"Mother Tongue" and Language Groups

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the way that Amy Tan defines and identifies different language groups within the English and Chinese languages. It explains how a child born to Chinese-speaking parents and growing up in the United States develops a dialect of her own.

From the Paper:

"A few of Amy Tan's "different Englishes" won't be found in dictionaries. Their lexicons are unique, singular, individually tailored by Tan for each moment and each situation. They aren't "official" like Oxford English or Webster's English, although she might speak those too. Amy's Englishes are her Englishes. She created them, she owns them, and she alone employs them. Her mother tongue is one of them. Neither a dialect of Chinese nor of English, Tan's mother tongue literally stems from her mom's mouth. It is her mother's means of communication in an English-speaking society. But Tan's mother tongue is more than "broken English". In fact, Tan balks at that phrase: "It has always bothered me that I can think of no other way to describe it other than 'broken', as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, or lacked a certain wholeness and soundness," (404)."

More papers on "Mother Tongue" and Language Groups:

• Essay # 98253 : "Raising Children Bilingually"
• Term Paper # 141474 : "Marketing Assignments"
• Analytical Essay # 57422 : "Bilingualism"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: