The Origins of Queer Speech
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Présentatrice(s) ou présentateur(s)
- Maya Keshav, Étudiante au baccalauréat, Université McGill
Systematic differences have been observed between the speech of some
straight people and some queer people, including phonetic, prosodic, and
lexical differences. However, the origins of these differences are unclear.
Researchers usually assume either the biological view, in which biological
sexual orientation causes distinct speech, or the social view, in which
individuals use distinct speech to display their orientation. Either
assumption has enormous consequences for methodology and relevance
of findings. However, little research has tackled the problem directly.I review previous definitions of the queer speech community,
examinations of the contexts in which queer speech is used, and
explanations of how queer speech is acquired. I then propose a study to
determine if the biological or social view is more accurate. It is necessary to
study those who are included in the biological definition of the community,
but excluded from the social definition: those who are queer, but deny or
hide it. If they show queer speech, then the biological view is more
accurate; if not, then the social one is. Other results may lead to an
interaction of biological and social factors.Practicality makes directly recruiting these individuals impossible.
However, since many will eventually accept and display their orientations, a
longitudinal study could compare their speech before and after coming out.
A survey of the phonetics and prosody of a large number of teenagers, for
example, could be followed by a survey of the same people ten years later.
The findings would be critical for future queer linguistics research, as well
as all sociolinguistics concerned with the intersection of identities and the
difficulties of defining a speech community. -
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