Adele Dea G.

Llanillo February 12, 2019

2014 61684 Eng 13 Ma’am Grace Saqueton

Discussion Paper 1: Chapter 2 and 3 of “Language and Identity” by John Edwards

The findings of the study mainly revolved on the connection between individual and group
identities, with focus on ‘language and identity’. In chapter two, the author states that individual
personalities are never in isolation, in fact, one possesses a set of identities from a social store and
this particular combination represents the uniqueness of the individual at a personal level. The
chapter also shows how the multiplicity of identities is matched by a variety of speech styles. I
would like to acknowledge the author’s claim on how individuals, either mono-, bi-, or
multilingual, will always be bi- or multi- dialectal and/or stylistic. It is obvious that all individuals
belong to particular groups—either voluntary or involuntary memberships—and whether we are
conscious or not, we tend to undertake identity adjustments to increase our group status and
favorability or express disdain on a certain group and with this, we vary our use of language
depending on the psychosocial context. As stated, one belongs to a particular group/s, and this
unique combination treats language as an identity marker. In chapter three, the author points out
how group markings, particularly the less involuntary identifiers such as names or labels, influence
one’s judgments not only on an individual, but also on the group he/she belongs to. I noticed here
that, indeed, language plays a very crucial role on influencing one’s perceptions of others and with
this, it is important to point out that misusage of language may lead to unequal and unjust treatment
of a group. I also recognize the author’s claim that cultural relativism is itself relative, therefore,
it is agreeable that some groups may be worse due to their social practices, but incorrect to treat
other languages as inferior than others on the basis of a group’s social practices.

These findings are significant especially in the fields of linguistics and anthropology. In fact,
linguistic anthropology is one of the four-field division of anthropology. Language is the key
feature that differentiates humans from other animals, however, since there is a wide range of
cultural/social groups all over the world, there are thousands of languages formed as well (Ferraro,
2009). The formation of groups established boundaries, classifying in-group members’ culture and
practices as the more superior ones compared to the outsiders’. But today, this ethnocentric
mindset is slowly broken down as people try to make attempts at cultural relativism. One should
keep in mind that cultural relativism is a methodological stance (Kottak, 2011). When considering
the practices of extreme cultures such as female genital mutation, it is unacceptable to analyze
other cultures on the basis of moral stance (ethical relativism). It is even more unreasonable to
treat some languages better than the others. In the context of medicine in the Philippines, the
English language is more widely used and is seen as the more superior one. This is based on the
fact that English is mostly used as the language for teaching, as well as for technical and formal
discussions, while, Filipino is used as a “common language”, the language used for normal
conversations (Azicate, 1996). Since the idea of culture has been stripped off the field of medicine
(which was not the case on traditional medicine, the state of medicine before the nation was
colonized), Filipinos don’t have their own medicine system. The Filipino ‘identity’ in the field of
medicine was robbed off and the only way to regain it is for Filipinos to bring back their previous
practices, including the native Filipino languages used before, and incorporate it to the modern
system of medicine. This shows how the power of language can make or break a society, its
tradition, and its identity.
References:

Azicate, E. (1996). Paggamot, Medisina at Wika. Mga piling diskurso sa wika at lipunan.
University of Philippines Press.

Ferraro, G. (2009). Classic Readings in Cultural Anthropology. 2nd ed. Belmont, Wadsworth:
Cengage Learning.

Kottak, C. (2011). Anthropology: Appreciating Human Diversity. 14th ed. New York: McGraw-
Hill.

Reading:

Chapters 2 and 3 of Edwards, J. (2009). Language and identity: An introduction. Cambridge

University Press.