After reading “From Longhouse to Village” by R. Daniel Shaw, I was able to understand the point he was trying to make in the chapters I read. In chapter 5: From microdialects to linguistic identity: linguistic synthesis. Shaw states: “Comparing words on lists spread across a room provides a greater understanding of linguistic connections which, in turn, gives us a perspective on cultural similarity as well as variation. Language and culture work closely together; what people do, talk about. The use of language helps classify people, identifying them by the way they speak. It also sheds light on how people categorize each other.” (From Longhouse to Village). I can identify with what Shaw says in this chapter. I saw how many people use language to classify and identify them. I have been classified and identified by the way I speak. I have a Spanish accent as English is my second language. Many people have asked me if I am Spanish since I have an accent and I answer “yes”. But the way they will respond is, “I knew you were Spanish because of your accent.” This makes me angry because people just make assumptions based on what they hear from a person's mouth. My friend also experienced something similar, but her experience was really tough because she never thought she would be treated that way. What happened to her is that she was at school and she noticed that she was being treated differently from a classmate. She thought she imagined that attitude from that student, but she noticed that it became more difficult each time and she talked to that student and asked her why he treated her as if she were invisible. The student's response was: “I don't like people who speak with accents because...... middle of paper ...... the vitality of the community and how the Samos will call this individual ayo which means one with authority " . This caught my attention because in their community he was like the president, the one who will have the authority to do everything. The only difference was that the leader of Samos would not impose authority as our president does, but he could have done so if he wanted.A. Daniel Shaw makes relevant statements in every chapter I read. The way he describes and talks about the Samos is very interesting since he had the opportunity to live with them and study them, I find what he says very accurate. Reading this book opened my mind to understand different aspects of this culture. It gave me a different vision of my society based on another way of living in society. Works Cited Shaw, Daniel R 1996 From Longhouse to Village: Samo Social Change