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Alejandra Jimenez Gonzalez

English 28

Holly Batty

4/25/18

Bilingualism and its Effects on Identity

Who are you? When asked this question most of us are left dumbstruck. Who are we and how

did we get this way? Identity is something so complex that questions like these are almost

terrifying to answer because there are so many factors that led us to our current state. We don’t

know where to start and so what I would like to bring forward is the notion that bilingualism,

among many things, is the main factor in the development of one's identity. Analyzing How the

Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez, as well as other texts I would like to argue that

bilingualism in relation to culture affects identity. Among other things, variations of a language

can create entire subcultures of identities, and lastly colonialism and how it affects the

development of folks who grow up bilingual.

Speaking two languages often times can mean having 2 cultures. In the case of the Garcia

girls, it is English and Spanish, as they are from the Dominican Republic. We are very familiar

with the Latin American culture in the U.S. and how assimilation is one of the requirements to be

truly accepted in American society. How is this linked to identity? Specifically for someone who

is living in the U.S, and is from another country speaking a different language, it’s heavily

emphasized that in order to be American one has to be monoculturalized. What does this mean?

The U.S likes to emphasize that we are a “melting pot” but what it truly means is to leave behind

your culture, leave behind your identity, and to assimilate to the dominant culture. Being in touch
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with your culture means having a well-grounded image of yourself, typically. Culture can mean

nationality but what it can also mean is sharing customs and practices with a group of people. So

while it can mean nationality it also includes videogame culture, music culture, etc. Customs of

which you grow up with or identify with and have contributed to your personality. Not having a

well-grounded relationship with your culture does the same. In the book How the Garcia Girls

Lost their Accents this is a clear example of how of the lack of connection with both their culture

and the loss of their mother tongue conflicts with the girls and in especially Yolanda.

In the text Borderlands: How to Tame a Wild Tongue, Anzaldua uses the example of

how the lack of control of one's tongue creates self-identity issues, not only that but further

supports the idea that the lack of one's ability to speak in perfect bilingual tongue, one is left to

create an entire subculture. “What recourse is left to them but to create their own language? A

language which they can connect their identity too, one capable of communicating the

realities and values true to themselves — a language with items that are neither Espanol ni

ingles, but both.” (Anzaldua 36). She makes a great point on how folks with double identities

struggle with those who are from both but also neither group, the very common “not enough and

too much of”. In this section, Anzaldua makes a point of saying that there is more than English

and Spanish, there is 1. Standard English 2. Working class and slang English 3. Standard Spanish

4. Standard Mexican Spanish 5. North Mexican Spanish dialect 6. Chicano Spanish (Texas, New

Mexico, Arizona, and California have regional variations) 7. Tex-Mex 8. Pachuco (called calo).

Each one of these variations has its own identity and affect who we are and how we act. For

example, the way I speak to my parents in standard Mexican Spanish is different from how I

speak to my friends in slang English and a mixture of slang Spanish. Both represent who I am
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and creates a sense of belonging to my friends, who also have two cultures, two languages, two

identities.

Sometimes these different variations can be an entire identity itself. For example, the

Chicano slang language known as Calo is a variation created through 1st and 2nd generation

Chicano’s in the 30’s and 40’s during the pachuco era. Words like “ese” and “vato” were used

when mixing Spanish and English. The pachuco identity consisted of this and the zoot suit style.

This was something that an entire generation of Chicano’s were able to identify with, it made

them confident and strong which unfortunately didn’t sit well with Anglo people and sailors. It

was also during this time, the 1950’s, that spanish was forbidden to speak in the classroom. If

you were caught speaking spanish in class you would be paddled. Negative reinforcement when

speaking your mother tongue? Sounds a lot like the colonizing tactics used to destroy the spirit of

young proud chicanos.

Lastly, in How the Garcia Girls lost their Accents, we can clearly see the many identity

issues the girls have. From the oldest to the youngest they seem to be lost in between their

Dominican Republic side and their American side. The effects of self-identity issues can be seen

in The Chicano Labyrinth of Solitude written by E. Orozco, a Chicano scholar. In the book, he

gives clear examples of how monoculturalism is one of the main reasons why self-esteem and

identity crisis begin. Dating back to pre Columbian era it’s clear that language is the heart of

spirit. Anzaldua quotes from Ray Gwyn Smith “Who is to say that robbing a people of its

language is less violent than war?” During Spanish colonialism, the Spanish knew that in order

to conquer they needed to break the spirit of its people. How did they do that? Striping the

people of their native language Nahuatl. This is not unique to pre Columbian Mesoamerica but to

all colonized people. During the Atlantic slave trade, the same tactic was used to break the spirit
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of newly arrived Africans, they were not allowed to speak in their native languages. While this is

in terms of colonialism dating way back it has also been a pattern in modern society in which

they, the dominant population, know that to strip ones linguistic heritage they are taking

something important. “Language, after all, is the symbolic world that binds a white Chicano with

a brown or black Chicano. It is the soul or whatever symbol man may use to describe the

spiritual cord of people.” (Orozco, 3) Orozco describes that bilingualism in the early formative

years of a child is crucial to the making of the Chicano mind.

In conclusion, through self esteem, colonial effects, etc. it has come to shape the identity

and mind of bilingual speakers. Language is a crucial part of the making of one's identity in the

U.S. While it can be the source of joy, confidence, something to identify with, we have seen that

in many common settings in the U.S. it is used as a way to keep bilingual folks down. It up to the

person to learn and appreciate the gift that they have as a bilingual speaker. This is something

Yolanda learned and came to terms with. This narrative is no stranger and the next time you

think about who you are and what made you the way you are, take a look and perhaps your

linguistic heritage has had some part in the making of you.

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Bibliography

“How to Tame a Wild Tongue Page 34.” Borderlands = La Frontera the New Mestiza, by Gloria

Anzaldua, Aunt Lute Books, 1987.

Orozco, Enrique C. Chicano Labyrinth of Solitude: a Study in the Making of the Chicano Mind and

Character. Kendall Hunt, 2013

Alvarez, Julia. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Algonquin Books, 2013.