Language Contol

Language Contol

Chapter Five of Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands, titled Taming the Wild Tongue, focuses on the language of “Mexican” people in different aspects. The chapter discusses education, different dialects, gendered biases of the languages, music, and other communication topics.

First is a brief discussion of the usage of Spanish language in American schools. The author discussed being punished for speaking Spanish at school and being accused of talking back when trying to give an explanation. Students were told that if they were to live in America, they should speak American. Focus was put on students to not only speak English, but speak it without the dialect or accents of a Mexican. Here is pointed out a form of censorship of expression, which seems to be an accepted form of Amendment violations.

Next Anzaldua discusses the cultural and gendered impacts of the language itself. From an early age girls are taught not to talk too much, not to talk back and not to ask questions. In Mexico the female plural is excluded from the language, leaving women fall under the masculine plural. Here are examples of women’s exclusion from the language. Also is the criticism of learning English, thus being treated as a traitor to your people. Out of this confusion of language, new dialects evolved to compensate on the variant ideas of what the language should be. Different dialects are used in different areas, appropriate with certain groups and individuals. These new languages were neither proper Spanish nor standard English. The Chicano’s developed the languages and dialects to distinguish and separate themselves from their oppressors.

The chapter then discusses some of the examples on how the language changed and evolved. An infusion of different Spanish, Native American, and English sounds and words were combined to develop into this Chicano Spanish.

Because the language was viewed as a “bastard” form, neither standard Spanish nor standard any thing else, it...