Translation as discrimination: Sociolinguistics and inequality in multilingual institutional contexts

Abstract Sociolinguistic approaches to social justice tend treat the use of interpreters or translators as a remedy linguistic inequality in multilingual institutional settings. This article challenges this assumption by showing how translation can instead contribute and discrimination. Drawing on studies face-to-face interpreting judicial contexts written landscapes, it explores inequalities found habitual practices professional machine translation. It shows language ideologies about multilingualism motivate that systematically restrict participation speakers subordinated languages, stereotype them deviant when addressed solely prohibitions warnings, practice I call ‘punitive multilingualism’. The thus argues sociolinguistic should pay closer attention within wider context contact relation phenomena such translanguaging, mock shift. (Translation, interpreting, justice, landscape, discrimination)*