Hall Chapter 2

Hall, Chapter 2: Language and Identity. Chapter 2 of hall begins with introducing the reader to the more traditional view of language systems as opposed to the more traditional ‘linguistics applied’ approach. This view considers individuals to be agents of free will instead of “fixed entities in whose heads these systems reside.”

According to Hall, “The purpose of the chapter is to lay out some of the more significant assumptions embodied in contemporary understandings of identity.”

Our use of language stems from our social histories, which develops out of things like gender, social class, religion, and race. Hall explains that “who we are, who we think others are, and who other think we are, mediate in important ways our individual uses and evaluations of our linguistic actions in any communicative encounter.” Hall goes on to demonstrate that language use and identity have close ties by using the example of the misunderstanding between Navajo students and their teacher. In Navajo communities it is not expected that answers will immediately follow questions in the classroom. This conflicts with more mainstream communities, like that of the teacher in this example. Because the students didn’t immediately answer the questions, the teacher assumed that the students English skills were lacking to the point where they couldn’t understand her.
I was especially drawn to the example of the two English native-speaking advisors who were asked for a letter of recommendation by a Non-native speaking student. One advisor was successful in understanding what the student needed, while the other was unsuccessful. The first used patience, amplification and agreement markers, while the second treated the student as a ‘disfluent, inappropriate outsider’ by directing the student away to get more information. It is argued in the chapter that the strategies used by the advisors are rooted in ideological orientations toward non-native speakers of English.
Culture, social identity, and social history are put to use every day through our use of language, and the social identity, history and culture of others have an impact on the way we communicate, not to mention the study of language and linguistics.