Amy Sidle

Essay 2: “Ambiguous Terminology and Dual-Languages in Minority Literature”

          The beauty, or perhaps the curse, of the English language is its ambiguity. A conversation can take a rapid turn with just the mere implication that a word means one thing over its possible counterpart. I can imagine that learning the English language is a grueling and hideous task; therefore at times minority authors will mix languages or perhaps use ambiguous terminology to insinuate an alternative motive or meaning.

          In Sandra Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek, she often tells her stories with mixed languages. In “One Holy Night,” Cisneros sprinkles the young pregnant girl’s story with Spanish terminology midst her English story. For instance, she “was going to dar a luz” or “to see if news about the demonio had been found” (32). The expressions allow Cisneros to keep the authenticity of the story and to implore the more American audience to seek out the understanding (though not necessary) of the terminology and bridge the gap between the two worlds. In relation to Objective 1c, the double language in Cisneros’ pieces truly validates the anecdotal-like tales, keeping the relationship between text and reader more of conversational and informal one. In the same story, Cisneros carefully assigns the young pregnant girl to the town of Miseria; while it could be anywhere in the world, it poignantly describes the true misery the young lady experiences due to her convoluted liaison with an older transient man. At times, Cisneros will define a Spanish word after using it in the sentence. There is no definite answer for her gracious definitions for most of her Spanish verbiage can be discerned with context clues either in diction or in the story itself.

          Much like Cisneros’ use of Spanish words, Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima exhibits similar usage but takes the concept further with near integration of the two languages. The most obvious inclusion is that Anaya numbers his chapters in Spanish, possibly to remind the audience that we are mere observers in this complex and intimate saga. Both Antonio’s parents (and various other characters) often speak Spanish before they continue in English showing their preference for Antonio’s primary language despite their New Mexico setting. Their keeping of their native heritage and culture within the U.S. boundaries allows (and at times, hinders) Antonio’s maturation as a bilingual American immigrant.

The Best Little Boy in the World, by Andrew Tobias, depicts a language riddled with innuendos. While he “begins at the beginning” his terminology is more juvenile (for he is a child) but also deals with the more obvious verbiage for homosexuality (3). Tobias recalls, “I am in the hall closet, behind the winter coats, stifling hot, but this is the price you pay to win hide-and-seek” (4). While Tobias is merely recalling a childhood memory, his use of “closet” and “hide-and-seek” can be insinuated toward his early suppressed homosexual feelings. Tobias also uses some more contemporary aspects to his text, for instance abbreviating the title of this book to merely “BLBITW” when he refers to himself. Though essentially this abbreviation could stand for practically anything, it allows for Tobias’ laid-back attitude to become evident, not to mention negate conventional stylistic norms.

Ambiguous terms are often found in earlier pieces of literature when certain behavior was not acceptable. In Walt Whitman’s “In Paths Untrodden,” he describes escaping from an uncomfortable situation:
         

Language is a very fickle friend at times, simultaneously welcoming or appalling your present company. Minority cultures use a combination of words and languages to broaden horizons for both characters and audience and fuse the two cultures for better understanding of each other.