Eid Mubarak Everyone!

I’m wondering how many blog posts we’ll end up with if we continue to reflect our personal and analytical perspectives at this speedy rate. Although these blog posts are mandatory and have specific deadlines, I feel surprisingly relaxed when writing them, #nopressure. Not only have these blog posts helped me to readjust to the English language after a long break (summer), it has given me the opportunity to analyze more texts and improve upon my interpretative and rational writing skills. There is a certain security bound to this expressive method of inquiry, I feel more confident in the English Language and Literature course as it gives firm guidelines to its content. Anyhow, I shall get back to business and provide three paragraphs regarding three different texts that I have read, summarized, compared and contrasted over this short but enriching break.

The article “Yorkshire named top twang as Brummie brogue comes bottom” published by the Guardian, demonstrates dialectal superiority associated with one’s intelligence amongst British dialects, mainly focusing on Yorkshire Twang and the Brummie dialect in Birmingham. Research stated that “people who said nothing at all were regarded as more intelligent than those with a Brummie accent,” which encouraged Dr. Lance Workman (who led the research) to navigate perceived intelligence with regional stereotypes into a more impartial direction. He claimed that criminal offense is most likely to be correlated to Birmingham folk, which in turn is joined to a lack of sufficient education. The main purpose behind the study shows to be “to investigate regional stereotypes” and their prejudiced relation to “elite education.” As concerns to one of our own studies in class, this article refers to the topic identities, specifically devoted to the characteristics of master identities (national and regional origins). Language use and master identities are commonly bound together due to the perception of cultural provenance being closely related to language, or vice versa. The dialectal stereotypes within the article inform how people tend to associate one’s regional origin and dialect to physical, ethnical and mental prejudices.

In contrast to the first article, “You Say Up, I Say Yesterday”, writer Joan O’C. Hamilton specifically focuses the text on the research of cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky revealing explicit conclusions regarding language and its interconnected link to what the speaker of that language thinks, perceives and remembers about an event. Its study is very psychologically based, performing investigations that test the perception of a certain event with its corresponding usage of language to describe so. Boroditksy demonstrates her arguments through the use of several languages, including Spanish, Mandarin, Russian and English, to indicate how verb forms and intentional point of views regarding an event differentiate their cognitive perceptions. “She has shown that speakers of languages that use “non-agentive” verb forms – those that don’t indicate an animate actor – are less likely to remember who was involved in an accident (p. 464),” which supports Boroditsky’s argument regarding her study of language in connection to remembrance. Her passionate and extroverted learning in the fields of cognitive science exposes Boroditsky to go beyond the subject matter, as she takes her investigation to another level by introducing the relationship between linguistic features and cultural concepts including space, time and gender. Borditsky’s concepts strongly relate back to language rules studied in class and the role of language being shaped by social nature of human beings. Inquiring how a language is activates meaningful communication and using the importance of code-switching to demonstrate how the ‘breaking of a cup’ is communicated differently when translated.

The last text “Bilingual Mind: Understanding How the Brain Speaks Two Languages” by Jeffrey Kluger, examines the impact of bilingual and multilingual minds through mental and physical studies. Throughout the text Kuger associates the positive aspects of being bilingual predominately, as Sean Lynch states “that these students [bilingual students] seemed to show a greater facility with skills that relied on interpreting symbolic representations, such as math or music.” Apart from the fact that the multilingualism provokes “profound effect on the brain, from improving your analytical skills, to enhancing your cognition, to protecting your brain from dementia later in life,” different studies claim to see a downside to multilingualism throughout the linguistic development of a child. They grow up with a smaller range of vocabulary in both their languages, causing incomprehensive cognition due to the constant switching of their languages “choosing the words they feel the children will have an easier time understanding or reproducing.” This consistent shift in languages is also known as code-switching, which links directly to our discussions in class about code-switching. Even though code-switching might cause unstable competence between two languages, it does achieve conceptual/linguistic gaps and establishes an identity different from on that can exist in either language.

Mother Tongue Originated post

We all grow up with a language related to the country we live in and perhaps your origin. Whether that’s English, Spanish or Dutch, idiolect's contribute an important value to the cultural and social development of one’s self. Through the use of idiolect's particular individuals are encouraged to communicate in a creative, unique and expressive manner, which creates more diverse people. It shapes strong bonds with family members or friends, establishing an exclusive relationship. That idiolect's build on intimacy and individuality is one, it certainly shapes your identity too. A language often says a lot about your ethnicity and cultural background, we use language to communicate and overcome barriers. Idiolect's have a similar function; we use them to ease communication except idiolect's are designated to very limited people. Nevertheless, home languages can cause preconceived opinions determining your linguistic skills and strengths. A native speaker may associate the usage of an idiolect with a lack of grammatical and morphological sense in a particular language. Based on the derivation of an idiolect, prejudices assumptions regarding intellectual and comprehensive competency impact the academic accomplishments of an individual in a certain language.

Being a non-native speaker myself but having to adjust to an international community has had a major effect on my domestic linguistic communication. I’m a fluent Dutch speaker, however my engagement and advancement within the English language demonstrates quit fluent attributes as well. I think, talk, write and reflect as a native English speaker would but my mother tongue language will always be devoted to my Dutch origination. Anyhow, since I’m persistently communicating in English to an extent where my brain has mastered the English language as good as my Dutch, I have unconsciously created an idiolect based on the two. It’s a ‘home language’ spoken between my mom and I due to our international interactions as experienced employee and student and Dutch origin. The idiolect assembled from English and Dutch consists of Dutch grammatical rules with English adjectives using a Dutch prefix. Sometimes half the sentence will be spoken in English and the other half in Dutch simply because that first half of the sentence is explained way more clear when pronounced in English whereas the second half sounds more understandable in Dutch. The purpose and ambition of this idiolect is to reflect our embracement of both languages in equal terms and express ourselves through an exclusive medium of communication without the complexity of having to speak in one language.

Good English and Bad English

Evaluating the text 'Good English and Bad' by Bill Bryson has broadened my perspective on how to judge the good and supposedly bad forms of English. Bryson has created some persuasive contradictions suggesting that 'bad' English is not considered informal or academically incorrect as regards to the time period we live in now. On the contrary, the Latin grammatical complexity is considered entirely meaningless once thoroughly observing its 'standard' usage. Bryson provided some interesting examples that reveal the uncomprehendingly defects within the usage of the English grammatical Language, as he declares himself "we seldom stop to think about it, but some of the most basic concepts in English are naggingly difficult to define." He uses the formulation of a sentence to demonstrate the defaults of grammatical sense: "most dictionaries define it broadly as a group of words constituting a full thought and containing, a minimum, a subject and predicate," however if someone says "your car got stolen" someone can reply with "what?!", which provides enough meaning to express a "full thought". His entire article depicts and illustrates all anomalies in the English Language with further reference to the impact of these anomalies created through 'refining' academies of the English Language throughout the past centuries. Nevertheless, Bryson is very appreciative of the continuous and inevitable change of grammatical use. 

As regards to my own grammar lapses, I make them regularly due to the fact that English is not my first language. However, there have never been unintelligible moments where people are incapable of understanding what I'm trying to say. They will often correct me using the standard and grammatical definiteness of English even though they have no idea why it would be considered as correct. Why could I not formulate a sentence slightly different if my audience is still able to understand and communicate with me? Bryson cherishes evolution of linguistic changes, so why not disseminate and promote more logical, academically seen as erroneous, formulations onto a fresh society to ease communication and evoke sensible grammar? 

A Good Name

I truly believe our names shape our identities to a certain extent, determining our further process in developing 'our sense of self'. A name has the multifunctional quality and dedication to depict the cultural origin or ethnicity of a person. Often the way a name looks or sounds links back to a particular language spoken in a particular culture. As regards to my name, its historical context significantly relates to who I am in all fields of identities. My mother decided since she was very little to name me after her big idol Coco Chanel, who was overall and still is a very creative and influential designer today. Evaluating my own personal identification and comparing that to Coco Chanel’s, resulted in a remarkable similarity of traits. Her big passion for designing reflected my intense ‘ardor’ for creating, designing and constructing. Both our values in life on an academic point of view have crucially been inspired by the right side of our brains: creativity and sensuality. It’s not only the meaning behind the letters of my name that have shaped my road to self-discovery; it’s the visual attraction of the simplicity of letters that appeal to my minimalistic perspective in terms of art. I appreciate the beauty of simplicity in the sense of honoring my feelings and thoughts instead of looking at the world from a materialistic desire to fulfill our unlimited needs. My name forms a visually typographical balance of letters symbolizing a half and full moon (C = half moon, O = full moon). I looked up the emblematic meaning behind the moon, “She is reliant upon the sun's light to reflect her image to our earthly eyes.” The moon becomes a symbol of delicacy as her reflections and clarity enfold our attention. Relating this concept back to the subtle essence of my name, it reveals my fragile and sensitive character.

I’m looking forward to reading all your posts based on this topic! I had lots of fun writing mine and hopefully you had some reading it.

Introductory Blog Post About Myself

Dear reader,

I’m Coco Bink and have lived in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. for 5 years now. It’s been an incredible journey full of new opportunities and experiences. These years will forever have an impact on who I am and who I will become in the future. I have learned how to be an international open-minded student who cares for the people around and appreciates the variety of cultural distinctions. I’m originally from The Netherlands, Amsterdam in specific, which is a very busy and fascinating city known for its significant canal houses and modernist architecture. However, arriving in the U.A.E. was everything but what I expected. I thought of Abu Dhabi as a very desert-rich conservative culture while in fact I have never lived in such a culturally diverse country. Eventually Raha has encouraged me to become socially very interactive with over 60 different nationalities with each their individual languages. Language has therefore been playing a big role in my life and it has become an important skill to communicate in different languages across the globe. It has also increased my interest in studying languages in the future, although my real passion is dedicated to industrial design and architecture. English is a very influential and global language. Almost in every country they speak a little bit of English, which has never really created any exclusion due to language barriers. Do you even need to know a language to be able to communicate? I don’t think so! If your speaking is very limited in a certain language you can still communicate with each other through gestures. Body language is almost as important as speaking a language in my opinion. You can understand a lot behind one single facial expression or a certain hand gesture.

As for my personal journey through the English Language, I'm not a native speaker and before 4 years ago I did not speak a word. It was an incredible transition, which I will cherish forever! I think that language does not only expand your knowledge on diverse grammatical rules and communication skills, it carries a cultural value too. The use of a language shapes your identity to an extent where people are able to identify your travel experiences, your origin or even determine your personal relationship to a culture. Lucky me this Language and Literature course enables me to delve into such contemplations! I never knew the explicit value of studying English (or any language) until I entered Raha. It's a privilege to be introduced to such high quality teaching and having the opportunity to develop hidden talents. In Grade 7, when my level of English was about as low as my confidence in English, I hated it! It was horrible, nothing interested me and I could not understand a single word. Looking at how far I have come has made me realize how passionate I became about the subject English. I would like to inspire the next person who reads this and is going through the same phase as I did in Grade 7 and tell them to never give up. Language in the end is something that develops naturally over time and significantly improves. If I can do it, you can. It's all about willpower and being a 'risk-taker' as a drilled IB student would say. The photo below is actually shot by myself in the Nike store. I like taking photographs of inspiring and motivating things. It is a visual image to remind yourself that there is always a purpose or a reason to undertake a challenge.

I hope you enjoyed Coco's autobiography in a nutshell and feel free to ask me anything!

#stayclassy