How has the language affected the interaction of people at Hispanic Store?

The Hispanic store is located in a locality that is filled with people from different linguistic language. The most common semantic is the American speaking people and the Spanish speaking people. Due to the difference in Language, there has been a reason to believe that there have unforeseen impacts on the relationship between the people in the locality (Rizkallah, 2010). The linguistic difference can thus be analyzed through various questions like.

How does the Linguistic Difference contribute to the sense of community in the locality?

The fact that the people here have a difference in their language can be seen to work for them toward creating a well-related community. For instance, you find that when two people meet at the store while shopping around, they will try and learn a word or so from the other linguistic. You will see that some will even spend some more time as they try to exchange common words like greeting. Some go an extra mile and also enroll in schools for them to be able to relate with others well. It can thus be seen that the linguistic dialect has in some ways brought the two society together.

On the other hand, there are those who despise the other linguistic, and they tend to mock it. You find that some young people will come to the store and start making fun of others because they are from a different dialect. Although this doesn’t happen regularly, you may find it disturbing to the party at the receiving end, and they thus end hating people from the other dialect.  One of the American kind that I interviewed about the thought on the language and culture said. “The difference can bring both the positive and negative effects.” (‘Alvarez, 2014)    For instance, you learn about their culture and language, and we learn about theirs. That is a plus to everybody, but they think that there culture and language are more important than ours and thus they are always mocking. I wonder whether they discuss us with their parents during their family time.” This can be an indication of what the different group thinks of each other.

How does the two community try to address the problem of language difference?

The communities mostly the older people in the community have tried their level to encourage the other generation to learn the other language and respect their culture. Although the young age seems to be into mocking the other community linguistic and cultural experience. An elderly person I overheard speaking to his friend said “the current generation is so disrespectful such that it is even disrespected not only their culture but the other community culture. We should try and teach them the importance of our culture and language and also how to respect them.”(Rizkallah, 2010) .There are also community days that have been set for both the community to interact and be able to exchange their culture and languages.

In my observation, the two communities have been able to relate to each other. The code switching among the two is very much evident. Various people can be seen trying to use both the Spanish and the American language together although not with much success. For example, an American man has developed a tendency of always saying “gracias for the lovely services. Esta awesome!” Similarly, the code switching aspect has led to the development of a dialect. Trying to speak a foreign language comes with the development of a dialect which is becoming widespread among the locals.

The paralanguage has developed as people try to communicate effectively. The use of strong sign language like “me sign language” is more common in the store as the customer interface with the employees and also their fellow customers. This can be seen as the effect of the linguistic difference. There is also the interchange of the cultural language signs among the community. The change in the word structure has also become common as per my observation. Some word is becoming integrated into the language, and by doing so, they change their flow, structure and sometimes meaning. This has brought a tremendous impact on the tongue as it almost seems like there is a creation of a new word from the combination of the word.

An interview with few people on their thought about the change in the linguistic due to the combining of the two went down as follows.

“The combination of the two languages gives us a unique identity as people from this locality. It gives us a heritage, and we can use it even to develop a new culture which is a combination of this and that culture” the first said.

“Am not happy with how it is happening as it will erode our culture. We shall forget about our ancestors and concentrate on the **** new culture.”

“I think embracing both our culture while trying to live in peaceful existence with each other, will be of greater help than being in a new culture that is built on pain of remembrance of past struggles to incorporate the new linguistic and culture.”

Reference

Rizkallah, E. G., & Truong, A. (2010). Consumptive behavior, promotional preferences, and shopping patterns of Hispanic Americans: an empirical perspective. Journal of Business & Economics Research, 8(4), 111.

Alvarez, C. M., Dickson, P. R., & Hunter, G. K. (2014). The four faces of the Hispanic consumer: An acculturation-based segmentation. Journal of Business Research, 67(2), 108-115.