Language Autobiography

REFLECTION:

            For the longest time I wasn’t sure what to write about. I don’t come from a family straight out of a foreign country. And I’m not  “Off the Boat” Italian as some others are. I’m just me, Anthony. So I thought about it quite a bit before I finally thought to myself that I do have some dialectic things in my life. My grandparents say things, my friends say things and even I say things. So I just decided to write those occurrences into this paper that you see here.

            I will never fully understand the way people go against one another for speaking differently, even when it’s in the same language. To be speaking different languages is one thing, I mean you can’t understand the person, but there’s no reason to bother others for sounding differently.

             Here in Philadelphia, we have several different ways of saying things. These can include the way we pronounce bagel (Beg-gull), water (wooder) and some other words as well. We’ve even made up a cluster of words such as jawn, jawnski and yous to name a few. Basically jawn is a way to say thing when at a loss for words while yous is a hybrid/contraction for saying you guys and you girls. Somebody use these constantly and love using it while others don’t bother using them whatsoever. Personally, I find myself using yous a lot but refraining from using jawn as some consider it to be improper.

            I don’t exactly see how words can be improper. I mean I understand how some people associate poor grammar with poor working. Some people can be told entirely from their speech. The person who seemingly can’t structure a sentence is more than likely differently clothed than somebody using complex words in a casual conversation. This doesn’t necessarily meant that the person is incapable of doing the actions of the proper speaker granted it isn’t a public speaker in most cases.

             I had a friend in grade school, his name was John. We were always good friends even though we were different in several aspects we managed to be great friends and get along in most cases. Out of everything we’ve done the most memorable would probably be our routine after vocal assignments. Time and time again we would get up there in front of our uninterested class of 24, scuttling up to talk about how the weather is changing or the history of pancakes. Each time, we would say almost a synonymous speech with only replacing a few words. I’ve always been a proper speaker save for how fast I talk in some cases while he tended to abbreviate his words and use words that we swear were made up. And each time I would laugh at the response on his face when his grades were 5 points lower than mine for no reason. Half of the time he’d be given the better-worded speech too! 

             Although even with this proof I guess the wrong idea is being presented. People shouldn’t be afraid or ashamed to use their own way of speaking, or “dialects” if you may. Some are just treated differently than others. More than likely you have others around you that speak as you do. I mean people need to learn form somewhere or else we wouldn’t know anything. If I were to say something common to me in school, it’s almost assured that nobody in the room would understand what I’m saying. A perfect example of this would be my grandparents. We say our own plethora of words being together as a family. The most predominant however would have to be Marone, which is basically considered to be a burden or a quarrelsome statement. The next one is called a gavone. A gavone is considered to be a pig and a glut in several instances. Here’s an example of just that 

  Trips to my grandparent’s house are always fun. My grandmother, or Mommom as we call her, is always so fun and the most amazing cook. And my grandfather, or Poppy, is one of the coolest people to me. Going to their house is always another venture in itself! We always go together as a family, so their house always has my family, my aunts and my uncles, my cousins, and until recently, my great grandmothers. As with so many Italians getting together, we always get into some minor bickering and fun quarrels.

“Well what do you mean we can’t go to the Christmas party this year?” “I already told you why! I don’t work with them anymore!” “So? What’s the problem?” “Marone, what’s the matter with you?” These are most of the arguments between my Aunt Monica and my Poppy. We manage to get into arguments over everything and it’s hilarious every time. I remember last Christmas Eve when we went to my grandparent’s house for our annual holiday tradition. We always eat so much more than we’re supposed to and wind up making somebody starve to death because we’re such “gavones” as my family says. And we are. “Here you go, the last pizza guys!” My Mommom said twice with a grin on her face. I never got how she could be so happy in making countless pizzas on Christmas Eve. “Hey guys we’re finally here!” My Aunt Joanna said while her and my newest Uncle Mick walk in from the blistering cold. “Oh good just in time for the last of the pizzas,” replied my Mommom still happy. “What pizza…?” replied my Uncle, clueless as ever. My Mommom quickly looked down at the table to see nothing left. “You guys are such gavones!” she sparked at us after devouring all the pizza. It was worth it though.

            There are several examples in the world where dialects are found. Everywhere in the world actually. Your dialect shows just that. It tells you everything from where you’re from to whom you hang out with throughout your life. Don’t be ashamed of what you have, but be happy about your own life and where you’ve come from to this point.