In this weeks reading, I see how language is inextricably linked with power and one's identity. From English with an Accent, we can see how different languages inherit different views of the world and how they in turn shape our worldviews when speaking with them. As argued in the book, the concept of race is itself based upon racism (Barrett, 2023, p.27). Thus, the construction of race inherits that kind of racism and everyone who speaks the language speaks with racism. That made me to think about how language is shaped by power, and who has the power to change the language. This also corresponds to the idea that "[s]ocieties seem to always find a way to further marginalize the language varieties spoken by (already) marginalized people" (Barrett, 2023, p.47). As such, language is shaped by power and carries that power to further reproduce the existing inequality. Therefore, we can see racism and linguicism are constitutive to one another. One similarity I found between racism and linguicism is that they disregard the huge intra-group variety but rather emphasize upon inter-group differences. Neglecting "different ways in speaking English" within the racial group while being oversensitive to "different dialects" spoken by people from other races embodies racism (or raciolinguistic ideology).
Shaw's video and her personal stories vividly show us in what way racism is integrated one's decision of speaking a language and how language significantly influences her life. At the end of the video, Shaw whispered with choke, “I really hope [my mother] was right [in that maybe language is not that important]." As an second generation immigrant, Shaw rarely speaks any Mandarin Chinese, which she sees as a huge barrier between her and her grandparents. Although some of the actions also speak, such as the hug from her grandpa, she still feels strange to her grandpa. She might know that her grandpa loves her very much, but other than that, she doesn't know him personally. Shaw's inability to speak Mandarin, or communicating with her grandpa is a result from racism, or more precisely, the monolingual ideology. Her regret of not learning to speak Mandarin doesn't solely come from her interest in the language, but rather because she want to know her grandparents better and, perhaps, connect with the culture. The monolingual ideology stands in her way of becoming a multilingual and makes her internalize such oppressions to develop and uphold the linguistic hegemony.