It is crucial to gather from the reading that the narrator does not know herself and that is precisely what makes her story so compelling. Aside from dance, speech is the simplest form of expression a human can make and unfortunately even that effortlessness is robbed from the narrator. She cannot know herself in relation to others, because she cannot express herself with ease. I don’t feel that she truly identifies with either Trinidadian or British English, because she always seems to be portraying an individual who would use whichever language and seems to be left without her own native language. The question of which language Joanne would prefer her children to speak is a complex one, and I believe that the kids would learn whichever language they are immersed in within the home. At the end of the narrative it seems Joanne has become comfortable switching between Trinidadian and English and I propose that her children would be exposed to both languages. However, I don’t believe that Joanne would be as forceful as her own mother in encouraging her children to learn English. Regarding the future of Trinidadian language, it is very possible that the language would become less pervasive and ultimately disappear (we have witnessed this in America with the loss of Native American languages.) Trinidadian had already been barred from certain forums of public communication, and with the level of esteem and opportunity associated with British English it is even more likely that Trinidadian would become merely a residual vestige of pre-colonial culture.
...it's a good idea to write your posts in a word processing program (MS Word has a "blog post" template that is ideal) before posting. That will allow you to save your work and avoid the extraordinarily frustrating experience of hitting the wrong key just before publishing a post and losing at all (not that I'veever made such a rookie mistake, of course).
...if you're having trouble posting an inquiry or response, you can print out your paper and bring it to class in order to receive credit. I'll still ask you to post it to the blog once we fix the problem, but that way you'll still receive full credit.
Inquiry papers should each be a new post, and should be labled with the number as well as whatever title you like. For example: "Inquiry 1: life in two languages" or "Inquiry 1: Dowdy's 'Ovuh Dyuh'"
1) Summarize the argument or the thesis of the reading in 1-2 sentences.
2) Pose questions that the reading raised for you.
3) Speculate on the answers OR the context of the questions (why they matter, who they matter to, what's at stake, etc) OR delve deeper by asking more questions.
response guidelines
Your response papers should be in the "comment" section of the inquiry paper to which you are responding.
1) Read a classmate's inquiry paper that has not yet been responded to.
2) Summarize the argument or thesis of the assigned reading.
3) Address your classmate's question(s) using what you've learned from this and other readings. You may not feel confident in your answers; that's okay. Speculate, brainstorm, explore, pose other questions, relate it to your life experience, expand on the stakes of the questions, etc.
It is crucial to gather from the reading that the narrator does not know herself and that is precisely what makes her story so compelling. Aside from dance, speech is the simplest form of expression a human can make and unfortunately even that effortlessness is robbed from the narrator. She cannot know herself in relation to others, because she cannot express herself with ease. I don’t feel that she truly identifies with either Trinidadian or British English, because she always seems to be portraying an individual who would use whichever language and seems to be left without her own native language. The question of which language Joanne would prefer her children to speak is a complex one, and I believe that the kids would learn whichever language they are immersed in within the home. At the end of the narrative it seems Joanne has become comfortable switching between Trinidadian and English and I propose that her children would be exposed to both languages. However, I don’t believe that Joanne would be as forceful as her own mother in encouraging her children to learn English. Regarding the future of Trinidadian language, it is very possible that the language would become less pervasive and ultimately disappear (we have witnessed this in America with the loss of Native American languages.) Trinidadian had already been barred from certain forums of public communication, and with the level of esteem and opportunity associated with British English it is even more likely that Trinidadian would become merely a residual vestige of pre-colonial culture.
ReplyDelete