To
be Heard or To Not be Heard
Introduction
There is not really a set stone definition of voice in
regards to writing studies. It is known to be “viewed as
fuzzy, slippery, hard to define, and nearly impossible to teach .Voice has many
perceptions and each one of them contradict one another. The many intakes of
voice are displayed as individual accomplishment, rhetorical, linguistic, and
socially constructed. In the eyes of writers people have their own voice.
Researchers believe otherwise and say that voice is socially constructed. So
what I am trying to find out is voice one’s own or is it socially constructed.
The definition of discourse is the way people behave, interact, think, believe,
and speak. Voice plays a huge impact on
discourse. Many people are from many different cultures and backgrounds so
their interpretation on voice may be different from one another.
Now I will breakdown the different perceptions of voice
and state what they mean to me. Voice as individual accomplishment means that
voice is good to have and once it possessed you must take completely full
ownership of it. Meaning, that I have found my true identity so I no longer
have to search for my voice and now that I have found my voice I have
accomplished my goal. The rhetorical intake is that people “are given the right
teaching, experiences, or exposures” in order to find their right inner selves.
In regards to linguistics, if a person has a strong tone than their inner voice
will be heard and found. As a result of today’s society I believe that voice is
socially constructed. We act, dress, and speak like the people around us, for
example, the Hip- Hop music industry. The young generations speak, act, and
dress like the rappers because they admire them and want to be like them. The
young kids walk around with their pants sagged low trying to put on the cool
image. Another example is fashion and
hair. Bell bottom jeans and skinny leg jeans use to in back in the back, but
the bell bottom jeans fade in and out depending on the time period. People wore
big afros and said that was ugly and the in thing back thing was straight and
long. Now skinny leg jeans and afros are back in style. Everyone who is Black
now wants to go natural because natural is the new in thing right now.
Literature review
One perception of voice is using voice as an individual
accomplishment. Researchers believe that those who believe that their voice is
their own are influenced by the individual’s accomplishments. What the
researchers are referring to is that once the individual has found identity
they have accomplished and found their voice. An individual can now take
completely ownership of voice and call it their own. Voice and self goes hand
and hand, and when students are asked to find their voice they are asked to
find themselves. Individuals who find their voice are “stable, coherent” and
independent. Once that voice is found then they can use it and express it in
their own writing. This will become
useful when they are writing/reading any English-related materials, their tone
when giving a speech, and the way they talk to others.
Another perception of voice is letting voice be seen as
rhetorical. Researchers believe that if “individuals are given the right
teaching, experiences, or exposures to writing then they should be able to
develop their "true self" when writing.” Technically a person does
not have a true self when they are asked to write in different genres. These
writers are more so writing at the moments and portray themselves in many
different “true selves.” Depending on the situation writers have to write in
fake voices or something they would not call their own. Voice is seen as
rhetorical because when writing literature writing will become persuasive and
convincing through experiences and exposures. Plato contradicts this idea
because he believes that in order “to learn to speak or write better, we need
also to work on being a better person." I interpret this quote as once I
have become as better person mentally than I will be able to read and write
better.
Another perception of voice is seeing in terms of
linguistics. Linguistics is known as the structure and variation of language
which includes phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics,
sociolinguistics, and pragmatics. Voice in linguistics is
created but tone which means how the text sounds. In writing grammar errors are
considered linguistics because they are particular punctuation marks of that
particular individual. These punctuation errors are linguistics because what I
see as errors another person may look at it as being right. Culture has a large
impact on linguistics but is interpreted differently because we are all not the
same. We are all different and have different experiences through culture. Voice
in linguistics is created by tone which means how the text sounds.
M- What type of tone do
you use in your writing voice and spoken voice?
C-My writing voice is
low also because when I write I do like to talk to myself, for instance I like
to read what I write out loud because I feel like that helps me more than
reading it low to myself. This is why I like doing papers at home because I get
to speak to myself when I am writing which helps me think better.
From looking at the
data and referring to linguistics when reading and writing papers, in order to
comprehend what is going on she has to read it out loud. Teachers prefer when
students read out their final papers because once it is read out loud then
mistakes can be found. I also prefer to read out loud because I can understand
what I am reading more clear also. When writing she likes to talk to herself.
By allowing herself to talk to herself this may prevent some linguistics. When
C is writing a voice and tone, her tone may be more clear when she read out
loud when she writes.
Another perception of voice is having it be socially
constructed. Some researchers believe
that voice is “shaped, informed, and mediated by social and cultural factors.”
Humans learn and develop prior and new language and writing through social
interactions. Especially in the younger generation, “researchers see how voice
reflects an increasing linguistic ability to represent their experiences
through the reproduction of their social and cultural worlds” as one and as a
group. The way each particular person communicates through different kinds of
talk which can be influenced by school, accents, and the people that surround
them on a daily basis. In a classroom setting
children are shaped by their teacher. At an early age children are taught to
sit in vertical rows. If the child wants to speak or ask a question, then they
must raise their hand and wait until they are called on by the teacher. The
classroom is shaped, and sometimes even overshadowed by ways of speaking
because of social authority. Many children have different point of views but it
may not be expressed unless the child raises their hand. Some children are less
outspoken than others and those children may not want to speak unless the
teacher calls on them their voice would be considered silenced. Depending on
the reading and writing contexts some voices are stronger than others.
Data Analysis
M-How old are you?
C- I am 22 years old
C unconsciously talks
with an accent. She lives in Carteret now but she use to live in New York. The
fact that she is from New York makes her talk a certain way. When you live in a
place a certain amount of years, you begin to sound like them. People from New
York talk with a “New York accent.” Being that my interviewee is considered a
young adult her age bracket may talk in a certain way. Her friends may think a
word is cool and begin to use it as lingo amongst their group of friends. This
has to do with discourse because the way she talks in front of her mom or
grandmother will be different in how she talks and behaves around her friends.
M- What type of work do
you do?
C-I work at ShopRite
and I am studying to be a Special Ed teacher grades P-3
Her workplace is
considered a discourse community because the way they do this at that
particular Shoprite maybe different from Pathmark. Even though, they are both
grocery stores they have their own language in which they communicate. For
instance, I only know this because I use to work at Shoprite, when an associate
needs help they will put on their light and it will begin to flash. The manager
on duty would then take note of that and then come to the associate and ask
them what they need. The associate may need a “key” to void out items they do
not want. When an associate goes on lunch and they take too long the manger on
duty may announce on the intercom that C is taking too long. These are all
examples in which Shoprite has its own type of lingo to communicate. From
outsiders looking in you wouldn’t necessarily pay attention to these things
because you don’t understand what they mean.
M- What is your ethnic
background?
C-I am American, but my
nationality is Portuguese, my dad was raised in Portugal and so were my
grandparents, my mom was born here in the United States.
C says that she has a
voice of her own but unconsciously by reading her answer I believe that her
voice is influence by her culture. When you come from a different background
you may feel strongly about a certain topic and have your voice come across in
your writing. I believe that makes a
person a more effective writer. As stated in the literature review it says that
if you are given the right teaching, exposures, and experiences then you can
find your “true self.” I believe that there is no such thing of the “right
exposures or teaching.” Depending on what background or experiences you have a
person will have a negative or positive mindset about writing and finding your
voice. Growing up I always had problems
with the grammar and linguistics part of writing. As I begin to get older I
learned to hate writing. I always had negative feedback about my grammar. Now
when I’m in the moment and ideas pop in my head I love to free-write and write
love poems. If I had a better experience growing up then I would have a
different intake on writing.
M- How would your voice
affect the ethnic background you are in?
C-My ethnic background
many people use their hands as communicating with other individuals. My voice
does not affect my ethnic background in a bad way, it helps me communicate well
with family and friends and it helps me see that people from the same
background as me communicate in similar ways. My background is based on a lot
of verbal communication which is important.
C is stating that her
ethnic background is not effecting in a bad way, so she is contemplating
whether her ethnic background affects her in a good or bad way. When
communicating she uses her hands and people that are Portuguese (from the same
discourse) would also use their hands to communicate also. For analyzing the
data by her being for a ethnic background it helps her find her inner identity
when it comes to fitting in with a crowd.
M- Do you have your own
voice or is it influenced by society?
C-I do not let society
voice me, I have my own voice and I use it when I want.
She is her own person
amongst society. C believes she has her own voice and she will use it whenever
she wants to. Whenever she displays her voice it will be meaningful and
consistent. I know this because she has her own style and the way she dresses.
Even though she has a twin she portrays uniqueness and when I am around both c
and her sister they do not dress alike like most twins. C and her sister look
exactly the same but C always tries to do things to make them look different
from one another like dying her hair another color. C and her sister are only a
couple minutes apart. C and her sister share common discourse such as both of
them attending Kean University. I
personally believe something totally different I do not let society voice me
but I think to an extent it is socially constructed. Also, I believe in having
my own voice. Like in the literature review this just shows that different
people have different perceptions.
M-How would you
interpret voice when you’re feeling a certain type of emotion?
C-Voice needs to be
interpreted the correct way. Whether you are feeling happy you need to think
about things that will help you stay that way and help motivate you so that
your emotion does not change to sad. Being happy is one of the best emotions a
person can have because it helps you stay motivated in what you need to get
done. Feeling sad can lead to depression which is not good, because your body
may make you not want to eat and do anything involving being around people.
C states that voice
needs to interpret in a correct way, even though you may be a certain type of
emotion a person should never let it affect their writing. Sometimes when a
person is feeling down or emotionally hurt that is when you can get the best
products. If a person is happy of course the outcome of their writing will be
good. Just because a person is smiling on the outside doesn’t mean they are
going thru some hard times. Sometimes to get the best results you have to put
that aside for a second and push thru it. I personally love to write because I
have a story that I want to share. Sometimes putting that story on paper helps
relieve stress also. Like C I enjoy being happy and being depressed can lead to
lack of eating, but a person should never let it get that far. Having
experiences whether they are good or bad help build a stronger voice.
Methods
Even though my data was based on many perceptions on
voice I only conducted one interview. My interview took place thru email. I
choose not to do a face to face interview because I wanted the transcript
written. I conducted about a range of seventeen questions in this interview. At
first my interviewee didn’t know what until I gave her knowledge of it. I
didn’t want to give her too much knowledge at first because I didn’t want to
ruin my results. I wind having to ask her a few more questions because voice to
her was the literal spoken term and it means so much more in the terms of
writing studies.
I wouldn’t consider this interviewing but before this
class I had a lot of prior knowledge of what voice was. In my first conference
with Dr. C. we spoke about what the meaning of voice meant amongst each other.
I felt that was very helpful also because it gave me the idea that voice has
many perceptions because my perception of voice and her perception of voice
were totally different. I believe somewhat in the middle that voice is socially
constructed and your own. I remember she couldn’t really give me a straight
answer and we both came to the conclusion that depending on your perception of
voice the definition of voice will be different.
Conclusion
When it coming to finding out whether voice is your own
or not, I have stated prior that there is not any right or wrong answer. All
that matters is what you believe and can you find data to support your answer. Voice
has been around for years and the definition of it still seems unclear, but
will voice ever have a clear meaning. Depending on personal exposure culture,
audience, and experiences can play a huge part when a person is trying to find
themselves. Finding yourself can be relatively easy or hard it’s all about what
you intake as a person. Having a socially constructed will require less
personal thought. Basically in a socially constructed environment you will do
more so what is told of you. A personal
opinion does not apply.
Work
Cited
Sperling, Melanie, and
Deborah Appleman. "Voice in the Context of Literacy Studies." Reading
Research Quarterly 46.1 (2011): 70-84. ProQuest. Web. 9 May 2013.
