C&T 598 RR2 Hazara Leon

Dr. Cho
June 1, 2017

All languages comingle through their histories of contact. This orientation also
encourages us to look at how language resources are mobile, traveling with or without
people to come into contact with other languages and communities, generating new
grammars and meanings. It is not that there are no norms: norms evolve in practice
(Canagarajah 14)
This statement highly resounded with the teachings of none other than environmental
science (my other area of study). Through the philosophical and literary teachings of
environmental science we were presented with Robert Sacks idea of place. Within place
he emphasizes the role of self in interpreting place by stating that language is key to the
creation and interpretation of geography. His theory is that place is like a loom that
weaves together nature, social relations, and meaning. When creating place, we bound an
area and instill a set of rules, which is then reflected in the other parts of the loom (nature,
social relations and meaning). At the same time, there is a flow outside of, and within the
loom, that has the ability to bring change to the different parts of the loom. In a sense, it
is a complex system that must work together in order to continue functioning. When we
imagine a place we think of a building with its own purpose or of a state, country, or even
our home. However, place is as broad as we make it and it is much more complex and all
encompassing than we think. With this idea in mind I envisioned languages as the flow of
the loom per se. Languages travel from different communities and from different people
or even on their own and they continue to evolve and change as they move from one area
to another. For me, language had a very deep connection to the environment. Whenever I
was questioned about my odd combination of majors I was never fully capable of
explaining the links between them, but through literature I was able to find that our
language shapes the way we see our environment. This statement brings forth this
sentiment and reminds me of how rich the history of language is. Although it is not
tangible, we see that just like our surrounding environment, language is capable of
evolving and has the power to shape our world. Our language resources can cross unseen
boundaries and just like air or sunlight, it does not always require the interference of
humans. As we begin to consider English and the way it has spread all around the world,
we see how it has crossed not just geographical boundaries but societal, political, cultural
issues and more. Languages have a way of shaping our world and our understanding of
this valuable tool within our communities is still one that needs a closer look.

Question: How do expanding circles negotiate their own varieties to co-construct a

different set of multilingual norms for English?