Language is directly influenced by the same factors that constitute a person's identity. According to John Joseph, author of Language and Identity, “a person’s identity has two aspects; their name and “something intangible that constitutes who we really are…” (Joseph, 2004, p. 2). This “something intangible” refers to a person's age, gender, race, geography, class in society, and religious beliefs. These factors intertwine to shape the person in the present and in the future. The identity is an equation true for all its variables. The list of variables that go into creating an identity is endless. The definition of identity is the set of characteristics that a person recognizes as belonging uniquely to themselves and constituting their individual personality for life. The variables that will be discussed are gender, age, race, geography, social class, and religious beliefs. All of these factors will affect individuals in different ways and make up the makeup of a person's overall identity. The first and most obvious physical model of a person's identity is their age and gender. Gender constitutes identity not only through physical appearance, but also through behavior. Believe it or not, gender also influences speech. As author Jennifer Coates puts it simply: “Men talk one way, women talk another” (Coates, 1998, p. 1). Linguistic differences exist to maintain distinct social gender roles. A study of Hungarian boys and girls concluded that eight-year-old girls had more poor grammar than boys. 42.8% of girls used a bad tense when speaking, while only 28.9% of boys used a bad tense. When the study was repeated two years later, the results changed dramatically. Older girls had only 28% of the place...... middle of paper building, Cambrige CB2 8RU, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=y4LqTZ2bq8QCEdwards, J. (2009). Language and identity: an introduction. The Edinburg Building, Cambrige CB2 8RU, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=wwvOjiqyU-ECHoff, E. (2005). Language Development (3rd ed.). 10 Davis Drive, Belmont, CA 94002-3098: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=U4Kqamb3k9UCJoseph, JE (2004). Language and identity: national, ethnic, religious. 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=-3EVmiY-xl8CLefèvre, A. (1894). Race and Language (1894th ed.). Paternoster House, Charing Road, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=GvlYAAAAMAAJ