English Literature

Language is a powerful tool that man can use to lay information, manipulate events, create definitions, and even establish the identity of individuals and community. Such perception is undeniable and has been to persist across all cultures and surpasses all boundaries. In order to further justify this concept, specific articles from chosen authors are discussed below and are believed to provide firm justification of the role of language in the formation of individual and societal identities.

Body
According to Johnson, the traditional yes and no are already replaced by the modern duh and yeah right. These statements are developed by the members of the 21st century in response to the advances that their generation is experiencing. The author said that the traditional responses are no longer appropriate to the dynamic and fast-paced environment of the modern times and he has even emphasized that the modern responses are the cure to the void in the flow of discussions nowadays. More specifically, the author believes that the duh and yeah right are are matchless tools of savvy, winking sarcasm and skepticism caustic without being confrontational, incisive without being quite specific.

Furthermore, duh and yeah right are associated with the expression like which are all reflections of the reality of the present world we are living in. However, a number of professors, linguists, and other purists believe that the concepts of Johnson are inappropriate and are destructions of the continuity of the English language (Johnson). In reply to this, the author said that a broader approach to such is the visualization of the aforementioned terms as the improvement of the simple old ways of binary codes to the advances of the computer age.

In connection to the conceptual frameworks formed by Johnson, Rauch emphasized the role of language in the formation of societal perception of prejudice, pluralism, and racism. Language has the power to create positive and negative societal outlook of current controversial issues such as homosexuality, freedom of speech, sexism and homophobia. Within university environment, communities and other areas by which people tend to gather, language has established itself to be a tool that is capable of shaping the identity of individual and societies.

Aside from intensifying the role of language for identity perception, language is also a tool for power and cultural differences. It was even accentuated that in the United States, Black English, the language of Black Americans, is indirectly despised by their White counterparts. The author suggests that it is not actually the language that is being put into question but the experiences that are incorporated with it.  

Conclusion
Indeed, language is a powerful and very influential tool that can be used and manipulated to create a specific identity. Individual distinctiveness can be shown by the manner by which a person speak and go about with his or her words. Furthermore, the community as a whole can also be represented by language because of the fact that experiences shared by population of people has shaped the profile of language that people use. Consequently, language poses both positive and negative results but it is the wisdom of humankind that will help him or her to defy these boundaries and create a dynamic environment.