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Toward Linguistic Justice for Indigenous People: A Response to Charity Hudley, Mallinson, and Bucholtz

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Alice Gaby  and
Lesley Woods
Alice Gaby*
Affiliation:
Monash University
Lesley Woods*
Affiliation:
Australian National University
*
Gaby, School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia, [Alice.Gaby@monash.edu]
[Lesley.Woods@anu.edu.au]
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Abstract

Charity Hudley, Mallinson, and Bucholtz's (2020) target article details the urgent need for linguistics as a field to develop its theoretical, analytical, and political engagement with issues of race and racism. We agree with Charity Hudley et al.'s assertion that the ‘hegemonic whiteness’ of linguistics as a field ‘has been profoundly damaging both for linguistic scholarship and for linguistics as a profession’ (p. e211). In this response, we wish to expand upon this point specifically in regard to how linguists and linguistics relate to Indigenous peoples and their languages. We outline key respects in which academic linguistics has, or might be seen to have, perpetuated harm against Indigenous peoples. We also outline strategies for mitigating harm and supporting the language work done by members of Indigenous communities.

Keywords

language documentationlanguage revitalizationIndigenous languagesfieldworkcolonizationmetalanguageintellectual property

Information

Type
Perspectives
Information
Language , Volume 96 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. e268 - e280
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Linguistic Society of America

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Footnotes

*

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the many people with whom we have discussed the ideas in this response, and whose insights have informed the account put forward here. In particular: Jeanie Bell, Vicki Couzens, Sharon Edgar-Jones, K. Travers Eira, Margaret Florey, Ebony Joachim, Felicity Meakins, and Jakelin Troy. We would especially like to acknowledge both the direct and indirect contribution of Indigenous linguist Jeanie Bell, who has been a champion for Indigenous people's rights in the field of linguistics for many decades.

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