Language and Racism

Question: Discuss about the Language and Racism. Answer: Introduction Language is primarily the greatest source of unity in the history of human civilization up to date. Having the ability to master a few words in the language of another stranger is important in building rapport and long lasting relations between people. Language essentially breaks down any instances of animosity and selfishness. It is a unifying factor to most people. For instance, colonial domination was fronted on the back of using a similar language to unite the people under one. However, while language has been vital in establishing unity, it has also created divisions in societies whereby people are identified by their languages. Internationally, inability to speak one language has been a key factor used to categorize people. As a result racial lines have been clearly established. Language and Racism Essentially, language presents a safe haven for people to peddle and hurl abuses at one another because of the misunderstanding that exits between one language and another. It provides the safest net that no one is easily caught unlike any other avenue that peddles mistrust and dishonesty. Racism therefore feeds of the virtual presence of language in conversations (Blair et al, 2017). In most cases, people have been judged because of what is thought of their language. There is always bound to be instances that people have to identify the use of certain phrases in certain languages. Therefore, anyone who is found using them is generally thought as belonging to that particular race. In other words, language categorizes individuals based on their utterances. When people have a virtual hideout, it arms them with the most of the vile and visceral words that can be used to target a particular race (Bock, 2016). In essence, language has a closer relationship with one another in that occurre nce of one transpires into another and vice versa. Racism is therefore prevalent in this conducive atmosphere that is created by comfort and virtual nature of language as a result. Diversity reflected by language means that different people will be best suited to speak particular languages that they have a closer relationship. This takes place either regionally or internationally as well. Consequently, it leads to the creation of distinct groups of people forged by a common language. Basically, the existence of such groups makes one of them dominant and hence an aim to establish superiority and relevance within a national or an international outlook. The quest for identity as stated by Moore (2015) implies that one of the languages will emerge dominant which will then form an avenue that some of those who do not profess knowledge to belong in the language spoken by this group will be deemed as unequal members of the society. In Eastern Europe, racism has primarily been advanced through the language spectrum in a manner that articulation of certain words differentiates them from the rest of the population (Bailey Stallings, 2017). They therefore end up as ridic ule and toasted about. In this case, language has been used as a divisive tool. The existence of language in a number of ways, types and perspectives means that certain people are not able to articulate certain syllables when they make an attempt to learn a foreign language. The lack of articulate prowess when called upon to speak a foreign language means that such people will be judge by where they come from based on their accents and general use of the words. It is easy to place a person on the race she or he belongs based on language. Certain sounds are not applicable or available in a number of languages and this means that language will be a key factor in establishing where such people stay and most importantly their racial orientation. Most importantly is the fact that the differences within the native speakers of the language. While the international differences in syllables indicate where a certain speaker comes from or lives, locally language establishes the rank of an individual. A persons social standing is forged on the manner they speak (Van Djik, 2015). For instance, the English language has various articulation of words which sets the stage for identification of people on the rank parameter. The United Kingdom, people of power are supposed to speak with a particular accent that is not common among others (Wiley, 2014). Those who attempt to change the status quo are easily and identified and ranked as well. Unsurprisingly, they are bound to occupy the lower part of the food chain with regard to language structure. Language is an emotive issue centering on day to day interactions among human beings. It therefore crops up in most conversations in a manner that connects to the emotional part of humans. It provides an identity to people all over the world. Therefore, the fact that it touches at the epicenter of human history and interaction, according to Rampton (2014) means that it bound to reflect a number of issues that connects with the human aspect. For instance, people are always bound to respond with a personal touch whenever their language is the center of attention. According to Souhami (2014), they will defend what identifies them more often than anything else. It therefore establishes the dependence on language to provide solutions to the social and political challenges by virtue of their language. This is common among cosmopolitan countries such as the United States whereby identity is recognized through language. As a consequence, there are more tendencies to fall into the racial line s because it is easily identifiable as well. Conclusion In conclusion, from time immemorial, language has always been a source of identity among people of different cultures, ethnic groups, religion and most importantly race. However, an increase in the diversity of language today means that the identity spectrum has been shifted to imply where people are coming from. As revealed in the essay, language is imminently the center of racial divide particularly in the industrial world where nation states exist and so most of the people are bound to speak a similar language as well phraseology, articulation and accent. The wider scope presented by language therefore means that racism is easily perpetrated on such mechanisms. All in all, while a twisted view of identity is presented by the diversity of language, it is still important that language is a source of pride for the people but not used to advance racial, cultural, social and even political superiority in the pretext of individual, group or national pride. References Bailey, M. M., Stallings, L. H. (2017). Antiblack Racism and the Metalanguage of Sexuality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 42(3), 614-621. Blair, K., Dunn, K. M., Kamp, A., Alam, O. (2017). Challenging Racism Project 2015-16 National Survey Report. Bock, M. A. (2017). The News Flip Exercise: Finding patriarchy, racism and other forms of bias in language. Teaching Media Quarterly, 4(2), 3. Moore, R. B. (2006). Racism in the English language. The production of reality: Essays and readings on social interaction, 119. Rampton, B. (2014). Crossings: Language and ethnicity among adolescents. Routledge. Policing and Society, 24(1), 1-21. Souhami, A. (2014). 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