Post on 01-Apr-2015
TRANSMEN,
TRANSW
OMEN & T
ALK
KR I STEN
PRECH
T-BYRD
, PH
.D.
KENT S
TATE UN
IVERS I T
Y
kp rech t@
ken t .edu
nature vs nurture
women’s language
Expressing Self• affective vocabulary love, good, bad,
nervous• self-disclose more thoughts, feelings
• elaborate
women’s language
Self-Confidence Level• hedges sort of, pretty,
somewhat• tag questions “I didn’t think so, did
you?”• adverbials at the
start actually, really
• amplifiers very, really, totally
women’s language
Relationships• personal pronouns I, you, we• do not interrupt • express support “You did such a good
job”• mirror back what other
says“You mean that …”
• more correct grammar (middle class)
women’s language
Keep conversation going?• minimal responses mmhmm, yeah,
right• ask questions • think about how answer
will be perceivedpoliteness: sorry, I think
women’s emotional language
People sold him poison that was supposedly peaceful poison. I mean he really -- he was so desperate to end the pain. That's the most important thing, that Matthew was in such excruciating emotional and physical pain and he just wanted the pain to stop.
--Kay, cis-female
men’s language
Expressing self • precise, informative “That happened about
two years ago”
Self-confidence level
• fillers, adverbials at the beginning
well, “I think we should …”
• taboo language, swearing
men’s language
Relationships • interrupt • directives/imperatives Hand me that
book.• less correct grammar (working class)
Keep conversation going?• infrequent minimal
responsesfew mmhms
• talk more frequently & longer
• wait to be asked questions
emotional men’s language
I think the first stage is shock. And for us, shock still happens. But, for at least the first month, is I kept waiting for Matthew to come in the door. Go, "When's my son going to walk in?" I just couldn't believe that it happened. It was so sudden.
--Rick, cis-male
this language study
STANCE: emotion & attitudeEmotion• Expressive words,
self-disclosure, support
Judgements • Self-expression,
elaborating
Quantity Words (amplifiers and hedges)• Self-confidence
Politeness
text bank
Emotional interviews with:
25 TGMs15 cismales15 cisfemales
Total: 285,000 words(50 hours of
conversation)
computer analysis
• StanceSearch computer program identifies 1,300 emotion and attitude words
category 1: emotion words
Positive emotions: care, faith, fortunate, happy, hope, I like, I love, proud, support, trust
Negative emotions: afraid, alone, angry, anxious, distressing, fear, grief, hate, hurt, mad, miss, nervous, pain, painful, regret, sad, scared, sorry, tired, upset, worried
Who are the TGMs most like in using EMOTION words?
CIS-MALES CIS-FEMALES
emotionTGMs are like cismales
cis-males transmen cis-females0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
cisfemales emotion
positive negativecare angryfortunate anxioushappy distressinghope hurtproud nervoussupport sorry
results #1
used the most …
TGMs were like …
Emotions cis-females cis-males
category 2 positive judgement words
amazing, beautiful, best, better, funny, good, great, important, interesting, lucky, nice, perfect, right, strong, success, successful, wonderful
Who are TGMs most like for POSITIVE JUDGEMENT words?
CIS-MALES CIS-FEMALES
positive judgement TGMs are like cisfemales
cis-males transmen cis-females0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
positive judgement
cisfemale TGMfunnybeautiful goodimportant importantinteresting interestinglucky luckynice niceperfect perfect
results #2
Used the most …
TGMs were like …
Emotions cisfemales cismales
Positive Judgement
TGM, cisfemales
cisfemales
category 3: negative judgement
awful, bad, challenge, crazy, difficult, horrible, odd, problem, risk, serious, silly, strange, stupid, terrible, tragic, trouble, weird, worst, wrong
Who are TGMs most like for NEGATIVE JUDGEMENT words?
CIS-MALES CIS-FEMALES
negative judgement: TGMs are like cismales
1 2 30.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
negative judgement
cisfemalesbad sillychallenge
strangehorrible stupidserious terrible
results #3
Used the most words
TGMs were like …
Emotions cisfemales cismalesNegative Judgement
cisfemales
cismales
Positive Judgement
TGM & cisfemales
cisfemales
category 4: amplifiers
absolutely, at all, all, always, any, deep, definitely, even, ever, full, high, main, most, mostly, much, never, nothing, only, really, single, so, too, totally, ultimately, very, very very, whole
Who are the TGMs most like for AMPLIFIERS?
CIS-MALES CIS-FEMALES
amplifiers: TGMs are like cisfemales
cis-males transmen cis-females0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
amplifiers
TGMcisfemales
alwaysabsolutely
definitely neverreally sototally very
results #4
Used the most words
TGMs were like …
Emotions cisfemales cismalesNegative Judgement
cisfemales cismales
Positive Judgement
TGM & cisfemales
cisfemales
Amplifiers
TGM & cisfemales
cisfemales
category 5: hedges
a bit, a lot, about, almost, just, kind of, like, maybe, more, necessarily, often, possible, possibly, pretty, probably, particularly, question, quite, relatively, seem, simply, sometimes, somewhat, sort of, such a, usually, well
Who are the TGMs most like for HEDGES?
CIS-MALES CIS-FEMALES
HedgesTGMs are unique
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
hedges
TGMa lot prettyjust
probablykind of
questionlike seemnecessarily well
And I don’t do a lot of political things like I use to. I think some of it is disillusionment but some of it also is like what you said you know. Ok that’s cool if we could get married. That would be great. However, it would even better if we could just walk down the street without getting shot. You know there are things that are much more important than other things
--Josh, TGM
results #5
Used the most words
TGMs were like …
Emotions cisfemales cismales
Negative Judgement
cisfemales cismales
Positive Judgement
TGM & cisfemales
cisfemales
Amplifiers TGM & cisfemales
cisfemales
Hedges TGM neither
category 6 politeness
fine, glad, regret, sorry, thank, thankful
Who are the TGMs most like in POLITENESS words?
CIS-MALES CIS-FEMALES
politenessTGMs are like cismales
CM TGM CF0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
politeness
cisfemalesthanksthankfulsorry
SUMMING UP THE RESULTS
Used the most words
TGMs were like …
Emotions cisfemales cismales
Negative Judgement
cisfemales cismales
Politeness cisfemales cismales
Positive Judgement
TGM & cisfemales
cisfemales
Amplifiers TGM & cisfemales
cisfemales
Hedges TGM Neither
TGM -- emotional language
If they say they really feel like, you know,
their gender identity is a problem, a birth defect that needs to be
corrected, I think that’s very sad.
what this means if you are a transman …To sound more masculine:
• Use fewer hedges (maybe, I think, somewhat, etc.)
• Use fewer adjectives and positive emotion words
Match your/your client’s language to men you want to emulate: BALANCE
what this means if you are a transwomanIn emotional contexts with other
women:• use more emotional language• make more judgements about
things• hedge/amplify more• use politeness markers
Context• more feminine language with other
women, close family• less feminine language in mixed
company, at work
BALANCE masculine and feminine language
nature vs nurture
Nature for Emotion, Negative Judgement & Politeness?
Nurture for Positive Judgement & Amplifiers?
What about Hedges?
future directions
We need more research on transwomen
Research is completely anonymous and would take a couple hours of time.
If you would be willing to be interviewed or have clients who might be interviewed, please give me your name and and info or email me and I’ll send you information.
For a copy of this presentation, please leave your name and email address or email me at kprecht@kent.edu