1887
Volume 11, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2211-3770
  • E-ISSN: 2211-3789
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This paper explores how ten nonbinary North American YouTubers appeal to (van Leeuwen & Wodak 1999) as rationalizations for their choices regarding identity labels and pronouns. Given the local cultural salience of the implications of their language choices, the YouTubers rationalize their terminological choices through legitimizing discourses that prioritize , and . I examine how these discourses presuppose particular , or implicit assumptions about what language users view as “appropriate” language practices. In the case of the nonbinary YouTubers, I illustrate that the vloggers’ legitimizing discourses appeal to and juxtapose a referentialist ideology (Hill 2008Silverstein 1979), according to which words should describe the world truthfully, and an ideology of self-identification (Zimman 2019), which prioritizes individual agency. Crucially, deploying these legitimizing discourses is an important strategy that nonbinary YouTubers draw on as part of their advocacy and education projects.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/jls.20021.cro
2022-08-04
2024-10-08
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Baron, Dennis
    2020What’s Your Pronoun? Beyond He and She. New York: Liveright.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bell, Allan
    1984 Language style as audience design. Language in Society13(2): 145–204. 10.1017/S004740450001037X
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S004740450001037X [Google Scholar]
  3. Borba, Rodrigo
    2019 The interactional making of a “true transsexual”: Language and (dis)identification in trans-specific healthcare. International Journal of the Sociology of Language256: 21–55. 10.1515/ijsl‑2018‑2011
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2018-2011 [Google Scholar]
  4. Bourdieu, Pierre
    1991 [1982]Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Bucholtz, Mary & Hall, Kira
    2005 Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies7(4–5): 585–614. 10.1177/1461445605054407
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605054407 [Google Scholar]
  6. Chun, Elaine W.
    2016 The meaning of Ching-Chong: Language, racism, and response in new media. InRaciolinguistics: How Language Shapes Our Ideas about Race, H. Samy Alim, John R. Rickford & Arnetha F. Ball (eds), 81–96. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190625696.003.0005
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190625696.003.0005 [Google Scholar]
  7. Chun, Elaine & Walters, Keith
    2011 Orienting to Arab orientalisms: Language, race, and humor in a YouTube video. InCrispin Thurlow & Kristine Mroczek (eds), Digital Discourse: Language in the New Media, 251–273. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199795437.003.0012
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199795437.003.0012 [Google Scholar]
  8. Crowley, Archie & Chun, Elaine
    2021 Online research and new media. InResearch Methods in Linguistic Anthropology, Sabina M. Perrino & Sonya E. Pritzker (eds), 297–329. London: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Dame, Avery
    2013 “I’m your hero? Like me?”: The role of ‘expert’ in the trans male vlog. Journal of Language and Sexuality2(1): 40–69. 10.1075/jls.2.1.02dam
    https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.2.1.02dam [Google Scholar]
  10. Ehrlich, Susan & King, Ruth
    1992 Gender-based language reform and the social construction of meaning. Discourse & Society3(2): 151–166. 10.1177/0957926592003002002
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926592003002002 [Google Scholar]
  11. 1994 Feminist meanings and the (de)politicization of the lexicon. Language in Society23(1): 59–76. 10.1017/S004740450001767X
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S004740450001767X [Google Scholar]
  12. Garrison, Spencer
    2018 On the limits of “trans enough”: Authenticating trans identity narratives. Gender & Society32(5): 613–637. 10.1177/0891243218780299
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243218780299 [Google Scholar]
  13. Hill, Jane H.
    1998 Language, race, and white public space. American Anthropologist100(3): 680–689. 10.1525/aa.1998.100.3.680
    https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1998.100.3.680 [Google Scholar]
  14. 2008The Everyday Language of White Racism. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. 10.1002/9781444304732
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444304732 [Google Scholar]
  15. Irvine, Judith
    1989 When talk isn’t cheap: Language and political economy. American Ethnologist16(2): 248–267. 10.1525/ae.1989.16.2.02a00040
    https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1989.16.2.02a00040 [Google Scholar]
  16. Jaffe, Alexandra
    2008 Discourses of endangerment: Contexts and consequences of essentializing discourses. InDiscourses of Endangerment: Ideology and Interest in the Defence of Languages, Alexandre Duchêne & Monica Heller (eds), 57–75. London: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Johnson, Austin H.
    2015 Normative accountability: How the medical model influences transgender identities and experiences. Sociology Compass9(9): 803–813. 10.1111/soc4.12297
    https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12297 [Google Scholar]
  18. Jones, Lucy
    2019 Discourses of transnormativity in vloggers’ identity construction. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2019(256): 85–101. 10.1515/ijsl‑2018‑2013
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2018-2013 [Google Scholar]
  19. Keane, Webb
    2018 On semiotic ideology. Signs and Society6(1): 64–87. 10.1086/695387
    https://doi.org/10.1086/695387 [Google Scholar]
  20. Konnelly, Lex
    2018 “I’m just making an update video”: Monologic inter-subjectivity and the stylistic use of creaky voice in non-binary transition vlogs. (Paper presented at the25th Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference, Providence RI)
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Kroskrity, Paul
    2004 Language ideologies. InA Companion to Linguistic Anthropology, Alessandro Duranti (ed), 496–517. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Labov, William
    1972Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Lovelock, Michael
    2019 ‘My coming out story’: Lesbian, gay and bisexual youth identities on YouTube. International Journal of Cultural Studies22(1): 70–85. 10.1177/1367877917720237
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877917720237 [Google Scholar]
  24. Mallinson, Christine
    2017 Language and its everyday revolutionary potential. InThe Oxford Handbook of U.S. Women’s Social Movement Activism (Vol.1), Holly J. McCammon, Verta Taylor, Jo Reger & Rachel L. Einwohner (eds), 419–439. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190204204.013.38
    https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190204204.013.38 [Google Scholar]
  25. McConnell-Ginet, Sally
    2003 What’s in a name? Social labeling and gender practices. InThe Handbook of Language and Gender, Miriam Meyerhoff & Janet Holmes (eds), 69–97. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 10.1002/9780470756942.ch3
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756942.ch3 [Google Scholar]
  26. McLemore, Kevin A.
    2015 Experiences with misgendering: Identity misclassification of transgender spectrum individuals. Self and Identity14(1): 51–74. 10.1080/15298868.2014.950691
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2014.950691 [Google Scholar]
  27. Miller, Jordan Forrest
    2017“I Wanna Know Where the Rule Book Is”: YouTube as a Site of Counternarratives to Transnormativity. Atlanta, GA: Georgia State University.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Milroy, James
    2001 Language ideologies and the consequences of standardization. Journal of Sociolinguistics5(4): 530–555. 10.1111/1467‑9481.00163
    https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00163 [Google Scholar]
  29. Milroy, James & Milroy, Lesley
    1999Authority in Language: Investigating Standard English. London: Psychology Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Nicolazzo, Z.
    2016 ‘It’s a hard line to walk’: Black non-binary trans* collegians’ perspectives on passing, realness, and trans*-normativity. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education29(9): 1173–1188. 10.1080/09518398.2016.1201612
    https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2016.1201612 [Google Scholar]
  31. Pauwels, Anne
    2003 Linguistic sexism and feminist linguistic activism. InThe Handbook of Language and Gender, Miriam Meyerhoff & Janet Holmes (eds), 550–570. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 10.1002/9780470756942.ch24
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756942.ch24 [Google Scholar]
  32. Raun, Tobias
    2016Out Online: Trans Self-Representation and Community Building on YouTube. Milton Park: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Reyes, Antonio
    2011 Strategies of legitimization in political discourse: From words to actions. Discourse & Society22(6): 781–807. 10.1177/0957926511419927
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926511419927 [Google Scholar]
  34. Rumsey, Alan
    1990 Wording, meaning, and linguistic ideology. American Anthropologist92(2): 346–361. 10.1525/aa.1990.92.2.02a00060
    https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1990.92.2.02a00060 [Google Scholar]
  35. Silverstein, Michael
    1979 Language structure and linguistic ideology. InThe Elements: A Parasession on Linguistic Units and Levels, Paul Clyne, William F. Hanks & Carol L. Hofbauer (eds), 193–247. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. van Leeuwen, Theo
    2007 Legitimation in discourse and communication. Discourse & Communication1(1): 91–112. 10.1177/1750481307071986
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481307071986 [Google Scholar]
  37. van Leeuwen, Theo & Wodak, Ruth
    1999 Legitimizing immigration control: A discourse-historical analysis. Discourse Studies1(1): 83–118. 10.1177/1461445699001001005
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445699001001005 [Google Scholar]
  38. Vipond, Evan
    2015 Resisting transnormativity: Challenging the medicalization and regulation of trans bodies. Theory in Action8(2): 21–44. 10.3798/tia.1937‑0237.15008
    https://doi.org/10.3798/tia.1937-0237.15008 [Google Scholar]
  39. Woolard, Kathryn. A.
    1985 Language variation and cultural hegemony: Toward an integration of sociolinguistic and social theory. American Ethnologist12(4): 738–748. 10.1525/ae.1985.12.4.02a00090
    https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1985.12.4.02a00090 [Google Scholar]
  40. Woolard, Kathryn. A. & Schieffelin, Bambi B.
    1994 Language ideology. Annual Review of Anthropology23: 55–82. 10.1146/annurev.an.23.100194.000415
    https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.23.100194.000415 [Google Scholar]
  41. Zimman, Lal
    2012Voices in Transition: Testosterone, Transmasculinity, and the Gendered Voice among Female-to-Male Transgender People. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. 2017a Trans people’s linguistic self-determination and the dialogic nature of identity. InRepresenting Trans: Linguistic, Legal and Everyday Perspectives, Evan Hazenberg & Miriam Meyerhoff (eds), 226–248. Wellington: Victoria University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. 2017b Transgender language reform: Some challenges and strategies for promoting trans-affirming, gender-inclusive language. Journal of Language and Discrimination1(1): 83–104. 10.1558/jld.33139
    https://doi.org/10.1558/jld.33139 [Google Scholar]
  44. 2019 Trans self-identification and the language of neoliberal selfhood: Agency, power, and the limits of monologic discourse. International Journal of the Sociology of Language256: 147–175. 10.1515/ijsl‑2018‑2016
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2018-2016 [Google Scholar]
  45. Zwicky, Arnold M.
    2007Why are we so Illuded?web.stanford.edu/~zwicky/LSA07illude.abst.pdf (April 11, 2022).
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/jls.20021.cro
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/jls.20021.cro
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): discourse analysis; language ideology; legitimization; nonbinary; transgender; YouTube
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error