CanIdentityandLanguageDeterminingOurCommunication

宋卓航

The rising of information technology has greatly promoted the progress of globalization，especially the impact of internet development on the advance of communication.The internet seems break down the barriers between different ethnic groups，cultures and nations.Therefore，the identity and language of various cultures and nations have turned indistinctness apparently.Due to this kind of indistinctness，identity and language seems no longer play an essential role in communication，especially in intercultural communication.The chaos of identity may cause a result of too much misunderstandings in intercultural communication.What are the definitions of identity and language？ How to understand the relationship between identity and language？ Do these two concepts no longer play an essential role in intercultural communication？ By first define identity and language，then introduce the relationship of identity and language，before finally analyzing the impact of these two concepts in intercultural communication，this essay will show the view on these two concepts is that identity and language are still the determining characters in communication，especially in intercultural communication.

How to define the concepts of identity and language？ Identity，as a sociology concept，can be defined as person's conception and expression towards themselves and others' individuality or group affiliations.As Jodith N.Martin and Thomas K.Nakayama noted in their book，“identity is the core issue for most persons，it is about who we are.” Man is by nature a social animal.Mankind are born with social attributes.These social attributes classified human beings into different groups.This can be appreciated as the process of identity and thus we have our identity in the society.Identity is often related to individuality.The way we define ourselves can be seen as a self-recognition of our identity.The individuality of a man is only half aspect of identity.Group affiliations are also one aspect of identity.Human beings live in different places with different languages and cultural background.Concepts like ethnic，nationalities and job occupations classified mankind into different identities with group affiliations.Accordingly，identity is a combination of both individuality and group affiliations.

What is the relationship between identity and language？ As it is defined in the second paragraph，language is not only a simple tool for communication，but also a cultural affiliation.For instance，when you are watching a football live cast and the commentator say：“Ryan Giggs is a red devil.”This not means the man named Ryan Giggs is a devil，red devil often refers to the player of Manchester United football club.If you do not have a clear comprehension on English football culture，it might make you confused.The example of red devil has shown the cultural affiliation of language.What about identity？ As we defined in the second paragraph，identity is not only a concept of individuality，but also can be related to group affiliations.For example，job occupation is the identity concept we often use to classify people into different groups.When we defined people as teacher，police，student and manager，we have classified them with different labels.These labels construct the identity of these people.Then what is the connection between identity and language？ Language is an affiliation with culture.People from different countries use different language as their mother language.The application of one mother language decided the ethnic group of one person.While ethnic group is a label of identity.Therefore，language can be seen as a reflection of identity.Another example on this is the process of second language acquisition.Due to the cultural affiliation of language，the acquirement of a second language is the process of intercultural communication as well.It can be concluded that language reflect identity and identity influence the evolution of language.This paragraph has shown the relationship between language and identity.However，how these two concepts impact communication？

Identity is the label to distinguish individual from mass as well as people of different group affiliations.Meanwhile language，as an expression tool and cultural affiliation，is a reflection of identity.Language is a bridge of communication.People of different identity use different languages and a misunderstanding occurred if people from different identities communicate with each other.

Identity is about who we are and the labels we have.Language is integrated by both communication and cultural affiliations and it is a reflection of identity as identity influence the changing of language.By defining the concept of identity and language，then expressing the relationship between these two concepts and finally analyzing their impact on communication，it can be concluded that both identity and language are still determining our communication.