Power Of Language Analysis

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The Power of Language

In my opinion, language is extremely powerful except when, obviously, people do not use it. The use of language can create outcomes that can either be detrimental or beneficial to society, but nonetheless, it is extremely crucial to our survival in this world because it allows us to successfully accomplish our everyday tasks. Language is what helps people to persuade their position on some matter, and it can also be used to prevent crisis, to communicate with others, and to share thoughts and ideas. Unfortunately, language is not only powerful in beneficial ways, for it can also be used to hurt others. According to Robin Lakoff, “Language is powerful… [and] is a change-creating force and therefore to be feared and used, …show more content…
In the essay, “The Language of Oppression,” Haig Bosmajian explains the power of naming people, for it defines them for who they really are. Also, naming is what makes a person different and unique from the rest of the world. In addition, he also says that words and names have become a part of society and that they have both positive and negative effects. Bosmajian greatly emphasizes the importance of this issue, for he says, “So important is the name that the denial of it is considered a form of punishment” (Bosmajian 152). In fact, slaves and Jews were either given cruel names or no names as punishment. Bosmajian then goes on to say that to have no name is to have no identity or personality, which everyone must obviously have to be considered a human being. In other words, having a name defines and gives meaning to an individual. As one can obviously see, people place such importance on names. Additionally, “The names, labels, and phrases employed to ‘identify’ a people may in the end determine their survival” (Bosmajian 155). To sum up, names are extremely important, for without them, one has no character, and therefore, no …show more content…
That is, women have a high potential to become accomplished writers, for they spend most of their time in the kitchen, conversing with their families and friends and using common and everyday language. Marshall believes that the conversations that the women had “restored them to a sense of themselves and reaffirmed their self-worth” (Marshall 141). Living at a time when colored women were negatively treated since they were black, females, and foreigners, “through language, they were able to overcome the humiliations of the work-day” (Marshall 141). As a result, the only advantage that they possessed was the use of language. Consequently, these women “fought back, using the only weapon at their command: the spoken word” (Marshall 142). In other words, these women took refuge in language. Consequently, women felt as if they had some control over their lives, and they used language to its full potential. Clearly, language is a form of power that everybody possesses, and this power can never be taken away from
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