Constant scrutiny, vigilance, and self-talk: The burdens of linguistic racism for international students at a predominantly white institution

Abstract

This article examines how linguistic racism shapes the emotional and institutional experiences of international students at a predominantly white university in the United States. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 24 students from Asia, Latin America, and Europe, the study reveals how accent policing, patronizing speech, and exclusionary listening practices reinforce whiteness as the unmarked norm of linguistic legitimacy. These encounters compel students to engage in racialized emotional labor—continuous self-monitoring, self-talk, and affective regulation to navigate racialized academic spaces. While students develop coping strategies such as selective disclosure, reframing, and community building, these efforts often intensify exhaustion and isolation. Integrating raciolinguistic and affective frameworks, this article conceptualizes linguistic racism as both a structural inequity and an affective regime that governs whose voices are recognized and whose emotions are silenced. The findings underscore the emotional costs of linguistic inequity and call for institutional reforms that confront white supremacy embedded in language norms and academic culture.

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