46th Natural Hazards Annual Workshop: Research and Practice Highlights 1 Studying Psycholinguistics in Emergency Communication Focusing on Language-Based Discrimination Against Linguistic Minorities Amer Hamad Issa Abukhalaf, University of Florida Jason von Meding, University of Florida Date: 07/2021 https://hazards.colorado.edu/workshop/2021/abstract/research-highlight#studying- psycholinguistics-in-emergency-communication-focusing-on-language-based-discrimination- against-linguistic-minorities Research concerning the behavior of linguistic minorities during disasters is very limited. Many linguistic minorities suffer from discrimination based on language during disasters as their stories are not being told, and their voices are not being heard. We have focused the past two years on giving linguistic minorities a fair representation in disaster studies. We have been studying emergency communication and language-based discrimination that linguistic minorities face in times of disasters, taking into consideration the unique social infrastructure and linguistic landscape that these minorities have. Our research aims to develop new knowledge about disaster-related behaviors of linguistic minorities to enhance overall emergency planning. Moreover, we have introduced the study of psycholinguistics into emergency communication for the first time in disaster studies to explore the psychological impact of languages used in local emergency communication on linguistic minorities. Specific research and application of psycholinguistics in emergency communication almost do not exist, where it is often purely analyzed under language barriers. The main objective for our research was to develop new knowledge about psycholinguistics in emergency communication by highlighting some of the communication gaps that are usually overlooked in emergency planning in order to improve the overall emergency communication systems by reconsidering the way we look at language as an important psychosocial factor that impacts vulnerable communities. We currently have ongoing research aiming to capture the struggle on linguistic minorities and short-term migrants in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. References Abukhalaf, A. H. I., & von Meding, J. (2020). Communication challenges in campus emergency planning: The case of hurricane dorian in florida. Natural Hazards (Dordrecht), 104(2), 1535. doi:10.1007/s11069-020-04231-1