TRANSMEN,

TRANSWOMEN & TA

LK

KR ISTEN PRECHT-BYRD , PH .D

.

KENT STATE U

N IVERS I TY

kp rech t@

ken t . edu

nature vs nurture

women’s languageExpressing Self• affective vocabulary love, good, bad,

nervous• self-disclose more thoughts, feelings• elaborate  

women’s languageSelf-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 languageRelationships• 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 languageKeep conversation going?• minimal responses mmhmm, yeah,

right• ask questions  • think about how answer

will be perceivedpoliteness: sorry, I think

women’s emotional languagePeople 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 languageExpressing 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 languageRelationships  • 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 languageI 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 studySTANCE: emotion & attitudeEmotion• Expressive words,

self-disclosure, support

Judgements • Self-expression,

elaborating

Quantity Words (amplifiers and hedges)• Self-confidence

Politeness

text bankEmotional 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 wordsPositive 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 #1used 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-females0.000.501.001.502.002.503.003.504.004.505.00

positive judgement

cisfemale TGMfunnybeautiful goodimportant importantinteresting interestinglucky luckynice niceperfect perfect

results #2Used 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 30.000.501.001.502.002.503.003.504.00

negative judgement

cisfemalesbad sillychallenge

strangehorrible stupidserious terrible

results #3Used 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-females02468

101214161820

amplifiers

TGMcisfemales

alwaysabsolutely

definitely neverreally sototally very

results #4Used 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 #5Used 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 RESULTSUsed the most words

TGMs were like …

Emotions cisfemales cismalesNegative 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 wordsMatch 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 nurtureNature for Emotion, Negative Judgement

& Politeness?Nurture for Positive Judgement &

Amplifiers?What about Hedges?

future directionsWe need more research on transwomenResearch 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