Possibly the most basic and fundamental aspect of communication in society is language. In a culture of people adapted to their environment, common languages often unite all within the community (Husain, 2023)i. Yet, in North American society which houses a plethora of diverse languages and accents, there are incredibly rigid standards that dictate what kind of language is proper or improper (Lippi-Green, 2011)ii. North American countries largely speak English (a result of colonialism), but the treatment of bilingual individuals and non-English speakers demonstrates a subtle modern and covert form of ethnocentrism which is inseparably tied to race. For example, in Jane Hill’s “Language, Race, and White Public Space”, Puerto Rican bilingual speakers reportedly take great pains to balance their use of language between clear inner and outer circles. Only in their inner circles are they permitted to seamlessly cross over Spanish and English, whereas the outer circles comprising professional settings require strict distinctions between English and Spanish or else their language is considered “disorderly”. (Hill, 1998)iii In comparison, White people do not have any responsibility to acclimate to the Puerto Rican culture nor earnestly try to speak Spanish and may even mock the language itself. This double standard creates a clear contrast between the two social realities for each race; not only are the Puerto Ricans forced to strictly separate their use of language to accommodate Whites, but the outer circle being the professional area where White people and white language dominate implies that Whiteness, only Whiteness, is synonymous with professionalism. Jane Hill calls this, “white public space”, which is rooted in the ethnocentric idea that whiteness is the normal standard to strive for, while the racialized nonwhites are lesser. Even in other parts of North America, “Sounding White” nets more job opportunities, housing options, and better-quality education. (Martin, 2018)iv The discrimination of dialects may not be as overtly racist as a hate crime or slur but policing the language of non- white races and forcing upon them the burden of language accommodation (SHULIST, 2019)v are easily overlooked forms of ethnocentrism today. i Husain, Mustahid. 2023. Culture, Change and Globalization. University of Toronto, Mississauga, May 8th, 2023. ii Lippi-Green, Rosina. 2011. English with an Accent : Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States. Florence: Taylor & Francis Group. Accessed June 20, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central. iii Hill, Jane H. “Language, Race, and White Public Space.” American Anthropologist 100, no. 3 (1998): 680–89. http://www.jstor.org/stable/682046. iv Martin, Katie. “How ‘Sounding White’ Helps Get You Ahead—on Film and in Real Life.” Slate Magazine, July 20, 2018. https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/07/linguistic-prejudice-in-sorry-tobother-you-is-a-real-world-problem.html. v Shulist. “Language, Accommodation, and the View from Whiteness.” Anthropology As...., February 4, 2019. https://anthropologyas.wordpress.com/2019/02/04/language-accommodation-and-the-viewfrom-whiteness/.
