Class Spotlights – LING 310 Language and Discrimination

LING 310 is a new course developed by Dr. Jill Hallett and taught for the first time in spring 2023. This course examines how language is used to discriminate and unpacks instances of linguistic discrimination to critique and interrupt discriminatory language practices. A heart-felt thank you to Dr. Hallett's compassionate teaching and to the guest speakers who generously shared their research and practical knowledge with our students.

Here are some of the projects that students worked on in this class and presented at the School of LCSL's 2023 In-Between conference.

  • Devika Tiwari “The role of language in upholding Indian casteism”
  • Elise Hotchkiss “Media representation and reception of language about diabetes”
  • Ivana Lucero “Orientalism, sinophobia, and social media erasure of China's soft power”
  • Marisol Vela “Language discrimination and language loss among heritage Spanish and Cantonese speakers”
  • Megan Herrera “Producing a resource for underrepresented languages in natural language processing”
  • Riley Thompson “Building a schematic for linguistic bias mitigation in YouTube captioning and subtitling”
  • Laaiba Mahmood “Multi-generational language change, loss, and discrimination among the South Asian diaspora in Chicagoland”
  • Tonveer Butt “Linguistic appropriation in popular culture”
  • Johann Tabbilos “Designing a communication calendar to prevent intergenerational language loss”
  • Aneesa Rasheed “A bottom-up approach to assessing language access needs of people with disabilities”
  • Mythreyi Namuduri “Preventing language loss through technology and teaching: Lessons from Ruuli and Rohingya”