Decommodifying Spanish-English bilingualism

Aggrieved Whiteness and the Discursive Contestation of Language as Human Capital

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4178029
AutoresNicholas Subtirelu (0000-0002-6531-1622, Independent Scholar , Silver Spring , MD , USA, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume2023
Fascículo282
Páginas91-117
Data de publicação2023-07-26
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Journal of the Sociology of Language (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0165-2516 • E-ISSN: 1613-3668
EditoraWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ijsl-2022-0074
OpenAlexW4384207720
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas50

Over the past few decades in the United States, a powerful consensus has emerged around the value of bi-/multilingualism as human capital, including as an advantage for individuals on the labor market. In this article, I consider how the advantage that Spanish-English bilingualism affords some Latinxs on the labor market might be contested, especially by whites who feel disadvantaged by employers' preferences for bilingual workers. I explore data from an online petition opposing the use of bilingualism in hiring decisions. Drawing on insights from critical discourse analysis, linguistic anthropology, and the sociology of race, I analyze the discursive strategies that petition signers use to contest the economic advantages afforded by Spanish-English bilingualism. I show that signatories draw on a set of strategies that includes reproducing a naturalized one nation, one language ideology; constructing English as equal opportunity language; decommodifying Spanish; and racializing Spanish and its speakers. My analysis suggests that the apparent economic advantages afforded by Spanish-English bilingualism are a salient target for white racial resentment. Thus, I argue that discussions centering around bi-/multilingualism as human capital should consider how neoliberalism and aggrieved whiteness both, in different ways, undermine the labor market advantages bilingualism offers some Latinxs

Creole language · Economic growth · Economics · Human capital · Linguistics · Multilingualism · Neuroscience of multilingualism · Pidgin · Sociology · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy