mother tongue essay thesis

A Summary and Analysis of Amy Tan’s ‘Mother Tongue’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Mother Tongue’ is an essay by Amy Tan, an American author who was born to Chinese immigrants in 1952. Tan wrote ‘Mother Tongue’ in 1990, a year after her novel The Joy Luck Club was a runaway success. In the essay, Tan discusses her relationship with language, and how her mother’s influence has shaped her use of English, as well as her attitude to it.

You can read ‘Mother Tongue’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of Amy Tan’s essay below.

‘Mother Tongue’: summary

Amy Tan begins her essay by offering her personal opinions on the English language. She recalls a recent talk she gave, when, upon realising her mother was in the audience, she was confronted with the fact that the formal standard English she was using in the public talk was at odds with the way she spoke at home with her mother. She then contrasts this with a moment when she was walking down the street with her mother and she used the more clipped, informal English she naturally uses with her mother, and her husband.

Tan calls this a ‘language of intimacy’. She points out that her mother is intelligent and reads things which Tan herself cannot begin to understand. But many people who hear her mother speak can only partially understand what she is saying, and some even say they can understand nothing of what she says, as if she were speaking pure Chinese to them.

Tan calls this clipped informal language her ‘mother tongue’, because it was the first language she learned and it helped to shape the way she saw the world and made sense of it.

Tan notes the difficulty of finding a term to describe the style of English her mother, as a Chinese immigrant to the United States, speaks. Many of the terms, such as ‘broken’ or ‘limited’, are too negative and imply her English is imperfect.

She acknowledges that when she was growing up, she was ashamed of the way her mother spoke. Her mother, too, was clearly aware of how her use of the language affected how seriously people took her, for she used to get her daughter to phone people and pretend to be ‘Mrs Tan’.

She observes that her mother is treated differently because of the way she speaks. She recounts a time when the doctors at the hospital were unsympathetic towards her mother when they lost the results of the CAT scan they had undertaken on her brain, but as soon as the hospital – at her mother’s insistence – called her daughter, they issued a grovelling apology.

Amy Tan also believes her mother’s English affected her daughter’s school results. Tan acknowledges that, whilst she did well in maths and science, subjects with a single correct answer, she was less adept at English. She struggled with tests which asked students to pick a correct word to fill in the blanks in a sentence because she was distracted by the imaginative and poetic possibilities of other words.

Indeed, Tan conjectures that many Asian American children are probably encouraged to pursue careers in jobs requiring maths and science rather than English for this reason. But because she is rebellious and likes to challenge people’s assumptions about her, Tan bucked this trend. She majored in English at college and began writing as a freelancer.

She began writing fiction in 1985, and after several false starts trying to find her own style and idiom, she began to write with her mother in mind as the ideal reader for her stories. Indeed, her mother read drafts of her work.

And Tan drew on all the Englishes , plural, that she knew: the ‘broken’ English her mother used, the ‘simple’ English Tan used when talking to her mother, the ‘watered-down’ Chinese her mother used, and her mother’s ‘internal’ language which conveyed her passion, intent, imagery, and the nature of her thoughts. When her mother told her that what she had written was easy to read, Tan knew that she had succeeded in her aims as a writer.

‘Mother Tongue’: analysis

The title of Amy Tan’s essay is a pun on the expression ‘mother tongue’, referring to one’s first language. But Tan’s language, or ‘tongue’, has been shaped by her actual mother, whose first language (or mother tongue) was not English, but Chinese.

The different forms of English that mother and daughter speak are also a product of their backgrounds: whilst Tan’s mother is a Chinese immigrant to America, Tan was born in the United States and has grown up, and been educated, in an English-speaking culture.

Much of Tan’s 1989 novel The Joy Luck Club is about daughters and their relationships with their mothers. But Tan’s interest in language, both as a cultural marker and as a way of expressing thought and personality, is also a prevailing theme of the novel.

In this respect, if the parable ‘ Feathers from a Thousand Li Away ’ acts as preface to the novel, ‘Mother Tongue’, in effect, acts as a kind of postscript. It helps us to understand the way Tan approaches and uses language within the stories that make up The Joy Luck Club .

An overarching theme of Tan’s novel is mothers emigrating to America in the hope that their daughters will have better lives than they did. This is a key part of ‘Feathers from a Thousand Li Away’, and it helps us to understand Tan’s conflicted attitude towards her mother’s use of language as explored in ‘Mother Tongue’.

Many of the mothers in The Joy Luck Club , such as Betty St. Clair in ‘The Voice from the Wall’, feel isolated from those around them, never at home in America, and hyper-aware of their outsider status, despite becoming legal permanent citizens in the country. Tan’s autobiographical revelations in ‘Mother Tongue’ show us that her own mother struggled to be taken seriously among Americans, and Tan diagnoses this struggle as a result of her mother’s different way of speaking.

Tan, by contrast, used standard English – what used to be referred to, in loaded phrases, as ‘correct’ or ‘proper’ English – and was thus able to succeed in getting herself, and by extension her mother, taken seriously by others. Language is thus more than just a cultural marker: Tan reveals, in ‘Mother Tongue’, the extent to which it is a tool of power (or, depending on the use, powerlessness), particularly for those from migrant backgrounds.

In this connection, it is noteworthy that Tan chooses to focus on the school tests she undertook before concluding that her mother’s ‘broken’ style of English has been misunderstood – not just literally (by some people who’ve known her), but in terms of the misleading perceptions of her it has led others to formulate.

The class tests at school which reduced English proficiency to an ability to recognise a ‘correct’ answer are thus contrasted with Tan’s resounding final words of ‘Mother Tongue’, which see her seeking to capture the passion of her mother, the ‘nature of her thoughts’, and the imagery she uses: all things which her daughter has clearly inherited a respect for, and which school tests fail to capture or observe.

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Mother Tongue

44 pages • 1 hour read

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Summary and Study Guide

Summary: “mother tongue”.

“Mother Tongue” explores Amy Tan’s relationship with the English language, her mother, and writing. This nonfiction narrative essay was originally given as a talk during the 1989 State of the Language Symposium; it was later published by The Threepenny Review in 1990. Since then, “Mother Tongue” has been anthologized countless times and won notable awards and honors, including being selected for the 1991 edition of Best American Essays .

The original publication of “Mother Tongue,” which this study guide refers to, breaks the essay into three sections. In the first Tan briefly primes the reader on her relationship with “different Englishes” (7). Tan bridges the first and second parts of the essay with descriptions of her “mother’s English,” or her “mother tongue” (7). In the second section Tan describes the impact her mother’s language had on her; Tan’s mother is a Chinese immigrant who often relied on her daughter to produce “perfect English” (7). In the concluding section Tan then connects her mother’s English to Tan’s own choices regarding writing style and career.

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In the initial section of “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan locates her position as “a writer… someone who has always loved language” (7). She describes the multiple Englishes that she uses, from formal academic language to the English she uses with her mother to the English she uses at home with her husband. The section concludes with Tan’s description of her mother’s “expressive command of English” (7), which is in conflict with her mother’s fluency in the language. Although her mother might speak English that is difficult for native speakers to understand, to Tan, her mother’s language is “vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery” (7).

As Tan moves through the second section of “Mother Tongue,” she describes some of the more difficult aspects of being raised by a parent who spoke English that others struggled to understand. Tan references the oft-used language of “broken” English and suggests that her mother’s English and way of speaking, despite its obvious interpersonal and social limitations (including harming Tan’s performance on such metrics as standardized tests), provided Tan a different semantic way of understanding the world.

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The final section of “Mother Tongue” transitions into personal reflection as Tan describes how she has reckoned with being raised by her mother in a xenophobic society. As a writer, Tan only found success when she moved away from more proper, academic register and instead wrote “in the Englishes [she] grew up with” (8). The essay concludes with Tan’s mother’s opinion about Tan’s most famous novel, The Joy Luck Club , in which Tan attempted to write in this fashion. Her mother’s “verdict: ‘So easy to read’” (8).

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Mother Tongue Essay: What Is It, And What Do You Need It For?

By: Henrique Bertulino

Mother Tongue Essay is a common task for high school and college students. If you are lost and do not know how to build your text competently and what not to miss, read our article, and you will know what to do when you are asked to write an essay about mother tongue.

What Did Amy Tan Write About In Her "Mother Tongue" Essay?

List of topics for your essay, the power of my mother tongue.

• A Good Thesis Statement For Your Mother Tongue Essay

Conclusions

What does "mother tongue" mean.

The term "language" has acquired many meanings depending on the context of its use. Technically speaking, we can say that language is a system of special signs and symbols, which is interpreted in a certain pragmatic context of its use. However, if we approach this concept from a more emotional point of view, it is revealed to us in a much broader sense.

The mother tongue is the language that we use most freely and actively in all cases of daily life. The child learns the world through the natal tongue. This term refers to the language we hear from our parents, which we are brought up in and which is common to the people and the place where we were born. Each nation has its own. Our mother tongue is a reflection of culture and traditions, our heritage.

To better understand the process of working on such an essay, we decided to talk about the highlights of the famous "Mother Tongue" essay by Amy Tan.

A good example of an essay on the native language is considered to be "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan (her more famous work is "The Joy Luck Club").

The author is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. She grew up in an Asian-American family in California. During her life, she came across different languages, so non-Standard English became the subject of her analysis. Tan talks about her personal experience of using "different Englishes" in her life situations.

Our first language greatly influences our lives, and this should be one of the highlights of your essay about mother tongue. Amy Tan believes that the language a person speaks determines a person's life choices. Amy Tan's mother's English was far from perfect. And it affected her life. Tan uses the stories of the lost CAT scan, poor service in the department stores, taking IQ tests, SAT, and other achievement tests to confirm her opinion - language plays a significant role in the acceptance of immigrants by society.

According to the author, if a person is not a native speaker of English or a person's language is not perfect, it does not mean that this person is less educated and intelligent. Amy realized that the kind of English her mother spoke was far from ideal. However, for Amy herself, her mother's English sounded quite natural. But at home with her mother, she did not use the forms of English she studied at school. However, Amy tells how smart her mother is because she easily reads Forbes reports and all Shirley MacLaine's books.

Language plays a very important role in the family because it is one of the main values. Tan talks about how difficult it is to live with parents who speak limited English. In her essay, Amy tells how often she had to help her parents with translation to make their lives easier. The striking episode was Amy's phone conversation with her mother's stockbroker in New York. Thanks to her perfect English, she quickly solved the problem that her mother could solve in a "broken" language.

The main points of Amy Tan's essay are:

• the power of language in the context of adaptation abroad: Amy's parents found it difficult to get used to a foreign language environment, to become part of the landscape in a foreign country without a perfect command of the language;
• the importance of linguistic diversity to achieve goals: on the example of Amy's parents, she proves that a better knowledge of English would help them solve difficult life situations on their own;
• issues of linguistic and cultural identification: there is linguistic discrimination in our world, and Amy's family and many others still face injustice related to their ethnicity. However, whatever language we use, it does not diminish the importance of our words.

At first glance, it may seem to you that the topic of an essay on the native language is quite one-vector. However, it can be viewed from different angles. We have compiled a list of topics for essays that are worth writing about.

• Mother tongue in bilingual families.
• The difference between a natal tongue and a first language.
• Does English displace the native languages of other nationalities?
• My thoughts on Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue."
• Native language as the basis of national identity.
• The role of the native tongue for immigrants.
• Perfect English as a means of achieving goals.
• Why is it important to get an education in your first language?

Mother Tongue Essay Example

I am a Native American, and English language is my mother tongue. It is the language in which I express my thoughts of any content and in which I think. I have heard it since birth. What's more, the first time I heard it was before I was born when my mother talked to me and sang me songs. And I sincerely believe that my native tongue is the most powerful language in the world.

I think that knowing English is a great advantage for all people. From my point of view, the power of language lies in its capabilities. Proper English is the language of opportunity. And bad or broken English significantly reduces the chances of success in various spheres of life. Why do I think so? In the wake of modern technology, English has conquered the world in a way that no other language in human history has. All countries recognize its special role.

Today, English is the language of the global economy and business environment. Even if the international company is located in Sweden or France, its employees communicate and correspond in English.

English is the language of intercultural communication in a globalized world because no matter who you are: Chinese, Italian, Spanish, or German, you will speak English together. In many countries where there are interethnic tensions, English plays the role of an ethnically neutral language.

I can give many more arguments in support of my opinion. However, it is difficult to argue here - my native language accumulates power that is not inherent in any other language in the world. And I'm proud of that fact.

Fine Points of Essay Construction

When constructing a good thesis statement for your mother tongue essay, consider not only stating a clear, concise opinion but also incorporating aspects and definitions relating to the primary language in question. The thesis statement serves as the backbone of your essay, addressing a particular aspect or concern of the natal tongue that may resonate on a deeper, more insightful level. So, when your narrative is fully fleshed out, meticulously review the following:

Did I effectively answer the posed question? Did I substantiate my viewpoint adequately?

In essence, a thesis statement for your essay should encapsulate the essence of the primary language’s impact, significance, and role in cultural identity and communication. It must be reflective, analytical, and able to guide the reader through the various dimensions and aspects of the mother tongue’s definition and implications. Keep your language precise and your argument compelling, ensuring your reader can comprehend and engage with the critical aspects of your discourse on the natal tongue.

You can follow the standard structure of this type of writing.

Introduction

Start so that the reader wants to read the text to the end. Choose a famous quote, joke, or write an impressive fact. In the introduction, it is important to write a thesis statement - the essay's main idea.

You can start, for example, with an impressive or interesting fact about language. Write why you are proud of your native tongue or some interesting facts about it. It may be appropriate to compare the features of different languages. Here are some examples of good introductions:

• "English is spoken today three times more than those for whom it is not native. For 500 million people on the planet, English is their mother tongue, and for 1 billion people, it is their second language."
• "From the way a person speaks, one can imagine the education, cultural level, and general development of that person. Treating language carelessly means thinking carelessly: inaccurate, roughly wrong. Native tongue is a tool of thought: it reflects the intelligence of man, respect for others, neatness in the broadest sense of the word."
• "Mandarin Chinese is the most popular language in the world, spoken by more than 885 million people. However, English has become the most widely used language in the political and economic spheres in the international arena."

A Good Thesis Statement For Your Essay on Mother Tongue

The thesis statement is your main opinion, a "painful" question that you confirm in the text's main part. So when your story is ready, check out the following:

Did I answer the question? Did I prove my point?

If you do not have ideas for your own thesis, you can use our:

• English is gradually displacing other languages.
• Language is not just a means of communication but also a powerful tool for preserving culture and the nation as a whole.
• Native language is an integral part of the personality.
• The native language should be preserved in any way for the sake of the cultural aspect of the nation.
• The level of proficiency in a person's natal tongue determines his or her cultural level.
• Native language plays an important role in the social adaptation of the population.
• We absorb the maternal language with mother's milk.
• Even in bilingual families, a child can have only one mother tongue.

In this section, present your thoughts in the form of short theses and support them with arguments. The number of paragraphs in the main part will depend on the number of your thesis. You should articulate your thoughts clearly and competently. Use your own experience and illustrate it with relevant examples.

For example, write about the power of your language: "I believe that English opens up many opportunities for foreign students." And confirm your opinion with the argument: "The better a student knows English, the faster he will be able to master the disciplines." Remember if foreigners studied with you and tell about their success in learning a new language.

The following idea can be vivid: "In travel and entertainment, English is the most common. Wherever you travel, English is the language that allows you to integrate into any environment. In any country, you primarily look for maps and pointers. in English, it makes you feel confident."

Summarize your thoughts and give a specific answer to the main question of the work. Repeat your opinion: "So, I believe that my mother tongue is the most powerful in the world. First, most business areas depend on it. Second, it is a universally recognized language of the modern digital age. So personal growth is closely linked to learning English ".

When writing an essay, it is also important to consider the following points:

• The introduction and conclusion should focus on the problem (in the introduction, it is put, in conclusion - the author's opinion is summarized).
• It is necessary to select paragraphs to establish a logical connection between them (so the work's integrity is achieved).
• Style of presentation: essays are characterized by emotionality, expressiveness, and art.

When crafting an essay on your native tongue, remember to:

Reflect Deeply: Consider how your first language has shaped your identity and experiences. Personal anecdotes can make your essay relatable and engaging.

Do Your Research: Explore various perspectives and understand the different viewpoints on the significance of native tongue, like those expressed by authors like Amy Tan.

Be Clear and Concise: Clearly articulate your thoughts and keep your arguments focused and well-structured.

Remember, this essay is not just an academic exercise but a journey into understanding the essence of your cultural and linguistic roots. Keep it insightful, respectful, and honest.

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I found a strong connection between this enlightening article and Amy Tan's reflections on language. 🌐 Just like Tan describes the struggles and the rich, cultural tapestry embedded in her mother's broken English, this article brings to light the beautiful complexities of our first language. 🤓 It’s fascinating how Tan's experiences in ‘The Joy Luck Club’ mirror the myriad ways our languages shape our identities and relationships with our own mothers. 📘💭

It reminds me a lot of Amy Tan’s essay where she discusses the variations of English she grew up with. 📖 Tan describes her own mother's 'broken English' and how it had a profound impact on her life, just like the personal stories in this piece! 🌟 It's such an eye-opener about language and identity, making me reflect on my own experiences! 👏 The ‘Joy Luck Club’ also delves deep into these themes, depicting the intricacies of mother-daughter relationships and cultural transitions. 🌿

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Mother Tongue Essay | Essay on Mother Tongue for Students and Children in English

February 7, 2024 by Prasanna

Mother Tongue Essay:  The first naturally acquired by humans is their mother tongue. The mother tongue is associated with the language that a child’s parent use to communicate with them, or the common language of the place a person is born and brought up in is called the native tongue.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Mother Tongue for Students and Kids in English

We are providing students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic ‘Mother Tongue’ for reference.

Long Essay on Mother Tongue 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Mother Tongue is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

To suffice human’s social need for more effective communication the language was created. The extremely complex or versatile code, i.e. language, is used to express our thoughts and experiences to other people. This makes language a natural phenomenon that is learnt by a human at an early age for the desire to express themselves to others.

The mother tongue or the native language is an essential aspect in one’s upbringing as it shapes the way they perceive the world and the way one expresses themselves to others. Babies tend to imitate what they see or hear. Infants are fast learners as they acquire their mother tongue by imitating their parents. It is easier for children to learn languages in their growing years than in comparison to adults learning a new language.

Having a strong grip on one’s mother tongue also helps in creating a strong foundation for learning additional languages. Children are capable of learning languages other than their native tongue while they are young by transferring the different structure of a language to other languages. If a child learns the grammar of their mother tongue well, then they will be able to guess the meaning of the words in different languages easily.

Since people from different regions have varying mother tongues, that is why many institutions and parents teach a second language to children so that they can communicate with more people, without any language barriers. A person might be able to converse in multiple languages, but if they are spoken to in their mother tongue, then a sense of familiarity prevails over them.

You can now access Essay Writing on the topic of Mother Tongue and many more topics.

One’s mother tongue is a very potent tool that helps in advancing the learning skill in people. Children’s develop the skill of communication by conversing with their parents in their native tongue. And this skill of communication becomes paramount in school or institutional level setting for participating in class. Learning in school plays an important role in accentuating the use of mother tongue.

Similarly, when parents spend time communicating in the native language for discussing matters and telling stories to children, it helps in developing their terminology and concepts. Thus, children are able to follow instructions and can learn effortlessly, resulting in educational success.

The native tongue starts shaping a person’s thoughts and emotions soon after they are born in their subconscious because a person first hears it in their womb. The personal and cultural identity of an individual is developed because of their mother tongue. By understanding oneself, their surroundings and their history, personal identity can be built.

It is sad to see that mother tongue is losing its importance in comparison to some popularly used languages like English. Since in education as well as international business, English is used, that is why people are more encouraged to learn it because of the existing competition.

However, the mother tongue remains an inseparable part of one’s existence as it is said to be one’s true vehicle of wit. To preserve the cultural fabric, people must always strive to preserve their mother tongue at any cost.

Short Essay on Mother Tongue 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Mother Tongue is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

A person can be defined by the choices they make and the language they speak. And the first language learnt by an individual is said to be their mother tongue. The native tongue plays a very important role in a family as it falls under one of the basic family values.

The mother tongue is often passed onto a child from parents or family members. The learning of a language opens up several new possibilities for an infant to explore the world and to express themselves.

There are several benefits of knowing more than one language, especially when working outside one’s hometown. However, on being addressed in the mother tongue in a foreign city helps the conversation reach one’s heart because of nostalgia.

Several pieces of research conducted by psychologists showed that people react differently when shown words of their mother language in comparison to when shown words of other known languages. Hence, we can conclude by saying that the importance of the mother tongue is undeniable.

10 Lines on Mother Tongue Essay in English

1. “Mother Tongue” is the language that a person learns from his infancy. 2. It is the first language that a person learns so that he could socially engage with his parents and other relatives. 3. Language is not only used to communicate but also to a huge extent; it is used to preserve the culture and refinement of their race. 4. Nowadays, the mother tongue is losing its importance against other languages. 5. Although English is incomparable with any other languages, it is causing the death of some of the languages. 6. The inseparable part of one’s personality that should never be lost is their mother language. 7. To preserve the rich cultural aspect of a person’s existence the mother tongue should be preserved at any cost. 8. Mother tongue is very crucial for framing one’s thinking and emotion. 9. Learning one’s mother tongue gives them a sense of self-worth and cultivates confidence in them. 10. For a child to be able to participate in their own classes and grow communication skills, the child must learn his mother tongue from his parents.

FAQ’s on Mother Tongue Essay

Question 1.   Why is this called Mother tongue?

Answer: Mother tongue is actually a metaphor. Language’s origin comes from the primary caregiver, or the person who looks after her baby when he is born is traditionally known as mothers.

Question 2.  Explain the term mother tongue in education.

Answer: Mother tongue in education alludes to when an educational institute adds the language a child is most accustomed with that is his mother language which he speaks in his home.

Question 3.  Can a child have more than one mother language?

Answer: A child who grows up in a bilingual home may have more than one mother language or native language.

Question 4. What is the main difference between mother-language and first language?

Answer: Mother language is a language which a baby gets familiar from the gestation of the mother even before he is born whereas the first language is a language which a child gets to learn from either schooling or socialising.

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The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue” Argumentative Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Language: significance and effects, importance of language: the tool that can unite and isolate, language as a necessity, importance of language in literature & communication, works cited.

This essay examines the importance of language in literature, communication, and culture in general. Language, identity, and power have an interrelationship that has generated debate and discourses that affect not only an individual but also the broader community from where he comes. In this research paper, we will explore the relationship between language and identity. Using Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”, we will look at the significance of language and how it affects the lives of people in their communities.

Reading this story, it comes out clearly that the tongue affects the lives of individuals. That’s how language defines who we are. Therefore, it plays a role in his or her choices and the lifestyle he or she lives. People use language to view human life from different perspectives.

In this story, Amy explores how the language she learned in classroom affected her life in different ways. She is a daughter to immigrant parents; her mother is a smart woman. Amy is a source of communication between her mother and those who don’t understand her. Here, Amy has used this story to emphasize that someone is not less intelligent just because he or she can not speak perfect English, like those who are native speakers.

It is rare to get two people who speak the same language, even those who think they do so, fail to notice the variations in their speech because they are used to it. Amy is of Chinese descent, and therefore, language played a significant role in her family as she struggled to fit into the American society with a mother who used “limited English” (Tan 78).

This story reflects the lives of many Americans who are natural citizens of the United States. I am sure there are many people out there who have parents with their way of speaking and comprehension of the English language, as did Amy.

This fact does not reduce the intelligence of such parents. Still, they are forced to depend on their children for translations during communications. Sometimes it makes children ashamed by their parents, just as Amy was when she joined others to describe her mother’s English as ‘Broken “or “Fractured” (Tan 78).

Language is exceptional, not just for Amy and immigrants in foreign lands, but for all of us. Speech brings people close to their families in special ways. Amy agrees with me saying that language “can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth” (Tan 76).(Tan 76).

Imagine a situation when you wake up one day and realize that you have no voice and, therefore, can not communicate with those around you. That’s when you will understand how large the importance of mother tongue is. Speechlessness means that you are not able to express yourself, communicate, or participate in what goes on in your world. Language involves combining specific words in a particular order.

This depends on different people where you can find people using the same words but in a separate order. What is important is that so long as they can communicate, then that order is important to them. Language, therefore, helps in empowering people and helping them establish and define their identity.

There is no doubt that through speech, people are bound together as one community. However, it can also alienate individuals in a community.

Sometimes people use language to label others as outsiders. People use language to form stereotypes of others. For instance, in this story, Amy tells us that she has often been asked why there aren’t many Asian Americans in American literature. We also learn that there are very few Asian Americans who do creative writing. The answer to these questions lies in the formation of stereotypes.

Many Asian Americans are known to do well in sciences and mathematics than in English. Their English, as Amy says, is also described as “broken” or “limited”. It means that their teachers use these stereotypes to steer them away from writing. They encourage them to take mathematics and sciences courses just as they did to Amy. Stereotyping, in essence, is wrong (Zeng 10).

Language does more than just articulating a simple truth; the way one commands language also matters a lot. We have just learned that without being able to speak, an individual will be voiceless, but having an imperfect language makes others see one as incomplete. However, those who are fluent in the standard language are seen to be superior to others. It is illustrated in “mother tongue” when Amy tells us the community treated her mother. She says: “People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.” (Tan 78)

Those people were not respectful to Amy’s mother because she spoke English that was simple, which they disparagingly termed as “broken” or “fractured” (Tan 78).

This reflects what happens in many communities in the world. When people lack the standard skills of a language, they become outsiders and, therefore, are discriminated by those who enjoy the standard language skills in their communities.

Reading through this story, one gets to understand that acquiring a specific language does not only enable one to be accepted in a community; it also helps in determining one’s individuality. The experience that an individual goes through with language goes a long way in shaping his or her self identity.

This is illustrated in this story clearly when Amy tells us about the different Englishes she applies in her daily communication. We see that to communicate with her family, Amy uses the simple form of English. She calls the one her mother uses as broken English, and however, when interacting with people in her personal life, Amy uses a more sophisticated version of the English language.

Bond explains further that both accommodation and affirmation can occur to the same content, in other words, there can be different effects language happening to the same type of content (Chen & Bond, p.399). She confesses that there were instances in her life when she was embarrassed by the English her mother used.

However, as she continued to grow, she came to understand how important the role of English was to her. She says in this story that she realized that her mother’s English was perfectly clear; it was actually her native language.

This means that it was this language that helped her make sense of what goes around her. This realization makes her wince whenever she calls her mother’s English as “broken” or “fractured”. She does not think that her mother’s English needs any fixing. To her, it is whole and sound, and therefore terming it broken or fractured when she uses it to communicate with her mum looks unfair (Tan 77).

Towards the end of this story, Amy tells us that it doesn’t matter what type of English you use, what matters is that you can communicate. The different Englishes in her life shaped her into what she later become, a writer, much to her critics’ disapproval that she couldn’t make a good writer. Therefore, the role and importance of language in literature is not as straightforward as it might seem.

It is an encouragement to those who are in the same circumstances as Amy that even if they find it hard to speak perfect English, they should never back down from giving their point of view. We have seen that despite her broken English, Amy’s mother helped her to understand English better.

It is her mother who encouraged her to become a writer. People have different mother tongues that they were taught when young, but as individuals grow, they develop different Englishes which they use as circumstances direct.

The language that an individual uses at work is not the same he uses at home or with friends. Language should be seen as a tool for social improvement, through which many people of different backgrounds come together in a cohesive coexistence (Feng 159).

This essay analyzed the importance of language using Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”. To summarize, Tan’s story tells us that the main purpose of language is to enable people to express themselves and also be in a position to share the expression with others. That’s the sphere where the significance of language is undoubted. It doesn’t matter what form of the language one uses, so long as it is used to express oneself and others understand the expression, then no one is justified to discriminate against it no matter how broken or fractured the language.

Tan’s mother managed to express herself with people in her life using her Broken English; it is this same broken English that shaped Tan into what she is today. Had her mother stooped to intimidation, probably Tan wouldn’t have grown up to become a writer.

It is a person’s point of view that matters; therefore, people should not be intimidated by those who think they know the standard language from giving their points of view.

Chen, Sylvia & Bond, Michael. “Explaining language priming effects: Further evidence for ethnic affirmation among Chinese-English bilinguals.” Journal of language and social psychology 26.1 (2007): 398-406.

Feng, Hui. “Different languages, different cultures, different language ideologies, different linguistic models.” Journal of multicultural discourses 4.2 (2009): 151-164. Print.

Tan Amy (1990). “ Mother Tongue .” Three penny Review: 76-80. Print.

Zeng, Li. “Diasporic Self, Cultural Other: Negotiating Ethnicity through Transformation in the Fiction of Tan and Kingston.” Language and Literature XXVIII (2003): 1-15. Print.

• Amy Tan’s Story “Mother Tongue”
• English as a Communication Language
• Management of Fractured Femur and Ribs from MVA
• Vernacular Languages vs. Latin: The Fall of the Babel
• Nature of Taboo Words
• Learning a Second Language
• 8 Inflectional Morphemes in English: Full List & Examples
• The role of morphemes in the English language
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2018, May 24). The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/

"The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”." IvyPanda , 24 May 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”'. 24 May.

IvyPanda . 2018. "The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”." May 24, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”." May 24, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Significance of Language: “Mother Tongue”." May 24, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-significance-of-language/.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Mother Tongue — Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”: Embracing Linguistic Diversity

Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue": Embracing Linguistic Diversity

• Categories: Mother Tongue

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Words: 717 |

Published: Jan 30, 2024

Words: 717 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Background information, linguistic dominance as a power dynamic, personal identity and linguistic dominance, language and relationships, the importance of linguistic diversity, references:.

• Tan, A. (1990). Mother tongue. The Threepenny Review, (43), 14-20.
• Cenoz, J., & Genesee, F. (2015). The Cambridge Handbook of Multilingualism. Cambridge University Press.
• Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge University Press.

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