Politically correct words and expressions denoting racial and ethnic minorities in modern English

Gerasimenko Darya

The present article is devoted to the issue of politically correct terminology concerning racial and ethnic minorities in the English language. The study aims to investigate the influence of political correctness on the English language and the resulting changes. The article examines traditional lexemes denoting the above-mentioned social groups from the political correctness perspective. It also provides examples of new linguistic units designed to replace the traditional ones. The article demonstrates that modern English is highly perceptive to social and cultural changes in a given society and tends to incorporate the relevant changes.

Keywords:political correctness, racial and ethnic minorities, discrimination, stereotype, lexeme, linguistic unit