Furthermore the identity of the poet is expressed through language. The strong imagery of “your mother tongue would rot rot and die in your mouth” is used; the poet has used the “rot” repeatedly which signifies the imagery of decay. This also confirms that Bhatt fears she might lose her mother tongue as it is eventually disappearing, consequently she is losing he identity. The reader is then shown that the poet “thought I spit it out but overnight while I dream” Her clearly the woman is subconscious and her “mother tongue”, her identity returns. This moreover implies that Bhatt had misunderstood her first language.
The structure of the poem is significant because it is almost like a sandwich. At the beginning of the poem the poet has used English, “the foreign tongue” in the middle the Gujarati is like the filing and without this Bhatt feels incomplete. Finally the third part explains to the English reader what is spoken in Gujarati and the writers true emotions are coming out. The poet has used two languages in the second part of the poem. Firstly there is the Denranagari script which then shows pronunciation also written; so it seems the woman is speaking it, not writing it.
The poem “Unrelated Incidents” is about how the poet, Tom Leonard, is putting the message across that he chooses to consider that accent does not show the status of a person. Whereas tin “Search for my tongue” the importance of identity is shown through language; similarly “Unrelated Incidents” also shows how language is part of your identity.
The language in “Unrelated Incidents” is portrayed through the Glaswegian accent of the writer; this reinforces whatever he is saying. In contrast, to “Search for my tongue” in “Unrelated Incidents” Leonard has used phonetic spelling “this is ma trooth” the “ma” is used to state that it is his accent and he’s proud of it. Here Leonard articulates the point that the type of class you are in is not distinguished by your accent. In “Search for my tongue” there is a totally different language used, Gujarati. However in “Unrelated Incidents” the poet has used non-standard English. This is eccentric considering the persona of the poet is a news reader “this is thi six a clock news” It is obvious that the poet is defiant and is showing that judging people by their accent is discrimination against people with accents. Furthermore the poem is actually set up like a newspaper in a column to indicate this.
Unlike “Search for my tongue”; where the tone of the poem is optimistic and grateful. The tone used in “Unrelated Incidents” is much bitterer and it shows anger against discrimination of accents “jist wonna yoo scruff tokn. thirza right way ti spell ana right way tok it.” Leonard has used the “scruff” to relate to the people who rank people on their accent. The poet is being rather negative and has made the citizens feel valueless as this states class. Additionally the poet is challenging language itself; he’s standing up for what he believes in.
There is punctuation problem in “Unrelated Incidents” “tokn. thirza” as well as spelling; the poet has not used a capital letter after a full stop. Here the poet has done this purposefully to make himself more defiant. However the punctuation in “Search for my tongue” is accurate and correct. The reader can see that both the poems differ in techniques used, although they ate getting the same message across.
Unlike “Search for my tongue”, Leonard has written his entire poem in his language; this strengthens the idea that language is closely linked to a persons identity. The Glasgow dialect “yi canny talk” signifies the poets’ message. The main difference between both the poems is that “Unrelated Incidents” is written mostly through sarcasm, “this trooth wia voice lik wonna yoo scruff” the writer is stating that speaking in Standard English is the truth. Obviously the poet is being sarcastic and ironic. The poet is making a point that you don’t need to speak Standard English to be talking about the truth. Unlike “Search for my tongue” where it does not show any irony used by Bhatt.
To conclude Leonard has used Glaswegian accent to signify that the language a person uses is a big part in their identity; just like Sujata Bhatt where the language reveals the identity. In Bhatt’s poem she proves that identity is constantly changing no matter where you are, it always is a part of you.