Whose hearing matters? Context and regimes of perception in sociolinguistics

Abstract

This piece argues for the importance of centering regimes of perception and the dynamics of power in sociolinguistics, drawing upon cases where Chinese and Korean terms have been heard and enregistered as English slurs. It notes how different interlocutors mobilize phenomena at various scales in invocations of context. It calls for greater attention to the range of subject positions that are produced by speakers, perceivers, and institutions and a reconsideration of the moral certainty of our analyses. It challenges us to rethink the ontological status of the linguistic sign as a self-presenting entity and to develop frameworks of analysis that can look across scales.