You’re going to write an essay about your relationship with language, especially the ways languages get you “in” or keep you out.
Your first step is to browse through these sources (I will send them to you ). You don’t have to study all of them in-depth, but you should browse. Be sure you understand the terms “code-switching,” “code meshing,” “dog whistle” and “language community.”
As you develop ideas for your paper, consider the points these writers and speakers are making, because you’ll incorporate their principles into your paper.
You might want to write something fairly personal about finding your own “communities” or working through the perils of code-switching.
You might want to write something more external, considering your views on language as social or political issues, not necessarily reflections of your own limited experience.
But remember that the paper is about your own views and experience of language, not a summary of these sources’ observations. Referring to experts will give your own work more authority, even though you might really want to argue with the viewpoints.
On the other hand, you might really want to give these presenters a big standing ovation. Both reactions can be useful, as long as you use these sources to help establish your own topic and opinions.
My thesis statement is:Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss my relationship with language, especially the way it gets me attached to people or pushes me away from them.
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