Culture and Society in America

Standing in the back of the short queue formed alongside the jittering conveyor belt, I patiently wait for space to load up my groceries. The customer in front of me has very few items and absent-mindedly scrolls through his phone as the cashier rings up his food, reminding me of myself during waiting periods. The cashier rings up the customer's last item and asks, "Cash or Credit"? The customer, seeming confused, mumbles something incoherent. The cashier repeats the question and customer silently hands him cash, smiling. The cashier notices a pack of food left off to the side and assumes it belongs to the young man. "Would you like this in the bag, too," he asks, "or is this not yours?". The customer still does not understand him and looks from his bags to the food to the place where it came from, holding up two fingers then one. An awkward conversation ensues of smiles, pointing, and nods until the cashier realizes his mistake and finishes the custom...

"Hello", "Gutentag", "Bonjour", "Hola", all ways to say hello within different parts of the world and even in some parts of America. America being the "melting pot" that it is is made up of several groups and individuals from diverse cultures and heritage, bringing with them their family history as well as their native language. But when did many citizens get to a point in the United States where the phrase, "Speak American!" (as a command) was a suitable way to address people from contrasting backgrounds? In all technicality America has no official language and our English vocabulary is not one that is native to the United States. In fact this language is originally from England and in terms of American legislature language wise, when any citizen votes in the US   it is officially endorsed that it is a right to have a voter’s ballot in any language preferred, and it is the responsibility of the state or federal agency t...

The significance of language is a topic that most would agree is a fairly useful tool for basic human communication. However, people often overlook just how important language is in our daily lives. The United States of America is home to over  325.7 million citizens  and are of all walks of life. That being said, it is fair to assume that not everyone may be fluent in the same language. As of 2017, there are a minimum of  minimum of 350 languages spoken in the United States,  with the dominant language being English with 231.1 million fluent speakers and Spanish as a secondary language with 37.4 million fluent speakers. Statistics like these should not be too surprising, considering America is a melting pot. Some argue Americans should only speak English, with no other language. This idea is rather bold and comes with a few drawbacks, primarily concerning the logistics of getting all 325.7 million citizens to convert over to one single language that the...

There have been speculations that  German  was close to becoming America's official language in  1776 - and even though this isn't entirely true, the voters were still debating on creating copies of  federal laws  in the German language.  That proposition was turned down; but we have come a long way from the 18th century. This is just one example that reflects America's struggle with linguistic differences and the debate of what should be the nation's official language. With official languages, if America was to ever implement a law that required ALL states to be English oriented exclusively, that would mean that personal  documents ,  voting polls ,  tax forms , etc. would all be in the English language. There would be no translations for those struggling with the language and truly, it would be a harmful tactic in the basis of democracy if people were unable to pay their taxes properly or express their opinions with ease.  ...

By: Allison Miles Linguistic Changes Over Time in America Credit to: Wolfram Language and System-WordCloud  Considering the variety of fascinating cultures that reside within the United States, the fact that multiple languages exist alongside them is quite plausible. The primary use of language is to provide individuals with the communication, cultural, academic, and social skills needed to navigate their everyday environments and situations. " Ninety percent of the U.S. population speaks and understands at least some English, and most official business is conducted in  English " (Kwintessential). However, presently there is no official language in the United States, despite there being about 350 different dialects , which is 311 more than when surveyed in 2009.  The argument of an "English-only" America is still ongoing, with some progressive and inclusive thoughts in mind, and some quite the opposite. The United States, although known for having a r...

Photo Credit  FruityCuties.com      The English language is ever evolving.  The American English language also borrows phrases from other languages. For example, most people would understand 'adieu', 'au revoir', 'adios', and 'ciao', which all mean 'goodbye' due to pop culture. That being said, the type of language that is spoken varies with who else is involved. In a professional setting, like school or work, it is expected that the words being used are grammatically correct and proper for the occasion. Meanwhile, for friends and family, the language that is used is more relaxed. A lot of people, especially if they are multilingual, end up mixing languages, but it is understood by their respective audience. This is even how modern English came to be.     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ English comes in different forms as well. Depending on where they are from, people use different variations of the language. There are also many di...

Alamy/Telegraph Edit When reading one of Shakespeare’s play, one cannot help but be confused at what the play is about or what on earth the characters are saying. Some may think that Shakespeare had no idea what he was writing and talked nonsense most of the time, but Shakespeare’s language was actually written in modern English. So how has language from Shakespeare’s time changed to how English is spoken and written today? Of course, between the Elizabethan era and today's time, language has changed a great deal ever since while still changing as of now. So how did “thou” change into becoming “you?” Well language as itself is a creative form of expression that people use daily. Just like art and music which has also changed significantly over time, language can have the ability to change in many ways and forms. Many of these changes can occur in language learning, language contact, social differentiation or natural processes in usage. The way in which language is transf...

Picture From  Here In America, English is the predominantly spoken language . However, the United States does not have an official language. This dates back to America's beginnings. Before America was even called America, the people living there came from all over. Remember the old rhyme "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred ninety two?" Well Christopher Columbus was actually called Cristóbal Colón and sailed from Spain (thanks Señora Sampedro, Woodbridge Senior High School Spanish teacher). The man credited with discovering America did not come from an English speaking country and did not even speak English. He was actually an Italian who spoke Spanish and sailed for the country of Spain. The earliest settlers prior to England taking over did not all speak English. This continued for the majority of America's early life even after England began acquiring land. For instance, in  1803 , Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase from France. Tha...

https://phys.org/news/2017-10-evolutionary-biology-language.html     Languages change for variety reasons. There are many ways languages have changed by: language learning, language contact, social differentiation, and natural process in usage. Language is always changing across the world or social group.  Language learning is passed from one generation to the next generation. Individuals makes grammar or words based communication from members of the family. Language contact   brings one language into contact with another different language. Some individuals will become bilingual while growing up and others learn a second language. Liberman stated, s ocial differentiation  adopts distinctive norms of dress, adornment, gestures and so forth; language is part of the package. Language can be achieved through slang. Liberman is the instructor of the Linguistics course.  Natural process in usage   is quick or normal pace speech. Indivi...

O n a daily basis we learn new words from the people  around  us. As we grow, depending on where we are, we adapt a new way  of saying things.  It is  as if every place you go, whether it be to different country or even a different state has its own language or way of speaking. The  Census Bureau  reports that there are  at least  3 50 different languages spoken in the United States. Of those  languages , the most commonly spoken one is English. However,  English is not the United  States' official language.   T hat begs the  question,  should the United States be an "English-only " country? I n 1919, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote  a letter  to the American Defense Society that stated that "We have room for but   one language here and that is the English language. " Among that he also discussed that when a n  immigrant  comes to America, their goal should be to at some...

 Many individuals have a different  language they speak or they speak a language and it changes over time. Language is always changing, many individuals have seen that language changes across space and across social groups. Language also varies across time. Generation by generation, pronunciations evolve, new words are borrowed and invented.  Many individuals ask why language changes? There are many different routes to language change. Changes can take originate in language learning, or through language contact, social differentiation, and natural processes in usage. With language learning, language is transformed as it transmitted from one generation to the next. Language contact is important as well like migration, which conquests and trade and bring speakers of one language which there is many languages, into contact with speakers of another language. Some individuals will become fully bilingual as children, while others learn a second language more or less well ...

For the generalized American to write about the American culture , that person would need to have knowledge of all of the cultures that live in the United States and that would just be too difficult. However, for example an Asian or European to write about the American culture, they would more than likely say our stereotypes like: Americans are  fat and love anything fast-food, they are wasteful, they are selfish, they are primed to be offended... etc. A very large majority of Americans fit into these descriptions and the culture is just that. Americans are all so different from each other and get offended by anything and everything because most are extremely unaware of how many people in other countries suffer in the hands of unfit and poor leaders and that's because of how incredibly selfish most of these people in America really are. Americans have it so good and many take it for granted. That is its culture. I lived in the hills of Tennessee my whole life until I moved to N...

         This topic is very intriguing to me; in order to understand the culture of America, you must first take a look at the actual history of America. Every event that took place in America seemed to either deal with control over land and economic stability, which directly corresponds to America's position as one of the World’s top powers. America doesn’t even take on the culture of its indigenous people as the modern society of the country is now very mixed and quite perplexed. There is no immediate culture America takes on is that it is notoriously known for being a melting pot of many different races and ethnicities. The culture of America, to an extent, can be summarized in the unalienable rights stated in the declaration of independence. One might also refer to the culture as ‘The American Dream”.   The expression of patriotism is the true culture of the USA, along with the idea of being patriotic no matter the race, gender, or sex. To understa...