Linguistics Department

Reed Linguistic Diversity Project

The Reed Linguistic Diversity Project (RLDP) celebrates the diversity of ways of speaking found in the Reed community. 

Linguistic diversity is a fact at Reed

We conducted a 4 question survey of 252 students in 2019. We found that:

• 15% of surveyed students reported that English was not their native language.

Though many people think linguistic diversity stops at multilingualism, we all speak our native languages differently, too, and this variation is far more widespread at Reed than you may think.

• 59% of surveyed students self-reported speaking a regional dialect of English. Examples include “California English”, “Pacific Northwest English”, and “Midwestern English”.
• 18.6% of surveyed students said they felt like they didn’t fit in because of the way they speak.

Linguistic bias is a pervasive form of discrimination 

“New Yorkers sound rude.”
“I hate when people say ‘like’ all the time!”
“Her voice is so shrill and annoying”

Maybe you’ve heard casual statements like the ones above - maybe you’ve even said something like this yourself! Most people hold strong opinions about the natural variation that occurs in language. Standard Language Ideology refers to a belief that there exists a single, distinct “right” way to speak a language. In reality, no one speaks this way - yet, most of us believe in a “correct” way of talking. Unfortunately, people whose speech doesn’t line up with this notion of “standard” language, who often hold other marginalized identities, can be evaluated and treated differently, including in the college classroom.

Take a look at the statements above again. We use the term Proxy Argument (Milroy & Milroy 2012) to point that such statements often function not as innocuous judgments of language, but as proxy for judgements about speakers. This can make them quite dangerous - linguists often note that discrimination via these sorts of linguistic bias is one of the last socially acceptable forms of discrimination, precisely because of its ability to fly under the radar. Thoughts concerning the “articulateness” and “correctness” of others’ speech can produce commonplace and often socially acceptable discrimination. Take a minute to think:

• How might your own background influence the way you speak, and the judgments you might carry about others’ speech? 
• Which demographic groups (e.g. class, race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity) are commonly seen as speaking “correctly”? Which are not? 
• How might linguistic discrimination arise at Reed - in classes and around campus? Which ways of speaking and writing are centered at Reed, and which are marginal? 

To engage the Reed community with these questions, 

The RLDP Provides

Research

Our research team conducts on-going research of student & faculty perceptions of the linguistic climate at Reed. 

In 2019, we surveyed and interviewed incoming freshmen to learn from students 1) how they label their own language variety, 2) whether they experience linguistic discrimination, and 3) what linguistic features are salient to them as objects of evaluation. We found that 41% of respondents self-identified their language variety as “Standard American English”. This preliminary evidence suggests the presence of a Standard Language Ideology (SLI), defined as the belief by individuals that their language exists in a sole legitimate standardized form (Milroy 2001).  At the same time, students report feeling pressure to adhere to this institutional symbolic capital (Bourdieu 1982). For linguistic features, a content analysis (Evan, 2011) reveals that students articulate general observations -- pronunciation, slang, etc - but when guided, frequently mention features linked to youth, such as uptalk, creaky voice, and like.

We currently have a survey in progress in the Reed community, and will share details and findings here once the survey has closed and the results have been analyzed.

Community Engagement

Motivated by research findings, we aim to engage the Reed community about linguistic diversity & discrimination via:

• Since Fall ‘21, the establishment of an open-to-all Linguistic Diversity Ambassador position. Each semester, ambassadors are tasked with developing and implementing a project centering Reed’s linguistic diversity, such as tabling in the quad, publishing an informative zine, or hosting guest lecturers.
• Workshops on classroom linguistic inclusion in partnership with the center for teaching and learning.
• An active presence at incoming student events, activities fair, etc.
• The development and dissemination of informative materials like zines, buttons, bookmarks, and posters.

Get Involved & Contact Us

If you’d like to get involved with the project, consider applying to be a Lead or Volunteer Linguistic Diversity Ambassador. Lead Ambassadors engage with the Reed community to raise awareness of linguistic diversity on campus and to promote linguistic justice, and are assisted by a team of volunteers. These positions are open to all, and we encourage you to apply! Contact lingambassadors@reed.edu for more info. 

• Reed’s Office of Institutional Diversity’s video project about campus language diversity 
• Linguist John Baugh’s TEDx talk on linguistic profiling
• Linguist Carrie Gillon’s TEDx talk on linguistic discrimination and proxy arguments
• Prof. Catherine Savini’s article on linguistic bias in the classroom. 
• Pierre Bordieu’s classic Language and Symbolic Power