Associate Professor Savithry Namboodiripad recently published an article in Cognition, titled “Finding our ROLE: How and why to reframe essentialist approaches to language”. The paper was co-authored with a number of collaborators, including Kelly Wright (U-M PhD, 2022), Kevin McGowan (U-M PhD, 2011), Anna Babel (U-M PhD, 2010), Lauretta Cheng (U-M PhD, 2024), Kelly Kendro (U-M BA, 2019), and Addie Block (U-M Anthropology Graduate Student).
Abstract: Essentialist categorizations of language users, such as native speaker, are widely used but lack empirical validity and reinforce social inequities. This article focuses on the nativeness construct, critically examining how its centrality in social-scientific research distorts scholarly inquiry, introduces bias in educational and clinical assessments, and perpetuates exclusion in academia. We argue that such labels impose artificial homogeneity, devalue linguistic diversity, and contribute to systemic biases in society. By reifying social divisions, essentialist categorizations can exclude marginalized groups, perpetuate linguistic discrimination, and hinder scientific progress. We advocate for a shift away from essentialist proxies and toward more contextually grounded and empirically driven characterizations of language use. A reflexive and interdisciplinary approach is necessary to dismantle these harmful frameworks and promote more accurate, inclusive, and equitable research. Our argument is relevant not just to the cognitive sciences, but to any scholarship which involves describing or understanding language. Ultimately, rejecting essentialist assumptions will lead to more nuanced understandings of language, identity, and social belonging, fostering both scientific and societal transformation by promoting justice and accuracy across social-scientific disciplines.
