Language and Identity

The nature of interaction between language and identity is a central topic in today’s academic discourse in numerous fields, including linguistics, psychology, education, media, and political science. The complexity and urgency of the topic has resulted in a number of approaches and methodologies aimed at the detection and investigation of features of identity, ranging from approaches informed by sociolinguistics and anthropology to those rooted in developmental and social psychology. Today, while simultaneously exploring the particularities of mechanisms of identity expression in and through language, linguistics identity research also informs approaches to multicultural education, language policy, and language in the workplace.

In this project, we focus on building common ground between various approaches to identity and language, forming a cross-disciplinary view on such fundamental issues as levels of identity (personal, relational, or collective), identity stability and fluidity, the broader nature of identity (discovered or constructed), and identity and language in the context of digitization and globalization.