The Danger Of A Single Story By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie And Speaking In Tongues By Zadie Smith

Dominant Culture/Dominant Discourse

The Danger of a Single Story” By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie“and “Speaking In Tongues” by Zadie Smith 

Dominant Culture/Dominant Discourse
Both authors address the subjects of dominant culture and discourse in their articles. Adichie mentions how surprised her American roommate was on her good grasp over English language, even if she was from Nigeria. Her roommate had a singular view of the African countries and carried a default view on Africans (Adichie, 2009). As for Zadie Smith, she writes as to how the way you speak or the way your speaking changes is read a sign of your identity or where you came from. How she changed her voice from ‘working class Willesden‘to‘ high-class Cambridge ‘shows racism within the dominant culture (Smith, 2009).
Status Quo

The concept of Status Quo is useful in understanding the texts as English is a universal language that is popularly spoken and understood all across the world. It is not just your command over the language but also how you speak the language decides your social status and position. Changing your language and voice can be seen as a mean of climbing the social ladder.
dentity

Adichie and Smith touch upon the ideas of identity in their articles several times. For example, Adichie gets conscious about where she comes from when she moves from Nigeria to the U.S. She is made more acute about her African identity and the African authenticity in her writing (Adichie, 2009). For Smith, her identity relies on the language she speaks. The way you speak and how your way of speaking changes can be seen as a betrayal to your original identity.
Stories and narrative

Both authors use stories and narratives play in their discussions to put across their viewpoints. Smith narrates her own experience and transitions as well as mentions Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion as well as Obama’s candidacy in her essay (Smith, 2009). Adichie uses her personal experiences as a Nigerian in America and different smaller stories to convey the core message itself. The multiple stories and narratives fit together beautifully to make a compelling message.
Language

Both Adichie and Smith assert the significance of language and the power it has over others. Adichie mentions the official status of the English language in her own country, and this is what makes her so fluent in the language (Adichie, 2009). Smith asserts how one forgets his own language if brought to a foreign country, especially at a younger age. He picks up the new language of the adopted country and forgets his own. Thus, the status of one language, the variations within a language leave a powerful impact on one; social status and identity.
Voice

The authors employ the idea of “voice” in meaningful ways in their essays. Smith motions how her voice has taken on a double identity as she has her old voice and a new voice. She regrets the change in her voice and the need of the white sounding voice that sounded more intellectual than her old voice. She fears to lose her original identity she changes her voice as using different voices at different occasions sounds fake to her. Adichi mentions how those single stories about African written from the Western perspective have created a stereotype (Adichie, 2009). She longs for a voice to express the complete story about Africa and Africans and it is only with a heterogeneous compilation of voices that a story becomes complete.
Self-representation

According to Adichie and Smith, we are measured in the society from where we come, what language we speak and how we speak. If we have to present ourselves to the world in a positive manner, we need to follow the universal perspectives or be strong enough to tide over those stereotypes and misunderstandings.
Accent v. Dialect

Accent is how a person speaks and pronounces words while dialect combines both the grammatical features and accent of his language. Even if the grammatical features are same, the accent can vary. Smith mentions how one can lose his accent or use different accents for the same language. One could develop an accent that is neither country nor posh or neither American nor English.
Simple v. Complex

Simplicity and complexity can be seen in the articles by Adichie and Smith. Smith shows how easy and simple it is to lose your original language or accent as one moves from one place to another. The complexity develops when you change your way of speaking, and thus you betray your true identity. For Adichie, complexity develops when she finds herself surrounded by a feeling of pity and all because of the simple fact that she is from Africa.
Power of narrative and language.

Adichie and Smith stress upon the power of language over how one perceives and interacts. Adichie is troubled by the single story of Africa that is being told and retold in the West and has only created a stereotypical image. Smith uses the voice in her narrative and language as a cultural metaphor.

References 

Smith. (2009). Speaking in Tongues, nybooks Retrieved from 

Adichie, C.N. (20098). The Danger of a Single Story, ted.com