Journal of Language and Discrimination

Journal of Language and Discrimination - Discrimination is an important research topic in a large number of diverse but related fields, including linguistics, law, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. This complex, multidisciplinary research topic often has a strong focus and concern with language.  

However, at the moment, theorists and practitioners publish their work in different journals, such as Gender and Language, Journal of Language and Sexuality, Disability Studies, and there is little in the way of intellectual crossover or multidisciplinary work.  

We argue that the Journal of Language and Discrimination will appeal to those who are working on linguistic discrimination across a wide range of fields. The Journal will include original multidisciplinary research papers and reviews from diverse fields, including linguistics, education, law and criminal justice, anthropology, sociology, psychology, feminism, queer theory, disability studies and race studies.

Discrimination is often intimately linked to language. Verbal exchanges may be seen to embody discriminatory uses of language, and linguistic features often play an important role in reproducing, maintaining or subverting systems of discrimination. An alleged discriminatory event may, for instance, be played out discursively in legal rulings, print and broadcast media and social media, creating a complex picture of linguistic patterns and discourse strategies.

Analyzing the linguistic strategies of such an event allows for a more comprehensive understanding of discrimination and the actors involved, and goes some way towards understanding the impact of discriminatory incidents in context and in society more generally. There is a struggle over language about whose meaning of a term is accepted or who gets to name someone in a particular way, whose perspective is authorized, and it is this struggle over language which will be investigated: the process of naming an event as discriminatory and having that naming authorized, or challenged; the effects of discrimination on individuals and groups; resistance to discrimination.

The journal focuses on the shaping effect of language in situations of discrimination, but will also comprise research on language ideology and language-focused discrimination; i.e. discrimination towards a language, or towards users of a particular language variety.

The Journal of Language and Discrimination will be able to provide a unique platform to broadcast the diversity and interdisciplinarity of research on language and discrimination, whilst maintaining a unifying focus. As such, it will allow for the development of new understandings and new approaches to the study of language and discrimination.

Journal of Language and Discrimination Details