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Power and conformity

Name: Nguyen Dinh Ton Nu

Class: 10A1

In this day and age, we can communicate with people of all nationalities all over
the world more easily than making toast. We can overcome many differences,
geographical and cultural, to get our ideas across to the other person, only with
the aid of a common means of expression. And, as it happens, that language is
English. However, the language that enjoyed such global position has not always
been language. In fact, how English came to be a lingua franca brings to mind
some interesting points on power and conformity.

People often see a language as an immobile thing that remains unchanged


through time, while its actually alive and well, evolving every minute. English is
now the most widely taught language in over 100 countries, including China,
Russia, Germany, Spain, It is the chief foreign language to be encountered in
schools, topping many other languages. As a speaker of a language, a person
immediately gains the right to make modifications to it, whether in pronunciation,
verb forms, spelling, And with over 100 countries speaking English, there is
bound to be a myriad of lexical creation as people start to use it in relation to all
aspects of life. Despite the fact that what people speak are often far different
from standard British or American English, they are getting more and more
accepted as a norm. Many distinctive forms of English are emerging in countries
of the inner circle like Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English,
or in the outer circles from countries like Indian, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, These
Englishes are an inevitable consequence of the spread of English on a world scale.
Standard English itself has evolved so much over the last 2 centuries. Many
expressions and grammatical uses have emerged and died out. It can take a
generation or two, but the change does happen. In 1842, Charles Dickens was
amazed by how the Americans used the verb fix with delight, instead of dismay,
yet by now American English has been considered a standard form of English. The
forces that shaped and gave American English its position are many, and theres
no evidence showing that the same thing wont happen again for varieties like
Singlish, or Chinese English, Whatever the attitude towards new usages, there
shall always be people who sneer at linguistic diversity. But these days, there is
simply no getting away from the fact that regional national varieties of English are
being used more and more with increasing prestige.

What language we speak and how we speak it all eventually boils down to the
matter of identity. People have always had an inherent desire to see their own
culture survive and grow, whether through their mother tongues or through the
way they speak it or other languages. Non-standard English has often been
antagonized, sometimes not actually because its hideous and silly, but rather as a
sign of discrimination against those who speak it. The first subject of
discrimination, as unlikely as it may sound, is actually children. Adults have always
been nostalgic about a time when children could read and write way more
competently than children can today. However, when could that Golden Age have
been? Because, if you would spend a little time looking it up in the history book,
in the 18th and 19th century, 40% of brides and bridegrooms could not write their
own names. Or would the Golden Age be nearer to the present day, like in the
70s? 50s? 40s? Even then people were too caught up in war and poverty to have
been more literate than now, yet the same kinds of complaints persisted. In the
end, the issue has never actually been a childs competence when it comes to
speaking English, but rather its her ability to speak a variety known as standard
English. Its not about linguistic ability, but about conforming to a language norm.
Another example of this would be the myth that black children are verbally
deprived. In African-American culture, eloquent speakers are plentiful. Evidently,
verbal art is an integral and precious part of the black culture, both on a personal
and public level. Its influence on popular culture is obvious and omnipresent,
most significantly, hip hop culture. Yet African-American children are often
described in educational standard as verbally deprived,language
impoverished or linguistically retarded. A common and unifying theme in
social and linguistic mythology is the linguistic inferiority principle. It basically
means that if a social group is inadequate compared to the socially dominant
group then the language that the prior group speaks is also inadequate. African-
American have had a history of slavery, when they were given a status of less than
human. Even though that time is behind us now, the prejudice remains. So, when
their language is compared to the middle class norm, it will be considered
deficient, although the definition of deficiency may vary. Grammar, have focused
on the teaching standard, and thus, the printed variety of English has been given
preference over its oral counterpart. In schools, writing has always been
privileged above speech. Given the oral nature of their culture, even though black
children are linguistically competent, they are at a disadvantage at school. The
education system limits them from expressing their cultural identity by imposing a
linguistic norm that is not theirs, on them. If they want to get good grades and
shake off the label of linguistically retarded, they must conform to the Anglo-
American norm of English, instead of developing and nourishing the way their
own people speak. Ultimately, its just a matter of whether to conform, or not to
conform.

A languages popularity has always relied on the power of the nation of its origin.
In the world today, more and more people need a common mean of expressing
themselves and their ideas. Therefore, the more powerful a nation is, the more
popular its language will be, and that shall be a global language. By learning a
language in order to globalize, people are accepting the fact that its a global
language, thereby accepting the power of the nation where it came from. This is
conformity. A language requires a standard system to keep it going, to avoid
confusion, to help people express themselves in the same way, whether or not
they think differently. By using standard English, one is willingly giving up on
how they think for themselves to try and think like other people. This is also
conformity. In the end, it all boils down to the question of conformity: whether
you feel more comfortable to lose yourself and adjust yourself to the normality,
or keep your own identity even when it means rising against all that are deemed
standard, and face grave results in return.

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