PMcSearch for My Tongue

8/7/2019 PMcSearch for My Tongue

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Search for my TongueLearning Objectives

Consider the importance of cultureand language

Understand Sujata Bhatts view of

language and culture

Discuss the way these views are

presented

Slide 7 contains link to video on BBC Bitesize


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What are your views on the

following statements?

Discuss with a partner. I dont like it when I hear people living in Britain

speaking a foreign language. When theyre inBritain they should speak English.

It must be a real advantage to slip betweendifferent languages

It must be really confusing to have to use twodifferent languages

If you live in Britain and you speak English butyour first language is something else, then youshould do all you can to keep your first languagerather than forgetting about it.


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Sujata Bhatt

Sujata Bhatt was born in 1956 in

Ahmedabad, the largest city in the

Indian state of Gujarat, where her

mother tongue was Gujarati

She is intrigued by two languages

interacting in her mind and how this

affects her identity

"I have always

thought of myself as

an Indian who is

outside India."

[My mother tongue]

That's the deepest

layer of my identity."


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Themes

Language is used to symbolise cultural

identity

The poet suggests that cultural identitynever dies regardless of where you live

She suggests that two cultures mixed

together enhance one another


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Search for My Tongue

This has a double

meaning: the physical

device needed forspeech and the

language you speak

The language youspeak is seen as

inextricably linked to

your culture


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You ask me what I meanby saying I have lost my tongue.

I ask you, what would you do

if you had two tongues in your mouth,

and lost the first one, the mother tongue,

and could not really know the other,

the foreign tongue.You could not use them both together

even if you thought that way.

And if you lived in a place you had to

speak a foreign tongue,

your mother tongue would rot,

rot and die in your mouthuntil you had to spit it out.

I thought I spit it out

but overnight while I dream,

Lost voice could

mean isolation in a

new culture

Conversational style, who is

she talking to?

Tongue as a

metaphor for

language is used

throughout the

poem: extended

metaphor

One must be

excluded no matter

what you want. Could

this suggest a desire

to maintain both

cultures?

Negative language givesthis first section sickening

and sombre view of the

loss

Tone changes at

the end of this

section

How should this be read? Sadly, angrily, hopefully towards the end. Mark a

quotation to back up each possible interpretation


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(munay hutoo kay aakhee jeebh aakhee bhasha)

(may thoonky nakhi chay)

(parantoo rattray svupnama mari bhasha pachi aavay chay)

(foolnee jaim mari bhasha nmari jeebh)

modhama kheelay chay)

(fullnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh)

(modhama pakay chay)

The Gujarati script, on the

right, is repeated in English

at the end of the poem.

Why is the same thing said twice

in two languages?

What is the purpose of the

phonetic transliteration below the

script?

Is this a poem more effective

when read out loud or seen on

the page?


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it grows back, a stump of a shoot

grows longer, grows moist, grows strong

veins,it ties the other tongue in knots,

the bud opens, the bud opens in my

mouth,

it pushes the other tongue aside.

Everytime I think I've forgotten,

I think I've lost the mother tongue,it blossoms out of my mouth.

Strong positive natural

imagery. What might

this suggest?

Is it necessary for oneto overpower the

other?

Takes place in a dream; as such, is it real or

just something she hopes for?

Positive image could imply that the

language is beautiful and exotic


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Think about

How does the poem present the argument

that our speech and ourselves are

intimately connected? Do people not have

to search for their own tongue - or

authentic voice - even if they have not had

to move from one language to another?

What does the last sentence of the poemmean?


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Writing responses to the poems

The poem contains lots of similes and

metaphors (imagery), similes is when you use

like and metaphors is when you don't use like. I

liked the line about spitting it out (tongue) it

reminded me of a horror film.

What is it worth and why?

Treatment of how the poem is written is

poor - suggests G/F grade

First sentence: pointless Second sentence: personal response, but

needs developing


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The whole poem is about tongues really, there are lots ofimages of tongues. Sujata describes her mother tongue as if it

was something growing in her mouth, which gets bigger or

smaller. She thinks that if she doesn't speak Indian from day to

day it will die away. It's like, use it or lose it. But it never

actually disappears because at night the tongue 'blossoms out

of my mouth', so it's come to life again.

Suggests a C/B grade answer

Gets hold of the importance of this image in the poem

Understands what the poet is saying


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Suggests A grade answer

Clear explanation of a complicated image

Short quotations to illustrate what is saidConnects images to argument of poem

Personal responses to the imagery

In English, we use the word 'tongue' to mean 'language' as well as your actual'tongue'. The poet compares knowing two languages to having two tongues in your

mouth, which she calls 'the mother tongue' and 'the foreign tongue'. She is afraid

that the mother tongue might shrivel away ('rot and die') like a plant with no roots.

But in the last part of the poem, the mother tongue seems to grow back during the

night, and 'push the other tongue aside'. It's like when she dreams, she dreams in

Gujarati, and this keeps the language alive for her. It connects her to hermemories. The image of two tongues growing in your mouth is weird, and a bit

disturbing. You can imagine how it would feel. But then it 'blossoms' which also

suggests something beautiful. I thought this was a memorable image.


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Documents

PMcSearch for My Tongue