(C)overt linguistic racism

Eastern-European background immigrant women in the Australian workplace

Bibliographic Data

ID6255652
AuthorsAna Tankosić (0000-0003-1658-6678, Curtin University), Sender Dovchin (0000-0003-4327-7096, Curtin University)
Year2023
Volume23
Issue5
Pages726-757
Publication date2023-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnicities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-7968 • E-ISSN: 1741-2706
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/14687968211005104
OpenAlexW3146758451
LanguageEN
Citations received39
References cited77

Linguistic racism explores the varied ideologies that may generate and endorse monolingual, native, and normative language practices, while reinforcing the discrimination and injustice directed towards language users whose language and communicative repertoires are not necessarily perceived as standard and normal. This article, thus, investigates linguistic racism, as a form of existing, but newly defined, racism against unconventional ethnic language practices experienced by Eastern-European immigrant women in the Australian workplace. Our ethnographic study shows that, once these women directly or subtly exhibit their non-nativism, through a limited encounter with local expressions, non-native language skills, and ethnic accents, they become victims of covert and overt linguistic racism in the form of social exclusion, mockery, mimicking, and malicious sarcasm in the hierarchical power environment of the workplace. As a result, these migrants can suffer from long-lasting psychological trauma and distress, emotional hurdles, loss of credibility, and language-based inferiority complexes. We, as researchers, need to highlight the importance of combatting workplace linguistic racism and revealing language realities of underprivileged communities. In that way, we can assist them in adapting to host societies and help them regain some degree of power equality in their institutional environments

Covert · Ethnic group · Immigration · Injustice · Linguistics · Political science · Psychological nativism · Racism · Sociology · Gender Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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