580 California St., Suite 400
San Francisco, CA, 94104
Key research themes
1. How does language use maintain and perpetuate social-category stereotypes?
This research area investigates the linguistic mechanisms through which stereotypes become socially shared and maintained within cultural groups. Language serves as a vehicle for the consensualization of stereotypic beliefs by embedding biases in labels and descriptions, thereby continuously shaping and reinforcing social-category cognition.
Key finding: This work introduces the Social Categories and Stereotypes Communication (SCSC) framework, identifying two groups of linguistic biases—those in labeling and those in behavior descriptions—that together sustain stereotypes by... Read more
Key finding: This article expands on the SCSC framework by integrating diverse areas of stereotype research and linguistic bias, highlighting how multiple biases co-occur in natural language. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of... Read more
Key finding: This empirical replication validates the Negation Bias—greater use of negations when describing stereotype-inconsistent behaviors—across five languages, showing that negation functions as a universal linguistic mechanism that... Read more
2. In what ways do language and speech patterns trigger or reflect social stereotypes about gender, ethnicity, and sexuality?
This theme focuses on the qualitative and perceptive aspects of linguistic stereotyping, examining how accent, intonation, conversational style, and voice features influence listeners’ stereotypes about speakers’ gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. It covers both how language leads to stereotyping (linguistic stereotyping) and how stereotypic expectations distort language perception (reversed linguistic stereotyping).
Key finding: Through matched-guise methodologies, this study reveals that speakers' accent (native vs. non-native) and perceived gender significantly affect listeners’ performance judgments, demonstrating reversed linguistic stereotyping... Read more
Key finding: Employing digitally manipulated matched-guise data, this study finds that identical conversational behavior is interpreted differently depending on the perceived gendered voice—with male guises attributed more floor... Read more
Key finding: This research identifies non-standard /s/ articulation and sentence-final pitch rise as linguistic features indexing gay masculinity in Finnish, showing these features bear multiple social meanings associated with regional... Read more
Key finding: Through survey and experimental accent ratings, this study demonstrates that Mandarin-speaking advanced English learners exhibit harsher accent evaluations for fellow L2 speakers than for Standard American English. Despite... Read more
3. What is the impact of linguistic and media stereotyping on social perceptions and educational outcomes?
This research domain explores how language-related stereotypes propagate through educational contexts and mass media, influencing social attitudes, educational disparities, and cultural representations. It examines stereotype threats in language learning, media portrayals of marginalized groups, and the role of language awareness in mitigating prejudices.
Key finding: Using an experimental design with language minority elementary students, this study finds stereotype threat did not impair vocabulary learning, challenging assumptions about its direct impact in learning contexts. It nuances... Read more
Key finding: By content-analyzing a multilingual film, this article documents systematic deployment of cultural, gender, religious, and political stereotypes to sustain unequal power relations and potentiate social injustice. It... Read more
Key finding: This article advocates for integrating language awareness into American education to address linguistic prejudices. It posits that understanding the sociopolitical capital of language and teaching language diversity... Read more
Key finding: Surveying English teachers in Solo, Indonesia, this study identifies prevalent dialect prejudice against local English dialects in EFL classrooms. Teachers’ negative attitudes toward non-standard accents reflect... Read more