Is there a limit to avoid having Gloria moments?

Is there a limit as to what an individual can accomplish in life? If so, who sets those limits? Is there an age limit to achieve one's dreams? Or is it a matter of time and effort? These are common questions that come to people’s mind when speaking about language acquisition. Although there have been numerous studies done on this subject, there has yet to be one that shows to be reliable and valid regarding the ideal age to acquire a second language. According to Singleton, most research fail to agree on a predictable termini and on an specific age of onset. Therefore these studies are difficult to replicate.
There has been little investigation on the acquisition of native like pronunciation. Some argue it is a matter of cultural immersion, others say it has to do with brain development and a learning critical period. But the truth is: only people who have walked in those shoes are the ones who can attest whether or not it is possible to acquire a second language at any age.

The study of second language acquisition not only encompasses speaking and comprehension, it also involves pronunciation and vocabulary. As the following video shows, there are some who might comprehend a second language but might not be able to acquire a high level of pronunciation proficiency.

The role of Gloria in modern family is somehow a parody of the stereotype of Latin women in America. However, myself and many other adults who learned English during their adult lives would agree to have had some "Gloria moments". These moments are part of the experience of learning a second language, but unfortunately it has not being fully studied  whether or not there is a critical period in which a person can avoid having these moments. It is difficult  for adult learners to acquire a native like accent. But according to Birdsong, adult learners are capable of learning a second language after post-pubertal years, and that while not all learners can attain a native like accent, there are some who can.

The most difficult part of learning and acquiring a new language is pronunciation. For example, being able to differentiate words that might sound similar but are indeed very different. In the video Gloria believes people understand the distinction

she makes between the word look from the name Luke. Small but important mistakes like that one, is what get some people think there is a strong correlation between comprehension and pronunciation. 

When watching videos of interviews of Sofia Vergara, it is noticeable that indeed she has a thick accent behind cameras. However, she is still a successful businesswoman and a Hollywood actress. Therefore, we can deny the existence of a strong correlation between pronunciation and comprehension. Vergara is an example of an adult learner. Therefore we might reword the question about limits and acquisition. Is there a limit to acquire pronunciation? or are we all adult learners set to have our Gloria moments?

Birdsong, David. "Ultimate Attainment In Second Language Acquisition." Language: Journal Of The Linguistic Society Of America 68.4 (1992): 706-755

Singleton, David. "The Critical Period Hypothesis: A Coat Of Many Colours." International Review Of Applied Linguistics In Language Teaching 43.4 (2005): 269-285

Virtual Insanity: subjectively in search for community.

I’ve had a hard time with how to express my thoughts on this subject, out of fear that it’s not appropriate to discuss on a blog designated for one of my graduate classes. So out of that intellectual insecurity, I would normally resort to my community of associates: former classmates, colleagues, and long time friends. I go to them because they see the world through similar lenses as I do, we speak the similar idiolects, and we share some similar values and ideas. Though, through an array of differing complexions, we also share the most apparent aspect of life: a Black experience.

Simply put by Wikipedia, a community can be a rather small or personal social unit of individuals who share similar values. In which ways are these communities constructed? For my current intents and purposes of needing to be subjective, I will attempt to answer this question.

As I sit here in my apartment, I realize I’ve been deprived from a certain sense of community that I’ve been accustomed to for my entire twenty-five years of life. It was at my own will, though. I came to graduate school wanting a new experience, and boy, did I ever get it. Coming from a community of near racial solidarity at my alma mater and HBCU, I relocated from southeastern Virginia to the Atlantic coast of New Jersey to attend Monmouth University, a PWI. (Stop right there! If you find yourself asking what do HBCU and PWI stand for, don’t you dare Google it! I will make my point with this example soon enough!)

Being at Monmouth for the past few months, I’ve found myself faced with the task of making new acquaintances. I’m not saying I’m looking for a whole heap of people to call my friend, but in a new surrounding, it’s nice to have people around that you can share with and be comfortable around. However, I’ve found this to be somewhat of a challenge. Not only because I’m somewhat of an introvert (although, that doesn’t totally help), but because I realize that when I speak, I may be heard, though not always listened to. I usually take it upon myself to converge to my surrounding peers, because honestly, I’m a rather friendly and eclectic gal. However, I seem to be, if anything, diverging from the Monmouth community as opposed to with it; because again, perhaps I’m heard, but not listened to.

I find myself in a state of sociolinguistic limbo.

Maybe I don’t speak the same language as the majority of my peers, because I’m now the minority. To build a commune of like-minded individuals here is almost like finding the ethnic needle in a haystack; getting poked by cues of what seems like a sharp contact, communicatively sizing them up and only learning to find that it’s not the needle I need.

Back to the example of the acronyms I mentioned earlier. There are certain pieces of my vernacular with which I’m more familiar than others. Because of my experiences as a semi-southern young Black educated woman, I’ve adopted words and phrases that may not be relevant to the majority of my peers, and vice versa. The acronyms HBCU stands for Historically Black College/University, the inverse of this would be the PWI, or Predominately White Institution. Again, this is a small part of the language I speak, because it is a major part of my own experience.

It is not solely race that classifies a community, just like race isn’t the generalized factor of culture. A community is established through the orality and expression of like-minded individuals. And even if the ideas are not necessarily the same, we become attracted to or disinterested with it based on how it is presented, because as my mother taught me “it’s not what you say, but how you say it”. So, given my experiences with gaining or establishing a community in my new location, one may ask (if one actually cares) where I find that sense of familiarity and commonality? 

And my answer is simply this: “Black Twitter”. 

Defining Bitch in Hip Hop

Hip Hop's use of language is interesting to study because of the constant word play and manipulation of language. While similar words appear in a rappers' lexicon, the definitions are dependent on the context. This is most evident through the case study of the word "bitch".  Below are a few samples of how “bitch” is constantly being redefined in Hip Hop.

“Me & My Bitch” - Notorious Big

This song is the clearest example of how “bitch” is ambiguous in this context. A few lyrics to closely examine are:

“Fuck’s wrong with you bitch”

“But you was my bitch, the one who’d never snitch”

“I saw my bitch dead with the gunshot to the heart/ And I know it was meant for me/ I guess the niggas felt they had to kill the closest one to me”

“They killed my best friend, me and my bitch”

The example of bitch’s ambiguity is obvious in this song. The opening dialogue by the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy, poses the question “ Fuck’s wrong with you bitch”, it is clear that the bitch is being used derogatory towards the female in question. This negative tone is flipped in Notorious’ verses in which he provides positive attributes to the woman he refers to as “my bitch”. He refers to his bitch as his confidant and the only way to threaten his gangsta status. He goes on to finish his final verse by acknowledging that the woman he has been calling his bitch was his best friend. This brings to light the core style of Rap, "Rap's discourse, as a part of black vernacular is an expression of signifying in which the orator (rapper) plays with language to critique, unsettle, and reconfigure dominate meanings through (re)signification (Ramist 176). This allows for words to constantly be up for interpretation. Therefore, the definitions are discovered through the context. Biggie is able to illuminate Raimist's argument through his wordplay. 

“The Bitches” Jeru Da Damaja

This song’s purpose is to define and separate the "bitch" female from all other female figures in Hip-Hop. This goes along with the trend in which Hip Hop allows for further objectification and marginalization of minorities. This has been noted in Matthew Oware's research in which Oware describes how a "bitch" is perceived which is a hyper sexual female who becomes the enemy to black male's power and money. 

The key female figures that oppose the "bitch" female are:

1.    Queen

2.    Strong Black Women

3.    Sistas

4.    Young ladies

Jeru Da Damaja also lists the features of a bitch:

1.    Commodification of female sexuality.

2.    The “Gold Digger” aka manipulation of male desire for power/goods.

3.    Dumb

4.    Black Widow

      This has been noted in the evolution of "Bitch", which has transformed from a Sapphire figure to a female that is both desirable and the enemy of men: “According to this stereotypical view [bossy ‘black bitch’], the Sapphire (in rap referred to as ‘the bitch’) is an African American woman who dominates her entire household including her man. The Sapphire can be described as a socially aggressive woman who tries through manipulation to control her man” (Adam, Fuller 945).  It is through this image we come to see the birth of "Bitch Culture".

This leads me to the next point of my argument, in which the Gangsta Bitch of the 90s gave birth to the notion that is okay or even desirable to be considered a “bitch”. This is where the misconception of reclaiming to the word came into play. “Feminist knew that women could act in mean-spirited that using ‘bitch’ to describe them reinforced sexism. If women liked the feel of ‘bitch’ in their mouths more than ‘jerk,’ feminists analyzed that preference as internalized oppression, whereby member (s) of an oppressed group learn to enjoy using the dominant group’s term for them. And the pleasure of saying ‘bitch’ keeps women from building solidarity, dividing them, as so many other words do, into good women and bad women” (Kleinman, Ezzell, Frost). While these females are appropriating the male language and in turn, are able to hang with the boys. They are further marginalizing themselves and other females. This complicates the notion that the word “bitch” should be taken the as a derogatory, it makes it so that it can be either a dis or a complement. Through this particular movement a “Bitch Culture” has been created, in which females and males alike use the word “Bitch” to define, degrade, and empower.

      Overall, the power of Hip Hop lies in its ability to change definitions and in turn change society's interpretation of these words. Since nothing in concrete and up to interpretation what was once considered the definition has become obsolete and the word becomes an umbrella term.

Works Cited

Adams, Terri M, and Fuller B. Douglas. "The Words Have Changed But the Ideology Remains                 the Same: Misogynistic Lyrics in Rap Music." Journal of Black Studies. 36.6 (2006): 938-               957. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Kleinman, Sherryl., Ezzell, Matthew B.,  Frost, A Corey, “Reclaiming Critical Analysis: The            Social Harms of ‘Bitch’, Sociological Analysis Volume 3, No. 1, (2009):47-64. Web. 20             February 2014.

Raimist, Rachel, “Hip- Hop Terms for Women”, The Women’s Movement Today. (2005): 176-7.              Web.  1 March 2014.