How is identity constructed? Without going into specific philosopher’s answers to this question, I’ll just throw out two seemingly contrasting ideas.
On one hand, there are those who say identity is completely extrinsic. We are defined only within the constructs of the society of which we are a part. One could say, “I am a woman; I live in the United States; I am an American libertarian; I am kind and charitable; I strive to learn something new each day; I wish for social justice; etc.” Besides all these things only being described by language which is obviously a social construct, they all exist in reference to the larger community. Someone who has no clue what a woman is, what the United States is, what a libertarian is, what kindness and charity are would not know who this person is at all. All of these qualifiers depend on some sort of external context.
On the other hand, some say that there is an internal self that just simply isn’t described by words. Everything we use to describe ourselves to each other is an external reference, but there is an underlying true self. In a sense, you know yourself through and through, even if no one else does. It would be impossible for me to describe the thought process of such a person, but think of it as knowing your email password. Unless you picked something incredibly simple, it is unique to you, you created it, only you know it, and it has never existed before.
Take a moment to reflect and try to identify yourself. Do you think you exist only in relation to other people and your relative temporal-spatial existence? Do you know yourself and can say you have an identity which is projected through extrinsic and referential qualifiers? Are the words you use to describe yourself actually your identity, or are they mere linguistic reflections of your true but indescribable identity?
How Broken Can We Get? 
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