Raciolinguistics examines how language is used to construct race and how ideas of race influence language and language use. Although sociolinguists and linguistic anthropologists have previously studied the intersections of language, race, and culture, raciolinguistics is a relatively new focus for scholars trying to theorize race throughout language studies. Nelson Flores and Jonathan Rosa first popularized the term in their 2015 discussion of "appropriateness" in American language and education. In 2016, H. Samy Alim, John R. Rickford and Arnetha F. Ball published a book compiling raciolinguistic research. In their work, raciolinguists incorporate intersectionality in theorizing how various identities within a group and/or an individual influence lived experiences of race. Drawing from sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, raciolinguistics focuses on race and its relation to language. A central concern of raciolinguistics is to understand the complex meanings and implications of speech coming from a racialized subject. The field also explores how the relationship between race and language impacts domains like politics and education.
In education
Appropriateness
In their critique of American language education, Nelson Flores and Jonathan Rosa argued that the standardization of "appropriate" language in American schooling creates different experiences for racialized students. "Appropriate" language, defined by the language of the dominant culture, is a construction of raciolinguistic ideologies that uphold certain linguistic practices as normative and others as deficient. These ideologies are defined by the White listening/speaking subject in that "language-minoritized students to mimic the white speaking subject while ignoring the raciolinguistic ideologies that the white listening subject uses to position them as racial Others". In her LangCrit framework, Alison Crump also explored Whiteness within the construction and education of a standard English and how language scholars may further address language, race, and identity in language education. Anthropologist Samy Alim explains in his book that American societyhyperracial or hyperracializing, meaning that when speaking, people are orienting to race while also denying the evidence that shows how society is essentially structured and influenced by it.
Race and language
Languaging race
Languaging race focuses on how race can be constructed or deconstructed "through the lens of language". Through and by language, one can take on, discard, or impose affiliations made with a certain race; such as education level, economic status, etc. For example, standardized language is linked with the idea of whiteness; this can be observed when black public figures such as Barack Obama are labeled as "articulate" because of their ability to speak standard English, while white public figures' use of standard language is not deemed worthy of comment. Similarly, racialized individuals may be expected to speak languages other than English—for example, Latinxs expected to be fluent in Spanish—and judged harshly for not being bilingual. In some cases, people may be labeled as unable to speak any language well at all: "Her English is horrible, and from what I hear, her Spanish isn't that good either." Languaging race also encompasses the theory oftransracialization, made popular in the United States by the case of Rachel Dolezal. However, within raciolinguistics, the emphasis of transracialization is put on how individuals both resist racial categorization and use such categorization in order to achieve racial justice, as in the case of Black Lives Matter.
Racing language
Racing language uses race theory to understand how sociolinguistic variation relates to social and political processes. This includes the development of African-American Vernacular English in the United States, the generational linguistic shifts of Punjabi communities in London, and the significance of pharyngeal versus depharyngealized Hebrew in Israel. Association with a racial group may be related to the use of ethnolects or ethnolinguistic repertoires, influencing the language used among a racial group and/or an individual seeking to identify with the group. This area explores the historic and systematic reasons linguistic features are associated with certain racial groups.
