The intersection of race and language has emerged as a central concern in contemporary sociolinguistics, challenging longstanding assumptions about the autonomy of linguistic analysis from social structures of power and inequality. This article presents a critical theoretical review of raciolinguistics as a framework for understanding the co-constitution of race and language in US sociolinguistic contexts. Drawing on foundational works by Alim, Smitherman, Flores, Rosa, and others, I examine how raciolinguistic perspectives disrupt traditional sociolinguistic approaches that treat race as a demographic variable rather than a dynamic social process enacted through language. The review identifies three key theoretical contributions: (1) the reconceptualization of language practices as racializing projects that construct and maintain racial hierarchies; (2) the critique of "appropriateness" ideologies that position white linguistic norms as neutral standards while rendering racialized speech as deficient; and (3) the insistence on historical and colonial frameworks for understanding contemporary linguistic inequality. I argue that raciolinguistics represents not merely a subfield of sociolinguistics but a fundamental reorientation that demands attention to the material and ideological mechanisms through which race and language become mutually constitutive. The article concludes by considering future directions for research that might extend raciolinguistic inquiry beyond educational contexts to examine labor, healthcare, and other institutional domains where racialized language ideologies operate. This theoretical inquiry contributes to ongoing debates about the scope and significance of raciolinguistic perspectives for sociolinguistic theory and practice.
The Inseparability of Race and Language: A Critical Review of Raciolinguistics in US Sociolinguistics
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References
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