Though it is
certainly not specific to the UK, while here I’ve been thinking a lot about the
need for identity. One of the major issues coming up soon is whether or not
Scotland will vote for independence. When we asked Martin if he thought Wales
would follow, he thought they wouldn’t, because they have Welsh, which gives
them enough uniqueness to be satisfied. However, though Gaelic is still on some
signs in Scotland, hardly anyone knows it. Personally, I don’t think the issues
that are driving Scotland to independence rely solely on their language, but it
is interesting.
This got me
to thinking about the other ways in which the need for identity manifests. The
development of the American accent is probably similar. I imagine that all the
colonists from Britain had British accents when they first got here, but now we
have quite a distinct accent, though we kept the same language. I imagine this
developed in part to differentiate ourselves from the place we fought a war to
be independent from. Even the Scottish accent, though more similar to the
English accent than the American one, is certainly different than the English
one. It’s as if they seek to say with every word they pronounce that though
they are geographically near, they are a different set of peoples.
This
manifests in other ways as well, such as fashion, nationalism, attitudes, and
more.
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