Pooja Shah

September 4, 2016

Professor Young

ENGL 1100

Reading Response Questions

“How to Tame a Wild Tongue”

1. The opening scene of the Anzaldua, in the dentist chair connects to the over point or message of the essay because the in the beginning of the story, Anzaldua is at the dentist sitting in the chair, listening to the dentist tell her how her tongue needs to be tamed. Her tongue is pushing out the cotton in her mouth, and pushing the drill and needles back. The dentist tells her they need to control her tongue, which she never does, whereas at the end of the story the languages are discussed in relation to this. The languages are being attempted to control  by some people, but as Anzaldua says throughout the story, “I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself”. She is referring to how she isn't going to change because someone else wants her to.

2. Anzaldua’s purpose of using spanish throughout her writing made sense in support to the point she was trying to make. Her purpose of doing this was to show the reader that, her language is what makes her, herself. And she was going to use it to express herself in her writing as well as to grab the reader's attention and to set the mood of it being okay to use many different languages and forms of them.

3. According to the text, academic english can be defined as standard spanish and Chicano Spanish can is nonstandard, because academic english and standard spanish are easy to relate for someone who fluently speaks both. Whereas, Chicano Spanish is something with a native accent that many may not understand. The inferences that can be made from referring to one identity as standard vs nonstandard are that standard languages are carried throughout with no sense of native tongue. And nonstandard languages carry a native tongue.

4. It is necessary to speak and write in academic english as a identity, because that is something that can be carried with you and you can teach to others as you carry, like Anzaldua said her language makes her, her.

5. The various types of English identities that I know are standard English, which is what we use in school and business places, slang English, which is used by kids and teen and native english which is used by the common Americans in their household.

6. My friends and I do not have a secret language that we speak in, that only we understand.

7. When I am with my friends, I speak nonstandard English, because we use slang words. Which I also use speaking to my mother, since I grew up in Jersey. Whereas, when I'm with my professors, I speak standard English, to sound professional and make a good impression.

8. “I am my language”, means that the language you speak is a big part of who you are, because it makes up a big part of a person, which is part of their identity.

9. The introduction of the story started off with Anzaldua in a dentist chair, getting her teeth/braces cleaned. The dentist was telling her to control her wild tongue because it was pushing all the cotton wads out of her mouth and pushing the drill/needles away. At the end of the story, Anzaldua makes a connection with the dentist off and her speaking her own languages. She says that “you cannot tame a wild tongue”, meaning that controlling one's mouth is difficult and can be done, whereas speaking the languages she speaks cant be stopped either.
10. Yes, because the language you speak makes you the person that you are. And it says a lot about where you came from and your roots.

11. To me, identity is very important because not only is it the way people see you, it is the way you see yourself. Anzaldua believes it is important to have identity, because she says, “...a language which they can create their identity..”, which means that she means the identity you have, goes back to the language you speak, referring to the way you grew up. Anzaldua, also feels it's important because she tells us how the identity is carried down generation through language, without this, there wouldn't be a continuation of these languages.