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Language of Diversity: Shaping Inclusive Perspectives

Explore how language shapes ideologies, power dynamics, and worldviews in linguistic terms. Learn how linguistic changes promote diversity and inclusion in our evolving society. Recognize the impact of framing on cultural awareness.

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Language of Diversity: Shaping Inclusive Perspectives

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  1. The Language of Diversity: A linguist’s perspective Anna Marie Trester Georgetown University

  2. Ideology is linguistically moderated • power and worldview are produced and reproduced through language • language can embed a prejudicial perspective • while most often this occurs below the level of conscious awareness, that is not to say that it is not powerful or potentially damaging • E.g. “girls” to refer to women in support staff

  3. Linguistics • The scientific study of language • Helps to expose underlying assumptions embedded in language • Based on an understanding that language ALWAYS evolving / changing • Difference does not equal deficiency

  4. Some linguistic changes in talking about diversity From: Affirmative Action, Diversity TO: Inclusion From: Tolerance and Sensitivity TO: Crosscultural Competence From: American Ethnocentrism TO: Developing World Cultural awareness

  5. Framing (George Lakoff) • language always comes with what is called "framing." • Every word is defined relative to a conceptual framework. • Framing defines the problem in its own way and hence constrains the solutions needed to address that problem (i.e “tax relief”)

  6. “Illegal aliens” / “Illegals” • Dehumanizes • Stresses criminality and otherness • “Illegal” evokes a frame of criminality • Imagine calling speeders “illegal drivers” • “Alien” evokes non-human beings invading, foreign • The illegal frame “blocks” questions like: • why people coming to US • what services they provide while here • why they feel it necessary to avoid legal channels.

  7. Why do the work of examining language choice? (Castania 2003) • We chose to use words that convey sensitivity and understanding not because we want to be “correct” but because how we use words affects people – their concept of themselves and members of their group and the ability to create and maintain authentic relationships across differences. • [terms] allow us acknowledge, speak about, and deal with the outcomes of racial and color divisions of the past and present, while moving toward a more genuine partnership in future.

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