Senses of Language

For most students beginning to study a second language, the image of the native speaker looms large. The native speaker is presented as a model of appropriate language use as well as the final arbiter of the validity of every utterance; to speak “like a native speaker” often becomes the explicit goal of study. But such monolithic images are more projections than reality. Even within communities of first-language speakers, there is an endless diversity of language use. if we accept that language is not a neutral tool to be mastered, but rather a dynamic medium shaped by and reflecting our personal experience of acquisition, then both the feasibility and desirability of speaking “like a native speaker” become questionable. In this essay, I consider what it means to be a first-language speaker and suggest that we may want to reevaluate our common hierarchies of language proficiency. As the use of second languages is becoming increasingly common, it is important to recognize the legitimacy of second-language speakers and their potential for enriching language communities. I discuss my how my own sense of appropriate language has evolved, and briefly touch on movement in the linguistics community to critically consider longstanding “native speaker” biases.