What I have revealed to myself in the context of my language through my time spent thinking and researching about it has come to change my perception of my language. I was born in Malmö, Sweden on November 7th, 2004. I lived there until I was around 4 years old when my family and I began our culturally shocking move to China. There I was enrolled in an English speaking international school where I began learning and using English for the first time. My age played an important role in this, as I was young enough to basically forget my other language and adapt in favor of the much more useful English. As with all learners, my English gradually improved over time. Again, because of my age, my accent hadn’t formed yet, meaning that my English accent wasn’t manipulated or changed by my Swedish one. I adapted my accent to that of the American, and Canadian English speaking teachers at the school. Meaning that I had gradually subconsciously changed and adapted my accent as well as vocabulary to fit in with the different sociolects of the school community. While living there I can recall that my language use there was more laidback and less controlled than it is now. This came as a result of the relaxed type of social pressure which I received from the school and community while living there.
When I moved to Singapore I can remember that the differences in language usage in my old school compared to my new one were quite drastic and so I gradually changed a large section of my idiolect. I did this in order to fit in with the community as well as to be able to relate to the language identity of the school. The shift from a majority American to a majority English speaking school environment had profound changes in my language. To elaborate I would have to change much of vocabulary, shifting from shortened words such as “sup” meaning “what’s up?” to basically not using that word or having to fully spell out “what’s up.” Other words and phrases that would also have to change would include “Ni Hao” (Used as a casual greeting, rarely used but sometimes used a joke when greeting friends), “Whatcha doing?” and “hey” which is rarely used anymore. In summary, my language had shifted from a predominantly American and casual form of speaking, to a more international and formal way of speaking.
Through my research, I discovered that my language use is mostly formal, as it involves a greater majority of formal phrases and words than it does with informal ones. This is a result of my upbringing. As a child, I was brought up with certain principles such as respecting those older than you, being respectful to others and caring for others. To give deeper context to this my grandfather’s family had been poor and so he had grown up with high discipline and responsibility. He had these traits and so was able to work his way up and become a successful market and building chief through one of Sweden’s growing companies (IKEA). He then passed on those principles to my father who then passed them down to me (at least I think so, maybe). My school also greatly reinforced using thoughtful and respectful language, they even gave away awards to kids every year if they showed commitment to care and respect for others in the school.
To summarize I would say that my idiolect has gone through drastic changes throughout my life. These changes have come as a result of a change in languages, countries and the cultures which I have become exposed to.
My idiolect, however, still remains unchanged in many ways, because of the grounding principles which I have been given throughout my upbringing.
Research
Google Search, Google, www.google.com/search?q=principles&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7qoeEpu3kAhVXiXAKHQdFDnAQ_AUIEigB&biw=1356&bih=721#imgrc=9c1VRHBG-PopNM:
“Does Language Impact Personal Identity?” Languages, rampages.us/thyagarajana/2016/04/04/does-language-impact-personal-identity/.
Educator, The. “The Impact of Language on Learning.” The Educator K/12, 9 Aug. 2018, www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/the-impact-of-language-on-learning/253500.
“General Linguistics.” ELLO, www.ello.uos.de/field.php/Semantics/SemanticsDialectsandsociolects.