The constitutive role of language in the making ofmarginalized identities

【Abstract】This article draws upon the Allusionists Episode 56： Joins， a podcast about language by Helen Zaltzman， and focuses on how language serves certain purposes in sexually-marginalized communities， what roles do language play in negotiating ones core identity and shaping experiences and social reality. In this episode， which is all about trans peoples experiences of this particular linguistic matter. Since little analysis has been placed on the making of social identity through language， especially for marginal groups， this article can help raise peoples awareness of linguistic diversity.

【Key words】discourse analysis; indexicality; language and identity

【作者簡介】林漢釗（1998.5-），男，漢族，廣東廣州人，廣東外語外貿大學，本科在讀，研究方向：語言學（語篇分析/語用學）。

Due to LGBTQs sensitiveness to their identities and urge to express themselves， playing around with language can grant them alternative power to shape realities and experiences and potentially open up new possibilities for new contexts and meanings， which is significant for the formation as well as the maintenance of marginalized identities. The construction and learning of sexual language are necessary processes to the development of individual sexual identity， social sexuality-based communities and generally sexual cultures.

People orient to the ways they categorize themselves and react to the ways others categorize them， and people adjust and offer these performances in their narratives. Being queer as trans-folks intensifies the differences lying between mainstream and the Other， bearing socially agreed-upon-and-expected judgemental values. Therefore， their high sense of identity pushes them to find alternative ways to describe and voice their feelings and experiences; thus， they coin their own words and create new languages so as to negotiate social definitions and try to break away from normative language constraints.

Johnstone points out that “discourse is shaped by the possibilities and limitations of language and discourse shapes language”. Transgenders and other sexually marginalized communities are largely restricted by the heteronormative discourse， the few appropriate options available， and thats why they feel irrigated if the sexual partner， without knowing trans-peroples linguistic preferences， “refer to as my front hole as my ‘pussy or my ‘vagina”， said MARSHALL. For example， when talking about intimate relationship， these marginalized groups would fall back to using couple or other limited words to describe different forms of relationship. However， most of the trans-people reject conforming to medical or generally-recognized terms for their genitals and feel that they need to make up personal or shared nouns to replace the imposed conventional language， because there arent words for what they do or how they do， echoing LEEs statement “when it comes to sexy times， theres not a good language right now”. This reflects that alternative languages are emerging which offer new discursive possibilities for the development of marginal identities， relationships and emotions. Like LEE said “Its an evolving language thing”， this has the great potential to be interdisciplinary studies incorporating linguistics， psychology， sociology etc.， but today we just focus on language and the process of identity formation.

As LEE said “we all need to do better”， here “we” serves indexicality， pointing out his perceived audience of the genre is other trans-people， hinting the shared understanding within this trans-community， or in other words， signaling group solidarity and claiming group membership. While other people might do this out of the purpose of introducing trans-language to common people， and their target audience in the conversation can affect purposes and tone. Unlike LEE， MARSHALL said， “If you...， its best to...”， which performs informative move towards outsiders. I also notice the wide use of pronouns to refer to their genitals， putting indexicality to the front. For example， MARSHALL said “I use ‘the instead of ‘my. So an example is I just use ‘the clit instead of ‘my clit， and thats to just help disassociate myself”， REBECCA “So what name is going to make you feel good about your genitalia？ Or， at the sort of most directly descriptive ‘this， ‘that， ‘here， ‘there”， and LEE “Theres a fair amount of just referring to things as ‘it”. The key to these linguistic choices is the desire to detach themselves from the body parts， probably because the discourse of essentialism -pre-social nature comes first- is so pervasive that they feel uncomfortable about seeing those “added” parts to be their innate traits， and by objectifying the genitals as the/it， they can lower the emotional weight， say it guilt， and feel more comfortable talking about them. However， the easiest way out is creating new term to isolate any medical or cultural embedding in its original form， making those names purely personally and with naming/labeling， they unconsciously accept those “added” parts more and maintaining the consistency of their identities.

Leap and Boellstorff （2004） claim that “If there are sexual cultures， then there must be sexual languages， that is， modes of describing， expressing， and interrogating the ideologies and practices relevant to the sexual culture（s）”. It appears that certain communities， especially LGBTQ， have their own languages. For example， William Leap proposed a term named “lavender language” to attach an unique favor to the colorful expressions they have. This seems like the realm of slang in which sub-culture groups use culturally-specific languages so as to include and exclude people. However， trans-language are way more creative than just putting alternative meanings to certain expressions in slang， though some expressions are understandable between trans-people when talking about sexual parts， most of the language is personally used. Back to the point， trans community has developed languages to enable new modes of expression to account for sexual behaviour and experiences. LORELEI made some remarkable comments on the importance of language： “Language is a living thing. You know， its not static it responds， it shapes our world and it allows us to shape our world in turn. So the words I use to refer to my genitalia are really very genuinely going to shape the reality of that genitalia to a certain extent. Its really exciting. Its a very cutting edge sort of word nursery in the trans community” and the idea that discourses are able to and do indeed shape reality stands out most.

The reason why the tool of language is so important because language can create different sorts of relationships and realities as well as offering alternative ways of experiencing and expressing sexual stories. And narratives are critical to the making of personal identity as Johnstone said “stories represent the experience of continuity of the self over time， shaping our experience of inhabiting a lasting personal identity”. Another interesting reason is to acquire a sense of control， proposed by REBECCA “I want you to touch me here. I dont like it when you touch me there”. In other words， language empowers their power to decide whats the name or directly articulating their voices in a way that is comfortable. Actually who gets the power to name is essential to the understanding of things， so being able to name things by themselves seems to create the hierarchy between trans-people and the partner， in a sense that the partner needs to conform to the “new” rule （which means way of calling genitals） to achieve the desirable goal.

Last but not least， hedging are common in the discussion， considering the fact that this language is somewhat personal but not universal. Two outstanding examples are in the beginning the broadcaster says “Important to specify： its the experiences of some trans people， its not meant to imply a universal trans experience. Also the vocabulary is evolving and expanding rapidly， so this is just a reflection on where it is at the moment” and MARSHALs words “So I want to start off by saying that I am not an example for every single trans person; every trans person is different”. Also both of them are placed at the start， in contrast to concession paragraphs usually placed at the end of articles. The underlying reason why hedging is so important in this audio， apart from trying to be as objective as possible， is due to Face issue. By introducing Face Theory， I mean that if the following discussion or MARSHALs personal understanding cant echo with other majority of the group or even its not correct at all， by hedging they can save face from face threatening situations and free from criticism because this podcast is put in a public setting， so it is likely that when words go wrong， accusation ensues.

To sum up， viewing things from the perspective of marginalized communities is essential in cultivating sympathy， as the saying goes：“putting oneself in others shoes”. The creativeness displays the vigor of language and the power of language in relation to the world. As always， discourse analysis is a great analytical tool to gain insights into emergent phenomena.