The Only Speaker of his Tongue | David Malouf

"It is a mystery of the deep past, but also of now. We recapture on our tongue, when we first grasp the sound and make it, the same word in the mouths of our long dead fathers, whose blood we move in and whose blood still moves in us. Language is that blood."

In this passage from 'The Only Speaker of his Tongue', Malouf communicates the strong connection between language and culture as well as identity. The language dates back to his ancestors, who established many years ago the society he grew up in. This language dates back from the time where his forefathers had established societal mechanisms and beliefs, resulting in a deep connection between the language one speaks and its history. The language is what tells the history of a specific group of people, passing along generations of the same culture. Even though the language can tell the following generations about the beliefs and values of its society as well as its history, there remains an unknown history to the use of the language, "It is a mystery of the deep past". One can only interpret the language's role based on the possible stories that have been carried on, but evolution of the language may never be fully revealed due to its partially unkown nature. Malouf communicates how one culture as well as identity is being passed on through the language, by speaking the language of your community he shows us that you identify yourself to those values and beliefs of that particular community, as well as its uses. By speaking the language, one is open to the culture of their community as well as its historical origins, to when the language was created. Malouf show through the section "Language is that blood" that the culture is carried on through speaking the language, contributing to the developing identity of the individual speaking it. It is the history that is being passed on through a way of communication, as to how the ancestors built a culture to which its language is the messenger between the present and the past--connecting the younger speakers with their origin to help them shape their identity.