How to Tame a Wild Tongue

Rhetorical Analysis of "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Gloria Anzaldúa code-switches with this text on several separate occasions. One of these occasions occurs when she describes how her mother reacted to her speaking English “like a Mexican”. The sentence starts in English, after which quickly equals Spanish tongue for the remainder of the sentence. To see a good how to tame a wild tongue summary follow the link or see below.

Another instance of her code-switching is conducted by Gloria herself when she states how other women of Hispanic heritage connect to the other person. The sentence, mostly in English is unexpectedly interrupted by Spanish, specifically the words “mexicanas y Latinas”. Her use of “Spanglish” (a variety of English and Spanish at the same time) is ironic because she is explaining how “mexicanas y Latinas” speak English and Spanish so that you can communicate, while Gloria does the same exact thing in her writing. Gloria moves between those two languages effortlessly, which demonstrates it appears as second nature to her. For more details on How to Tame a Wild Tongue follow the link.

Code-switching between those two languages enriches Gloria’s procedure for writing by having character to the conversation. The text would most likely be dull without her demonstration of Spanish code-switching.

Code-switching between one language may also say issues that another language cannot. For instance, merely explaining the premise of code-switching is not as effective as showing or saying them in a different language to help people acquire a new perspective. The impact of code-switching simply does not translate when they talk monolingually.

I do not feel that Gloria faces risks from straying from standard English, nor do I believe her code-switching presents challenges for her to get heard.

If anything it would broaden her audience to Spanish, English, and Spanglish speakers alike, thus doing the contrary of producing challenges. Instead she is being heard by way of a larger population group. What Gloria has been doing is the reverse of restricting her audience.

All 3 members of these language groups can relate to this text on some level, of course, if they can’t relate on the personal level they can still learn from the experiences of others.

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