Culture and language are closely connected. Although many cultures share specific languages, many words and phrases are inclusive and have different meanings to a certain culture. This topic is touched upon in both Fatiha Guessabi’s “ Blurring the line between Language and Culture” and James Harbeck’s “ Why isn’t ‘American’ a language?”. This topic makes you ask the question, is culture a language of sorts, specifically is American a language. Fatiha Guessabi’s Blurring the line between Language and Culture describes the connection that different cultures have with language, arguing that culture is a language itself. Guessabi believes that you cannot learn a language without learning about the culture tied to it. Guesabi also writes about the high likelihood …show more content…
Harbeck says that American English has been greatly influenced by languages all over the world. This being because American English has adopted many words and phrases from other languages after immigrants settled in the United States and localized their languages. According to Harbeck “Money talks, and the US has not seen it as worthwhile to declare a distinct language, since American English, like the American dollar, is the current dominant force globally, like it or not.” This means that if the United States wanted “ American” to become a language it could but that it seems unnecessary since American English is dominating the globe. Harbeck also stated that “But the USA is a large country, and groups of immigrants from different countries have given distinct flavours to different regions. Once people settled in place, their speech started localising.” This means that American English has taken little bits and pieces from the many different immigrants that make the United States a melting pot. This uniqueness could separate American English from British English enough to make it a separate