Aishwarya Week 3: A Melodic Language at the Brink of Extinction
Photo by Martin Bernneti via BBC.
Native Americans have lived in America for more than 1,000 years. During those years, they have shaped America’s history. Their lifestyles in history were different from the sedentary life; they had their ways of surviving by relying on the dangerous coastal waterways for food with a lack of suitable clothing against the changing climates. But, what was distinguishing about their culture was their way of communication: a language of melody.
In America, I find it unique that the English language is not only spoken but it can also be written in words. Almost everyone knows this language and that contributes to shaping our American identity. However, this is the present day. What if, in the future, our language disappears and the only remains would be a few dictionaries of words that could be unknown to the coming generations, or what if during the generations that come, people stopped speaking the language? If people stopped speaking the language, how would people be able to express their American identity?
A native speaker of Chile’s indigenous Yaghan language, Cristina Calderón, was the only person who could speak Yaghan. She was one of the last speakers of the language, and because the Yaghan language is now considered to be isolated, it has led the people of the culture to lose their knowledge of tribal legends and ancient trails that trace back 6000 years.
I find that language is a way to express shared values and traditions and foster feelings of being part of a particular cultural background; not only does it shape one’s identity, but it also can be a pathway to exploring other identities. Speaking Yaghan or speaking English helps shape who we are and what we do in everyday life. When we speak English, it allows us to communicate with people across the world; when we communicate with our friends, it enables us to know more about them such as their cultural or social identity; and when we speak the language frequently, we build onto our identity by building onto customs of listening to songs or reading books.
But, Yaghan was not a language that could be understood through books, it was a language that people melodically spoke to each other. Although Calderón worked to create a dictionary of the language with translations in Spanish, it’s not the same as the real words of the language. Although during her last days, she spent making handicrafts and creating a dictionary that visually preserved the language, I feel a sense of grief that this visual representation of the language is still not enough to represent the real identity of the indigenous communities. However, I do want to know more about the words hidden in the dictionary that reveal knowledge from the words of a full-blooded member of the Yaghan people.
Cristina Calderón was the only full-blooded member of her people
Hi Aishwarya! I am intrigued by the narrative you construct within your blog; it is almost as if I can feel a tangible connection with your words. Your emphasis on the presence of language as part of our identity accurately shapes the relationship between our definition of who we are and the essential part of where we are from. This feeling of being part of a bigger group gives us purpose—thus, the language connected to this purpose makes individuals unique. The rhetorical questions that you use in the introduction serve as a perfect lead-in to connect the audience to the subject. Through understanding the limitations of the argument’s receptiveness with the audience, you address the potential of English vanishing as a language and pose the ultimate questioning of modern American identity. When you mention that there was only one person who could speak a specific language, I think of possibilities and questions. It is simply bizarre and unfathomable to imagine the position of that one individual who has to bear the brunt of the responsibility to preserve the language; the task has a bigger-than-life purpose. Your blog is a suitable representation of a call to action that encourages the audience to pursue their linguistic interests and preserve their own language through frequent use of it in a colloquial sense.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya! I love how you organized your blog with starting with a context to bring s into the loop with who and how the Native Americans have survived. This provided much needed information for diving into this topic. I agree that language has played a humongous role in our identities. I think using Cristina Calderon and a real-life example shows how language loss is an actual problem and its impact on our society. I find that uses rhetorical questions really keep the audience interested and thinking throughout the blog. Your blog was very well structured and informative thus making it easy to follow along and comprehend. I feel that your use of examples and the anecdote from the article adds readability.
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