I Speak Therefore I Am

Upon reading Gloria Anzaldua’s essay and discussing the reading in class I began to ponder whether or not our language is part of our culture or our identity?

Gloria wrote “Wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out.” What I think she means is that we cannot change something that makes up who we are. Simply because that quality is apart of us and will always be until we die. Sure a person can alter something that’s apart of them like their hair color but when the question of “what is your NATURAL hair color” is asked the answer is not what you dyed it, it is what you were born with. That is why I think language is part of our identity. It gives everyone in the culture a sense of who they are and where they came from.


Take the matter of people with accents, southern or northern accents it does not matter but it is how some people are recognized. Like I pointed out in class, when I first came to Greenwood and spoke with someone from the Upstate the first thing they ask me is “Your not from here are you?” or “Your from Charleston, right?” my response is always, “How’d you know?” and they say, “From your accent.” How I speak and how I pronounce things make up part of me.

What do you think is language part of our culture or identity?