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Who am I in English? Language as the Face of Identity in Bilingual Individuals

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Date
2018-08-31
Author
Larson, Andrea J.
Advisors
Wicker, Kent
Zapf, Donna
Jawad, Abdul Sattar
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Abstract
How does switching to a life in a foreign language and culture affect one’s identity? Specifically, I ask: Do I have a true self unaffected by language and culture, or am I merely a construct of my environment? Studies in sociolinguistics overwhelmingly point to our sense of self as being largely informed by our place in the world: language, culture, gender and society weave together the intricate fabric of our being. The social and linguistic constructs available to us at any given time form the margins to who we think we are. For bilinguals like me, life in a foreign culture and language stretches these margins, as new experiences and linguistic concepts gradually alter accessible constructs and impact our sense of self. To many of us immigrants, living in an unfamiliar place and speaking in a foreign tongue can also pose a threat to our identity: the fabric of our being comes apart, forming gaping holes where cultural and linguistic concepts have fallen away and new ones have yet to be discovered. This two-part project examines the connection between language and identity creatively as well as academically. In an extended personal essay, I consider how my immigration experience and linguistic assimilation affected my sense of self. Loosely connected memories and reflections weave together into a cohesive storyline of being and changing and becoming, thus documenting the simultaneous sense of lightness and loss, of reinvention and confusion frequently felt by immigrants. The second part of this project consists of an academic research paper examining the unique qualities and struggles of bilingual individuals’ identities and how they are echoed in literature by immigrant, exiled and translingual writers.
Type
Capstone project
Department
Graduate Liberal Studies
Subject
bilingualism
identity
creative writing
intersubjectivity
self
translingual
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17379
Citation
Larson, Andrea J. (2018). Who am I in English? Language as the Face of Identity in Bilingual Individuals. Capstone project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17379.
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  • Graduate Liberal Studies
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Rights for Collection: Graduate Liberal Studies


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