class: hide-logo, center middle # Beyond a dot on a graph: ## A participant’s perspective on being quantified in variationist sociolinguistic research **Lavender Languages and Linguistics 29, March 9-11, Boise, ID** Kaspar Middendorf, University of Canterbury <SPAN STYLE="font-size:0.75em">`kaspar.middendorf@canterbury.ac.nz`</span> Jacq Jones, Massey University <SPAN STYLE="font-size:0.75em">`j.jones1@massey.ac.nz`</span> <img src="images/UCA_DigiLab_banner_border.png" width="40%" /><img src="images/MasseyLogo.svg" width="40%" /> --- class: middle-freeze # Intro I: Sex/gender Sex/gender is often assumed to be binary, exclusive, and static. * In the literature * "Macrosocial" or Demographic * Traditional predictor of LVC * e.g. Women lead sound change<small> _(Labov, 1994)_</small> * In the world / media * In the minds of speakers and listeners of _every_ gender #### The existence of nonbinary people **directly** challenges these stereotypes, at every level. --- class: middle-freeze # Intro II: Why Nonbinary? Direct comparisons between nonbinary and binary peers allows an examination of what's<br>salient about gender in speech from the "outside". Allows refining and improvement of traditional methods to incorporate a wider range of voices, not just nonbinary ones. Including nonbinary speakers in traditional methodologies "legitimizes" these identities, for better or worse. -- ## _However_ Direct comparisons against the cisnormative has the potential to trigger dysphoria. Is it really necessary? Do we need "legitimizing"? Perpetuating cisnormativity? (Zimman, 2021) --- class: middle-freeze # Intro III: The <span style='color:#FF0000;'>R</span><span style='color:#FFB000;'>A</span><span style='color:#02C43A;'>I</span><span style='color:#004EFF;'>N</span><span style='color:#6200FF;'>B</span><span style='color:#FF00EB;'>O</span> Corpus **∴** Hypothesis: Nonbinary speakers can manipulate or recombine existing gendered features<br>to challenge listener assumptions or create perceptual "space" for themselves. e.g. via bricolage<small> _(Eckert 2008, Zimman 2017)_</small> ### Step 1: Data Collection (2017) * LaBB-CAT Corpus <small> _(Fromont & Hay, 2012)_</small> * <span style='color:#FF0000;'>R</span>ecorded <span style='color:#FFB000;'>A</span>udiovisual <span style='color:#02C43A;'>I</span>nterviews with <span style='color:#004EFF;'>N</span>onbinary and <span style='color:#6200FF;'>B</span>inary <span style='color:#FF00EB;'>O</span>rators. * Nonbinary Participants matched with binary peers * Multiple recording types * Participant Pseudonyms<small> _(cf.Mendoza-Denton 2008, Drager 2009)_</small> --- class: middle-freeze # Meet ~~Alex~~ Kaspar <img src="images/firstemail_withcanta.png" width="100%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" /> --- class: middle-freeze # Intro III: The Dissertation **∴** Hypothesis: Nonbinary speakers can manipulate or recombine existing gendered features<br>to challenge listener assumptions or create perceptual "space" for themselves. e.g. via bricolage<small> _(Eckert 2008, Zimman 2017)_</small> Corpus Data * 16 Participants (6 nonbinary participants, 5 binary men, 5 binary women) * ~35 Hours recorded across 78 Recordings Dissertation Completed in... **2022** (5 years later) * Meet the Participants - Individual introductions * Individual feature analyses * Quantitative acoustic analysis + Qualitative "Spotlights" * F0, Pitch Range, Monophthong F1/F2, VSA, <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">near/square</span>, Intervocalic /t/ * Analysis of multiple signals together --- class: middle # Pitch / Pitch Range I <img src="images/PitchRangeitwint.png" width="90%" /> --- class: middle # Pitch / Pitch Range I <img src="images/PitchRangeitwint_2.png" width="90%" /> --- class: middle # Pitch / Pitch Range II <img src="images/range_mp.png" width="45%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" /> --- class: middle # Pitch / Pitch Range II <img src="images/range_mp_2.png" width="45%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" /> --- class: middle # Scaled Scores <img src="images/single_scale_viz.png" width="45%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" /> --- class: middle # Scaled Scores <img src="images/single_scale_viz_2.png" width="45%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" /> --- class: middle-freeze # TLDR .pull-left[ * Nonbinary people don't speak like binary people * Some evidence of bricolage / recombined features. * There is no singular "nonbinary voice" * Nonbinary identity in speech is more evident when multiple signals are examined together ] .pull-right[ <small><small> _In every linguistic variable examined, nonbinary speakers show some distinction from binary speakers that is not explained fully via binary sex/gender stereotypes meant to align with speaker Assigned Sex at Birth (ASAB), but may be explained via a recombination of these features. Within individual variables, some binary speakers (particularly binary women) show evidence of [bricolage]. Individual nonbinary speakers utilize different production strategies from each other, while all maintaining productions aligned with their stated speech goals and identities. Overall, this dissertation presents one of the first comparative analyses of nonbinary speech, and presents a number of novel approaches to examining phonetic data from a statistical perspective that still accommodates an analysis of individual agency and goals in identity building._ </small></small>] --- class: middle # Pitch / Pitch Range <img src="images/PitchRangeitwint_3.png" width="90%" /> --- class: middle # Pitch / Pitch Range <img src="images/range_mp_3.png" width="45%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" /> --- class: middle # Scaled Scores <img src="images/single_scale_viz_3.png" width="45%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" /> --- class: middle # Pitch / Pitch Range <img src="images/PitchRangeitwint_3.png" width="90%" /> --- class: middle # VSA / VtV <img src="images/range_mp_3.png" width="45%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" /> --- # ~~Conclusions~~ Observations You don't know the reader's context. * You can guess, but you don't _know_. Being an insider isn't enough. * But it is important! Some reduction is necessary in doing this kind of sociolinguistics. * How much? Who decides? --- class: middle #### <center>**References**</center> <small><small><small><small>Drager, K. (2009). _A sociophonetic ethnography of Selwyn Girls' High._<br> Eckert, P. (2008). “The meaning of style”. _Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Symposium about Language and Society_<br> Fromont, R. and Jennifer H. (2012). “LaBB-CAT: An annotation store”. _Proceedings of the ALTA Workshop 2012_, pp. 113–117.<br> Galupo, M. P., Pulice-Farrow, L., & Pehl, E. (2021). “There Is Nothing to Do About It”: Nonbinary Individuals’ Experience of Gender Dysphoria. _Transgender Health._ 6(2), 101–110.<br> Mendoza-Denton, N. (2014). _Homegirls: Language and cultural practice among Latina youth gangs._ John Wiley & Sons.<br> Labov, W. (1994). _Principles of Linguistic Change: Volume 1: Internal Factors._<br> Zimman, L. (2017). “Gender as stylistic bricolage: Transmasculine voices and the relationship between fundamental frequency and /s/”. _Language in Society_ 46.3, pp. 339–370.<br> Zimman, L. (2021). Beyond the cis gays’ cis gaze: the need for a trans linguistics. _Gender and Language_ 15 (3): 423–429.</small></small></small></small> ## <center>Thanks! Support from Te Pokapū Aronui ā-Matihiko | UC Arts Digital Lab Slides created via the R packages [**xaringan**](https://github.com/yihui/xaringan) and [gadenbuie/xaringanthemer](https://github.com/gadenbuie/xaringanthemer) with copious cribbing from code provided by Joshua Wilson Black</small> #### <center>Talk to us! <small><small>Kaspar: `kaspar.middendorf@canterbury.ac.nz` Jacq: `j.jones1@massey.ac.nz` | https://jacq.land </small></small></center>