Language and Health (In)Equity in US Latinx Communities

Abstract

Language is a social determinant of health, no less so in the case of Latinx persons, who make up the second largest ethnic group in the United States. In US health care, language and linguistic difference are often conceived in discrete, instrumental, and monolithic terms. This article characterizes this conception of language as administrative logic, which is in sharp contrast to language conceived as a richly complex, heterogeneous, communally lived human experience. This article emphasizes the importance of system-level language awareness and epistemic humility for promoting equity, as well as the need to avoid too-narrow focus on linguistic assessment.