A Critical Paper on Emily Dickinson's "Why do I love" You, Sir? Because—

"Why do I love" You, Sir? Because—
by Emily Dickinson
(Poem 480)

"Why do I love" You, Sir?
Because—
The Wind does not require the Grass
To answer—Wherefore when He pass
She cannot keep Her place.

Because He knows—and
Do not You—
And We know not—
Enough for Us
The Wisdom it be so—

The Lightning—never asked an Eye
Wherefore it shut—when He was by—
Because He knows it cannot speak—
And reasons not contained—
—Of Talk—
There be—preferred by Daintier Folk—

The Sunrise—Sire—compelleth Me—
Because He's Sunrise—and I see—
Therefore—Then—
I love Thee—

Analysis:

An objective evaluation of a literary text is always hinged on the sensitivity of the critic to analyze the extrinsic and intrinsic elements of a text. Since New Criticism deals with the poem as an object which has ontological status, the poem is analyzed as a self-contained, autonomous entity. With this, Emily Dickinson’s 480th poem, “Why Do I Love” You, Sir? can be an example of a poem that made use of these elements effectively to give the impact of the persona’s emotion towards the addressee. To avoid the intentional and affective fallacies, we will focus on the text alone and all ambiguities will be resolved and justified through citing evidence from the poem itself.


Let us start with the first line which is the main point of the poem.

“‘Why do I love’ You, Sir?”

The persona asked a question, yet when she tried answering it, she couldn’t finish the line. The line must end with a dash.

“Because—“

Instead of giving her reason, the persona resorted to the use of metaphor as she compared herself to Grass and the man to Wind. The persona would be the Grass that couldn’t keep its place when the Wind passes by, just as how she finds the presence of the man overwhelming that she couldn’t be still.

“The Wind does not require the Grass

To answer—Wherefore when He pass

She cannot keep Her place.”

Aside from the image that the lines created, they give the message that the persona is already presenting an excuse why she couldn’t give an answer to the first line. Same as the Wind doesn’t require the grass to answer, he should not ask the persona why she loves him.

In the second stanza, the persona used the paradox of knowing and not knowing at the same time to create the contrast and the complexity of the situation.

“Because He knows—and

Do not You—

And We know not—”

Despite the contradiction of the statements, it is sensible in the way that according to the persona, the man knows that she loves him, while there is something that the addressee doesn’t know—the reason why he loves the woman. The last line concludes that they both don’t know their reasons.

“Enough for Us

The Wisdom it be so—”

The third stanza is structured with the same concept compared to the first. Metaphor is used to compare the persona to an Eye and the addressee to Lightning. This comparison would give the readers an idea on how the persona reacts in the presence of the man—she fails to look at and speak with him.

The following lines support the image about the Lightning and the Eye. The very reason that the Lightning doesn’t ask the Eye is that it can’t speak, just as how the persona couldn’t speak to her loved one.

“The Lightning—never asked an Eye

Wherefore it shut—when He was by—

Because He knows it cannot speak—”

Aside from the persona’s reaction, these lines also give an excuse for the persona not to answer the question in the first line. According to her, just as how the Lightning would not ask the Eye for the reason that it would close when Lightning comes, the man should not ask why the persona loves the man.

“Because He knows it cannot speak—

And reasons not contained—”

To justify that an answer should not be forced out of her, she added that reasons of her love is not contained in words, which is preferred by people who are refined and prim.

“And reasons not contained—

—Of Talk—

There be—preferred by Daintier Folk—”

The poem concluded as the persona addresses the man as Sire, with much reverence, utilizing metaphor once again when she compared the man to Sunrise—how it compels her to wake for the very reason that it is Sunrise. With this justification, she then concluded that the first line would be answered in the same manner—she loves him with the very simple and undeniable reason that she loves him.

“The Sunrise—Sire—compelleth Me—

Because He's Sunrise—and I see—

Therefore—Then—

I love Thee—“

            Since the lines have already been discussed, let us now go to the objective correlative which is defined as a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events or reactions that can effectively serve to awaken in the reader the emotional response, which the author desires without being a direct statement of that emotion.

The poem’s objective correlative is presented from the beginning of the poem down to the last line. This is found from the time the persona mentions her behavior in the presence of the addressee. Also, it is evident in the manner her words are written—the frequent use of dashes, which supports her behavior with the implication of her nervousness while addressing the man.

It is also noticeable that the dashes had been more frequent in the stanzas wherein she is directly addressing the man, unlike the other stanzas that she would only talk about him and her feelings for him. These things would paint the picture of a woman, stuttering in the presence of a man whom she loves and who loves her back. With their aim to justify the emotions that they feel, they ended up settling with the idea that they love each other because they just do.

Looking at the structure of the poem, it is noticeable that the use of dashes had been too frequent that it would really affect how the poem would be read. The frequent pauses and even the hanging statement in the second line would create the implication that the persona speaks with so much nervousness that it is reflected on the way her words are written. This extreme emotion is greatly supported by her lines pertaining to how she would behave in the presence of the man—just like the grass that couldn’t keep its place and like the eye that couldn’t help closing and couldn’t speak.

Another use of structure to convey the message of the persona is the unusual use of capitalization. Aside from all words that serve as beginnings of lines, words that are capitalized would usually pertain to the persona and the addressee. If this pattern would be followed, even the Grass, Wind, Lightning, Eye, Talk, Daintier Folk and Sunrise are pertaining either to the persona, addressee, or both. It is easy to understand why Grass, Eye, Wind, Lightning, and Sunrise would refer to the persona and the addressee respectively because of the use of metaphor or the direct comparison of two different things while pointing out their similarities.

The comparison with the use of metaphor clearly brought the meaning and the image that the author wants to convey, but the tension on the words Talk and Daintier Folk would need unlocking to solve the ambiguity in diction. If the use of capitalization is patterned as representations of the persona and the addressee, Talk may refer not the usual connotation of it which is words. Instead, these words, since capitalized, would refer to “their talk” or their words. The persona would like to express that whatever they say to justify why they love each other could not define the reasons why they do, which is justified by the central idea of the poem. With the same pattern, the Daintier Folk could also be identified as the two of them. It would not really pertain to other people who are refined in manners, but just them. The persona would like to emphasize that it is prim not to talk about the reasons why they love each other.

People might not easily notice but the use of quotation marks in the first line of the poem is already an effective use of structure. The first line is written as “Why do I love” You, Sir? Notice that the quotation marks are placed before the word Why and after the word love. This unusual placement of quotation marks would give us the idea that the words Why do I love were trying to convey two meanings: First, the persona is asking herself why she loves the man. Second, the persona is asking the man the same question, as if asking, “What about you, sir?” This is supported by the lines “Do not You— And We know not—” which means that the addressee also doesn’t know why he loves the woman.

With all things discussed in the use of diction and structure, it is safe to conclude that organic unity in the poem is achieved. This organic unity leads to the central idea of the poem, which is a paradox. Paradox naturally rise from the use of metaphors. And since the root of all figures of speech that deal with comparison is metaphor, paradox will be present in any literary work. In this poem of Dickinson, the paradox of reasons of love is highlighted. The central idea that the only reason for loving is the lack of reason to love seems to appear false at first, but if all things presented would be analyzed, this is very much justified by the persona. This poetic truth challenges the truth based on facts and reasons; creating the artistic epitome of an excellent literary piece judged objectively through New Criticism.

Summary and Post-colonial Analysis of Nick Joaquin's Candido's Apocalypse

Summary
The story revolves around the character Bobby/Candido Heredia. It all began when Mr. Henson called the Heredia residence in the morning and informed them that Bobby had stowed away and was in the Henson’s. Ineng, Bobby’s mom, agreed that Bobby’s father, Totong, will receive them as Mr. Henson will take Bobby home. Bobby’s parents were worried because he was acting strange in the past days. During a conversation with other women in the bakeshop, Ineng brought up the incident in their home where Bobby pointed a gun at Pompoy Morel and fired three warning shots. He also said things that angered his teacher, the principal, and the prefect before they lost track of where he is. He also humiliated his girl’s best friend. People do not understand what’s happening until Bobby narrated the events in his point of view.

The gun incident happened while Bobby and his friends, who call their band the Vultures, were rehearsing at the piazza while Pompoy Morel was there to replace Pete on the actual performance. They were preparing for the birthday party of Bobby’s sister, Sophie. When Ineng came into the room to ask if they want snacks, Bobby saw his mother naked and immediately realized that he was the only one who can see through her clothes because no one was reacting as he did. When Pompoy looked at his mom as if seeing her nakedness, he grabbed his father’s gun and the incident happened. Right away, Ineng decided to take Bobby to church for confession, but Bobby jump out of the confession room when he saw the priest naked, in state of excitement, after confessing a girl. Then one by one, he began seeing people’s clothes melt away and reveal their secrets. Not just their nakedness but also what they try to conceal. He realized that he is no longer Bobby but Candido, his ideal self who disdains pretensions and overacting of teens.

The revelations place a contrast on how we portray ourselves compared to who we really are. There is so much pretense and hypocrisy that Bobby began speaking to other people about what he sees. Knowing that these are true, they can’t help getting frustrated on how he got to know too much about them. Thus, the incident with the teacher, the principal, and the prefect. Totong was called by the school because of what happened, but Bobby left even before his father reaches school. When he went to his girl, Minnie, he saw Glo, her girl’s best friend, and commented on her body which humiliated Glo so much.

Bobby decided to leave as he will continue to offend people for saying the truth he sees. He witnessed the filth and the nakedness of everyone in the streets. He couldn’t stand seeing people naked with all their flaws, deformities, and filth. Alas, he thought of a place where he belongs. He went to her Grandma’s. He has always loved visits at Grandma. It was permanent, warm, and a break from all the routine. He has always felt that it is home. But when he was waiting for his Grandma to finish her rosary, he suddenly got scared if all of it are just pretense and his Grandma would also be as naked as the others are. He left right away even before knowing the truth. Then, he saw politicians and their supporters at Plaza Miranda, naked and filthy. He couldn’t stand how these people can interact with such filth and pretension.

Suddenly, the nakedness of his barkada was preferable. Theirs is a familiar kind of nakedness and somehow clean. He decided that he just wanted companions, so he went to the billiards hall to find his friends, Pete, Willie, and Rene. They convinced Bobby to make amends with Pompoy at the back of the church. He agreed. However, upon seeing Pompoy’s smirk, Bobby remembered how he looked at his mom’s nakedness, and he immediately hit his face. Pompoy got back at him and he blacked out.

Upon recovering, Bobby decided to hunt Pompoy and get back at him. When he didn’t get to find him, Pete invited him to join the barkada to celebrate that he is now a stowaway. They cooked a dog and drank until they were all struggling to move around. Pete and Bobby found their way to Pete’s place, in the apartments. Surprisingly, Mr. and Mrs. Henson were dressed! He thought, they didn’t have anything to hide. Bobby felt at ease in their home. He had always thought that Pete’s dad is the coolest. In the morning, when he heard Pete and Mr. Henson’s disagreement, he knew that Mr. Henson is just as naked as the other dads. As expected, he went down for breakfast to naked people.

Mr. Henson dropped Bobby to his place where he found not naked bodies but skeletons and innards moving around. People began shedding off not just clothes, but also their skin. Bobby found it difficult to identify people without faces. He then realized that the flesh, no matter how imperfect, makes us distinct. It is part of who we are. It is in our imperfections where our identity lies. Bobby saw the skeletons as mere mechanical moving things with parts. He couldn't find emotions for things. He prayed for naked people instead of skeletons so he won’t feel alone. Yet, people remained as they were.

During the preparation for Sophie’s birthday, Bobby went out of the house and tried to find his friends. He wanted company. However, he couldn’t feel companionship with three skeletons playing billiards. When something lurked as if a shadow that wants to be caught, Bobby contemplated on what he had to learn from all these. He realized that from the person who thinks he is above everyone else, he is now lost in the world of skeletons. This contemplation made him realize that God melted the faces of everyone so that he seeks His face. He chased the black thing he thinks is God until they reached the Heredias where the party is taking place. He cornered “God” and Bobby was shot by a thunderbolt “God” raised.

At the hospital, it was revealed that it was Pompoy who crashed the party and when he was cornered, he shot Bobby. He was sent to New York to avoid going to jail. Bobby stayed in the hospital for ten days, and woke up seeing normal clothed people again. He knew that everything is changed then. Candido went out of him and bid him goodbye when they left for home.

Analysis

Mimicry
It is notable that the women in the story mimic the western behavior of women. They offer themselves for a kiss. They pursue a guy. They leave the bedroom wrapped only with bed sheet. They engage in promiscuity. Another notable mimicry are those of the teenagers in the novel. They were all tagged “overacting” by Candido for portraying Americanized preferences, images, and popular culture. This mimicry is so natural among teens that majority of the generation wants to be part of that normalcy except for Candido. The clothes, the  combos, the fanaticism, the motorcycles with leather jackets, the vest, everything that is American that Filipinos try to adopt in their culture, Candido disdains. He thinks that these are pretensions that people should drop. Unfortunately, this is not pretension since after the war, the Americans are the colonizers that these children grew up with, adopting their culture as their own, and setting their minds as how the Americans think. This mimicry was brought by universalism.

Universality 
Universalism is reflected among the parents of these teenagers who raised children in American culture. They have seen America as the hero who saved the country, even if we are their colony. With that kind of fanaticism, they began accepting that the American culture speaks of social status, elitism, better quality of life, and the best this world could offer. This is what happened to the Heredias who had a grand modern house built but can’t afford to be lavish on the family needs. They would throw a big party for Sophie to keep the image they are preserving, even if they are struggling with the issues of Bobby. Also, Pete wanted to live in the house like the Heredias, thinking that staying in a village is better in apartments. People preferred drinking scotch over beer or gin. Everything American became a status symbol. Everything colonial became associated with better, and so people raised their children in this mentality, and produced children that mimic the colonizers in violence, in rebellion, in preferring to leave the country, in everything that the Americans feed the Filipino culture with.

Hybridity
Hybridity is recurring among the characters as Candido is disgusted by the American popular culture though he settles his conflicts through fights and guns just like the Americans. Also, he celebrates with friends on his sense of rebellion which is American, but they cooked a dog which is Asian. Another instance is his reverence for the culture that his Grandma was able to preserve in the middle of American influence, without realizing that all of those are Spanish influences, also of another colonizer. Candido identified with his roots and the cultures of colonizers that came before. This is also evident with women characters where they speak their mind yet remained within the gender roles set to them. Such is Ineng who had been a dominant character yet sees herself only within the bounds of her role as wife and mother. She doesn’t even see herself qualified for a "man to man" talk.  Sophie knows what she wants and what she doesn’t yet she sticks with the woman’s role to host.

Orientalism
Orientalism was shown as contrast to Universalism. This was reflected in the simple living of the Hensons where they stayed in the apartments. Even Ineng who struggles to pay for her luxurious house look down on apartments. Pete does not want to stay within the family tradition and wanted to be everyone else, which is Americanized. Even Bobby thinks Mr. Henson is odd for the dislike he has shown towards the people who stays in the village, not fully understanding the conflict of culture. Being part of local and Filipino was an immediate indicator of poverty. Money mattered so much that many strive to put on a show as if they do have the money. Those who know better choose to live within their means, yet they are tagged as orientals. Looking down on other Filipinos boosts the false validation that one is part of the universal.

The Ruling Class
The ruling class was clearly determined by colonial mentality, money, and status symbols. The richer you are, the more Americanized you are, the higher your status is. That was a concept embraced by many, and so people began valuing things for the money and not their importance. You don’t really need a white marble floor, like the Heredias, instead of a common wood if you can’t pay them. Both floors function the same anyway. In the case of Pete, one doesn’t really need to be like the Heredias to be part of a family. However, they determine who the ruling class is. Many would want to be part of that. They feel safer from abuse. They feel more accepted. They feel more superior than the other Filipinos who can’t afford the same kind of living. However, even those who can’t afford pretend that they can, exhaust everything, just so to keep up with the ruling class.

The colonial history and the post-colonial literature of the Philippines remind us of the identity that we developed as a people, bearing the flaws and the beauty of multiple cultures. This uniqueness made the Filipino a nation that holds roots from various influences, yet never the same mix as compared to our Southeast Asian neighbors. This also reminds us of continuous vigilance towards people who gain enough power to take the role of the colonizer. In the end, what matters is that we do not become the monsters that we defeated.

The Universal Grammar and the Role of Classroom Instruction in Language Learning: A Reflection

Humanity has continuously engaged in understanding the universe and all its composition. Language has played a great role in such pursuit of understanding. Part of that universal composition is the existence of the medium of communication among humans – language. Language has always been viewed as a tool in communicating, but how we understand it now as an innate human ability is anchored on the discoveries of scholars and linguists like Noam Chomsky. Chomsky is the proponent of the Universal Grammar (UG) theory that banks on the universal properties of language and its innateness among humans. It argues on the innate capacity of humans in language acquisition using Language Acquisition Devices (LAD) that are faculties of the human brain. The continuous pursuit to understand language in the context of its universality and species-specific existence is a step towards understanding humanity in a new light.

Language as a Species-specific Biological Feature

Seeing language in the perspective of biological capacity of the human being brought researches in the applied linguistics field such as in neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics. The Universal Grammar theory establishes the premise that language could be a biological endowment such as how birds fly with wings or how cold-blooded animals lay eggs. Since there are no species that are using the same language in communication, and other creatures have their own means, which we do not understand as humans, the plausibility of such claim led to researches on linguistic capacity as a brain activity more than an observable behavior. The Universal Grammar theory became a groundbreaking shift from the behavioral perspective as regards the human language. This shift in the study of the human language aims to cater to the biological context of the human language, supporting the probability of a universal system that the brain recognizes in order to facilitate language acquisition regardless of the availability of external stimulus. This is just one of the major implications of the Universal Grammar theory in the development of other linguistic studies. The following are the other implications that could be derived from the theory:

In Language Acquisition and Studying Languages in General

If Universal Grammar asserts that language acquisition is aided by the mind, responding to stimuli, therefore, all humans are capable of acquiring a language. Since the Universal Grammar theory argues that there are Language Acquisition Devices (LAD) that facilitate language acquisition for all human beings within normal conditions and are raised in normal circumstances, therefore, the linguistic system that these devices respond to has to be the similar in organization in order for any person to adopt any language as one’s native tongue. This particular system has been the basis of further linguistic studies, establishing the foundations of phonetics, phonology, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics as the micro linguistic branches responsible for language acquisition and learning.

We are no longer confined within the availability of circumstantial stimuli to effectively acquire language. We can already manipulate language learning and provide interventions for the irregularities of language acquisition phases. Language studies has extended beyond the micro linguistics and made research possible across fields of expertise. Further researches made innovations possible, and language is no longer just a medium of communication, but also a vast field of knowledge – a science, and the application of the science of language merges the field in all other sciences and their technology.

In Language Learning and Multilingualism

If the Universal Grammar theory argues that there are similar patterns on how languages are created and recreated, thus, there can be a universal means of structuring languages and learning the system of each. We can study how every language variant, whether regional languages or dialects, differ from one another and how they exist as offspring of parent languages. This could make faster teaching of multilingualism possible as language learning could be simultaneous, structured, and organized.

The strategy of teaching languages in the classroom can be altered by the concept of the Universal Grammar theory. If curriculum developers will investigate its theoretical arguments, all languages must be taught the same linguistic principles. These principles should be explicitly discussed among learners, so they can identify one language in relation to others, instead of seeing it as a single knowledge and skill, completely separated from the knowledge and skills required in learning other languages. This will help language learners establish their own techniques in learning a second language, and better, multiple languages.

In Bridging Linguistic Variations

Since languages also vary regionally, just like in the Philippines, the Universal Grammar theory can also be the basis for bridging linguistic variations within nations and help its people develop understanding of their regional languages. This can be applicable for dialects, so that one language can be united into one linguistic system. This can help ease the perceived division within a regional language because updates of dialects can already be passed on through formal language education. This will enrich the language, preserve the existing system, and avoid linguistic divisions among language users. Thus, if the Tagalog, a regional language common in the Southern Tagalog region, has various dialects across provinces, it can be consolidated into just one language, Tagalog, and other provinces get to study words that are contributed by other provinces across the country using the same regional language. Learning different dialects within a language will ease the feeling of exclusivity or alienation, hopefully extending, merging, one linguistic community to another. This way, language can unite people instead of creating further division.

In Unifying a National Identity
The same goes with learning the Filipino language. There are regions who wouldn’t embrace a Tagalog-based national language because they find their regional languages as qualified as the other languages of the Philippines. To resolve this divide, there can be studies conducted to determine a parent language where all languages of the Philippines are rooted. This will provide the equal opportunity for all regional languages to be candidates for the national language status.

Having the current national language based on Tagalog is not really the issue. The issue is the manner of selection that does not sit fair with other regional languages. With this process of determining the national language, non-Tagalog regions will see representation. Also, studies connecting the similarities and differences of regional languages will give the impression that our languages are unique in their own aspect, but are united under one unifying linguistic system. Identifying that system and naming it as national language will surely be a fair representation of the diversity of the Philippine languages. National unity can be achieved by unifying the bearers of our identity as a people, in this case, the Philippine languages.

In Learning a Second or Foreign Language 

Using the arguments of the Universal Grammar theory, teaching the second language can be supported by the knowledge of one’s mother tongue. In fact, our phonemic inventory affects how we learn our second language. This is why Americans pronounce Filipino words differently compared to how we do. The same thing happens when we pronounce words of a different language we didn’t grow up with. The reason Filipinos can be fluent with English is our exposure to the language since childhood even if it is not our native tongue.

Since humans adopt a mother tongue that follows the same linguistic system of other languages, the jump from one language to another should be bridged by this interrelationship established by the theory. At the same time, understanding this connection between the native language and the second language, there could be a curriculum development that can bridge the knowledge of both languages instead of starting from scratch when learning a foreign language in a formal education set-up. This also emphasizes the effects of the linguistic performance in using the mother tongue to the capacity of the person to learn another language. The competency is no longer limited within the structure of a specific language, rather, a universal pattern that could affect further linguistic learning, regardless of language to study. Therefore, poor native language acquisition  can lead to poor second language learning.

The Universal Grammar theory made the possibility of evolution of human languages and all the sciences that can lead to a better understanding of humanity. Who knows? Language could be one of the ways humans adapt to the changing environment for self-preservation and continued existence. Future researches could give us the answer.

The Core Is Foundation to the Fruit of Specialization: A Reflection on the Fourth Division of Linguistics – Micro and Macro Linguistics

The different specializations of humanity, regardless of interest and function, will always need language literacy and the understanding of its discipline. This is the understanding that Micro and Macro Linguistics offer. This is also better understood if we break the ambiguity against other language divisions before analyzing the implications of this specific language category.
The fourth division of Linguistics, Micro and Macro Linguistics, provide us a rough overview of the numerous fields that language can cover, from the core to its extended fields of knowledge. Some would mistake the fourth division as the same division with the third: Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. This is because all the other branches of Linguistics are divided in the same way except for one: Pragmatics.

To clarify, the third division focuses on the use of theories and application. In that sense, Pragmatics is part of Applied Linguistics since it is anchored on the use of language in a particular context. On the other hand, the fourth division focuses on the core or the Micro Linguistics, while the rest are extended fields of specialization, the Macro Linguistics. In that sense, Pragmatics is part of the core that establishes the linguistic foundations of a language learner in order to exhibit capacity to take the language to a specialized field. Understanding this distinction of the fourth division against other divisions can help us understand better the process of language acquisition and learning from the basics to the advanced.

The fourth division is comparable to a tree where Micro Linguistics are the roots and trunk while Macro Linguistics are the branches and leaves. The branches and leaves will not survive without the roots and trunk. It is their source of life. Even if the fruits of language innovation and research are borne by the branches, it is only a result of the proper nourishment of the core linguistic disciplines. Thus, the relationship of the Micro and Macro Linguistics is an important concept not only in language acquisition and learning, but also in language development and research.
From such understanding of the fourth division, we can argue that Micro Linguistics plays a major role in our linguistic competence. All these branches are non-negotiable. We need to master all branches in order to facilitate expertise in language. Phonology, Phonetics, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, and Pragmatics are the standards of linguistic knowledge that any linguist should gain deeper understanding before one can take his/her expertise in a specialized field such as Psycholinguistics, Comparative Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, etc. Without the mastery of the Micro Linguistic concepts, the specialized field will not bear innovations and research for language development in a particular field of expertise.

To illustrate better the concept of Micro and Macro Linguistics, take the implications of Linguistics language development - from language acquisition to language learning. The core begins with sound articulation (Phonetics), then the study of the system of sounds (Phonology). This is why language learners should be guided in acquiring the necessary skills to master the sounds before taking it to the next level which is word formation. In word formation (Morphology), language learners get to deconstruct the system of sounds and rebuild it into combinations. They get a background on the patterns that the words use in order to produce meaning. Meaning-making is therefore begins in this phase. From the basics of meaning-making in Morphology, the language learner goes back to structure. This time, it will be the structure of phrases, clauses, and sentences (Syntax), how they are combined in order to satisfy a particular language system. Once the structure is established, meaning-making follows once more(Semantics). Taking meaning-making to a higher level, context is included in the study of language (Pragmatics). All these branches of Linguistics, the Micro Linguistics help language learners acquire the necessary concepts and skills to be linguistically competent. This can also help learners see language as a system that is not definite, and only covers the recurrences of a language system.

Once a learner masters the language based on the core, it is time to take the mastery to higher cause - develop and study languages in the specialized field. This is where Macro Linguistics takes over. This is where language mastery facilitates research and further studies of the language of the field, whether that is in Medicine, Law, Business, etc. The mastery of a language in the Micro Linguistic level equips language learners to take on any career path that they can change through breakthroughs and further studies in the language of the field. The Macro Linguistic level reaps the results of the foundation of the Micro level, thus opening avenues for the exhibition of such linguistic competence for the benefit of the Macro Linguistics. 

Understanding this concept of Micro and Macro Linguistics will help us target the right skills in language learning, and set the appropriate goals towards linguistic competence. Teaching language should no longer be a mere academic requirement, but a means to a society’s preservation through knowledge and continuous progress. Language is the tool that we use in all fields, and language learners should be the facilitators of research and development. This concept of the Micro and Macro Linguistics can also help language teachers determine the effective strategies to nourish the core linguistic skills. They will know the approach that better language learning should adopt. This will help them take the perspective of developing language learners not just for the sake of it, rather, for the betterment of the society. Indeed, language is a means to an end.

The Micro and Macro Linguistics division gives us the real scope of language and its role in society, not only for experience and culture, but also for innovation, continuous progress and further development to understand the world in the context of linguists.

The History of Language is the History of Its People: A Reflection on Historical Linguistics and Its Role in Rebuilding Lost Language and Culture

Language has always been a bearer of culture and an identifying mark of a society. It names our customs, beliefs, and ideals. It describes our norms and those that goes against them. It helps us establish our set of values and teach them to the next generation. This is why the underrated aspect of our history is the contribution of language in every chapter it was written. It is part of our identity as a people, and understanding it fully is understanding who we are as a whole. However, not all aspects of a native language survive. Take for instance, the written form of the precolonial Filipino language, Baybayin.

Filipinos lost Babayin for a number of reasons: the people stopped using Baybayin because of the new form of writing introduced by the colonizers; since there are less people are knowledgeable in reading the text, less and less read the remaining texts; since there are few who know the texts, they were not reproduced and the materials where they were written began to disintegrate; lastly, colonizers actively disposed known written texts in the precolonial era by burning them. This is how we lost Baybayin. This is how we lost an aspect of our culture, our identity, because of colonization. However, all is not lost. There is a way to revive and rediscover Baybayin.

One kind of Linguistics that can help us develop our culture through language is Historical Linguistics. One of its main objectives is to trace the roots of languages and how they developed into their current form. They provide the necessary data to differentiate one family of language from another. They also present how dynamic language is, and how flexible and adaptable it could be as its persists to endure. Understanding the history of language helps us appreciate how it grows with our society, how it describes the things that shape our culture, and how it provides development through learning. All these are ideals of Historical Linguistics on a general scale. It can offer more, especially to Filipinos, on a local level.

Filipinos use the native language Filipino and the second language English. Despite the existence of both languages and the capacity of most Filipinos to understand both, there is still room for Historical Linguistics to rediscover the written language of Filipinos before the colonial era, the Baybayin. If Historical Linguistics can trace the roots of languages and the system that they used, it is likely that it can also work on an extinct form of writing that complements an existing language like Filipino. How is this possible?

Since Historical Linguistics traces the roots of languages, it can also work on the roots of Baybayin. Once it is identified under a specific family of language, historical linguists can determine the patterns, recurrences, and restrictions of the languages where Baybayin belongs. It can provide the system and encompassing rules that the Filipino language also uses. This can illustrate and can probably reveal more distinct features of the Filipino language in relation to how Baybayin is written.

With the numerous Baybayin variations, every variant can draw the striking similarities across regional languages, while preserving a distinct quality that made it localized for a particular language or dialect. This can help us determine the functionality of the Filipino language in its diverse environment and localized experiences of its users. This can help us identify to the language that sounds different from one region to another. Understanding the similarities and differences of Ilocano, Kapampangan, Tagalog, and other regional languages will help our society bridge the concept of regionalism, towards a unified country. Historical Linguistics can bring us the mother language of our regional languages and help us discover our being Filipino in the midst of diversity.

With Historical Linguistics, we can even trace how Filipino language was used before the influence of the colonizers. A lot of words incorporated in our native language are from Spanish that we have adopted during the colonial period. We can identify the words that our ancestors used and understand their values and customs based on how they name everything. It will be an acquaintance with the beginnings and how the Filipino minds shape into its current values. Indeed, it will open minds to better appreciate what we have had, and how we have become the unique race that we are now.

Understanding the linguistic system, rediscovering the parent language of all regional languages, and knowing the lexicon that describes our culture in the past are just some of the things we can do to revive an extinct form of writing. What happens after the discovery is the responsibility of everyone. The rediscovered form of writing must be taught, used, and normalized. Our culture is not for mere stage spectacle. We do not rediscover ourselves just so we can have another identity to remember. We need to merge the past to what we have in the present.  Our culture should not be special, rather, it should be the norm. We can always start this journey through Historical Linguistics, then follow through.

All these ideals are romantic. However, reality is speaking in irony. The recent change in the Philippine curriculum in the tertiary level scrapped Filipino and Philippine Literature. We already have a vague grasp of our way of writing, now, we are gradually unlearning our native tongue. People who argue that elementary and secondary classes in Filipino are enough to learn our native language fail to see that learning the language is just a means to an end.

Elementary level provides the basics of the language. Secondary level provides exposure, usage, practice, and mastery. The tertiary level was supposed to provide the avenue for students to read, write, and communicate with mastery to understand the Filipino as a people. It was supposed to provide enrichment through reading and discourse not only with academic texts, but literature that speaks more than of the requisites of classroom instruction – the literature of life, wisdom, culture, and society that makes us who we are.

That is the end goal of every language learning program. We are supposed to learn who we are as a people after we learn our language.

It is already difficult espousing our identity with everything colonial in our society. People should understand that nationalism is beyond the pride in international fame or winning sports and beauty pageants. How we value the language we have, in writing and in practice, is part of the basics of being Filipino. The history of our language speaks of our identity. Without Filipino, who are we?

A Post-colonial Analysis of the Curse of the Golden Flower by Zhang Yimou

Contents

Characters. 3

Emperor Ping. 3

Empress Phoenix. 3

Prince Jai 4

Crown Prince Wan. 4

Jiang Yiru/Imperial Physician. 5

Prince Yu. 5

Jiang Chan. 6

Jiang Shi 6

Summary. 7

Post-colonial Analysis. 11

Cultural Influence of Colonialism.. 11

Gender. 12

Race. 14

Class. 15

Family. 15

Imperialism Taking Over Colonialism.. 16

The Symbol of the Golden Flower. 16

References. 17




Characters

Emperor Ping – the controlling and deceptive Emperor who aims to preserve order within the royal family no matter what it takes. Upon knowing the illicit affair between the Crown Prince Wan and Empress Phoenix, he instructed the Imperial Physician to poison the Empress slowly. He is responsible for the same manipulation of his former wife just to acquire the throne. Though he did not try to poison his former wife, he sent her and her entire family to prison, then attempted to kill her. Later in the story, he asked his assassins to kill her and her family. The Emperor values the reputation of the royal family and would do anything to keep the status quo: him in power and his subjects always at his bidding. The Emperor acts as the colonizer in the story: the one who oversees everything, whose power is beyond anyone’s capacity to escape, and whose mind dictates the fate of everyone.

Empress Phoenix – the Empress Consort who had a three-year illicit affair with the Emperor’s son with his first wife, Crown Prince Wan. Her character represents the colonized as she lived her life based on the patriarchal rules from her arranged union to her miserable married life with the Emperor. Because of the societal system she grew up in, she can’t even assert when to drink or not to drink her medicine. She was given all the wealth yet deprived of choices. She can’t even head a rebellion when she wanted to change her fate. She needed Prince Jai to execute her plans for she can’t fully break the norms of the society. She needs to stay composed, beautiful, and submissive. Thus, she gains freedom only when she chose to confront the oppression, as shown when she finally gathered enough courage to forcefully slap the plate that holds the cup of medicine from the servant’s hand. Her struggle for freedom was manifested in her attempt to acquire the power that could have been hers from the beginning, but she was denied. This pursuit of freedom and power made the story unfold.

Prince Jai – the second prince and the firstborn of the Empress who has seen her suffering behind the extravagance and wealth of the Imperial life. Because of his love for his mother, he led a hopeless rebellion, just so he won’t stand still in the middle of his mother’s suffering. His loyalty and dedication to his mother have been consistent from beginning to end. Prince Jai represents the colonized who chooses to confront the colonizer. His courage to break the status quo by giving up his life pushed her mother out of her boundaries and eventually made her choose her freedom. He is a driving force that can lead a nation towards liberation – the mark of a true leader and hero.

Crown Prince Wan – the first prince and the heir of the throne. He is fearful and believes that he is incapable of ruling the empire. This kind of mentality is common among the colonized who has worshipped the colonizer and all that it represents. The colonial mentality that Crown Prince Wan possessed made him believe that he lacks the talent and the leadership to become the next Emperor. This mentality is not incidental. In an oppressed society, the colonizer deliberately makes his subjects feel inferior to assert his power. This intentional weakening of the colonized ensures that the power stays with the colonizer and that no one would challenge the status quo. Growing up under the power of the Emperor, without a mother to help him build his identity, Crown Prince Wan lived the lie that his colonizer made him embrace. Unlike Prince Jai who has a mother to help him build the leader that he has become, Crown Prince Wan was left to become a mere subject of his father, the colonizer. The affairs of Crown Prince Wan with women, both with the Empress and with Jiang Chan, exhibit his capacity for control and influence. Even his encounter with his mother clearly shows that he is a skilled fighter and not the weakling that he believes himself to be. The colonized believes the lies that the colonizer sells until it costs him his life. The Crown Prince Wan died after learning the truth, breaking the pedestal where he placed his colonizer.

Jiang Yiru/Imperial Physician – the Emperor’s mere accomplice in slowly poisoning the Empress. However, the character evolved from the usual side character to one that allowed the main characters to meet their conflict. He saved the Emperor’s first wife from getting killed and eventually married her without knowing her past. He stayed in the Imperial Palace which allowed the intimacy between Jiang Chan, his daughter, and the Crown Prince. He saved Chan and his wife from the assassins of the Emperor and became the instrument for the story to reach its climax. Just as the other subjects of the Emperor, Jiang Yiru served the colonizer throughout his life yet his loyalty was met by betrayal. Until the end, Jiang remains unaware of the colonizer’s plot, and how his lifetime service was devalued. Jiang Yiru was colonized and he didn’t live long enough to know the truth.

Prince Yu – the third prince, second son of the Empress. He is the silent observer of everything that happens within the Imperial Palace. His character represents the colonized who has sought the approval of the colonizer yet failed. Unlike Crown Prince Wan, Prince Yu believes himself yet underestimated the power of the colonizer. A colonized could mistakenly perceive himself equal with the colonizer, due to his fervent desire to be so, and fail to see the reality he needs to face in his struggle for freedom. Thus, Prince Yu died helplessly in the hands of the colonizer.

Jiang Chan – the daughter of the Imperial Physician, who adds the poison to the medicine of the Empress. Unaware of her blood relation with the Crown Prince Wan, she engaged in an intimate relationship with him. The relationship of the two was revealed to their mother at the later part of the story, and the revelation of the Empress that they are siblings brought them to their demise. Chan represents the colonized in both the aspect of gender and social status. Without royalty, a woman is deprived not only of choices but also of existence. She was a mere number in the middle of an entire crowd of Imperial servants. She was not even called by name, and often referred to as the Imperial Doctor's daughter. The Emperor may be the colonizer that has kept her in the service of the Imperial Palace, but the colonizer that has held her until her last breath was the Crown Prince Wan. She worshipped the Crown Prince and has planned her life with him. She believed the promise of his affection, which only brought her mishaps. The power of the Crown Prince over her emotions made her a blind follower and an object of pleasure of the Crown Prince. She risked her life to follow the prince just as subjects would follow a colonizer. In the end, finding the truth led her towards her death.

Jiang Shi – the former wife of the Emperor who was imprisoned together with her entire family so that her husband could be Emperor. Her grudge towards the Emperor led to the discovery of the poison placed into the Empress’s medicine and the revelation of the secrets within the royal family. Shi was once colonized and she had to struggle to survive. The life she led just to escape the clutches of her colonizer brought her a life of non-existence. Her life in hiding separated her from her reality, her family, her son, and her identity. She had to die before finding liberation. The others did, too, literally. However, her short-lived liberation was interrupted upon confronting her reality. She had to save her children and so she went back to face her colonizer. This only shows that the colonized cannot escape the truth to gain freedom. She should confront the colonizer and face the truth. She did, but it was too late. Her children were already victims of the lies that she built around her made-up liberation. Thus, she accepted her fate with open arms and faced death as her remaining means for freedom.

Summary

The story was set during the Tang Dynasty, on 928 AD China. The film began with preparations to welcome the Emperor from a three-year war. Though it was unexpected, the Imperial Power commands everyone to be on their feet late in the evening for his homecoming. Such power was again portrayed as the messengers announce that what the entire Imperial Palace awaits decides not to come in the middle of the night, instead, he chooses to rest in the official inn where the second prince, Prince Jai awaits his instruction.

The Emperor and the second prince meet at the official inn. Their sparring session in which the Emperor won asserts his power over the throne. He reminds the prince not to take by force anything that he did not give. That was already a foreshadowing that the Emperor knows the plot of rebellion even before Prince Jai decides to lead it.

The sudden homecoming was masked as the intent to celebrate the holiday with the royal family, though it was really due to the threat of rebellion. The Emperor knows the plot as much as he knows the illicit affair between his Empress Consort and his son from his first wife, Crown Prince Wan. Despite his seemingly omniscient view of everything that had happened during the war, the Emperor chooses not to confront anyone, preserve the order, and plan deceitful means to eliminate his enemies without lifting a finger. Such is the plan to poison the Empress so she would lose her sanity. With Jiang Yiru, the Imperial Physician, the Emperor carries out his plan of disposing of the threat to his power, the head of the rebellion, his consort.

The Empress prepares thousands of embroidered golden chrysanthemums for the Chong Yang Festival. Her health and this obsession worry Prince Jai, to which the Crown Prince Wan agrees, while Prince Yu, the third prince, seems to be oblivious. During the festival, golden flowers will fill the Imperial Palace, and this event remembers the death of the Emperor’s former wife.

The royal family reunites on the Chrysanthemum Terrace and the Emperor reminds everyone of their role under the natural law and the order that the royal family should uphold. The Crown Prince Wan feels trapped because of his affair with the Empress, so he requests to leave the Imperial Palace to a supposed immersion in the field, eventually to unite with his secret love, Jiang Chan, the Imperial Physician’s daughter. Prince Yu was also introduced in the story as the intelligent and the least favorite who struggles to gain the favor of any of his parents.

The conflict begins when the Empress did not finish her cup of medicine and the princes had to plead her to drink it except for Prince Jai. This part presents Prince Jai and his loyalty to his mother even before he gets caught in the middle of the struggle for power. Left without a choice, the Empress finished her cup of medicine.

The Emperor meets the Imperial Physician and reveals their on-going plot to poison the Empress. However, the Empress sends a woman-in-black to investigate the new ingredient added to her medicine. The woman returns to the Empress with the confirmation of her worst fears. In deep thought, she continues embroidering golden chrysanthemums.

The Empress summons Prince Jai and tells him of the Emperor’s plan to gradually poison her. She asks him to participate in her plot of rebellion. Prince Jai hesitates at first, but when the poison was served to the Empress in his presence, and his mother drank it submissively, he decides to fight for his mother’s life.

Crown Prince Wan captured the woman-in-black and she was recognized by the Emperor right away. He told Wan and the others to forget that the encounter happened. Later, it was revealed that the woman is the Imperial Physician's wife and the former wife of the Emperor. The Emperor promoted the Imperial Physician as governor and sent his entire family outside the Imperial Palace. It was supposed to be to honor the loyalty of the physician, and for the secret to being kept. However, the Emperor had another solution in mind, so he asked his assassins to kill Jiang’s family.

At the night of the Chrysanthemum Festival, Wan visited Chan in their new place outside the Imperial Palace and realizes that the embroidered golden chrysanthemums are for the rebels. The affair of the two was revealed to their mother and she tells Chan to stay away from the prince. The prince rushed towards the palace to warn his father, and Chan followed him after her mother's disapproval of her relationship with the Crown Prince. It was then that the assassins came, killed their men, and the Imperial Physician. Shi struggled to keep her daughter alive, until help from the Empress came.

The Crown Prince Wan confronts the Empress and tries to stop her from her plans. He is fearful that the people would think it was him who plotted the rebellion because he is the Crown Prince. Upon realizing that it was part of the plan and that she wouldn't let him get in the way, the Crown Prince stabs himself to escape his doom. Unfortunately, he lives and had to attend the Chrysanthemum Festival despite his injury.

The royal family was dressed for the festival and everything was ready when Shi and Chan came. The Emperor, upon realizing what will happen next, dismisses all the servants. The Empress reveals the secret of the royal family: Jiang Shi is the mother of Chan and Wan, and the former wife of the Emperor. This revelation led to the death of Chan and Shi. Then, Prince Yu killed Prince Wan and tried to force his father to abdicate the throne to him. His resentment towards his parents made him hate the entire family and seek only the throne. He knows everything from the illicit affair of his mother and his brother down to the plot of rebellion. Thinking that he can use the rebellion to his advantage, he killed the Crown Prince. The assassins of the Emperor killed the small number of soldiers of Prince Yu. Because of grief and anger for the death of his favorite son, the Emperor killed Prince Yu with his bare hands.

Prince Jai leads the ten thousand golden warriors wearing the embroidered chrysanthemums from the Empress. They marched towards the Imperial Palace and killed all assassins that tried to stop them. Their force advanced into the Imperial Square yet they were conquered by the sheer number of the Imperial Guards who were earlier instructed by Prince Jai to leave their post. The silver army stomped the rebellion as how they did with the golden flowers that adorned the Imperial Square. The remaining rebels were executed in front of the Empress, and the Emperor summons her and Prince Jai to the Chrysanthemum Terrace. The Emperor told Prince Jai that he will be spared from execution if he will serve his mother her medicine from then on. Prince Jai apologized to his mother, then takes his own life. His death pushed the Empress to her limits, and she forcefully slaps the plate holding the cup of acid that intends to kill her on the spot.

Post-colonial Analysis

Cultural Influence of Colonialism

Colonialism influences a people's entire culture which includes beliefs, habits, rituals, and even self-image. The way society perceives authority and power is affected by its colonial experience. Thus, the movie Curse of the Golden Flower showed the greed of and struggle for power among the conquered, and how the conqueror wields his dominance above everyone else. Such exhibition of the power of the colonizer had been evident with the unrelenting force of the Imperial Army as they crushed the ten thousand golden warriors that attempted to take over the throne, illustrating the futility of the attempt to take the crown by force, and attesting to the power of the colonizer over his subjects.

The same power is behind the immediate transformation of the Imperial Palace from a bloodied ground with corpses into a festive place decorated with fresh golden flowers, just as how it was before the rebels attacked. The image of the thousands of people at the colonizer’s disposal portrays the vast influence and control of the conqueror among his subjects. As if the world forgets the horrible deaths when the colonized tried to get off the shackles of oppression, the festival began with a celebration, filled moving lights and festive music. The people under his command are on their feet at his every whim, even during the execution of rebels. To kill in just one call concretizes the influence of the colonizer, not only on the society but also on its people.

Another scene that the Emperor, the colonizer, showed his power over his subjects is when he summoned the Empress and Prince Jai to the terrace. The colonized, the Empress, was brought her poison once again and she is expected to submit to the power of the Emperor. Also, the Emperor tried to torment both the Empress and Prince Jai when he asked the son to serve his mother's poison from then on in exchange for his life. It was the colonizer's way to take control once again because he can't take their life. The suicide of the second prince is the last means to liberate his mother from the colonizer, depriving the Emperor of the control he desperately wants to retrieve. The colonizer lost his power when he lost his only heir. The death of Prince Jai made the Empress’s deceptive attempt to freedom turn into a hysterical and upfront attempt to liberation when the she slaps the plate that holds the poison.

Gender

If we see the movie as a war between the sexes, we will easily understand how the man, the colonizer, remains to be the oversight or the omniscient power over everything. Such is proven by the Emperor's immediate return from war because of the plot to take over the throne. He knows the illicit affair of his wife with his son. He even planned to dispose of his former wife to get married and become Emperor.

Women are the colonized for how they were depicted in the movie. The marriage of the Empress made her a property that goes with the crown, and a mere symbol of a failed rebellion. The defeat of the golden army portrays the limited power of the woman to influence and take over an Empire in a colonial setting. The same with the colonized regardless of gender, the feat of escaping the clutches of colonialism is almost impossible for women.

Another illustration of women as the colonized is their role as objects of lust, infidelity, sexuality, and affection – all of which benefit the colonizer, the man. The interest of the woman will never go before the interest of the Empire, as shown in the roles of Jiang Chan, Jiang Shi, and the Empress. Their men see them as subjects, properties, and objects of pleasure, but when the throne is threatened, they can be disposed of easily.

The colonized portrayal of women is also shown by the clothes they wear. Both servants and nobility are dressed as how men find them pleasing to the eyes: with colorful makeup, adorned with jewelry, glittered and glamorous, while their bosoms swell up, with layered clothing yet revealing men's lustful interest. Such an image was left behind by the only woman who liberated herself, Jiang Shi. The Emperor’s former wife relinquished her identity and left all the glamour in exchange for freedom and a peaceful family life. Though she was still dependent on the existence of her husband, she uses it as an advantage to stay hidden from the sight of the Emperor, the colonizer. She has been an object, not of lust, but of affection.

Women are depicted as mere servants of the palace, while men take positions based on their capacity, talent, and influence. This alone shows that women are the voiceless majority that is conquered by force and lack of existence. They are the women who ring the bell before daybreak, yet do not speak. They aim to wake only the other servants. Compare this to the men with gongs and speak of the hour. Women were not heard in all circumstances, while those who speak to assume power and existence are persecuted, such as Shi, the Empress, and Chan.

The identity of women is merely based on their men's identity. They are the 'other,' and they are expected not to exist. They are supposed to submit themselves to the colonizer, the Emperor, or the man who owns them by name and existence. Such is the case of the Empress as a silent receiver of the poison she is aware of, yet she can't decline because her knowledge of it demands retaliation. She would not risk such conflict because colonial mentality tells that the conquered could not win in upfront confrontation as in combat, rather, in a deceptive and carefully planned liberation and usurpation of power.

Race

The culture of collectivism is shown in the struggle for power. The power of the ten thousand against the Imperial Army was the picture of that conflict. The Chinese race has embraced such culture since they have a long history of genocide that eliminates the conquered belief upon the transition of a new dynasty. The concept of the conqueror and the conquered and the concept of intolerance of the existence of both made the Chinese culture a clear representation of the colonial power that slowly transitioned towards Imperialism. Colonialism influenced them to believe that to be powerful, the colonizer should weaken the colonized. Such is shown by the poison that the Empress takes, and the poor self-image that the Crown Prince believes. These are just some of the many ways a colonizer disables a threat to power. This intends to make others heed his orders, just like how the Emperor asserted his power towards the Empress and made her drink her medicine.

Class

Class is a clearly outlined distinction in Colonialism, as it sets the boundaries of the colonizer and the colonized. The higher class or the royalty is distinguished from the lower class or the commoners and servants. With the use of status symbols like jewelry, ornaments, and gilded robes, the colonizer presents himself as the insurmountable force that the colonized should not dare challenge. Also, the issue of class was highlighted by the prohibition of the affair of Wan and Chan, not only because they are siblings, but also because they are of different social classes. Class is also affected by Colonialism as marriage is used to elevate from one class to another. This is done by the Emperor to acquire the power he desires.
Family

In Colonialism, the man is the colonizer. Thus, the patriarch is a powerful image within a family structure. The members of the family are mere subjects to that power. This colonial manifestation is portrayed as the royal family reunites on the Chrysanthemum Terrace and everyone where seated on their rightful place, expected to play their designated role.

Also, Colonialism affects the identity of the family. It lies on the identity of the patriarch, which is shown in the identity of the Jiang family. Unless the child is the heir, the member of the family remains non-existent, unimportant, such as the case of Prince Jai and Prince Yu. The woman, as in other cultures, are invisible and mere means of continued family lineage.

Imperialism Taking Over Colonialism

The culture that a colonized territory adopts becomes the foundation of the same atrocities within a race, transitioning from Colonialism to Imperialism. Despite the absence of the other race to colonize the people, the Imperial Power assumes the role of the colonizer, seeing himself of equal to the conqueror, and administering the same abuses that the colonizer inflicted upon the people. This is the case of Emperor Ping who became the colonizer of his own people. New forms of Imperialism replace Colonization as the Chinese people builds their empire and adopts the image of the colonizers. The post-colonial image of power remains the same, as the colonized sees himself as equally powerful as the colonizer. They strive to develop and overpower the existing superpowers of the world. Not only did China produce the counterparts of everything that the powerful states produce, but they also impose their power towards those that they deem inferior. This is portrayed in the personality of the Empress. She believes that she can take over the throne and become the colonizer. This imitation of the power of the Emperor was exhibited by the Empress when she is not in his presence. She assumed the role of the oversight upon knowing the Crowned Prince’s affair with Chan, and Jiang Shi’s identity and family. She exhibited control over her son’s emotions to take up rebellion, and her assumption of power as to how she treats her servants.

The Symbol of the Golden Flower

The golden flower stands for the Empress, the mere decorative beauty of the Imperial Palace. She is covered with gold just like the chrysanthemums, prepared to captivate the eyes of the people. However, her beauty did not settle being decorative, rather, she wanted to be influential. Thus, she launched a rebellion bearing her symbol. With the loyalty of her men who fought under her banner, the power of the chrysanthemum, though fleeting, made a mark in the palace that the colonizer dominated for so long. Even if her beauty was stomped and covered with the blood of the men who remained loyal to her power, she won the fight for liberation when the colonizer lost his last heir, ending his dynasty.


References

Yimou, Z. (Director). (2007). Curse of the Golden Flower [Motion Picture].

Cultural Diversity Concretized Through Linguistic Representations: a Reflection on Hilda Freimuth’s Journal Article, Language and Culture

In my years of teaching language and literature, I have always believed that culture and language are intricately woven societal elements that help a community claim a unique identity against other societies and pass such identity from one generation to another. The journal article (Freimuth, 2006) on Language and Culture helped me justify my assumptions on the close relationship between language and culture through various arguments presented in the article. Believing in one linguistic characteristic such as the cultural aspect of every language is different from gaining the firm resolve that they indeed complement each other. Gaining a balanced and wider perspective on the relationship between language and culture enables me to reflect not only on the characteristics of language but also on its role in building societies and preserving the identity that every community nurtures.

Hilda Freimuth began her article with the definition of culture. And just like any concept paper, the concepts should be well-defined before discussions are carried out. She included the different definitions of culture, and they served as points of arguments in my first attempt at understanding language and culture. Here are some of the definitions she mentioned:

According to Whorf (1956), language determines, influences, and limits a person’s perspective of the world. Though controversy surrounded this idea about language, the connection that it establishes with culture should also be considered. Our understanding of the world could be affected by the capacity of our language to describe what we perceive. Whorf’s concept complements the idea of the limitations of language. In Chomsky’s concept of linguistic competence, the rules of the language are just descriptions of the observed recurrences within the system of lexicon and grammar. Thus, language is a limited description of what exists in the perspective of an individual and his society. If language itself is limited, a society’s perspective of the world can only extend as much as how its language can describe -- as much as the society can comprehend. This works both ways. Language develops as a society encounters new human experiences that demand new linguistic representations. A society’s growing perspective of the world extends the capacity of its language to describe what exists within a society’s understanding. Thus, language grows with the society, making it dynamic. This is also the reason language ceases to grow when it is no longer used by a group of people. There would be no human understanding to sustain, and so the language dies.

An example of how language grows with the society is the Filipino understanding of the word ‘tokhang,’ which was hailed as Salita ng Taon in Sawikaan 2018 by the Filipinas Institute of Translation, University of the Philippines Diliman, and Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF). According to the body, the winner was chosen based on the meaning of the word in the life of Filipinos, its reflection of the current state of the society, the depth of research accompanying the proposal, and its presentation to the public. The word was submitted by Mark Angeles, Filipino poet, fiction writer, and essayist. The word ‘tokhang’ came from the Cebuano word ‘toktok-hangyo’ which means knock and plead. It is a polite request that turned into a word that describes the violent drug war that killed thousands of Filipinos under the Duterte administration. Lifeless bodies along the streets were no longer called as mere corpses but ‘na-tokhang’ which presumes that these deaths are results of the drug war. The prevalence of extra-judicial killings made the Filipino language adopt ‘tokhang’ in its entirely new meaning to describe a unique and unprecedented human experience like deaths in a drug war. The seeming normalcy of the culture of killing made the language adopt a new linguistic representation. This leads us to culture as an influential element on the development and acquisition of language and vice versa.

Culture is a parcel of the societal understanding that language enriches and, at the same time, describes. Since culture is socially acquired, according to Wardhaugh (2002), one’s language can reflect the culture that a society upholds. According to Bates and Plog (1990), culture includes the “shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts of the members of a society, that are used to cope with their world, with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.” We already know what constitutes culture, but the keywords that we need to note in this definition are (1) the function of culture to help members of the society cope with their world and with one another, and (2) the preservation of this culture across generations.

Coping with one’s world and with the other members of the society refers to the function of culture to set the standards of behavior that is acceptable to the society. According to Goodenough (1957) culture is what one needs to know or believe to exhibit acceptable behavior. These perceived and accepted standards of social behavior must be coursed through the members who will observe them. The role of language in the promulgation of this acceptable social behavior demands the capacity of the language to describe cultural specifications. This makes any language tightly-knitted with culture as its core. This intricate relationship between language and culture is supported by Sapir (1929) since a language can only describe what a society knows, believes, and accepts. This relationship between language as means to propagate culture and culture as a social behavior could have prompted the initial behaviorist theories on language before it became known as a biologically-based characteristic of the human mind. Since culture is a learned behavior and language describes this behavior, language acquisition is possible through exhibiting the same behaviors that the language describes. However, we already know that language acquisition is not as limited as behavioral language theories proposed. The human mind makes language acquisition possible in more ways other than learned behavior. Language acquisition leads us to the next role of language in the society as means to preserve culture.

Language is not solely used to extend accepted social behavior within a community but also to preserve such culture across generations. Thus, society equips the language with the lexicon necessary to describe the culture that they need to pass onto the next generation. An example of this is the rich Japanese language that has words to describe several Japanese cultures that do not have the exact translation in other nations because of their unique set of values, beliefs, and social behavior. Some of these words are ‘Origami,’ the Japanese art of paper folding; ‘Chanoyu,’ the Japanese tea ceremony; ‘Ikebana,’ the Japanese art of flower arrangement, and ‘Seppuku’ or ‘Harakiri,’ the Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment to restore one’s and family’s honor. The Japanese language does not sit idly in describing traditions, but continuously grow to describe emerging concepts that the current Japanese society faces. Some of these are the Japanese pop culture fashion of dark and cute, ‘Yamikawaii,’ and the alarming culture of death by overwork, ‘Karoshi.’ All these words can be translated into another language but one cannot fully grasp the meaning of these words without understanding the Japanese culture embedded in each linguistic representation. The Japanese is just one of the many societies that preserves their culture, and their language is one of their means. The language acts as markers of cultural elements that one society can pass on. It transforms the abstraction of a nation’s identity into a concrete and observable behavior that people can learn. Therefore, language works together with socially accepted behaviors for the preservation of culture.

The inseparability of language and culture, which Wenying Jiang (2000) discussed in a study on native speakers, makes language acquisition not only a linguistic pursuit but also a cultural affair. The connection of the two made second language learning anchor on the cultural and linguistic aspects instead on the mere instruction of language structure. According to Hammerly (1985) second language learners can only be considered fully trained when they exhibit both knowledge and behavior of the culture of the language they are learning. That way, language learners can effectively use context and implications based on their deeper understanding of the language and the culture it represents. Thus, the relationship of language and culture is not limited to the functions of promulgation and preservation of culture.  Language concretizes the existence of a behavior, an identity, a tradition, a way of life.











Reference:
Freimuth, H. (2006). Language and Culture. UGRU Journal.