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Essay Identity
Essay Identity
Essay Identity
SALIM Amine
MOROCCAN AMERICAN STUDIES
Semester 3
transmit a lot of information about ourselves that reflect our identities. Through language, we can
communicate our religious, regional, ethnic, educational, psychological and many other
identities. According to Edwards (2013), “language and identity are ultimately inseparable” (p.
20). The direct link between the two is approved in different fields of study such as anthropology,
psychology, sociology, and applied linguistics. When wondering about our identity and
sometimes asking the simple question “who are we?” We automatically shift the perspective and
ask ourselves again, “ How others perceive us?”. In this way, the identity of an individual
depends on the view of other members of the group of his or her role and position within that
social group. In fact, our language /identity would shift every time we engage with different
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interlocutors, the dynamics of our identity enables it to mold and reshape according to different
contexts hence using suitable language choice that can negotiate our identity at that particular
time or context. This essay is an attempt to make clear the link between language and individual
identity because an individual’s identity goes on changing according to contexts and this identity
transformation is primarily managed by language. It is also highlighted how dialect and accent
participants and other contexts. According to Baumann (2000), “Individual identity is the
situated outcome of a rhetorical and interpretive process in which interactants make situationally
resources and craft these semiotic resources into identity claims for presentation to others” (p.1).
From this perspective, by using language, people present and represent themselves by choosing
from an inventory of totally different identities depending on the social context or the
interlocutor which also means that each one of us has multiple identities that we can display in
our different social roles. Moreover, when we perceive someone speaking, we automatically
make certain assumptions about his linguistic, ethnic, social background. Similarly, when we
speak, we divulge an excess of personal and social information about ourselves, which in turn
We tend to present ourselves to others through our choice of language or language variety
or sometimes through the use of special jargon appropriate to certain contexts. Considering our
language choice, most of the time we unconsciously speak and act in appropriate ways, because
we have learnt how to do so since our childhood, among family, in preschool or in formal
schooling. So, we can say that identity is constructed via social interaction and communication
which means that identity is a working process. As stated by Jenkins (1996), “All human
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identities are social in nature because identity is about meaning, and meaning is not an essential
property of words and things: meaning develops in context dependent use. Meanings are always
the ‘outcome of agreement or disagreement, always a matter of contention, to some extent shared
and always negotiable” (p. 4). The language use and individual identity are seen to be the
product of lived experiences. It is the outcome of interaction with the social, political, cultural
influences. Therefore, the individual identity is explained to be fluid, dynamic and changing in
nature.
Our identity is bound by a set of social constraints. Constraints like gender, race, family
and social roles push us to act and use the language accordingly. For instance, A woman in our
Moroccan society knows consciously or unconsciously a set of rules and actions that have been
historically passed down to her by her mother, grandmother or simply by her entourage. This
knowledge transmitted by the same group gives her certain appropriateness in language use and
actions. Pierre Bourdieu (1990) coined the term Habitus for such phenomenon:
Also,
Habitus is essentially the way in which the culture of a particular social group is
beginning in early childhood. Habitus is, "society written into the body, into the
We can infer that the “Habitus” is a set of dispositions that allow us to successfully
would likely develop certain skills and street smarts needed to successfully survive
chances of employment. However, if we transfer the same person to those lucky neighborhoods
we will find that these street skills and dispositions will not be useful to him; maybe they will act
as a barrier that prevent him from succeeding in this new social environment.
Language marks our identity as individuals. A person uses his accent, pitch variations and
different registers to mark his identity. The language of any individual will include particular
register according to his class, region, religious beliefs, and profession and so on. So, we can
recognize a police officer, mechanic, doctor, child, or any other identity through their language
use. We can identify mothers from their affectionate and passionate register shown towards their
children. We can identify police men from their rough manner of speech and use of authority
words. We can identify professors from their academic jargon and their mastery of language. In
fact, this can be applicable to all members of society. Language can be seen as a marker and
identifier at the same time. We have been accustomed to a specific linguistic behavior within our
societies that we find it out of normality or awkward when we see a deviation from what we
consider a normal language behavior. The resulting effects can be surprising. One example by
A doctor who looked over her glasses and said “Well, it is the high jump for you,
squire” would seem frivolous and unfeeling; and a mechanic who reported that
“Your conveyance is, I regret to inform you, in a most sadly dilapidated state”
would invite both wonder and laughter. More importantly, each would appear
Here we can see that the doctor addresses his patient in crude slang and masculine terms,
declaring that he is suffering from a fatal condition, is an inappropriate or incompatible way for a
doctor to speak to his patient, which means that the digression in the language behavior does not
match the identity of the doctor. This also can be applied to the mechanic who is using
ridiculously old-fashioned formal language to announce that the car is in a very bad shape.
There is also a strong relationship between identity and dialects. According to Francis
(1983) “dialects are varieties of a language used by groups smaller than the total community of
speakers of the language” (p.1). Keeping in view this concept, we can conclude that a dialect,
similar to a language, have its own grammar, vocabulary, and semantics. The dialectical identity
The classic example of a dialect is the regional dialect: the distinct form of a
language spoken in a certain geographical area. For example, we might speak of Ozark
dialects or Appalachian dialects, on the grounds that inhabitants of these regions have
certain distinct linguistic features that differentiate them from speakers of other forms of
English. We can also speak of a social dialect: the distinct form of a language spoken by
It is because of certain geographical restrictions and social factors that a different variety
of language is born. Nevertheless, this dialect would still be faithful to some extent to the
foundations of the mother language. This dialectical feature makes people look and feel a
different identity. Accent too gives a different identity to a speaker. According to Laver (1994),
“The technical meaning of the term accent is simply manner of pronunciation (p.55). Here, we
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can infer that an accent is the manner of pronouncing the words that is obviously different from
person to person. Lippi-Green’s (2012), on the other hand, defines accents as “loose bundles of
prosodic and segmental features distributed over geographic and/or social space” (p. 42).
Contrary to the first perspective, the second definition includes both the social and the key
geographical dimensions.
I would like to tackle this identity build up on geographical and social level adopting the
context of Morocco. Moroccan Arabic or Darija is divided into various dialects and accents
dispersed over the territory of the kingdom. The same thing can be said about Tamazight and its
varieties. We can talk about (Chamali dialect, Fassi dialect, Arbi dialect, Marrakchi dialect etc)
and also (Tamazight dialect, Tarifit dialect, Tachlhit dialect). No one can deny that the people
speaking these dialects have their own distinct identity which is tightly related to their
geolinguistic variety. Accent is also one of the important identity markers. It determines the
geographical and social identity of the speaker which is similar to the dialect but at a more
precise level. We can detect an Amazigh speaker by his accent in Arabic. We can identify the
people from the North when they produce specific sounds. We can identify a farmer from the
region of Chaouia by his spontaneous pronunciation of words. Even if one has a good command
of grammars and vocabulary of certain language or dialect, one would be still struggling to get
rid of his original identity if his or her native accent is intruding because it is deeply part of him.
The famous play “Pygmalion” by Bernard Shaw can be a good example to understand the
link between accent and identity. This play argues how accent, dialect, language can shape our
social identity. It depicts the different classes within society and each class is carefully
represented through its own identity. The lower class is represented through the character of Liza
and Mrs. Pearce and the other superior classes are portrayed through the rest of the characters.
Throughout his play, shaw highlights the possibility that through learning the accent and the
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manners of a high social class, an individual can reach or upgrade to a higher social status hence
identity. Liza, who is characterized by her cockney accent, undertakes a major transformation by
learning the accent and manners of the high born. This transformation gives birth to a new person
totally different from the poor flower girl. She adopts a new, refined. And educated accent and
To sum up, Language can not, in any way, be detached from identity. We are bound by
the choice of the words we communicate. The linguistic identity is so deeply engraved in our
minds. Language constructs our individual identity and that identity is in accordance with all
sort of other identities(class, regional,religious, national etc). So, identity is not only physical but
it is matter of what body of words and meanings one carry and use. Understanding identity helps
us solve many identity related issues in Language and society. A very inspiring quote by
Socrates says "Speak, so that I may see you "; meaning that a man’s identity/essence is reflected in
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