Epilogue: The Language Opportunities for the 21st Century

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Sociolinguistics
• Language Studies

Background:

• The Special Issue focuses on 'Language Challenges in the 21st Century'.
• Current social scientific inquiry in language and social psychology is reviewed.
• The epilogue reflects on the state of the field.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore potential 'language opportunities' in the 21st century.
• To advocate for a positive social science perspective in language research.
• To suggest future research directions, including those related to COVID-19.

Main Methods:

• Commentary based on existing scholarship within the Special Issue.
• Inspiration drawn from seven distinct articles on language challenges.
• Synthesis of ideas to propose a new research paradigm.

Main Results:

• Identified a need to reframe 'language challenges' as 'language opportunities'.
• Highlighted the value of a positive social science approach.
• Proposed integrating global and linguistic diversity into this framework.

Conclusions:

• Future scholarship should embrace a positive social science approach.
• Research at the intersection of global and linguistic diversity can uncover assets, not just challenges.
• The COVID-19 pandemic presents new avenues for language and social psychology research.