard mexican spanish, North Mexican spanish, Chicano Spanish,
Tex-Mex, and Pachuco. Her audience may relate to those languages listed. Anzaldua explains
how she uses these various forms of languages at different times. With different groups, she
speaks different languages. Society has come to the conclusion that Spanish is just one language,
one way. Anzaldua demonstrates to her audience that it is false and explains her reasoning. For
example, with California Chicanas, she speaks entirely english. Although the girls know spanish,
it is not a custom to speak spanish among each other. With her family she speaks the Chicano
Texan Spanish. At work, she uses the standard working english language. It is evident that her
point to the audience is that Spanish, or any other language in that matter, is not strictly one way.
Furthermore, Gloria Anzaldua goes on to explain the response to speaking the different
forms of the spanish language. She theorizes the linguistic terrorism. Racially, culturally, and
linguistically somos huerfanos - we speak an orphan language (Anzaldua 58). The reasoning
behind this statement is because of the different variations of the spanish language she has
experienced and used. Individuals, including herself, have at some point in their life felt a sort of
shame because the language is not pure. The belief that the American-Mexican population
speak poor spanish. Throughout this section, Anzaldua exhibits the meaning of language being
your identity.

It is clear that Gloria Anzalduas context is explicit to the Mexican-American audience.

She claims, We call ourselves Mexican-American to signify we are neither Mexican nor
American, but more the noun American than the adjective Mexican (64). When analyzing this
claim, one comes to think that she is speaking on behalf of many Mexican American individuals
who have felt like they did not particularly belong or have an identity in some way, but looking
at it in another perspective, Andalzua reaches out to far more ethnicity groups than anticipated.
In her claim, she speaks about how a Mexican American individual might classify themselves,
but she uses the word American as a noun. A noun is a person, place or thing. An american
person is how an individual might classify themselves, but do not claim to be the adjective of of
an American. An adjective is an action or the state of being. Andalzuas audience appears to be
the Mexican American population, yet she was reaching out to all other ethnic groups in
conjunction with being labeled or classified. Her claim can be related to other ethnic groups,
such as Chinese-American, German-American, Indian-American, and the list goes on and on.
Her target audience is the Mexican American population, but her claim here opens the doors to
many other ethnic groups. A Chinese-American reader perhaps can relate to using the word
American as a noun and using the word Chinese as an adjective. It goes for all ethnic
groups. The usage of utilizing a metaphor to explain how one may classify themselves, navigates
itself towards a broader audience.
Gloria Andalzua effectively conveyed her context through rhetorical uses and reached out
to her audience. While analyzing her article, the main focus Andalzua appeared to show was the
connection to her audience and using inductive reasoning to further make her claims stronger.
Based on her writing techniques, she allowed me as the reader to explore her context in a more

valuable way. The theme of identity remained strong throughout her article, making her claims
more effective. Gloria Andalzua conveyed the purpose of her article.

Work Cited
Anzaldua, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue. Borderlands/LaFrontera:TheNewMesituza.
San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute, 1987. 53-64
Kahane, Howard, and Nancy Cavender. Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric: The Use of Reason
in Everyday Life. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2002. Print.