The Search to Become and Stay a Native

The Search to Become and Stay a Native

Note: This is one of the essays I have written for AUB, and may very well be the last one written for the University itself.

 

The past four years in the American University of Beirut is an explanation on the differences found between here, and in the states. Prior to coming here, I was studying at the University of Massachusetts Amherst which doesn’t fluctuate much when it comes to the English use. But here is an all together different story, with three main languages weaving in and out of the discourse. While each of the courses remain primarily in English, you will find Arabic used in courses as an additional tool for translating information to students. Or for other courses with a French-heavy accent, the occasional use of French when a person becomes flustered with their speech. For a creative writing course, I remember a few years back seeing people introduce French words, a “Je ne sais pas” to explain their mood. And it would be passed, and nodded, as the student who wrote that came from a French schooling. But taking that in comparison to the states, where each student most likely has the same schooling as the next.

I’m speaking of French and Arabic here, but that doesn’t stop to say that no other languages are being used. Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, or Italian. And that does not mean that English itself is the sole language being used. In some classes, British English is primarily used, and in others American English. And sometimes both at the same time. Again, this is not to say that one is wrong and the other is right, but that the combination of languages here and how they borrow themselves with the English rules is akin to a different branch of English being accepted, a hybrid Lebanese English being born.

I was born and raised in the Bay Area of California. Both my parents spoke Arabic to me at home, but I always replied back in English. Technically, my first language was Arabic, but I have forgotten the rules and learned English instead. There were instances of when I was speaking to friends and I used Arabic words in my speech. An example I remember is talking to my friend about going to the pool to swim, and me telling him to not forget to bring his “mayo”. Mayo is Arabic for swimsuit, and after him saying what as a reply a few times, my mother interjected and said “he means swimsuit”. Later on I asked my father’s friends about the language they speak to each other, and they joking said “jonglish” for Jordanian English.

Growing up with this as the norm for the household, it developed problems for me until I began to distinguish the differences and correct myself before speaking. Yet it still sets me out as a foreigner, in my native California, or with the family located in Amman, Jordan. Things such as a heavy accent being developed, due to the pronunciation of Arabic syllables being combined with English letters, it became a prolonged journey where I sought out to find a culture that would accept my language without question.

A friend of mine suggested to me in Massachusetts that if I were to complete another major, that I would do it in Beirut, Lebanon. The explanation was that it was a mix of cultures, the Orient meeting Western and European influences. And it was here that I was not treated as a foreigner, but rather as a native due to my use of Arabic and English together. So what ended up clicking for me was the location, and communicating with my peers in my bastardized form of English. Though that brings back to the earlier point raised, that the mixture of languages and setting of Lebanon, or in specific Beirut, is important to creating a form of English that expresses the Lebanese identity.

The Lebanese identity based around language is affected primarily by the proficiency in languages spoken. The written literacy of language though is based around how the sounds of words are placed. Taking a walk around Hamra would support this argument, as you can see shops with signs such as “Suber” instead of “Super”. This is due to the lack of the “p” in Arabic, but in trying to set the word out in English, the second letter of the Arabic alphabet “ba” is used. In Jordan, an amendment was made to the language with a “p” introduced by creating a line with three dots underneath. This was done to translate English words to Arabic more fluidly.

So this is the end of four years in Lebanon, where I have been studying English Literature at AUB. When I speak to people about what I study, most people are shocked and reply with, “But you were in the States. Why didn’t you study that there?” The decision to study English Literature here is due to my experience with language. It has become more to study the other people taking the courses over the years, as a secondary focus. Each student would come in from a mix of French, Arabic, British or American English backgrounds, and how they each take part to interact with the texts. When it comes to the classroom utilization of English, there is a more-or-less unification of terminologies used. Jargon based on the family background is still used though. I remember being questioned on the validity of some words back in Freshman year here, and I was asked to explain the jargon terminology.

Outside of the classrooms though, especially with vocal literacy, the English usage breaks down as the grammatical rules are not followed per say. For instance, I have met several students who, coming from the French baccalaureate system, would use French grammatical rules with their English by accident. Or for the Jordanians, the English would be interjected into the Arabic as catch-phrases. These catch-phrases are commonly understood though. Some words would continue to be heard, for instance “bas” being used instead of “but”. Then there would be students like myself, who would use Arabic but based with English grammatical rules, and it would be understood as something native to Beirut. By being treated as a native in a foreign country, that is the single most beautiful thing I have ever experienced, and is the reason I have decided to stay in this country for a few more years.

Studying English Literature allowed me to see how the understanding of language changes between students, as it is not just the texts but also how the context changes here versus Massachusetts. The research hypothesis that I began with before coming to this country is coming close to fruition in this four year experiment and experience.

If the same English texts were to be read by a separate culture, then the perception of the context of the text would change because of the language, social-political, and grammatical background.

An example would be Edward S. Said’s “Orientalism”. I studied the text in Amherst 2008, with a classroom filled with American English speaking students. The war in Afghanistan was still present, the war in Iraq still in the process. That influenced the perception of the text, about the exotic land and became one of the books that my Marine friends would recommend to each other before being deployed.

Now reading that book a year ago again, but this time in Lebanon, the language base was mixed. The grammatical rules of how texts were understood are more varied. The political background of the French mandate is still present, with French remaining as one of the three languages commonly used here. The social background stems from that, and from the Westernization from Europe and the States. The text was taken differently by the two cultures. In America, it was popularized among my peers as one of the books you should read to get a better understanding of the Middle East. In Lebanon, it was taken as an example of how Western ideologies shaped the Middle East and how it could be reversed to make it their own.

That itself leads on to how the hybridization of the Lebanese English was most likely born. On the scale of language development though, this form of English can be said to still be towards the infancy. This is due to no rigid structure of grammar being placed that is shared with the vocal structure of the language. This ties in to the feeling of being a native due to how the mixture of Arabic, English and French is present without a clear cut rule. So in my case, my use of English pronounced Arabic, as well as the vocalization of some English terms with Arabic is seen as one of the many perceptions of the language use here. If the language rules were more defined though, then certainly that feeling of being a native would disappear. Thankfully at this stage they are not.

The languages used are not static, but ever changing to suit the social culture of a location. Earlier I mentioned about British and American English being used interchangeably in poems and essays. The word “colour” in one instance, and “motorcycle” in another. In Massachusetts, “take away” is called a “doggy bag”. From what I noticed, small colloquialisms are added up together to rules for the dialect. The dialect then is popularized and selected to become a language. So where does that leave me with the English Literature degree, when all is said and done?

Stories. Where the William Caxton solved the problem of the lack of a fixed form of English, I plan to be able to influence the hybridization of English in Lebanon by creating stories for games. Through hand-held applications the benefits outweigh the maluses. First off, it targets a larger audience than publishing a book, secondly it is more cost effective than printing hundreds of books, and thirdly if the game itself is popularized, then the language used can become a standard for the future in Lebanon. As to why though, the reason is entirely more selfish. It is to remain treated like a native, by creating the language rules based on my view of how Arabic, French, and English should be combined. In doing so, especially in a place where the rules are changing for the language use each day, I can influence the language itself to my liking. Audio cues, visual cues, the accent of the characters in the game, the method of speech, if Caxton was able to use this technology himself, would “The History of Troy” have influenced the accent we use today, and not just the rules for words? There is a lack of games targeted towards the Lebanese market itself, which raises the allure of being one of the first to create a distinctly Lebanese game based on English, Arabic, and French. And all this can be achieved for the desire to find and maintain a place where I am not called a foreigner. A place far from where I was born, and further from the place my roots are from. To find and maintain a place I can call home.

 

In the narrative, a few arguments were brought up regarding the orient and the hybridization of the English Language. Historically, California itself was named the great melting pot due to the amount of different cultures that are brought together post the Gold rush. Social occurrences such as the work camps with the Japanese during World War II intermixed the culture, with such things as Silicon Valley inviting entrepreneurs to live and work in the Bay Area.

For Lebanon, the country was under the French mandate until 1946, when France officially left Lebanon. After this, with the mixture of cultures and the civil war, a struggle to develop a Lebanese identity has been seen due to different religious groups. The reason this is brought up is in relationship to what has changed the protagonist over his years, and what is supporting the viability of helping to define the changes in language.

California can be argued to be at a latter stage of the hybridization of English in comparison to Lebanon. The stage is due to the massive influx of Mexicans to the south, which introduces the hybridization called “Spanglish”, in addition to the forms of English. This is due to the use of the two languages, English and Spanish primarily. Now in comparison to Lebanon, which has three main languages used, with a large variety of other languages due to the social-religious background, a main identity in terms of language is not concretely found. This is seen evident by the difference in spelling between Arabic, French, and English – through pronunciations and grammar. The protagonist pronounces on the diphtong that can be seen in Lebanon, which is then a necessary step on the formalization of the new version of English. By taking note of the grammatical rules for instance, it is important to come to the realization of the paradigms used in one language and set precedence to it in comparison to the other languages. This raises the issue of what language would be chosen to set the grammatical rules, but due to the argument against the orient it is best to select all three main languages instead of relying primarily on one.

In selecting the three languages, the grammatical rules would be placed on English, but for the ease of formalization between the languages the setting must insist on replacing words that are held more popular. For instance take the following phrase:

How are you baby?

And instead replace it with the Arabic phrase “habibti”, which is the endearing equivalent of baby to a the female:

How are you habibti?

With this, we can place the changes in the language form to fit the Arabic rules with the English ones. The sociolinguist Carver (1992) would argue on the similarities of this in comparison to the loanwords seen in the English language from the Native Americans. But this raises the importance that given the social-political climate of Lebanon, this has to become a true sharing of the cultures in question. So that would mean for the same amount of words that are placed into the context of the English language from Arabic and French, the same must be done to each of those with similar rules.

And there-in lies the problem. But to tie back to William Caxton’s solution with the printing press, he chose the best economic solution to his problem to release the best amount of sales, which overlapped in giving a cheaper solution to reading in comparison to other texts. With this, the protagonist’s point of creating games that can target a larger audience of impressionable children to adults would be a stronger bartering tool in the creation of a set language rule in comparison to others. Which as the end result would create change.

 

Works Referenced:

 

Carver, E.M. (1992) ‘The Mayflower to the Model-T: the development of American English’ in Machan, T.W. And Scott, C.T. (eds) English in its Social Contexts: Essays in historical Sociolinguistics, Oxford, Oxford University Press

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978. Print.