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Article published In:
Nonbinary pronouns as a site of advocacy in research and teaching
Edited by Lex Konnelly, Bronwyn M. Bjorkman and Lee Airton
[Journal of Language and Sexuality 11:2] 2022
► pp. 251–263

Pronouns and social justice in the linguistics classroom

| McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

My introductory Linguistics course was for many years shaped by the field’s distaste for social justice issues such as cisheterosexism, racism, colonialism and ableism. Like many other linguists, I concentrated my teaching on the core formal subfields. This essay considers how the colonial roots of Linguistics have shaped the field and my teaching, and reflects on my efforts to integrate social justice concerns into my teaching, using the changing grammar of non-binary pronouns as one entry point.

Keywords: non-binary pronouns, singular they, social justice, introductory linguistics, pedagogy
Article outline
  • 1.Gatekeeping in linguistics
  • 2.Opening the gates
  • 3.Teaching social justice in introductory linguistics
    • 3.1Language change as an entry point to non-binary pronouns
    • 3.2Linguistics and social justice beyond pronouns
  • 4.Teaching language science by being human
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 August 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.20024.and
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