30.1840, Rising Stars: Meet Tyler Kibbey!

Wed May 1 02:27:59 UTC 2019

LINGUIST List: Vol-30-1840. Tue Apr 30 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.1840, Rising Stars: Meet Tyler Kibbey!

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Editor for this issue: Everett Green <everett at linguistlist.org>
================================================================

Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2019 22:27:20
From: LINGUIST List [linguist at linguistlist.org]
Subject: Rising Stars: Meet Tyler Kibbey!

Dear Readers,

This year we will be continuing our Rising Stars Series where we feature up
and coming linguists ranging from impactful undergraduates to prolific PhD
candidates. These rising stars have been nominated by their mentors for their
exceptional interest in linguistics and eager participation in the global
community of language researchers.

Selected nominees were asked to share their view of the field of linguistics:
what topics they see emerging as important or especially interesting, what
role they see the field filling in the coming decades, and how they plan to
contribute. We hope you will enjoy the perspectives of these students, who
represent the bright future of our field.

For today's post we come to you with a great contribution from Tyler Kibbey.
He is an MA student in the Department of Linguistics at the University of
Kentucky, a co-convener of the LSA Special Interest Group on LGBTQ+ Issues in
Linguistics, and an affiliate of the upcoming Linguistics Institute at the
University of California, Davis. His work applies Conceptual Metaphor Theory
to religious language and ideology with the aim of mitigating anti-LGBTQ+
religious violence. His recent work has also explored the moral
responsibilities of linguists beyond the descriptivist framework. According to
his mentors, he has gone far above and beyond the requirements of the normal
MA student. He has presented research on metaphors in very conservative
religious language, on language ideologies within the discipline, and on the
use of religious discourse in political contexts among other issues. Keep up
the great work, Tyler! Now lets move on to his piece...

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In this historical moment, one of the most important areas of linguistics is
the study of extremist language as it structures and creates systems of
violence which affect marginalized groups the world over. New perspectives on
the role of linguists as moral agents in society, rather than being simply
indifferent observers, is breaking new ground in how the discipline should
approach issues of violence wherein such acts are related to language.
Specifically in the case of the many manifestos and articles of extremist
propaganda that have found wider circulation in the modern age of
communication, the role of linguists in attempting to understand and mitigate
these acts of linguistic violence is paramount to the responsibility of
language experts in contemporary research. Whereas humanity has a terrifying
capacity, if not proclivity, for violence, the next wave of modern linguistics
must seek to account for how language can be used to promote intolerance in
our communities and to develop evidence-based programs for the pursuit of
peace on all fronts.

In the coming decades, one area where linguistics will once again be required
to apply itself is the domain of religion. Though the subdiscipline of
theolinguistics has long since fallen apart, current research in cognitive
linguistics and the scientific study of religion is continuing to unveil the
ways in which language facilitates religious experience, ideology, and all too
often violence. One current line of thought, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, is
well situated for undertaking these tasks. The semantic representations of
religious objects of faith, such as supernatural agents or deities, are often
conceptualized as beyond the limits of human understanding, and thus, neither
true nor false. Within various theological traditions, this has often caused
doctrinal shifts between viewing religious language as either highly
metaphorical or fundamentally literal, which has further caused problems for
linguists seeking to place religious language within a bivalent framework of
truth. This has also allowed individuals of faith to arrive at their own
determinations of the meaning of religious language and conceptual frameworks.
Admittedly, this is not immediately concerning at face-value. However, when
the dramatic flourishes of religious rhetoric encompass the semantic domains
of war, morality, or sovereignty, language can galvanize an individual's
perception of the world and allow them to justify tremendous acts of violence
in the name of faith. Language is fundamental to this process, and it is
through linguistics that religious violence can be successfully understood and
hopefully mitigated.

This is ultimately the line of research that my own work assumes in attempting
to understand religious violence, principally, and anti-LGBTQ+ violence,
generally. Over the last five years, I have conducted critical metaphor
analysis on white supremacist manifestos,  Westboro Baptist Church sermons,
ISIS propaganda, and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the hopes of understanding how
language facilitates these systems of violence, as well as their linguistic
positioning within universal cognitive processes. As an organizer, I have also
worked to promote LGBTQ+ equality within the discipline, founding the
Linguistic Society of America's Special Interest Group on LGBTQ+ Issues in
Linguistics in 2017 and organizing LGBTQ+ Linguistics events at various
conferences and institutions. In line with my research and organizational
work, I sincerely believe that linguistics has the potential to effect real
change in contemporary society and that together we can pursue peace through
the study of language.

******************************************************************

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