"Language shapes our identity, but doesn't define who we are"

First off, I am going to start off by saying that language is a form of communication- its a complex system of vocal signs (made up of patterns, rules and connecting elements), which humans communicate through, however it is not the only way of communication, but it plays a huge role in that. Moreover, our identity is who we are, not what we speak. The language we speak may help shape our identity, but it may or may not define who we are. 

Many people could argue that we need language to be able to get through our lives, because many believe that we are brought into this world as linguists- from the moment of birth. An article published on TIME.com (Understanding how the brain speaks 2 languages) stated that when humans are born, they produce a babble made up of hundreds of phonemes from hundreds of languages; this will lead their parents to react to phonemes from their native tongues and later on the baby will use and repeat the selected phonemes. This supports the idea that language shapes our identity, as it helps others identify as a certain nationality. As I said in my previous blog, our 'native' language relates to the country we originate from, not who our parents are or who we may turn out to be in the future, thus this reinforces the idea of language shaping our identity, without defining who we are.

On the other hand, some people may believe that our native language is not extremely beneficial, if it's the only language we speak. This is because, studies have proven that bilingualism and multilingualism could lead to intelligence. There is also scientific evidence supporting the theory stating that bilingual brains are "better functioning". It has been proven that they cope better with diseases such as: alzeihemers;  However, there are disadvantages, as well as advantages, of bilingual and multilingual brains. Some studies have found that bilingual children has a smaller vocabulary than monolingual children- this could be because their of their parents' mixing of words, which leads the children to confusion. This may lead some individuals to think that the number of languages we are able to speak define us as either more capable or less capable, in terms of the strength of our brain.

Personally, I both agree and disagree with the statement, above the page. Firstly, language HELPS shape our identity, however it does not have the ability to shape it on it's own. Also, I believe that language CAN define who we are, because in some cases, it can label our brains as either 'more capable' or 'less capable', while the language we speak doesn't have the authority to label us, without any solid evidence. Overall, the above statement has a large amount of for/against arguments. This is because, our identity may change, depending on the moment and the situation, therefore many people don't have a set identity.