I'm an immigrant and my perceptions of CLASS,WORK, AND LANGUAGE in United States are slightly different. I grew up in a country with different political structure where most citizens use to belong to one class.
According to social standards of my country I came from well-educated family, where intellectual discussions about highly moral and poetic subjects were encouraged.
When I first moved to United States, due to my language barrier I had to do physical labor, and I was even treated differently. Most of the people I worked with did not even have a college education. Their English was very easy to learn, because they didn't know any sophisticated words. Our work was strictly mechanical and did not require even slightest intellectual effort. But I was struggling, even though due to circumstances I had to be in that environment and I was forced to belong to that CLASS, it did not affect my language. My LANGUAGE wasn't affected by my work or my social and economic CLASS, because of my consciousness. Somewhere, inside of me, I knew and I felt that it wasn't my language, and it wasn't my class.
I would agree that social and economic status, work and other factors can affect our language, but there is a consciousness. We don't always accept things that don't want. Sometimes it takes more that WORK and CLASS to affect our language. How about education? Personality?
I use to work in the slaughterhouse where management treated worker very cruelly without any empathy or understanding. Many workers were affected by that cruelty and became mechanical and cruel and many weren't affected, and managed to maintain their civilized language and behavior. So, there are other factors besides WORK and CLASS.
When I've read the "Housework" by Franz Xaver Kroetz, I thanked God that it was just working draft of translation, because cruelty, lack of sensitivity and moral values, of Kroetz's personages shocked me to the very deepness of my soul. I had difficult time observing Willy's and Martha's disregard towards the baby. They did not even care if the baby is cold, or if the baby in pain. All they could see that this baby is interfering with their WORK, with their regular routine. If Willy expressed his insensitivity through neglect and eventual murder of that child. Martha was negligent enough to leave that child with Willy.
When I work in the slaughterhouse, we had to work on very high speed, and we worked with knives. One day I cut my hand through and my hand started to bleed. My supervisor came to me and said that I have 30 minutes to take care of it. He did not care if I would not be able to work, if I'm in pain, he only cared about work and production. I've found this moment very similar to many moments of neglect and cruelty in "Housework". But I still don't believe that CLASS and WORK can affect our LANGUAGE, can affect who we are. I think our personalities have deeper impact on our actions and our LANGUAGE.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
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I completely agree with what you've posted above. An individual's language choices are influenced by many things, not just work and class. For example, children generally mimic the language of their parents as they grow up. This no doubt influences the language choices of the children later in life. In your case, you were brought up to speak a certain way, and when you came to the U.S. you continued to speak that way regardless of your working conditions or perceived class.
ReplyDeleteA person's education and personality would also provide linguistic stability regardless of work. Like a person's upbringing, education and personality help give us a sense of self when our surroundings continue changing.
I also think it's important to address the affect of work on language through jargon--"special words/expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand." If you work in a place long enough, you're sure to pick up on the jargon surrounding you, otherwise you have no idea what anyone is saying! To some extent, you can't help changing your language.
When you mentioned working at the slaughterhouse, I was reminded of an article I read a long time ago about slaughterhouse workers and the impact of their job on the psyche of the workers (over an extended period of time). Sometimes a person's work can alter their language indirectly by first altering the mind (i.e. how they view themselves, their emotional state, etc). Just something to consider.
Those are my thoughts. Thanks for the interesting post!
Yerbol, I found your post to be the most interesting because of the fact that you are from a country that has a much different political structure than here in the U.S. I am sure that the work and classes are different where you are from, but from your post, you said that WORK and CLASS don't effect the language someone uses. Instead, you state that someone's personality affects someone's use of language. I can see where you are coming from a little bit but I think that part of someone's personality is a result of that person's WORK and CLASS. Which then means WORK and CLASS plays a role in the language someone uses.
ReplyDeleteFor example, my father is a firefighter. The language he uses sometimes is not very appropriate and he will swear over the smallest of things. My mom usually lets it slide by but sometimes she puts her foot down and says that that language is uncalled for in this situation. She has explained to me that he used to NEVER use language like that. She and I both know the other firefighters my dad works with and they use the exact same language without even realizing it. My mom believes that over the past 25 years working as a firefighter with these other men, he has acquired this kind of language without really realizing it. So I think that someone's WORK can play a factor into the language someone uses.
I am most interested in Yerbol's perceptions of class and and work as well; in my posting I argued that class, work and language are major determinants in our worlds, and I will absolutely hold to that argument. However, I think that the way Americans use the word class can be deceptive and ought to be scrutinized closely. The first meaning that I take when someone tosses the word class at me (outside of an academic environment) usually is one that remarks upon the qualities, manners and, indeed, the use of language by a person; a person can have a lot of class, it was a classy thing to do, she said it with class, etc. My personal experience rarely leads me to believe that a person is referring to class in the sense which we are now discussing and parsing: she's low class, he's middle class, etc.; in fact I am only rarely in a situation where class is talked about openly in this sense. Am I alone in this? The word class, in common and contemporary usage, has become a bit more slippery than it might have been 100 years ago in the heyday of Marxist thinkers.
ReplyDeleteTo support what Yerbol has said, it has been my experience that some of the people for whom I have the greatest respect came from very poor families, yet carried themselves with class and were of the highest quality; conversely, I have met some VERY rich people - people who were so rich for so long that they had no idea how rich they were - yet they were classless, disrespectful and deserving of none of the good fortune they had (in my humble opinion). Yerbol, one classy guy, obviously, did not leave his education or his upbringing when he left his home; the failure of others (in this case Americans, but this story can be repeated anywhere there is a major language barrier) to recognize his abilities and education, however, was a matter of language barrier alone. Without common language an educated person of good background is relegated to menial tasks in this country, as they are in any country, until the language barrier can be bridged.
I once worked with a janitor at a hospital who had been the leader of over 500 men in Afghanistan in their fight against the Russians, this man was a village leader and was very educated by the standards of his country, yet here in the U.S., Khan was not able to bridge the employment gap until his communication abilities were sufficient to transact daily business. This happens everywhere, always.
I found this to be very interesing, especially since you yourself have experienced a language barrier. I never really thought about any of the points you brought up. I can definitely understand what you are saying about one's personality can affect the language they use. I think maybe some of us more or less conform to the language we use at work as a way of fitting in. I think it's a matter of choice if you want to come home from work and swear like a sailor. I find those type of things to be controlable.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do believe that work and class have an impact on language. Half the time when I go to the doctor or the dentist I have no idea what they are saying. In those professions you have to speak in a different language.