1301: LGBTQ-linguistics: An Overview Jul 3, 2018

In sociolinguistics, there is an entire field called LGBTQ-linguistics which looks into the different ways that people of that community speak dialectically. Originally termed 'lavender lexicons', this fielded is focused on looking at differences between people in the LGBTQ-community's speech, and the social conditions which cause them. For instance, gay men use what is called the 'gay lisp' wherein /s/ and /z/ are produced for longer and at a higher frequency, as well as certain vowels being produced by raising the tongue higher than a straight man would tend to. Notably, lesbians tend to do the opposite, but the difference is less pronounced for women in general. These differences have often been attributed to having social-groups composed mostly of women in the case of gay men and vice-versa for lesbians, but also, like any dialect, it is used for identification, to show one's belonging to a certain group. There is much more to say on this topic, including transgender speech as well as lexicon, politicization, and how these traits change over time, but this is just a brief outline.

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