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Discussion #4
In the article, “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan plays on the phrase giving it two meanings. How does Tan add to or alter this definition? Did her play on words confuse you? Did you like how she changed the meaning of the phrase? How do you view the word Mother Tongue?
Discussion #4 Answer
The play of words which Amy Tan used in her story, “Mother Tongue” gave it two meanings – one, which is the way her mother speaks broken English, and two, how she shares this language intimately with her mother. These are connotative and denotative ways to understand the meaning and point that Tan drills the readers to view in her narrative. It adds more definition on how Tan views language and the complexity of learning it, since it is observed that despite her mother having broken English, and despite Tan being a language major, they both intimately share the broken English language and made them understand each other.