Whiteness and Language

Abstract

Whiteness, like all racial categories, is a mythic and cunning construct with little biological credibility but tremendous social power. Historically, White social dominance has been propped up not only by violence, political control, and socioeconomic configurations, but also by language ideology and linguistic practice. This entry explores several ways in which White advantages and subject positions have been constructed through language. It looks at the racial politics of colonial‐era language policies and attitudes, and the racial hierarchy implicit in the contemporary valorization of “standard” language, particularly in the United States. It examines whiteness as a verbal performance and a matter of style, and how White borrowings from non‐standard linguistic varieties have often functioned to affirm White racism. It describes how some non‐white communities have mocked White language (and, by extension, the negative qualities they associate with whiteness). And it examines some of the linguistic strategies, from code choice to subtle discursive maneuvers, pursued by self‐conscious Whites at pains to avoid accusations of racism.

Covert Linguistic Racisms and the (Re‐)Production of White Supremacy

“…Lacking the explicitness of professional theories of race by social scientists, folk theories of racism are largely implicit understandings that uncritically reproduce racial categories and hierarchies. Researchers who have studied language as embedded in whiteness and white supremacy (e.g., McIntosh 2021; Spears 2020) have emphasized the importance of understanding its foundation in a position of privilege within political–economic structures, forms of social stratification, and the hegemonic culture of civil society. Nevertheless, it is important to note that language ideologies of white culture detract attention from the role of political–economic factors and direct attention to the micro‐culture of the individual.…”