The Contribution of Linguistic Identification to Sustaining the American Identity

Abstract

Identity and language bind several areas of knowledge like anthropology, philosophy and politics. It is assumed that no amount of knowledge will ever do justice to the term ‘identity’. This paper seeks to demystify the relationship of language to identity. It also tries and highlight how the American identity is shaped by some linguistic identification elements. Since American English is different to other Englishes, there are striking specificities that make it stand flagrantly discrepant from, for instance, British English. That, in turn, contributes to the easiness with which an American can identify another American via mere use of English. The discussion entails the notion of identity and whether linguistic discrepancies contribute in shaping the American identity. Therefore, the research question revolves more around the American cultural, rather than personal, identity.