Politically Correct Language Cross-Cultural Communications WTUC

Embedded in the English language are terms that originate from, help build and perpetuate all sorts of historical power structures and relationships. http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/elt/i_polit.htm

When a white person is ill, they look green, when angry red, when cold blue, when tired grey and when rich tanned. So why was it in the 70s and 80s in Britain that black people were so often called ‘coloured’? http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/elt/i_polit.htm

Surely whites are more worthy of the term, in its most colourful sense. And why ‘black’? Why ‘white’? There is no such thing as ‘black’. What some British call black, other nationalities would call white. http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/elt/i_polit.htm

A black American might call themselves Afro-American and a black Briton might call themselves Afro-Saxon, but some ‘black Americans’ would not want to be differentiated from other ‘Americans’. When someone’s nationality is described, you should not automatically have the privilege of knowing their ‘colour’, just as we should not automatically expect to know if a woman is married or not. http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/elt/i_polit.htm

the principles behind political correctness are those that many countries claim to aspire to. We say that we want a language and political discourse that does not exclude people and is not loaded against certain groups.

Terms of subtle prejudice need to be replaced by more democratic terms, terms that actually empower people.

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2008/12/03/110144/political-correctness-and-its-effect-on-practice.html

"We should be reflective and sensitive without becoming absolutely obsessive and closing down conversation,"

"Talk with someone and figure out what terms they are comfortable with "That's fine on a one-to-one basis, but if you're talking about a policy or a leaflet that's delivered in the community, obviously then you have to be more mindful. There's a difference between people's definition of words, focus on where words come from

SHIFT IN POWER

The relationship between language and thought is not unidirectional, but two-way, social reality both shaping and being shaped by its language. Killspeak, http://killspeak.lucasrizoli.com/2008/07/21/political-power-and-language-change/#fn-71-4

How could “nigger” (“nigga”) and “queer,” both potent derogative words, have changed over the past few decades into friendly terms of address or exclamations of pride? Killspeak, http://killspeak.lucasrizoli.com/2008/07/21/political-power-and-language-change/#fn-71-4

“Sociolinguistic conventions have a dual relation to power: on the one hand they incorporate differences of power, on the other hand they arise out of—and give rise to—particular relations of power” Fairclough, N. (2001). Language and Power (2nd ed.). Toronto: Longman. p. 1↩

The examples of “nigger,” “queer,” and “sexist”5, are doubly important: they are shifts in language use introduced by minorities, groups deprived of much political influence, often working against established powers.

Constraining language does not necessarily constrain thought

Read ‘Should this student have been expelled?, p 392