Bilingualism Essay

 Bilingualism

                Due to its rich culture, Philippines is considered as the melting pot of cultures in Asia. As a result of centuries’ worth of colonization from different countries, our culture, tradition, beliefs, and even languages show how we and our way of life have been heavily influenced. Up until now, despite the fast-paced world as evident in technology and globalization, we have been able to maintain and nurture the history-rich culture and traditions but most especially the languages.

I think it is safe to say that most, if not all, Filipinos know more than one language. Because of colonization, Filipinos were open to ‘mixed marriages’, thereby exposing themselves to new languages. Even until now, especially with the advent of technology where one can easily communicate with a foreigner, we are eager in learning these foreign languages.

One common example of this is the start of a conversation through computer-mediated communication (CMC). Just like how it is explained in the Social Information Processing Theory (SIP), CMC facilitates and develops relationships even without nonverbal cues. Although it requires more time, information and messages are taken in SIPs than in gulps. Participants of CMC looks for something in common or something that the other has which interests the other. Most participants tend to stay with a “general topic” such as location, hobbies, and culture. CMC has also been used as a means to learning a new language. It provides opportunities for people who wanted to learn a new language via online.

With my short stint at teaching English to Japanese students, it was difficult teaching them the language which is totally new to them. But constantly motivating combined with their eagerness to learn, they successfully learn the language. However, they still have a thick native accent whenever they speak English. It is normal though, especially for second language learners. According to Zielinski (n.d.), accent is “a physical trait which can be practiced. It’s the only difference between a person learning a second language from a very young age and someone learning it a little later.”

My students, having learned another language, are now called a bilingual, specifically a co-ordinate bilingual. Zielinski stated that a person with a command of two languages is called a bilingual while a person who can speak and understand more than two languages is called a multilingual.

According to Spolsky (1998), there are two groups of bilinguals: the compound and co-ordinate bilinguals. For compound bilinguals, two languages were assumed to be closely connected, because one language had been learned after another. Meanwhile, co-ordinate bilinguals are supposed to have learned two languages separately.

Clearly, my students fit in the definition of co-ordinate as they have learned two languages separately.

                Another kind of bilingual is called compound bilinguals. Let us not go further looking for examples for this. With the implementation of K to 12, every child from Grade 1 to Grade 10 has to undergo the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE).

                According to DepEd (2013), MTBMLE is education, formal or non - formal, in which the learner’s mother tongue and additional languages are used in the classroom. Learners begin their education in the language they understand best - their mother tongue - and develop a strong foundation in their mother language before adding additional languages. Research stresses the fact that children with a solid foundation in their mother tongue develop stronger literacy abilities in the school language. Their knowledge and skills transfer across languages. With the end goal of making Filipino children lifelong learners in their Li (MT), L2 (Filipino, the national language), and L3 (English, the global language) the learners are more than prepared to develop the competencies in the different learning areas.

The students who have undergone or will still undergo MTBMLE will then be considered a compound bilingual or multilingual for that matter. However, it is still a fact that the nuisances of language and culture are interwoven and are hard to separate. There are instances that despite knowing the different rules of grammar and vocabulary of a certain language, one may not be fully able to comprehend or express since he/she has not been able to study or immerse in the culture of the people speaking the language.

Knowledge of culture and customs enhances the linguistic competence of people. Knowing just what to say at the right time, not only the dictionary, but also the pragmatic meanings of words, feeling confident and natural in the L2 environment are the things essential to be considered a bilingual.

References:

·         Department of Education. (2013). K to 12 Curriculum Guide: Mother Tongue. Retrieved from: http://www.deped.gov.ph/sites/default/files/Final%20Mother%20Tongue%20Grades%201-3%2001.21.2014_.pdf

Language Matters Essay

 Language Matters

                The title of the reading says it all: Language Matters. It has been mentioned that one of the many challenges that we might face in participating in intercultural discussion or situation is coping with the differences in languages. It is unavoidable that although both conversational partners speak in the same language, they don’t always speak the same “language”. It is important to note their cultural backgrounds, which may affect the way they speak or choose the words they utter in that language.

                The reading presents three major characteristics that affect our attitudes toward language differences and their influence on intercultural communication. The first one is the accent. It has been said that accents is the most revealing among language behaviors since listeners have clear attitudes on those who speak “differently”. An example of this is Manny Pacquiao’s accent when he speaks in English. Looking at his background, he is not a native English speaker. He becomes prone to judgment whenever he is interviewed and answers in English. It is evident that we prejudge others in unflattering ways based on the accent alone.

                The second characteristic is speech styles. This refers to a speaker’s choice of words or grammatical phrase which may lead to harmful and erroneous prejudgments. For example, A Batangueño asks “Nakain ka na ba ng adobong manok?” For those Tagalog or Filipino speakers who don’t have a background on Batangas, a misinterpretation may occur and that Batangueño may potentially be a source of laughter. But for them, the word ‘nakain’ is ‘nakakain’ in Tagalog.

                The third and last characteristic is speech rates. As mentioned, “Speakers naturally vary in the number of words or syllables they utter per minute. This can be a function of their personality, age, situation or fluency in a nonnative language”.

                The characteristics presented may be a source of language-based discriminations. We oftentimes think that one is superior to the other just because he/she speaks with a standard accent or that because he/she has a powerful speech style, or because he/she speaks faster fluently.

Gay Communication and Identification in the Gay Subculture Essay

Gay Communication and Identification in the Gay Subculture

                “The world without gays would be like a fish with no bones; there would be no fun, thrill and challenge”, my gay cousin once told me. I didn’t get the analogy at first. I thought it was stupid. But then I realized that somehow it is true.  

                Gays, being considered as part of the minority, struggle just like any group to convey the message they want to tell. We all know that to fully understand a message, we must consider both its sender and receiver. There is a possibility that some messages we receive are not really the message sent to us. Meaning, therefore, is doubly subjective, relying on both the sender and receiver for parts of its content (Goodwin, )

We assume that we know a lot about the gay community, especially with what is shown in the media today. Movies such as Zombadings, Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, and Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy depict the image of a stereotypical gay: the loud, creative, and witty cross dressers. There are also shows such as the controversial, My Husband’s Lover, which present the lesser known homosexuals, those of the effeminate type. However, being outside their subculture, we may never fully understand them and the messages they express. In their subculture alone, they have their own sets of strategies employed in various kinds of communication situations, which require a great skill to fully comprehend them.

The reading on Gay Communication and Identification in the Gay Subculture discussed important points and cited intriguing examples on gay communication. As mentioned, there are three common strategies employed in gay communication. The first strategy is humor, which is pervasive and reflected in the language, its words and usage. Humor, in the gay context, is no longer new to us since it has been mainstreamed in the media. There are gay TV hosts who constantly throw punch lines in entertaining people. A few TV shows have also been formatted like shows in comedy bars, wherein gays are always the front act. According to Joseph Goodwin, “A sharp wit and a sharp tongue are prized possessions. Such word play requires special linguistic competence, a skill that gays develop probably because of the oral nature of the subculture and because of the pervasiveness of humor in the community”.

Another strategy is ambiguity. Double entendres which are also related to puns are common sources of ambiguous messages. Goodwin cited a good example of double entendre, one he had heard in a bar in Bloomington.

One man said, “Well, I guess I’ll go home and do something constructive, like knit” Another man responded, “But you only have one needle.” The first man replied, “So, I’ll crochet”

The exchange was quick and spontaneous. He stated that the humor goes a bit deeper than it first appears, for it plays upon the stereotype of effeminate gay male. Both knitting and crocheting are considered boring and are associated with women. A man with only one needle (penis) cannot engage in a cooperative endeavor like knitting, which requires two needles working together. So, he resolves this by resorting to crocheting (masturbating). This exchange happened occurring within a gay context, since both men apparently knew they were gays.

The only problem with using ambiguity as a strategy is that it is prone to misinterpretations.

Lastly, the third strategy common in gay communication is inversion. Holt (as cited by Goodwin) mentioned that, “the phenomenon of inversion is a practical necessity for people in subordinate positions”. This strategy means using the language of the ‘straight’ people to invert meanings or covertly assess themselves without being punished. It involves a coding that provides secrecy and offers a means of insulting the people who does nothing but stigmatize gays, which is a way of expressing disapproval that frequently passes unrecognized by those who have been insulted.

A highly visible form of nonverbal inversion is the ‘drag’. Drag is essentially aggressive: gay men present themselves in women’s attire, in direct contravention of cultural norms. Sarcasm is also another form if inversion.

                In direct terms, inversion is like saying to straights that, “We do not accept your morality. We have our own culture with its own ethics, and these are the rules by which we live.”

                Going back to what my cousin once told me, we could never deny that the fact that gays add colors to our lives, our world. Perhaps, that’s the reason they are called gays. Now that we have a grasp on the communication within their subculture, may we all have the gusto to extend and understand them even more.  

Conyo Talk Essay

First Comprehensive Essay on “Conyo Talk”: The affirmation of hybrid identity and power in contemporary Philippine Discourse

            Working in the corporate world has not only exposed me in the business and, well, corporate side of communication and language. It has enabled me to connect and engage in a different society, perhaps the society of the ‘elites’. I have been meeting businessmen and women, owners of vast hectares of land, heirs and heiresses, and the like. Talking to them and just being in a room with them, you will feel that they may have another language embedded in their system because of their culture and the kind of society they are in.

            In a certain event where these socialites gathered, I have heard one of them saying, “I’m so harassed, it’s so init!” While the other one replied, “It’s so init no? I think I need more than just a chiller na nga”. My ears would probably bleed if I continued listening to their conversation. Should I blame them if they speak in a different way and perhaps, a different ‘breed’ of language? Probably not.

This kind of phenomenon exists in the Philippines for quite some time now. Most commonly referred to as “conyo talk”, it is a type of discourse that purportedly identifies and differentiates people of ‘power’ from the common masses (Garvida, 2012). People who speak such are called ‘conyo’. Ironically, it is one of the many words which have taken a new meaning in the Philippine context since originally the word came from the Spanish, coño, meaning cunt.

            Many have attempted to study the culture and language of the conyos. Some have even made fun out of it, just like how the “Ten Conyomandments” went viral in the internet, presenting the different ‘grammatical rules’ when it comes to using the ‘conyo talk’. Some associate conyos to students (and graduates) of private universities e.g. Arrnheo,Lazhaal. Do we really have to stereotype all conyo speakers coming from a certain group in the society? How does conyo talk take form in the minds and consciousness of the speakers?

            In 2012, Mignette Marcos Garvida of Ryerson University published a research paper analyzing and discussing how conyo speakers position themselves and its sociocultural implications. The paper examined how web forum discussions embody social tensions through ethnomethodological discourse analysis and Bhabha’s (1990) third space. It aimed to answer the following questions:

·         How does conyo talk shape consciousness, and how does it shape or influence the participants’ response?

·         What are the circumstances in which socially constructed identities change, that is, which language/s serve better the participants’ intention?

·         What are the common grounds and/or linguistic features in their talk?

Data were gathered from web discussions and threads in three popular websites, namely: www.pinoyexchange.com, www.asiafinest.com, and www.candymag.com. It has been concurred that participants’ texts, though written are like spontaneous speech. They can follow the threads they want and can respond to any comment at any time thereby creating their own identity.

Filipinos still strive to be identified with past ruling social groups (Garvida, 2012). It is evident in the participants’ username, as majority of them used English and Spanish words such as ‘somuchmore’, ‘unicohijo’,and ‘yo soy guapo’.

When asked what conyo is, most of them have associated conyo talk as something spoken by the rich and influential people. They have mentioned that conyo is the product of younger members of affluent and highly prestigious Insular Spaniards in their attempt to assimilate or integrate. On the other hand, others have stated that conyo exists because the old-rich families hired nannies who speak broken English but still strive to be understood. However, according to Bautista (2004), it has been used for decades as familiar language among the middle and upper classes, college-educated, and urbanized Filipinos to distinguish themselves from others.

If that is the case then, I can consider the people I have encountered in social gatherings as conyo. Most of them are socialites coming from a family of politicians and businessmen, who have also made a name for themselves in a different industry. There are events which they would bring their kids alongside their nannies and, yes, I could attest that even they speak in conyo.

The conyo phenomenon, according to the participants, exists due to colonial mentality. It is the type of discourse used by a minor group of people claiming cultural and social superiority. One of them even stated that, “Displaying themselves as conyo is like drawing a line between ‘they’ and the impoverished society, as if saying that ‘I’m not among them’” However, there are participants who consider conyo speakers as social climbers and that speaking conyo alone meant trying to climb the social ladder.

Those affluent and prominent personalities I have met who can be considered as conyo may or may not intentionally speak conyo because they want to be distinguished and seen as ‘superiors’. Perhaps, they speak that way because they grew up with people speaking conyo. But as someone outside of their group, I could say that I am really out of place especially when I hear them talking. It’s as if they are speaking in another language, I could not bear hearing.

Lastly, it has been identified that conyo speakers have developed list of vocabulary and sentence structures that are incomprehensible. Surprising, it serves the speakers’ communicative purposes and intentions. For example, the English word ‘make’ is added to vernacular verbs, as in “make pasyal” (to stroll). Conyos also excessively use the words ‘so’, ‘like’, ‘no’, and ‘di ba’. In text messages or social media, they also use abbreviations such as ‘OMG’ and ‘LOL’ coupled with a number of emoticons.

The creation of the Ten Conyomandments just goes to show that conyo, just like any other language, also has a set of linguistic rules. Although conyo is considered a bastardization of language by some, we have to acknowledge their presence as a hybrid. Honestly speaking, I have even spoken conyo before. I think no one is spared from speaking such since it is already in our society.

In Garvida’s study, it has been concluded that conyo talk is a cultural identification where speakers can be described as having a profound cultural ambivalence. The study reflects the contradictory and shifting positions and boundaries of some Filipinos due to their lack of confidence in language fluency, social, and economic status.

References:

·         Cabotaje, L. (2012). Conyo, More fun in the Philippines. Retrieved from:       http://upeppenglish.blogspot.com/2012/07/conyo-more-fun-in-philippines.html