Read February 2002 Our Nuyorican Thing
Read March 2002 Our Nuyorican Thing
Spanglish 101, Introductory background, Part 3
In case you may have got the impression from our previous comments on the development of language and identity, that this has been a slow, organic, methodical evolution to a more inclusive (yet prolific & varied) view and understanding of ourselves, allow me to insert a little bit of reality.
From the third human killing the fourth human (they were related by blood and spoke the same words), through all the subsequent generations, to the foreseeable future, our story is one written in blood in the language of life and death. It has crawled over generations, it has mutated. It has festered, it has sprung forth, It has confronted and compromised, has killed and has died over and over, to be renewed over and over. This is no indictment.
And for all that, we have also loved, expressed creatively our highest aspirations, have nurtured and have welcomed others, to the point of giving our lives to save life. This is no apology.
The very urge to communicate, and the means by which we do, reflect the best and the worst in us. Language itself is imposed from within, language and identity become the source, and means of authority of family and society. To include within the circle of the ‘us’ to exclude and differentiate against the ‘them’. And at the same time it enables the ‘us’ to understand each other, giving rise to a greater cohesiveness of the group. It is no accident, but a lesson well learned, that the conquerors impose their language, with or without the identity (depending on how ‘mean’ they were), if not to all then those with authority. Of course, in our present enlightened civilization, the means of imposition, run the full range, from the written language, through the mechanisms of communication, from education, through family, peer and groups pressures to cultural, art & science through sharing/exchange down to the commercial activities of just making it through another day. And even through our highest endeavors of art, philosophy and religion.
So let us bring it home. To explore the dynamics of interaction between groups, language and identity. To explore the expression of art, that arises from such play. And though the setting may be unfamiliar to most, allow us to choose a place where the largest number and variety of such groups may interact. And to make it simpler let us explore how several cultures, languages and people come together, here. And of course first hand experience may somewhat skew the view, but we’ll try to find a an even perspective.
[Aside: Though we have referred at various times to the written language and it’s role in the development of language, we have not mentioned the effects of the various technologies used throughout the ages. In addition there are several factors that play along with this mix. Such as the ever increasing demographic density of the habitable parts of our planet and the effects of the increased use of technology. These other factors we should underline, play an increased role in the development & propagation of new words, or slang or jargon in any of the languages we choose to explore. So that where in previous times a new language might take 10 to 15 generations to develop, we are now confronted by generational language changes that may (or not) be incorporated into the language in use. Each generation now brings it’s own collection of words into the mix. Many to be discarded by the next generation. This increased turnover of language usage and concomitant identity flux is the very reason why the time is appropriate to explore the process and how it is related to art.]
It is in the New World that all this comes together. The ‘Babel’ of nationalities, languages, cultures and identity that have played for some 15 to 20 generations.
Join us while we explore with a view from the house the word built.
Sam Diaz
In the Service of Poetry, Art, Community