Description:

Linguistics Colloquium Series: Sharese King 

Affiliation: University of Chicago

Topic: Linguistic Prejudice on Trial: Examining the Othering of Black Speech in the Courtroom

Abstract: The literature has established that for speakers whose voices are racialized as Black, such identification can invoke linguistic prejudice and discrimination, having harmful consequences for African American Vernacular English (AAVE) speakers. Such consequences for speakers of stigmatized varieties include housing discrimination, being passed up for promotions, making less money than their Mainstream American English-speaking peers, having a less accessible and culturally-sensitive education, and impaired doctor-patient. In legal contexts, speakers of stigmatized varieties are more likely to find their speech mistranscribed, misunderstood, or viewed as less credible. This talk explores the relationship between the stigmatized dialect, AAVE, and criminality, discussing both a perceptual experiment of an alibi by an African American speaker, as well as a case study of a trial where the African American defendant was convicted of capital murder in California. The results from the first study reveal that Black speech, whether characterized as AAVE or African American Standard English, is stigmatized in different ways. Results from the case study reveal that lawyer-directed speech toward African Americans in the courtroom participates in the discursive construction of othering and/or criminalizing African American witnesses and defendants. I revisit Rickford & King’s (2016) proposed calls to action with updated suggestions on how linguists can intervene in the criminalization of stigmatized varieties.