Linguistic racism: its negative effects and why we need to contest it

ABSTRACT

Linguistic racism is magnified when a speaker is multilingual and shuttles between different languages and language varieties. This reality is underscored in this commentary that reviews four empirical studies that comprise this special issue on linguistic racism. We see linguistic racism enacted in different forms and contexts: through racial microaggressions experienced by students who negotiate the Catalan/Spanish bilingual educational context; instances of racial prejudice encountered by international students at Australian universities; and sociolinguistics pressures placed upon members of an Australian Aboriginal community as they negotiate ratified and denigrated languages and language varieties. My commentary also highlights the need to consider the affective turn in sociolinguistics, in particular, the emotional fallout that often accompanies linguistic racism. Several suggestions on how to combat linguistic racism are also discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on Contributor

Peter De Costa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Languages and the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. His research areas include emotions, identity, ideology and ethics in educational linguistics. He also studies social (in)justice issues. He is the co-editor of TESOL Quarterly.