Final Blog

Although this semester has been disastrous for me, I really enjoyed this course and all of the course content. I especially enjoyed the lecture by Jabari Asim. The way that language usage shapes society is absolutely fascinating. All of the readings have been very enjoyable, and I would go as far to say that some have been enlightening. There are many things that I will take from this course, but I would like to focus on two things in particular that had a great impact on me.

First, I was blown away by the extent to which language is used to discriminate. The difference in dialects is another of many ways for humans to separate each other into groups and oppress those one another. I have always been under the impressions that southern, eastern and Midwestern dialects are only for uneducated and simple people. This subconscious sense of elitism led me to believe that these people simply chose to speak in an unintelligent manner because of a hatred for academics. This simply is not true. This class taught me that each language and dialect has a rich history and specific reasons for these differences in language, and that each of dialect follows its own set of rules and guiding principles.

The second thing that made a huge impact on me is the fact that language can be analyzed in a way to surface hidden motives and agendas of the speakers. When we analyze language critically, we are able to tell so much about the ideals, beliefs and motives of other people and groups. I love to analyze people and social dialogue, and looking at the language of these people and groups gives me an entire level of insight that I didn’t have before taking this class. Analyzing the way one speaks is just as important as analyzing the ideas being conveyed.

Thanks everyone. I hope I get to have some of you in my future classes. It’s been a blast. :)