Who we are
UM Language Matters was spear-headed by a collection of graduate students and faculty at University of Michigan who realized our campus could benefit from a group like this. We aim to provide resources and support to help the university community navigate issues of linguistic diversity and discrimination – both inside and outside of the classroom.
We are an interdisciplinary initiative with steering committee members from several departments, including undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff. Our membership and events are meant for every level of university life, from undergraduates to deans.
Our mission statement
Language Matters is an interdisciplinary initiative at the University of Michigan to increase recognition of the role of language diversity in creating inclusive classrooms and an inclusive campus climate more generally.
We aim to build knowledge on campus about language variation and change, providing new understandings of our everyday experience of language and of each other as speakers, writers, and signers. Through the creation of outreach programs and online resources, Language Matters is geared toward creating an empathetic and inclusive atmosphere between students, staff, faculty, and surrounding communities.
The purpose of this initiative is to promote a recognition that “grammaticality and and communicative effectiveness are distinct and independent issues” (Lippi-Green 2011) and that all speakers utilize valid — if varied — systems of communication. We seek to encourage a celebration of linguistic diversity in all of its forms, and to discourage widespread practices of linguistic discrimination that engender disparities at the personal and group level across institutions of higher education.
