Baldwin On Language

In 1979, an African-American writer by the name of James Baldwin wrote that “language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power. It is the most vivid and crucial key to identity.” Baldwin claims that language is a crucial component in the attainment of power. It is also what identifies a person in regards to character and placement in society. This view on how language affects humanity is just. Language greatly impacts society by determining the power one has as well as revealing one’s identity. The way a person speaks can lead them into power. Politicians are proof of this; they frequently use language to manipulate others and to get their way. In an article from JSTOR Daily titled The Linguistics of Mass Persuasion: How
People’s identities are influenced by their community, and every community has its own language. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Calpurnia explains this to Jem by saying, “Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks’ talk at home it’d be out of place, wouldn’t it? Now what if I talked white-folks’ talk at church, and with my neighbors?” (Lee 126). Individuals of a community will speak in the same way as others around them. They grow accustomed to the language being used in their environment, so it would be unusual for them to speak otherwise. People who come from a black community will speak, “Black English, which has the rules as complex as the mainstream English… They’re just different rules” (McWhorter). People who come from a white community will speak “mainstream English.” Both are the same language; however, they have different rules and different styles. All different types of groups have variations in their languages, including groups of different ethnicities and socioeconomic statuses. Slang is an example of how people of different socioeconomic statuses speak differently. In a study that compared languages between different socioeconomic groups, it was found that “upper middle class speakers almost always use the standard ing variant and the lower working class speakers almost always use the non-standard in variant” (Robinson). Lower working class speakers tend to drop the -g in -ing words; they just generally tend to use more slang than higher working class people. Socioeconomic status is merely one category of groups with differences in language. Since many different communities speak diversely, one can be identified to a specific community if they speak in that group’s language. In this way, language reveals people’s