Introduction to the special issue “Linguistic (In)equity and health: Advancing inclusion in healthcare through sociolinguistic research”

Vollständiger Abstract

Worum geht es in dieser Arbeit?

This introduction to the special issue “Linguistic (In)equities and Health: Advancing Inclusion in Healthcare through Sociolinguistic Research” asks three main questions: (1) What are linguistic inequities in health, and how do they relate to other health inequities? (2) What part might sociolinguistic research on linguistic inequities play in alleviating health inequities? (3) Does sociolinguistic research on health inequities speak a different “language” from public health, and, if so, could our efforts be usefully bridged to contribute to addressing health and linguistic inequities? The editors introduce the main concepts of health (in)equalities, health (in)equities, linguistic (in)equalities, and linguistic (in)equities. They outline some theoretical ideas from public health research, such as intersectionality and the social determinants of health, that inform recent research on language as a social determinant of health. They then introduce the contributions to the special issue, which come from diverse non-Anglo-centric healthcare contexts and draw on different sociolinguistic approaches and empirical data. These contributions suggest some reconceptualisations of linguistic (in)equities in health and point toward potential avenues for cross-disciplinary dialogue between public health and sociolinguistic research to address health (in)equities.