Abstract:

Linguistic inter-group bias refers to a common phenomenon existing in different group contexts that desirable in-group and undesirable out-group behaviors tend to be described in terms that are more abstract than those used to describe undesirable in-group and desirable out-group behaviors. It could be explained by a need for social identity, the cognitive expectancy and meanwhile affected by external communication situations, internal factors from groups and individuals, and it plays an important role in stereotype perpetuation and social relationships. Future research on linguistic inter-group bias should be focused on exploring more forms of this linguistic bias, research methods and localization issues.

Key words: in-group and out-group, linguistic bias, abstractness of language, stereotype