Experience with linguicism

This paper evaluates the experiences of Robyn Kina and Daisy Li with linguicism and language discrimination. Both faced challenges in expressing themselves in English, leading to negative consequences such as incarceration and social isolation. The paper explores the impact of language skills developed under the influence of family and peers, as well as the link between language and social identity. The experiences highlight the dangers of language-trait discrimination and its potential for inequality and miscarriage of justice.

Running Head: ENGLISH 1
Experience with linguicism
Name of student
Name of University

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Introduction
The use of language is seen as an essential human ability, and the kind of language one
uses and how he speaks gets reflect his experiences with the language. The same language can be
spoken differently by different people and may sound different. The paper evaluates if Robyn
Kina and Daisy Li had the same experience with linguicism.
Robyn Kina, an aboriginal woman, was unable to express herself arcuately in English,
and that led to her incarceration. As she could not express herself clearly in English, she was
unable to defend herself. Thus, in her case, her experience with linguicism is negative as she
faced language discrimination that further led to miscommunication and injustice. Daisy Li’s
case is quite similar to Kina as she is not able to speak the standard form of English and with the
right accent. Although she did not suffer any imprisonment, she did face emotional and social
isolation. Her experience with linguicism is that of discrimination in society.
Although Robyn Kina and Daisy Li had did not face the same experience with
linguicism, their experiences can be linked as they both suffer from language discrimination. In
Kinas' case, it is her Aboriginal communicative style that is the problem while Daisy Li, who is a
Chinese immigrant, suffered because of the limitations of her English. Sociologists and linguists
assert that language skills are developed under the influence of family and peers. The more
insular languages spoken by immigrant families do impact language development in the next
generation (Tan, 1990)
Tan (1990) explores the sense of perfect English in her mother, Daisy Li’s English, which
is neither an English nor a Chinese structure. It is the passion, imagery, the rhythms of the speech
that reveal the nature of her thoughts. Tan finds herself using a different kind of English at home

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and with her parents and looks at it as their language of intimacy, which is a different kind of
English. However, that kind of English would be unacceptable in society.
A good example can be given by the variety of Aboriginal English (AE) spoken by
Aboriginals throughout Australia. AE is different from Standard Australian English, and there is
a wide variation in the AE varieties in different areas (Eades,1996). Kina suffered because of the
communication difficulties and misunderstandings that arose when she faced the trial as she
spoke Aboriginal English. She missed many opportunities not just because she was an
indigenous woman with limited education, but had little clue as to what those layers were talking
about (Thomas,2006).
U.S. Civil Rights Act forbids any discrimination based on color or language or race. Still,
it is not uncommon to see injustices taking place in society because of the link between language
and social identity. The area of focus here is discrimination that is focused on language-trait
(LTF), and such discriminations are rationalized and justified in everyday life as well as in courts
(Lippi-Green, 1994).
Robyn Kina and Daisy Li’s experiences with linguicism clearly show that language-trait
discrimination is expected to be normal in society and can lead to inequality in different fields
and realms of society. Such discriminations can be dangerous in courts and lead to the
miscarriage of justice.

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References
Eades, D. (1996). Legal Recognition Of Cultural Differences In Communication: The Case Of
Robyn Kina, Elsevier Science Ltd, 16(3), 215-227.
Lippi-Green, R. (1994). Accent, standard language ideology, and discriminatory pretext in the
courts. Language in Society, 23(1), 163-198.
Thomas, H. (2006). Failure of justice system that feels all too familiar. The Australian, 1(1), 1–2.
Tan, A. (1990). Mother Tongue. Under Western Eyes” in Threepenny Review, 1(1), 315–320.