Further studying the nuances of linguistics within male-male relationships, Dustin Bradley Goltz appraised the intergenerational value shifts and the archetypal roles of older and younger gay men in a communicative workshop that produced both group discussion and personalized writings. In “‘We’re Not in Oz Anymore’: Shifting Generational Perspectives and Tensions of Gay Community, Identity, and Future,” Goltz investigates the accepted narratives and power dynamics that present themselves in modern gay culture. The results yielded clear distinctions in the thinking of older and younger gay men; when asked to describe their opinions on aging, older men described their advanced age as exhibiting qualities of sophistication and positivity,
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Mann analyzes styleswitching for performative effect in his article “Drag Queens’ Use of Language and the Performance of Blurred Gender and Racial Identities.” In the study, Mann examines the use of gender and racial speech indicators by a particular drag queen emcee in a southeastern city in the United States. To set the stage for the analysis, Mann references the importance of acknowledging that drag queens do not attempt to accurately portray women or mask the fact that they are men, but rather that they are “us[ing] their performances as a means of playing on the irony of crossing genders” (Barrett qtd. in Mann 794). Essentially, there exists an important distinction between conventional femininity and the hyperbolic femininity expressed by drag queens; the characters crafted by drag queens indicate a manifestation of the self, a personal alter ego, and not a “real” woman. As such, investigating the different facets of identity present in the performance of Suzanne, a drag queen hostess at Jay’s Bar, offers insight into another aspect of queer characterization through language. For example, Suzanne, though herself white, utilizes African-American Vernacular English to establish a bond with fellow performers, many of whom are people of color (Mann 800). Similarly, some functions of her speech, such as the use of the more markedly feminine “cocktail” rather than …show more content…
Much like the personas portrayed by drag queens’ styleswitching, the usage of the invented language of Polari is inherently performative and intrinsically tied to the personal identity of its users (Baker 17). Though an endangered (if not dead) language, and therefore essentially difficult to research, Baker draws upon both the limited historical accounts as well as interviews with speakers in order to scrutinize what exactly Polari is, and what it signified to its speakers. “Language,” while being perhaps the easiest and most accessible term, fails to encompass Polari entirely – so do, for that matter, a variety of other phrases, including: jargon, argot, dialect, pidgin, sociolect, lexicon, and creole, though Polari expresses features of all of these classifications (Baker 12-13). Rather, it seems, that Polari coincides most accurately with anti-languages, which can be most accurately surmised as languages that “exist by resisting” (Baker 13). To extrapolate on the objectives of these linguistic counter-cultures, Baker relates Halliday’s interpretation of anti-languages and the secretive, shared identities (which Halliday terms a subjective reality) they represent, quoting, “An individual’s
Mann analyzes styleswitching for performative effect in his article “Drag Queens’ Use of Language and the Performance of Blurred Gender and Racial Identities.” In the study, Mann examines the use of gender and racial speech indicators by a particular drag queen emcee in a southeastern city in the United States. To set the stage for the analysis, Mann references the importance of acknowledging that drag queens do not attempt to accurately portray women or mask the fact that they are men, but rather that they are “us[ing] their performances as a means of playing on the irony of crossing genders” (Barrett qtd. in Mann 794). Essentially, there exists an important distinction between conventional femininity and the hyperbolic femininity expressed by drag queens; the characters crafted by drag queens indicate a manifestation of the self, a personal alter ego, and not a “real” woman. As such, investigating the different facets of identity present in the performance of Suzanne, a drag queen hostess at Jay’s Bar, offers insight into another aspect of queer characterization through language. For example, Suzanne, though herself white, utilizes African-American Vernacular English to establish a bond with fellow performers, many of whom are people of color (Mann 800). Similarly, some functions of her speech, such as the use of the more markedly feminine “cocktail” rather than …show more content…
Much like the personas portrayed by drag queens’ styleswitching, the usage of the invented language of Polari is inherently performative and intrinsically tied to the personal identity of its users (Baker 17). Though an endangered (if not dead) language, and therefore essentially difficult to research, Baker draws upon both the limited historical accounts as well as interviews with speakers in order to scrutinize what exactly Polari is, and what it signified to its speakers. “Language,” while being perhaps the easiest and most accessible term, fails to encompass Polari entirely – so do, for that matter, a variety of other phrases, including: jargon, argot, dialect, pidgin, sociolect, lexicon, and creole, though Polari expresses features of all of these classifications (Baker 12-13). Rather, it seems, that Polari coincides most accurately with anti-languages, which can be most accurately surmised as languages that “exist by resisting” (Baker 13). To extrapolate on the objectives of these linguistic counter-cultures, Baker relates Halliday’s interpretation of anti-languages and the secretive, shared identities (which Halliday terms a subjective reality) they represent, quoting, “An individual’s