"isiNgqumo": South Africa’s Undocumented Gay Language
Presenter Title/Affiliation
University of Gent
Start Date
22-5-2021 2:00 PM
Event Name
Panel discussion
Panel Number
14
Panel Chair Name
David Peterson
Zoom URL to Join
https://ciis.zoom.us/j/92114068937
Zoom Meeting ID
921 1406 8937
Abstract
From Bajub in Brazil to Swardspeak in the Philippines, queer communities all around the world have been creating and expanding their very own “languages” — known as lavender languages — much to the joy of lavender linguists whose main goal is to study, analyse and document them.
The dissertation at hand sought to unveil, discuss and add to existing research done concerning isiNgqumo: a lavender language created and spoken within the Zulu queer community of modern day South Africa. Although there is still much debate amongst linguists as to whether isiNgqumo can be considered a true language instead of a dialect, slang or jargon, many of its speakers vehemently declare that isiNgqumo is, in fact, a fully-fledged language, and wish for it to be recognized as such. However, it appears that this lavender language has remained almost entirely undocumented, with very little research having been carried out on the subject. This dissertation was therefore the first linguistic approach towards the study of isiNgqumo and is an attempt to weigh into the debate among lavender linguists questioning whether it is a real language or not — for defining the linguistic “status” of isiNgqumo is paramount to setting a necessary and determining premise for subsequent study and documentation of the South African lavender language.
Presenter Contact
jan123raeymaekers@gmail.com
"isiNgqumo": South Africa’s Undocumented Gay Language
From Bajub in Brazil to Swardspeak in the Philippines, queer communities all around the world have been creating and expanding their very own “languages” — known as lavender languages — much to the joy of lavender linguists whose main goal is to study, analyse and document them.
The dissertation at hand sought to unveil, discuss and add to existing research done concerning isiNgqumo: a lavender language created and spoken within the Zulu queer community of modern day South Africa. Although there is still much debate amongst linguists as to whether isiNgqumo can be considered a true language instead of a dialect, slang or jargon, many of its speakers vehemently declare that isiNgqumo is, in fact, a fully-fledged language, and wish for it to be recognized as such. However, it appears that this lavender language has remained almost entirely undocumented, with very little research having been carried out on the subject. This dissertation was therefore the first linguistic approach towards the study of isiNgqumo and is an attempt to weigh into the debate among lavender linguists questioning whether it is a real language or not — for defining the linguistic “status” of isiNgqumo is paramount to setting a necessary and determining premise for subsequent study and documentation of the South African lavender language.
https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/lavlang/2021/saturday/23
