Amy Tan "Yes and No"

"Yes and No" by Amy Tan illustrates a divide between family and what is socially appropriate(edicate) according to traditional Chinese culture, and what is considered edicate according to younger Chinese-American children in the same family. On page 26 Tan's Uncle in agreement with Tan's mother says "Americans take things quickly(at dinner table) because they have no time to be polite". Tan references a New York Times article that stated Chinese people were "polite and modest", there aren't even words for "yes and no". The article misrepresented what the language conveyed only prescriptively (obeying rules of grammar, and how they thought that applied to their mannerisms) as opposed to descriptively(how their culture influenced the usage of their language). Because of the influence linguists beleive "yes and no" could have had on the Chinese. Tan says failures in Chinese history could have been diverted which also ties into the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (27) which states how language is exercise based on world-view, amd giving words meaning.

Tan says something in reference to a quote by Sapir(28) "Sapir said something else about language and reality. It is the part that often gets left behind in the dot-dot-dots of quotes"
" . . . No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached." The dot-dot-dots that she is referring to is the ellipses of a quote, when parts are omitted, and the focus is on the crux, or the cheese. According to Sapir, language that isn't socially identified is given the same rules that apply to all social realities.

On page 33 Tan describes how Chinese is the language of discretion. One example of how this story applies to me, was when I was in a cypher (rap circle, sharing verses) with some friends, and in no particular order or manner everyone picked up where the other left off. Without noticing we all picked up on the beat, and according to our own social identities, and personalities, as well as knowledge of language we all interpreted it a different way. The ryhmes, flow, and lyrics weren't the same, and we didn't bump heads trying to get a turn yet each person built on what the other previously said in sync with the ryhthm. Langauge is like that because it builds on what people have said in the past, and it has it's own ryhthm which keeps with a beat, and shares different pitches, but never the same scale.

One thing that I didn't understand, and I would like to ask Tan is how she is able to transition between cultures, and find a middle ground for how she speaks?, but also how it is to "behave as an American", but be brought up multiculturally?? I understand the examples of "table manners" Tan has given, but I would like to know how she uses these manners interchangeably to please both cultures respectfully.