Audience and Purpose

An excerpt from The Wonderful Adventures of Mary Seacole (1857)

This excerpt is a memoir extracted from the autobiography, The Wonderful Adventures of Mary Seacole. It follows all conventions of memoirs, namely direct narration, hindsight wisdom, dialogue and anecdotes. Direct narration is evident in the repeated use of ‘I´ throughout the extract, as well as from the content being a direct recounting of the author's history. The author also provides multiple instances of hindsight wisdom in her observations on death and life, saying that, ”Death is always terrible – no one need be ashamed to fear it.” Similarly, she reflects on her relationship with the surgeon in, “I think he had some fondness for me… I used to…weep over him in a very weak and silly manner perhaps.”  Notable characters are also given their own voice, in the surgeon's “Let me lay my head upon your breast.” Finally, it was anecdotal as she recounted a specific event from her past – her falling in love with the surgeon and healing people with yellow fever in Jamaica.

The aim of the piece was to recount her experiences, and to retell her emotions on them. It is likely that the ideal audience were speakers of English, perhaps even from England. We see this in the sympathy she expresses with them, “the mother country pays a dear price for the possession of her colonies,” which demonstrates Seacole referring to her as the "mother country" - reflecting a possibility that she is English. In the advice Seacole gives on death, "...no one need be ashamed to fear it," she offers support for people who have lost loved ones, and it would have aided readers at the time who had lost relations to yellow fever (or other diseases) overseas. By writing about foreign experiences for an English audience, Seacole may have been aiming to target readers who were interested in travel and exploring the word, but couldn't actually do so.

The content of the text primarily reflects the suffering of the deaths that she had to witness as a nurse, and recounts the brief relationship she had with the surgeon. As mentioned earlier, the ideas that she conveys about death may serve to provide insight and help to any readers dealing with it in the family. The very personal retelling of her feelings for the surgeon (whose name she did not disclose) establishes this text as a memoir. In the context of a memoir, telling intimate 'secrets' like this one makes the text seem more authentic, and helps the reader understand her better since we see a more complete picture of a person with secrets, fears etc. Love and death are, after all, universal and the "silly manner" which she talked to the surgeon in is something we can all identify with (acting sillier around certain people....). In all, the intimate contents of this excerpt cements the authenticity of the autobiography and conveys the message that the author is writing genuine feelings.

The mood of the piece is friendly, encouraging and deeply personal.  As this is a memoir, Seacole reflects on her life and tells the story of it as if the reader is her friend. While the initial recounting of death made the tone depressing, she lightened it up with the story of the surgeon. She even states that "I do not willingly care to dwell upon scenes of suffering and death." By changing the focus, the memoir turns into an uplifting (albeit sad) piece with a hopeful message behind it. Seacole also concludes with the peaceful passing of the surgeon, again focusing more on the good man that he was ("his kind heart feigned a feeling that he saw would bring me joy") as opposed to his death. The final effect is a piece whose mood imparts feelings about the strength of the human spirit, even without explicitly saying so.

Since it is a memoir, it is written from Seacole's firsthand perspective. She uses 'I' repeatedly and states her feelings and opinions on what she went through. As mentioned earlier, Seacole identifies with being English (refers to England as "the mother country"), and this would have been the only bias in how she saw the events around her. It led her to sympathize with the English in Jamaica and tell their story of suffering. Her diction is very formal, employing an older structure of English, which was probably the style of 1857. For example, Seacole uses the lengthy "I do not willingly care to dwell upon scenes of suffering and death" when she could simply have said (in a more modern fashion), "I do not want to speak of suffering and death". In our modern 21st century context, this diction is out of place and evokes images of archaic times. It may even prevent a current audience from identifying with her, as her language is so different from our current structure. Elliptical sentences are used, as are pronouns, but the manner in which more information is added to sentences by including colons and semicolons (creating very long sentences like the first one of the second paragraph, which goes on for five lines) is very different from modern writing and distinguishes Seacole's memoir as an older piece.

Word Count: 838

Written Task 1

Move Over AAVE, Textspeak Has Replaced You

Just like trends and fads, dialects and their varieties come and go. And although we rarely think about how we speak, our spoken dialects are probably the most fluctuating language forms of all. The ‘yo’s and double negations that once dotted our speech have now been replaced with ‘LOL’, ‘OMG’ and spoken hashtags. Our culture has switched dialects, and it seems this time that textspeak has replaced AAVE (African American Vernacular English) as the language of our time.

Despite their significantly different origins and structures, the current development of textspeak emulates that of AAVE’s very well. First emerging from the combination of English and native West African languages when these speakers came into contact with each other, AAVE was initially an African dialect that couldn’t be helped. As it developed, however, it became a choice since its speakers continued preserving it after becoming fluent in English and knowing how it’s spoken.

Textspeak also initially arose out of physical necessities.  Linguist David Crystal proclaims that it has arisen due to ‘on-screen limitations’, which ring true at the time when messages had maximum characters and textspeak was crucial to saving money and energy. With current smart phones and unlimited free messaging thanks to Wi-Fi, however, textspeak is no longer needed and has become a choice.

The persistence of these two dialects to be used so many years after they initially developed out of needs shows that they are both choices. Not only are they still used when they aren’t necessary anymore, but they have both reached across their origins to pervade new groups of people.

Blondie’s 1981 song Rapture was the first time a white artist ever rapped, and marked the start of AAVE’s long journey out of African American culture. Likewise, although textspeak was initially used only by youth, as texting gained popularity the dialect extended its reach so that 80% of people who text and use textspeak now are adults.

What is so exciting about these similarities is that despite how much we think we have changed as a society, textspeak is repeating AAVE’s exact patterns from over three decades ago. And although technology has made major steps forward during this time, both dialects also share the impacts technology can have on a language.

Albeit technology being absent from AAVE’s early beginnings, it proved instrumental in the dialect’s rise to prominence. AAVE was popularized due to the media, especially through music, as well as technology’s role in making entertainment available to more people. As R&B and Hip Hop gained fame, AAVE expanded to be used in novels, short stories, and poetry. The media presented an outlet for documenting experiences, and AAVE was the perfect instrument in depicting African American lives and culture. Through this increased publicizing of African American culture, the usage of AAVE also eventually came to be considered cool.

Technology was just as important to textspeak, especially since the creation of this dialect was caused solely by technology presenting, as Crystal says, ‘a new medium for language’. Without the platform technology created, there would have been no text speak at all. Beyond its creation, however, technology also presented a way for textspeak to evolve. Sites like Tumblr and Twitter seem designed for textspeak to be used, creating communities where this dialect is the main method of communication and where its conventions are understood by all. Textspeak has even worked its way into music, like Trey Songz’ LOL : -), and daily speech, with us saying things like ‘lol’ or ‘wat’ – phrases that all originated from textspeak.

Despite how much fame these dialects have garnered at their own times, they have also faced issues with their usage. Both have been deemed ‘unprofessional’, and not for use on formal occasions. When interviewing speakers of AAVE, many of them said they ‘wouldn’t use it (AAVE) in an interview’. Likewise, many current employers have been turned off by the usage of textspeak in thank-you notes from interviewees.

It seems that despite the popularity they gain in popular culture, AAVE and textspeak are both personal languages, reserved for people we are close to. Indeed, as our social circles grow, these dialects mark the differences in our interactions between friends and acquaintances and shape the identities we take on with different people.

Through these similarities between textspeak and AAVE, there remains one obvious difference in who is allowed to use either. While the totally uninhibited use of AAVE by anyone other than an African American may result in accusations of cultural appropriation, the usage of textspeak is open to all. Perhaps as a testament to how much our society has become an amalgamation of so many different cultures, our new ‘in’ language was developed by everyone, and is used by everyone.

After seeing how closely textspeak has followed the path of AAVE, language shows itself as a cycle where new dialects are constantly evolving to suit our needs for a particular time. In this sense, the history of our language functions as a cultural memoir of sorts – reflecting on how our society’s values have changed over time.

Just like AAVE eventually petered out and is now used mainly by African Americans again, so can we expect textspeak’s popularity to slowly disappear later on as a new form of language comes up that is a product of our future society. In the constantly evolving world of language, our society will continue to change what we speak, and therefore how we define our identities.

Word Count: 908

Written Task 1: Rationale

Rationale

While studying the development of language over history and how it has been impacted by our identities, it is interesting to consider how our current cultural identity has shaped the language that we use. In popular culture, media and daily interactions, the current incarnation of language that represents our identity is textspeak.

In order to look at textspeak as the development of language, I have chosen to compare it to an older variation of another dialect – African American Vernacular English (AAVE). In this comparison, which argues that textspeak is the new AAVE, the similarities in the way both dialects have developed prove that language is akin to a cycle – with constantly evolving dialects emerging to suit our needs. By showing the similarities between them, an understanding of how technology and identity plays a large role in shaping our language will be demonstrated, as well as of how textspeak may be expected to develop. The context is the 21^st century, written with insight on modern culture.

I have chosen to explore this topic in a magazine article for Time Magazine. Many articles on culture and language of an academic standard have been published in Time, and it is a platform where I can easily refer to popular culture – allowing for greater interaction with the audience and material. Although diction will not include linguistic jargon, it will be of an academic standard. Magazine articles also employ catchy opening titles and have specific points to prove or question, with definite conclusions. It will be written from the point of an academic who believes textspeak is echoing AAVE in its development.

Although Time and the language of my article is geared to the general public, the intended audience is more specifically users of these dialects, English students and academics with some interest in linguistics.

Word Count: 300

 

 

Texting and Technology

On the topic of Texting, linguists David Crystal and John McWhorter both have very different and very interesting theories. This is an exploration of them, pitting them against each other to discover similarities and differences. 

1)The Basis of Textspeak/Summary

The first issue to tackle is what they believe the basis of textspeak to be. Crystal believes that textspeak shows the 'human ability to be linguistically creative' and to adapt language to suit our demands. By doing so, he is taking textspeak to be an extension of humanity's written language. This is evident again when he refers to it as new 'literary genre' and cites that it has been turned into poems, short stories and novels - like any other language. McWhorter, on the other hand, proceeds with this point in a totally different direction. He holds that textspeak is the first instance of humanity writing as we speak. Language, he says, originated as speech and that is really what language is. Consequently, although we've been writing and speaking for so many years and have developed the ability to "talk as we write" (i.e. formal register, speeches, etc.), we have now for the first time developed the ability to "write as we talk." This has been made possible thanks to the convenience and speed of texting as well as the electronic platform of creating text messages. In conclusion, we see that while Crystal considered textspeak to be an extension of our written language, McWhorter saw it as a new form of language. 

2)The Development of Textspeak 

We've already mentioned that Crystal believes textspeak to be a new literary genre. Apart from the normal developments one would expect of a literary genre (short stories, novels etc.), however, Crystal also notes that different dialects are being developed in the world of textspeak. He agrees, in this sense, with McWhorter's view of textspeak being based on language. Crystal states that, through the many different ways that are being developed to say things, different dialects of textspeak will soon be developed. We see how in this respect textspeak is basing it's progress on speech, echoing McWhorter's theories. The latter similarly states that as we advance in textspeak, we will develop more ways of making textspeak more like 'actual people talk.' This will happen as we naturally develop words/symbols to replace conventions of speech. 

3)Abbreviations and Punctuation

This is another point where differing views are presented. Crystal believes that texters make these changes consciously. They recognize the high-information value of consonants - hence leading to abbreviations and removal of vowels, as well as the low-information value of punctuation - hence the repeated lack of it in texting. McWhorter, however, contests that these changes aren't made consciously. We drop problems of punctuation and spelling when participating in textspeak because we don't pay attention to these things when speaking, and textspeak is a form of speaking (but as writing). In addition, while Crystal believes acronyms have developed out of convenience, McWhorter believes that some of them have naturally cultivated themselves to fill the gaps left when converting speech to writing. One example is 'LOL', which has evolved to become a marker of empathy when used in texting.

4)The Effect on the Quality of Language

Both linguists believe that texting has not caused a deterioration in the quality of English used today, albeit with different supporting reasons. Crystal believes that, ultimately, texting is a form of practice in literacy. And it follows that the more you practice something, the better your get at it - therefore making literacy scores increase with time spent texting. On the use of abbreviations he makes the very valid point that, "to leave a letter out, you have to first know it's there." The use of abbreviations, he maintains, can be controlled and only used when necessary. McWhorter agrees but makes a different point, reminding us that all throughout history, there have always been cases of bad language. He takes us back all the way to 63 A.D. (where there was no texting), and showed complaints of bad language. Evidently bad language will exist irregardless of texting. Additionally, he believes that textspeak is an "expansion of youth's linguistic repertoire" and that more youths are, in this sense, bilingual. As such, both linguists hold that not only has texting not harmed our language, it has improved it - by making its usage more frequent and diversifying our use of it. 

  

Fun Fact!: John McWhorter has also written an article on cultural appropriation, which I replied to in my previous blog post. You can read his article here.

Letter to the Editor

Cultural Appropriation as bad as ever

Talitha Liu

16 July 2014

Dear Editor,

I refer to the article, You Can’t ‘Steal’ a Culture: In Defense of Cultural Appropriation, by Josh McWhorter. As a frequent reader of your magazine, I was appalled at the lack of sensitivity displayed here.

 

The idea that cultural appropriation is not a problem because 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery' is nothing but laughable. Indeed, it brings us to the main problem - the issue is not the copying of the source culture, it is the effects it has upon the source culture. As a second generation Chinese that has been living in America for over 20 years now, cultural appropriation still has an unpleasant knack of reminding me that 'I am not really American' by pointing out that my people will only ever fit into the stereotypes the whites have created for us. It makes me feel like I don't belong here, in my home.  

 

Just last year, Katy Perry displayed a blatant example of cultural appropriation in an AMA performance of  her song 'Unconditionally'. The four minute long concert was a confusing hodgepodge of Chinese and Japanese culture - featuring the singer herself wearing a cross between a Cheongsam and Kimono, backup dancers draped in revealing modified Japanese dresses, while carrying out traditional Chinese fan dances. Not only does this make perpetuate the 'you're all Asian, it's the same thing' notion, more worryingly it presented Chinese and Japanese traditions without understanding any of the meanings behind them. The insensitive spectacle was further dismissed with statements like, 'it was not her intention to be racist' or worse, that 'it was only a cultural celebration'. These statements support Perry's trivialization of the source cultures, making us into another accessory in her wardrobe. If it really was mean to be a celebration, why were there no Asian dancers on stage? Even worse is that there were 9.47 million viewers watching this, having it ingrained into them (again) that Asians are either a)very good at math or b)prancing around diminutively in kimonos.

 

I showed your article to many fellow Asian-Americans, and they all found it to be grossly inaccurate. Many of them held that 'no one is listening' to their struggles with this issue. Despite the many editorials attacking cultural appropriation in the media, the major players in the industry - Iggy Azalea (in 'Bounce'), Selena Gomez (in 'Come and Get It') and Katy Perry - just to name a few, are repeatedly stealing parts of minority cultures to exploit in their performances and videos.

 

I recognize that your article says a culture can never be 'stolen'. But that was never the problem. The issue is that our minority cultures have turned into fetishes for viewers, exotic traditions and expressions whose real meaning is totally forsaken. And at the end of the day, when Katy Perry gets bored of this façade, she takes her makeup off and doesn't have to deal with the stereotyping she has perpetuated. No one looks at her and says - 'Oh, you're Asian, so you must be good at math right?'. In this sense it is simply not fair.

 

Instead of writing articles that make people feel like cultural appropriation is okay, I recommend you take action encouraging people to realize that these actions are wrong. Encourage a boycott of the offending artists, educate people as to what constitutes cultural appropriation and why it is so harmful. I'm not asking that humans cease to appreciate each other's cultures entirely, I'm simply asking for some respect.

 

Consider a reversal of the situation. Imagine a Chinese pop group dancing around with burgers and fries, using American culture to get more hits on YouTube. Trivializing you into an accessory. I promise that you can sift through the entirety of Chinese media and never find a performance like that, so why is the reverse occurring so frequently here? Above all, I ask the general population to stop sweeping this issue under your borrowed Arabian magic carpets, and to sit up and face it for what it is.

 

Sincerely,

Talitha Liu




You can read the original article here:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/15/you-can-t-steal-a-culture-in-defense-of-cultural-appropriation.html