Abstract
People who speak English are regarded as speaking the oppressor’s language and thus ruining the Spanish language. Chicano Spanish has been considered by the purists and by most Latinos, a mutilation of Spanish and is regarded as a living language. For people who do not live in a country that Spanish is the first language or the country in which English is the only tongue are left with the only option of creating their own language; the language that enables them to communicate the realities about themselves and connect their identity too easily.
People need a language that they can communicate among themselves as a secrete language just as the Chicano’s needed to identify themselves with Chicano Spanish that sprang out of their need of identity.
The essay on how to tame a wild tongue is going to base on the writing of Peter H. Petersen and john C. Brereton in “The Norton Reader” twelfth edition, how to tame a wild tongue. For most Chicanos, language is a homeland that is closer than the southwest as most of them live in the Midwest and the east. Chicanos speak a variety of languages, which include:
Standard English
Working class and slang English
Standard Mexican Spanish
Chicano Spanish
Tex-mex
Pachuco
The home tongue is the language we speak with our brothers and sister, and our friends as well.
There is no doubt that robbing a people of their language is violent than war (Ray Smith). Attacks on someone form of expression with the intention of censor is a violation of the First Amendment that wild tongue cannot be tamed but can only be cut off. If a person has a low estimation about the native tongue someone speaks, the person also has a low estimation about the person himself. Often people do speak English as a natural language. Even among the Chicanos, they tend to speak English in most cases. Chicano is just like a diverse linguistically as it is regionally. It is believed that by the end of the century, Spanish speakers are going to be the biggest minority group in the United States, where most students are encouraged to take French classes since it is considered cultural. However, a language to remain alive is important that it is used regularly.
When one talks bad about the language of someone, he or she usually hurt the person. It is important to note that ethnic identity is like a twin skin to linguistic identity. Until someone takes pride in his language, he cannot take pride in himself since someone becomes his own language. One has to accept legitimacy of the language he or she speaks in order to accept the legitimacy of himself.
Many ways can be used to internalize identification, especially in forms like images and emotions. For example, food and smell can tie one to his homeland and identity. Such examples can help us imagine the activities back in our homeland even if we are several miles away from home. This always keeps us close to our native home.
When we call ourselves Spanish by culture, we refer to ourselves as linguistic group. We then tend to forget the predominant Indian genes. When we call ourselves Spanish-American, we refer to ourselves as Spanish speaking people in the western hemisphere. The struggle for identity continues with the struggles of our borders still remains our reality. The inner struggle will one day cease leaving the true integration to take place. We should learn to survive when other races give up on their tongues by trying keeping our tongue.
Reference
Linda, H. P. John, C. B. (2008), how to Tame a Wild Mouth, 12th Ed. New York, The Norton
Reader.
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