Linguistic Autobiography (Assignmeet originally authored by Nicholas Sevano, Mips://ww. In a 3-page narrative essay in MLA format, write about your language history in a "linguistic autobiography." A "linguistic autobiography" is a first-person narrative essay in which a writer reflects on the history of his or her relationship with language. The writer must pay special attention to something that many take for granted: the words that come out of our mouths, what they reveal, how they are formed, and to what extent they create our identity. You do not need to be a professional linguist to do this you simply need to be sensitive to how, when, and why you use language. Be descriptive not prescriptive. In other words, don't judge your language (or that of others) as inferior or superior, right or wrong, faulty or sound; instead, describe it with objectivity as a living artifact, something that you can respond to thoughtfully without judgement. This essay is due Friday, September 23rd. Required: Quote dialogue to demonstrate your language usage. Think and write about how you use language and how it manifests in your life and with your familial, social, and/or academic relationships. Note: To earn a passing grade the essay needs to be original, complete (full 3 pages), and revised. Below you will find a list of questions to help you brainstorm ideas for this personal essay. You should consider these questions as a means of helping you form your answers, but you are not required to answer all of them. This is to get you started thinking about how you use language. 1. Describe the languages, dialects, and styles used by your parents, grandparents, and siblings. Are they oral, written, gestural, or a combination of all three? 2. Where are you from Where have you lived? With whom have you lived? Which of these social details do you think may have influenced the way you speak now? 3. What language does your family speak? How is language used in your family? When? For what occasions? 4. What other languages have you used in communication? 5. To what extent does nonverbal language play a part in your family? 6. Is there a familial conflict when you switch between languages? Explain. 7. Did you have any language pathologies as a child, such as stuttering, lisping, ete? How did you deal with these? 8. What kinds of "dialects" or types do you use in different situations? For example, how do you speak/write to your friends on <word blocked> or through text messages? How would this stay the same or change if you are talking writing to your grandmother? Teacher? Coach? Why do you think you make these choices about language? Do you engage in code-switching? When? With whom? For what purpose? See: https://youtu.be/CJkB_CxUHal 9. How does your language reflect your upbringing? 10. Do you have childhood memories that revolve around language? 11. What type of language was spoken in your neighborhood? 12. What inside jokes or insider linguistic cues do you use with different audiences? In what situation do you use them? ...f.. am mento or instances where vour language, either spoken or written, was commen12:42 am

12. What inside jokes or insider linguistic cues do you use with different audiences? In what situation do you use them? 13. Do you remember particular comments or instances where your language, either spoken or written, was commented on? What was said about your language, and how did you respond? 14. What differences do you notice between the way you speak and the way you write? 15. Do you speak mostly in sentences or fragments? 16. Do you speak non-linguistic languages such as software code or music? 17. Is your language elliptical? 18. Do you use words that are viewed as inappropriate? When do you use such diction? With whom? At what moments? What need does this fulfill? Why do you feel it necessary to fulfill this need? 19. What other languages have you studied? To what extent has this impacted your other language? 20. In what ways do you see language as a part of your identity? 21. How do you feel about your first language? When do you use it? With whom do you use it? Is important for you / your kids to retain fluency in it? Suggestion: You might include a description of a situation in which you are absolutely at ease or uncomfortable socially. OUTSTANDING AUTOBIOGRAPHIES WILL: • Thoughtfully reflect on language usage in multiple situations that consider audience as a crucial factor. • Include a specific description and example of dialogue where you felt socially comfortable or uncomfortable; you reflect on what factors are in this dialogue and why you have made those linguistic choices. Organize ideas and examples in logical ways that support your reflection on language usage.

Answer

I have lived in Maryland since childhood. The language background of my family was majorly English. This made me learn and speak English even at a young age. I learned French along the way as I grew up. This resulted from developing an interest after watching a documentary about the French military. Generally, language helps support a child's ability to communicate and express their feelings freely by supporting their thinking ability in relation to reading and writing skills as they go through school. Personally, at a young age, I could hear and differentiate the dialect. Being around my parents more often than anyone also helped me start getting used to the language. On several occasions, my mother loved reading to me. As a result, I understood language styles and had an early exposure to word pronunciations.

            Occasionally, I use language to reason with others, express my ideas, speak to my family and friends, and brainstorm ideas. This language usage manifests in my everyday life since it's a vital part of the human connection. Language use directly influenced my familial relationship by enhancing effective communication between family members, sharing experiences with siblings, and enhancing sound decision-making at the family level. Socially, it improved my social integration with other people. This is because language directly affects social interactions and relations among people. Academically, the use of language influenced my grammar considerations by enabling me to take note of different grammar aspects that were equally important in academics, for example, the pronouns, nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

            At some point, I never took Grammar seriously and therefore never valued it with the belief that I was better placed as a result of being able to speak it. This was all wrong because, without proper Grammar, the tenses we speak can automatically be wrong and directly affect everything, including describing people and places using bad words. This justifies that Grammar is the backbone of reading and listening in comprehension since it deals with everything around and about simple communication. In various instances, I apply different linguistic cues, precisely word order and morphological cues, to reinforce my learning. In similar scenarios, my primary audience always includes classmates and a few friends with whom we usually communicate.

            With time I had a clear personal understanding of myself concerning the language and dialect; this came with the ability to understand and comprehend the difference between the two. A combination of oral, written, and gestural styles are both used in my family. Verbal communication is mainly used primarily during storytelling sessions, whereas written texts are sometimes used. As stated before, French is the other language I have learned along the way, and the experience has significantly enhanced my different languages. Specifically, one of the significance has helped me get hints for spelling some English words and enabled me to better understand the roots for some terms and phrases used in English, for example, adieu.

The manner with which I have used my language has made me believe that I am linguistically secure since I have had strong confidence in my language usage. For many years now, I have been speaking French and have even gone a notch higher by gaining a variety of vocabularies. For a fact, I have realized that linguistic security substantially impacts someone's linguistic behavior as it makes it easy for someone to speak and comprehend language in the specific context of the required text. On the negative side, learning a new language like French is not easy as attributed to its complex nature, which makes knowing the characters and their respective pronunciation difficult.

Since a person's dialect can have some applications to their social background, as for class dialect or occupational dialect, I prefer speaking to friends to writing them text messages on most occasions. Physical conversations have always encouraged and positively impacted my language and courage, seemingly enhancing authenticity in the conversation. The relationship between how I write and speak is relatively concurrent, even though my high school teacher made me believe I was better at writing than speaking or general presentation.

An aspect also worth referring to is my ability to speak non-linguistic languages, specifically music. I developed the urge to write music in middle school, which also impacted my English. One of the musical benefits of linguistics is having a neutral effect on the brain that allows for the better and easier task of processing language, thereby enhancing rhythm and flow. Music has also helped me retain words and expressions much more effectively by applying repetitive patterns.

In summary, I see language as part of my identity, and my relationship with it has tremendously changed and will even get stronger as I advance. Besides, I believe in daily improvements, and my language use is no exception.