Language & Me (Informal Essay # 1)

(I Didn't have to post it but I felt like it Lol)

 

     Language and Me

 

 I was born in Brooklyn, New York in the winter or 1990. I wouldn’t say I was born in the “Hood” but I was born in an area where some “hood” characteristics were provident. I led a very sheltered life and began writing at a very young age as well. I wasn’t particularly allowed to go to functions outside of school and church functions. Even school functions, if the fell on a Friday afternoon or a Saturday, I wasn’t allowed to go to them because my family was highly religious. Also since I was an only child I began to find company in books, being raised by predominantly women led to me being dragged on shopping trips and etc so books became my escape. It began fantasy and non-fiction at first; I still remember my first book, it was a book called “The Thief Lord”. It was such a joy to read, I read it twice and it started a reading monster in me. I couldn’t stop reading after that, I was a slow reader though and I took pride in that because I liked to wander off after every sentence to try to imagine what was going on and I couldn’t stop.

 

 As I grew older I began to read more complicated things and more things of substance. As I read these things my vocabulary grew with it. As my vocabulary grew I began to write about deeper subjects. I ventured into love and politics and issues facing the black community. I wrote so much poetry that I, somewhat, became poetry. I began speaking poetically without realizing it, most times when I was explaining something to someone. Speaking poetically and using proper grammar and diction meant I would always be called white for speaking proper because it showed in my speech. I would use the proper terms and the proper tense for words. Even when I would attempt talking like the other kids in my class I didn’t get very far without putting in a proper term and I’d get the weirdest looks. I also took pride in my vocabulary because I could express myself very well. I knew the words that meant exactly what I was meaning to say and many people, adults and kids alike, respected and admired that about me. Growing up, smoking cigarettes and weed and drinking alcohol and drugs and gangs were all commonplace. I didn’t participate but something else that was commonplace was the term used in place of women which is “bitch”. I took that name to heart because I was raised by women that I respected and loved so I refrained from calling anyone especially not my mother and grandmother such a name or any other name other than their own. Those circumstances kept that word out my vocabulary and I look at that as a blessing.

 

 As it so happened, my use of language also caused me to be more mature. As I read and learned more about how to use language and the effects of language it caused me to be logical, if that makes sense. I began thinking things through more and I began to be very rationale about almost everything. It also helped me when dealing with people who were my elders. I would talk to them like I was their age but I sill maintained the respect and it was wonderful to be able to talk to adults and understand and be understood clearly when you’re a teenage. I would join in the debates my family would have and I would feel so included and I would feel like a participant rather than an onlooker. Also being that I could talk to adults it helped when it came to meeting the parents of whomever I was dating at the time, I would come off as very mature and very composed for my age, which I think I was.

 

 My family is from Guyana, a Caribbean country in South America, very close to Brazil so we had a variation of English that we spoke. It was once a British colony so we also spelled things the British way such as colour instead of color. We also used substitutes for words, such as slang for those in the U.S., it was our slang back in Guyana, such as “Wam Banna?” which was our substitute for “what’s up, man?” or things of that nature. Instead of saying “What’s up?” we would put together “what’s happening?” and it became “Wam. One of the many lingo’s that Guyana has. Since New York, Brooklyn especially, is a haven to people of the Caribbean such as Trinidad and Barbados; it was commonplace for you to hear the occasional “wam” or “rass”. It was a struggle for me to balance my Guyanese roots and the roots of the “Hood Speech” and also the proper speech which is what would take me further but as I grew it became easier to manage. I would use either one when the environment permitted, for example, if I was around family I would speak with a Guyanese accent and if I was with my fellow classmates or somewhere with a professional environment I would speak proper.

 

 Now that I’m in college, I’ve been taking speech classes to add to my language. Teachers have told me that I am very articulate and I have the voice for public speaking. It feels good to find an area that I enjoy doing and get good grades for doing it. If a linguist were to listen I assume he would learn or gather that I take language very seriously. Although I do have some fundamental areas in English that I must work on, I do indeed, take language very seriously. As a quote my teacher for communications 101 said, “The language we create, in turn, creates us”. As I grow in age and in knowledge I begin to understand what that really means and in time, I’m sure I could define to anyone who asks.