Linguistic white privilege

Abstract

This paper describes how ideologies about Spanish shape the linguistic performance of Latinxs in post-Katrina New Orleans, demonstrating that these linguistic choices are shaped by linguistic white privilege. Locally relevant iterations of discourses related to the Latinx Threat Narrative (LTN) (Chavez 2013) embody raciolinguistic ideologies in order to construct public space as white space (Hill 1998), where the linguistic performance of whites is perceived as invisible, natural and standard, while the linguistic performance of Latinx speakers is perceived as disorderly, dangerous and non-standard, and subject to monitoring, policing and stigmatisation. Thus, access to positive linguistic identities is restricted to Anglo speakers. The analysis presented here underscores the role of sociopolitical context in shaping linguistic performance and highlights the need for sociolinguistic analyses focused on understanding not just linguistic performance but also the sociopolitical realities which shape this performance. The argument is developed based on close readings of transcriptions of sociolinguistic interviews (n = 33) conducted with Latinx participants in New Orleans in 2017 and 2018. Interviews were transcribed and coded for evidence of LTN discourses, as well as how clues to how these discourses are implicated in the articulation of public space in New Orleans. The analysis emphasises the need for sociolinguistic research focused on understanding the social context of the language use of minoritised populations, particularly in terms of the linguistic ideologies shaping language perception. This article contributes to the study of language and discrimination by identifying specific raciolinguistic ideologies and by illustrating how these ideologies are articulated in terms of threat discourses that function to articulate public space.