Search for my Tongue

Learning Objectives
• Consider the importance of culture
and language
• Understand Sujata Bhatt’s view of
language and culture
• Discuss the way these views are
presented
Slide 7 contains link to video on BBC Bitesize
 What are your views on the
following statements?
Discuss with a partner.
• I don’t like it when I hear people living in Britain
speaking a foreign language. When they’re in
Britain they should speak English.
• It must be a real advantage to slip between
different languages
• It must be really confusing to have to use two
different languages
• If you live in Britain and you speak English but
your first language is something else, then you
should do all you can to keep your first language
rather than forgetting about it.
 Sujata Bhatt
[My mother tongue]
That's the deepest
layer of my identity."

"I have always • Sujata Bhatt was born in 1956 in

thought of myself as
an Indian who is Ahmedabad, the largest city in the
outside India." Indian state of Gujarat, where her
mother tongue was Gujarati
• She is intrigued by two languages
interacting in her mind and how this
affects her identity
 Themes
• Language is used to symbolise cultural
identity
• The poet suggests that cultural identity
never dies regardless of where you live
• She suggests that two cultures mixed
together enhance one another
This has a double
meaning: the physical
device needed for
speech and the
language you speak

Search for My Tongue

The language you

speak is seen as
inextricably linked to
your culture
Conversational style, who is
Lost voice could
she talking to?
mean isolation in a
new culture
You ask me what I mean
by saying I have lost my tongue.
Tongue as a
I ask you, what would you do
metaphor for
if you had two tongues in your mouth,
language is used
and lost the first one, the mother tongue,
throughout the One must be
and could not really know the other,
poem: extended excluded no matter
the foreign tongue.
metaphor what you want. Could
You could not use them both together
even if you thought that way. this suggest a desire
And if you lived in a place you had to to maintain both
speak a foreign tongue, cultures?
your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouth
until you had to spit it out. Negative language gives
Tone changes I thought I spit it out this first section sickening
at the end of this but overnight while I dream, and sombre view of the
section loss

How should this be read? Sadly, angrily, hopefully towards the end. Mark a
quotation to back up each possible interpretation
(munay hutoo kay aakhee jeebh aakhee bhasha) The Gujarati script, on the
right, is repeated in English
(may thoonky nakhi chay)
at the end of the poem.

Why is the same thing said twice

(parantoo rattray svupnama mari bhasha pachi aavay chay)
in two languages?

(foolnee jaim mari bhasha nmari jeebh)

What is the purpose of the

phonetic transliteration below the
modhama kheelay chay)
script?

(fullnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh) Is this a poem more effective
when read out loud or seen on
the page?
(modhama pakay chay)
Takes place in a dream; as such, is it real or Strong positive natural
just something she hopes for? imagery. What might
this suggest?

it grows back, a stump of a shoot

grows longer, grows moist, grows strong
veins, Is it necessary for one
it ties the other tongue in knots, to overpower the
the bud opens, the bud opens in my other?
mouth,
it pushes the other tongue aside.
Everytime I think I've forgotten,
I think I've lost the mother tongue,
it blossoms out of my mouth.

Positive image could imply that the

language is beautiful and exotic
 Think about…
• How does the poem present the argument
that our speech and ourselves are
intimately connected? Do people not have
to search for their own tongue - or
authentic voice - even if they have not had
to move from one language to another?
• What does the last sentence of the poem
mean?
Writing responses to the poems
What is it worth and why?

First sentence: pointless Second sentence: personal response, but

needs developing

The poem contains lots of similes and

metaphors (imagery), similes is when you use
like and metaphors is when you don't use like. I
liked the line about spitting it out (tongue) it
reminded me of a horror film.

Treatment of how the poem is written is

poor - suggests G/F grade
 Writing responses to the poems
What is it worth and why?

Gets hold of the importance of this image in the poem

Understands what the poet is saying

The whole poem is about tongues really, there are lots of

images of tongues. Sujata describes her mother tongue as if it
was something growing in her mouth, which gets bigger or
smaller. She thinks that if she doesn't speak Indian from day to
day it will die away. It's like, use it or lose it. But it never
actually disappears because at night the tongue 'blossoms out
of my mouth', so it's come to life again.

Suggests a C/B grade answer

 Writing responses to the poems
What is it worth and why?

Clear explanation of a complicated image Connects images to argument of poem

Short quotations to illustrate what is said Personal responses to the imagery

In English, we use the word 'tongue' to mean 'language' as well as your actual
'tongue'. The poet compares knowing two languages to having two tongues in your
mouth, which she calls 'the mother tongue' and 'the foreign tongue'. She is afraid
that the mother tongue might shrivel away ('rot and die') like a plant with no roots.
But in the last part of the poem, the mother tongue seems to grow back during the
night, and 'push the other tongue aside'. It's like when she dreams, she dreams in
Gujarati, and this keeps the language alive for her. It connects her to her
memories. The image of two tongues growing in your mouth is weird, and a bit
disturbing. You can imagine how it would feel. But then it 'blossoms' which also
suggests something beautiful. I thought this was a memorable image.

Suggests A grade answer

 Write a response to the following
• How Does Sujata Bhatt feel about her
mother tongue? Support your answer with
quotations
• Aim to write half a page of a detailed
response to the poem.