Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice

Understanding and addressing linguistic disadvantage must be a central facet of the social justice agenda of our time. This book explores the ways in which linguistic diversity mediates social justice in liberal democracies undergoing rapid change due to high levels of migration and economic globalization. Focusing on the linguistic dimensions of economic inequality, cultural domination and imparity of political participation, Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice employs a case-study approach to real-world instances of linguistic injustice. Linguistic diversity is a universal characteristic of human language but linguistic diversity is rarely neutral; rather it is accompanied by linguistic stratification and linguistic subordination. Domains critical to social justice include employment, education, and community participation. The book offers a detailed examination of the connection between linguistic diversity and inequality in these specific contexts within nation states that are organized as liberal democracies. Inequalities exist not only between individuals and groups within a state but also between states. Therefore, the book also explores the role of linguistic diversity in global injustice with a particular focus on the spread of English as a global language. While much of the analysis in this book focuses on language as a means of exclusion, discrimination and disadvantage, the concluding chapter asks what the content of linguistic justice might be.

Autorentext

Ingrid Piller is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Her research expertise is in Intercultural Communication, the Sociolinguistics of Language Learning and Multilingualism, and Bilingual Education. She serves as editor-in-chief of the international sociolinguistics journal Multilingua and curates the sociolinguistics portal Language on the Move.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements 1 Introduction Linguistic diversity Social justice Overview Join the conversation 2 Linguistic diversity and stratification Language, multilingualism, linguistic diversity Hierarchy in diversity Language pyramids The diversity of the Other Seeing 'super-diversity' Inventing homogeneity Summary 3 The subordination of linguistic diversity The territorial principle Language segregation Debating the territorial principle Linguistic diversity and personal responsibility Grassroots language learning Judging speakers Linguistic diversity and moral worth Remaking language learners Summary 4 Linguistic diversity at work Language proficiency as a barrier to employment What's in a name? Job interviews Multiple vulnerabilities Survival employment and deskilling Language learning on the job Suppressing linguistic diversity Alternative language regimes Summary 5 Linguistic diversity in education The monolingual habitus of multilingual schools Submersion education Compounding disadvantage Testing against linguistic diversity Misdiagnosing language proficiency Denying the benefits of multilingualism Summary 6 Linguistic diversity and participation Linguistic barriers to participation Language and the gender gap Linguistically-motivated violence Micro-aggressions Linguistic alienation Summary 7 Linguistic diversity and global justice Language and development Injustices of English language education Injustices of English as global academic language Paying tribute to the Anglophone center Psychological damages of global English Summary 8 Linguistic justice Normative linguistic justice Real linguistic utopias The struggle for linguistic justice References