Speak America

[Salvator Grimard]

Xenophobia comes in many forms. As our country steps once again into a polarized debate about immigration policy and allowing more refugees to find safe haven in our country, the vitriol seems more toxic than it has ever been.

The exponential surge in anti-Asian hate has made what had been a distant problem all too personal. Language seems to be one of those triggers that set off the haters. All my life, I have heard or read about the opening sentiment expressed by people who were angry at hearing others speaking a language other than English in public, or were upset, for example, that local public schools implemented bilingual instruction into their curricula.

There was a time in the foolishness of my youth when I made fun of my mother's accent and flawed English, until I soon learned through her tears how much that hurt her. Later, my uncle destroyed my hubris by pointing out the fact that when I tried to speak Korean, my accent and my grammar were vastly more deficient and laughable in comparison. That was an embarrassing and absolutely necessary lesson in humility for me. Now, I have come to realize that when we hear someone speak broken English with an accent, it means they communicate beautifully in another language, perhaps sounding like a poet or a preacher. When they dream, they dream with the mellifluous expressions of their own tongue.

Again, in my childish shortsightedness, I resisted almost all of my mother's efforts to teach me Korean, and I especially resented having to spend my Saturdays at hangul hakgyo, Korean school. Fortunately, in college I discovered the Korean part of my identity, and I struggled, but with determination, to relearn the language of my ancestors, as broken as it remains, with my accompanying atrocious accent. For a time, my Spanish was much better than my Korean. Growing up in southern California, I had come to realize the value of studying and knowing some Spanish, as it allowed me to communicate, even if in a rudimentary way, with people in my community. There is something almost spiritual that occurs when we greet a stranger in their language; it is a moment of shared humanity. It is also an act of neighborly love.

As a trained historian and classicist, I have had to learn several languages. Through my various life experiences, I had the pleasure and privilege of speaking or working with almost a dozen languages, all with varying levels of expertise. First, Korean, English, Spanish, and in college I began my linguistic journeys in Latin, Ancient Greek, French and German. In graduate school, I added Italian and Syriac; and in my professional career, I delved into Hungarian, having lived with my family and 18 students for a semester in Budapest. At the moment, my passion is modern Greek, a language I first started to learn to prepare for a year living in Cyprus.

Depending on the context and the length of time spent in another country or in a community of native speakers, my fluency in these languages fluctuates, waxing with the length and depth of immersion, and waning with less use and practice. But no matter what, when I communicate in any of these other languages, it is always broken and no matter how hard I try, with an accent. When the person with whom I am speaking listens to me and responds, we are engaging in a profound ritual of hospitality. I am making myself vulnerable, and in theory, subject to ridicule, and my conversation partner is listening, accepting me with grace. The same happens in reverse.

The Greeks, in antiquity and now, have as a core virtue the practice of philoxenia, love for the stranger, which is expressed in acts of hospitality. The working idea was that a god or gods in disguise might be at our doorstep, and we ought to welcome them into our homes, providing refreshment, comfort, a conversation about our lives' journeys, a place to stay and finally, parting gifts. The consequences for not doing so could be dire.

If we Americans could only receive someone who speaks a language other than our own, not with suspicion and disdain, but with warmth and humility, we just might become a better version of our fragile democratic society. When we hear others speak their languages in public, this should not be a source of anger but a cause for celebration, for we are welcoming the huddled masses to our great country. We are sharing in our common humanity.

Do You Speak American? demonstrates that the way we speak isintrinsically tied to a number of complex factors, including ethnicity,political climate, socioeconomic status, historical events, andindividual personality. The series offers a rare opportunity forviewers to hear and discuss how language shapes us as individuals, ascommunities, and as a nation.

African AmericanEnglish (AAE); also called AfricanAmericanVernacular English (AAVE) Terms used by linguists to refer toalanguage variety spoken by many African Americans. This variety isoften a target for prejudice and ignorance, but it has also been one ofthe most extensively studied and discussed varieties of AmericanEnglish. Many linguists studying the origins of AAE consider that thedifferences between this and other varieties of American English aredue to its origins as a creole language formed during the timeof slavery. Back to list

Bidialectalism/bilingualism The ability tospeaktwodialects or two languages. Most of the people in the world speak morethan one language; the United States is somewhat rare in that manycitizens speak only English. Bidialectalismcan bepromoted by helping students learn the contrasts between vernacularlanguage varieties and standard varieties of a language. Back to list

Cajun The variety of Frenchbrought toLouisianain1765 by the Acadians, or Cajuns, when they were deported from theCanadian settlement of Acadia (now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick).Originally of French descent, these people spoke a variety of Frenchthat was different from the French spoken in France. Because Cajunstended to live in isolation, their language variety survives today.Cajun English is the variety of English spoken by Cajuns. It is heavilyinfluenced by French vocabulary and pronunciation. Backto list

Chicano English Avariety of English spoken bymanypeople of Hispanic descent in the Southwestern United States andCalifornia. It differs in systematic ways from Standard AmericanEnglish. Chicano English is not just English spoken by people who speakSpanish as a native language and who are still acquiring English. Notall speakers of Chicano English speak Spanish. Backto list

Creole language Alanguage that develops when apidginlanguage begins to be learned as a native language. Pidgins arisefrom sustained communication in situations of contact between speakersof different languages. Creoles tend to have more complex grammars andvocabularies than pidgins. Haitian Creole, spoken in Haiti, and Gullah,spoken on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia are examples ofcreole languages. Back to list

Dialect Any language varietyassociated with aparticular region or social group. As used by linguists, the term dialectinvolves no judgment of the value of a particular language variety. Novariety is superior to any other. When used by the general public, thisterm often refers to a language variety that is considered inferior tothe standard or mainstream variety. Backto list

Grammar How a language isstructured. Although grammaris popularly used to refer to the language forms and constructions thatare considered to be correct, linguists use this term to refer to theknowledge that native speakers implicitly have about the structure oftheir own language, for example how to arrange words into sentences. Back to list

Gullah (Also called Geechee)A creolelanguage spoken by a small number of African Americans in the SeaIslands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. Because thesespeakers have been isolated from the rest of the United States, many ofthe distinctive features of the language have been preserved. Althoughclosely related to other creole languages spoken in the Caribbean,Gullah is the only English-based creole spoken in the United States.Some linguists believe that Gullah is a remnant of a creole that wasonce widely used by African Americans in the United States, whicheventually became African American English. Backto list

Habitual be Use of the verbbe withoutinflection to refer to an ongoing state or repeated activity. Thedistinction between habitual and nonhabitual activities is captured inthe verb system of African American English and other languagevarieties, but Standard American English expresses habitual meanings byadding an adverb. The AAE sentence The coffee be cold could beexpressed in Standard English as The coffee is generally cold. Thecoffee be cold does not mean that the coffee is cold right now. Back to list

Jargon The specialized words orvocabulary used bypeople within a particular group. Doctors and engineers are known forhaving specialized vocabularies particular to their professions, butgroups such as teenagers also have their own jargon that identifiesthem and helps to reinforce boundaries between them and other groups.See slang. Back to list

Language change Alterationover time in anycomponentof a language, such as pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary. Althoughoften perceived by the general population as inherently bad, languagechangeoccurs in any language that is in use by a speech community; alanguage that does not exhibit change is a dead language (for example,Latin). Back to list

Language death Thedisappearance of a language orlanguage variety. A language dies when children no longer acquire it asa first language and the last speakers of the language die. ManyAmerican Indian languages are dead or dying because few native speakersremain. Back to list

c80f0f1006