The Unspeakable Linguistics of Camp - JSTOR Daily

This matters, because language is a form of power. It creates categories that help us interpret the world, and that which is not easily available in language is often ignored in thought itself. A shared vocabulary makes ideas more accessible while a lack of language can render an experience illegible. It can isolate.

Bad English is best shared offline, in a book or performed live; it’s an interactive diction that must be read aloud to be understood, but even if I don’t quite understand it, those chewy syllables just feel familial to me, no matter the cultural source, which is why it brings together racial groups outside whiteness.

Ultimately, language can serve as a rather blatant means of otherizing all things feminine.

Every speaker is learning how to write exquisite layers of social nuance that we once reserved for speech, whether we mark them by switching alphabets, switching languages, or respelling words.

Language is the most important feature in the formation of a community, and sign language is no exception. In the US, the signing community is as linguistically and culturally rich as any other language community.