The paper is an overview of recent work in linguistic anthropology which unveils both overt and covert forms of linguistic discrimination through the construction of iconic relationships between language and race, ethnicity, culture or other dimensions of social identities. It interrogates the layered ways in which prejudice and/or discrimination are conveyed and accomplished through communication at the levels of interaction and representations, not only through popular notions about languages, but also through arbitrary judgements on speakers of certain languages based solely on their mode of speaking. When linguistic features are identified as one and the same with ethnicity, social action, behavior, or any other socially evaluated quality, they are associated with stereotyped beliefs about others and indications of insensitivity to cultural difference. These frequently overlooked or tolerated forms of discrimination are discussed within the context of newly developing field of linguistic rights.

Etnologija i antropologija