Language and Culture Journal

Journal 8: Language and Personal Identity

The use of language connects to personal identity. It is a way of expression. Names affect personal identity. My name, Jeanette, means God is gracious. I never really thought about it affecting me, but if my name meant something like a little minion, I doubt I would be comfortable sitting in church. I think I would have to change my name.

The gender issue in writing never bothered me. I know that the girls in class were offended by this, but I that it is an insignificant rule in writing. Writing he or she all the time is really annoying because what if the person is both. Now to be politically correct should we say he or she or heshe. In writing it really doesn't matter, because we personalize the story anyway. It doesn't matter if the story has a main male character, I can still put myself in that situation and see the character as a female. That's the magic of imagination. I guess that people have less of an imagination with the increase of technology and video games.

We express our personal identity through music also. But unlike those in my class, music doesn't have to have words. Music has its own language that speaks directly to the soul. Honestly Kevin Kern's Straw Hats stirs me as well as In the Enchanted Garden and they don't have any words. There are times when words can't express me but the language of music can.


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