Presentation Title
A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Corpus Data from Reddit Discussions of ‘Gay Voice’
Presenter Title/Affiliation
Portland State University
Start Date
23-5-2021 11:00 AM
Event Name
Panel discussion
Panel Number
19
Panel Chair Name
Eric Louis Russell
Zoom URL to Join
https://ciis.zoom.us/j/92882331032
Zoom Meeting ID
928 8233 1032
Abstract
In the last decade, there have been a number of public discussions about “gay voice” and “sounding gay.” These two phrases often serve as a shorthand for the belief that a listener can determine the sexuality of a speaker based on phonetic qualities found in their vocal output. However, these expressions are more accurately described as catch-all terms for speech that contains features associated with non-gender conforming stances and personae (Zimman, 2013). Notions about gender and sexuality are often conflated when discussing gay-sounding voices, namely through an “ideological link between femininity and male homosexuality” (Zimman, 2013, p. 8; emphasis in original). Investigating popular discussions about the relationship between “gay voice” and femininity could provide information on what people are trying to convey when they use this phrase, the ways that commonly circulated discourses about gender and sexuality inform its definition, and the relationship between social categorization and language-based stereotypes.
This study examines discourses surrounding the phrases “gay voice” and “sound gay” in conversations found on the popular U.S.-based online forum Reddit. A statistical technique known as topic modeling is used to identify salient themes from a corpus of text to meaningfully sample a subset of online discussions for qualitative analysis. The study found that the conversations in which Reddit users discuss “sounding gay” and femininity center around two main themes: (1) origins of this way of speaking and its cross-linguistic occurrence, and (2) the sociosexual capital of having a “gay voice” and ways to change one’s own voice to conform more closely with normative ideals. Discussions about the first theme are found in subforums with an academic orientation (i.e. r/AskHistorians, r/linguistics), while dialogues about the second theme occur in LGBTQIA-related subforums (i.e. r/askgaybros, r/ftm). Interactions across both topics equate gay-sounding voices with other social groups/personae to explore the concepts of markedness and stigmatization. These findings suggest that Reddit users reconfigure existing discourses related to “gay voice” and femininity to provide space for new conceptions about identity to emerge.
Presenter Contact
sem9@pdx.edu
A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Corpus Data from Reddit Discussions of ‘Gay Voice’
In the last decade, there have been a number of public discussions about “gay voice” and “sounding gay.” These two phrases often serve as a shorthand for the belief that a listener can determine the sexuality of a speaker based on phonetic qualities found in their vocal output. However, these expressions are more accurately described as catch-all terms for speech that contains features associated with non-gender conforming stances and personae (Zimman, 2013). Notions about gender and sexuality are often conflated when discussing gay-sounding voices, namely through an “ideological link between femininity and male homosexuality” (Zimman, 2013, p. 8; emphasis in original). Investigating popular discussions about the relationship between “gay voice” and femininity could provide information on what people are trying to convey when they use this phrase, the ways that commonly circulated discourses about gender and sexuality inform its definition, and the relationship between social categorization and language-based stereotypes.
This study examines discourses surrounding the phrases “gay voice” and “sound gay” in conversations found on the popular U.S.-based online forum Reddit. A statistical technique known as topic modeling is used to identify salient themes from a corpus of text to meaningfully sample a subset of online discussions for qualitative analysis. The study found that the conversations in which Reddit users discuss “sounding gay” and femininity center around two main themes: (1) origins of this way of speaking and its cross-linguistic occurrence, and (2) the sociosexual capital of having a “gay voice” and ways to change one’s own voice to conform more closely with normative ideals. Discussions about the first theme are found in subforums with an academic orientation (i.e. r/AskHistorians, r/linguistics), while dialogues about the second theme occur in LGBTQIA-related subforums (i.e. r/askgaybros, r/ftm). Interactions across both topics equate gay-sounding voices with other social groups/personae to explore the concepts of markedness and stigmatization. These findings suggest that Reddit users reconfigure existing discourses related to “gay voice” and femininity to provide space for new conceptions about identity to emerge.
https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/lavlang/2021/sunday/10
