The Discourse on the Logic of Language is a poem written by Marlene Nourbese Phillip. It is a unique and creative poem. Philip talks about the importance of language, especially the role of English in her life. She wrote and I quoted “English is my mother tongue. English is my father tongue. A father tongue is a foreign language. Therefore English is a foreign language not a mother language.” The slaves only speak in English because they have to get orders from the slaveholders. In fact, they do not belong to the same society with people who actually use English as their language. Although English should be her mother tongue, it is actually her father tongue. Even Phillip didn’t say anything about her feeling; I could still feel a sense of sorrow and lonely. Language is so significant that we use language to build human connections.

Frederick Douglass recorded his life in his book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. He was a slave who suffered inhumanity treatment from the slaveholders. Besides, he was not allowed to learn languages. He knew the reason why they could not learn a language. When they study a language, they are able to write and read, which means they have the ability to acquire knowledge. Knowledge is the premise of thinking, when the slaves have the ability to think, they are going to fight for freedom. That was the last situation the slaveholders would like to see.

Therefore, there are some similarities between Discourse on the Logic of Language and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Language is a tool for people to express their emotions and thoughts. Although Douglass passed away long time ago, people still feel the existence of him through his words. Meanwhile, we can feel strong emotion of Fillip when she read her poem. Through the weird sounds and structures, I know that language gives her the power to express herself.

Zhao Wang