My Language World Assignment- Grade 9 English

Why do I speak as I do and how does my language define me?

Everyone has a different way of speaking. Some can be more formal than others. It usually depends on where you are and who you are around, for example: If you’re around you friends, you would probably use a very casual, informal way of speaking, maybe even using modern-day slang. However, if you’re in a professional environment or you’re in class talking to a teacher, you might talk more formally than usual. But what I find most interesting about formality of speaking, is that when talking to parents, you have a mix of both formal and casual slang, sometimes even depending on which parent you are speaking to.

I think the biggest influence that had led me to speak English was the fact that both my parents spoke it and that I grew up in Singapore, where a large majority of people speak English. I’m glad that I speak English because almost everyone I’ve ever known speaks English and that plays as a huge role in communicating with other people (even though I’m terrible at it.)

How can language include or exclude, represent or misrepresent?

Since the world is split into different countries and not one country is the same as another, there’s an obvious difference with how people speak English. For example, places like Britain has a stereotype of being posh and fancy, when most of the time it’s their accents. Other places like Singapore has Singlish, which uses many ‘extra’ words that are used as exclamations such as ‘Lah’ and ‘aiyo’. Sometimes even when people speak Chinese, they mix in English words. It sounds funny but its surprisingly common. Linking back to what I said about how people stereotype about Britain for being fancy, theres also some stereotypes that people in Singapore could be that we’re uneducated or improper.

GPERS — Nature and Nurture- What has a bigger impact?

Nature or nurture? That question has been around for ages and there isn’t a specific answer to it. Everyone has their own opinion in things like these.

When we talk about Nature, we’re talking about the things in your genes- what you were born with. It would have come from your family and it would tell you if you’re a girl or a boy. It also gives us the things like: If your dad and mum were both really tall or short, you would grow up to be similar to them. Maybe your parents didn’t like something. You may or may not grow up to be the same. (maybe???) YOU FOUND ME :0 

Nurture, on the other hand, is how you were taken care of- how you were raised. It’s all about the environment you grew up in, the people you grew up with, etc etc. Let’s say identical twins were separated and raised in two completely different environment. They would have the same genes, the same face, almost the same everything, other than their personality. One could have grew up in a household where the people they were surrounded by were very nice, and always treated them well and in a nurturing way. Maybe the other would have been raised in a house where there was a lot of shouting, anger, strictness. Maybe even raised by bad people. Those twins would not be alike at all. One would be kind, caring and very enthusiastic. The other could have been depressed, angry, and have a habit of lashing out. Nobody would guess they’re twins. They are not the same.

In my opinion, I believe that Nurture overpowers Nature. You could have been born a specific way, supposed to be a certain way, but it could be changed with nurture. With who you want to be, not who you were born as. You could have been born a girl but would like to be a boy in the future. You could have been born into a bad family but maybe raised with other people and grew up to be kind and loving. Gentle. It all depends on Nurture, but that’s just my opinion.