Language and Language and the Shaping of the Shaping of

our Worldour World

IntroductionIntroduction

““Decolonizing the Mind”Decolonizing the Mind” Loss of a heritage languageLoss of a heritage language Like Mr. I.:Like Mr. I.:

The world around us is redefinedThe world around us is redefined Unlike Mr. I:Unlike Mr. I:

Not a positive adjustmentNot a positive adjustment

Language and our WorldLanguage and our World Language and social Language and social

contextcontext What language tells us What language tells us

about culturesabout cultures How language involves How language involves

us in a cultureus in a culture Mr. I. had to readapt to Mr. I. had to readapt to

his new worldhis new world Psychological change, Psychological change,

transformation of valuestransformation of values Thiong’o had a similar Thiong’o had a similar

changechange

Retaining a Heritage Retaining a Heritage LanguageLanguage

Is immigration Is immigration different?different?

Mr. I. –Mr. I. – New vision helps New vision helps

him find a whole him find a whole new worldnew world

ZhouZhou Native language = Native language =

more successmore success

Losing Heritage Losing Heritage LanguageLanguage

““You can’t go You can’t go home again.”home again.”

Mr. I.Mr. I. Color vision would Color vision would

be “grossly be “grossly confusing”confusing”

HintonHinton Inability to Inability to

communicatecommunicate

ConclusionConclusion

Loss of language = loss of cultureLoss of language = loss of culture Retaining a native languageRetaining a native language Losing a native languageLosing a native language