Echoes of Muted Tongues- Reforming Identities through Language

This dissertation examines the linguistic journeys of Yiyun Li, Eva Hoffman, and Jhumpa Lahiri, attempting to see how language serves as a space for individual cultural reinvention and displacement within diasporic narratives. Each author’s transition to a non-native language reflects a broader negotiation of identity, belonging, and memory, revealing the emotional and intellectual complexities of linguistic shifts. Yiyun Li rejects Chinese as a language of ideological control, embracing English as a means of artistic and emotional liberation. Eva Hoffman, in Lost in Translation, portrays the painful rupture between Polish and English, highlighting the alienation and hybridity that emerge from linguistic and cultural displacement. Jhumpa Lahiri, in In Other Words, dissatisfied with both Bengali and English, turns to Italian to redefine her creative and personal identity, illustrating language as a tool of self-reinvention. The study is framed through theoretical perspectives such as Stuart Hall’s notion of identity as fluid and evolving, Homi Bhabha’s concept of hybridity, and Frantz Fanon’s analysis of language and self-perception. Additionally, William Labov’s sociolinguistic theories and Michael Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) inform the discussion of language as both a social and cognitive construct. This dissertation argues that language in diasporic contexts is not merely a means of communication but a profound transformation marker, serving as both a bridge and a barrier between past and present selves. Through comparative analysis, it highlights how linguistic transitions reflect broader struggles with assimilation, alienation, and cultural preservation.