Indexicality of Grammar: The Case of Japanese Transgender Speakers

Abstract

<p>This article discusses how the intersection of grammatical gender and social gender, entwined in the core structure of language, can be analyzed to understand the dynamic status of selfhood. After reviewing a history of scholarship that demonstrates this claim, the discussion analyzes the language practices of transgender individuals in Japan, where transgender identity is currently understood in terms of <italic>sei-dōitsusei-shōgai</italic> (gender identity disorder). Based on fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2017, the analysis reveals how individuals identifying with <italic>sei-dōitsusei-shōgai</italic> negotiate subject positions by manipulating the specific indexical meanings attached to grammatical structures.</p>

Challenging norms of gender and language

“…Recent work has provided theoretical frameworks that engage with the fluidity of gender identities more rigorously (e.g., Bucholtz & Hall 2005;Zimman 2020). Much of these expansive discussions of gender identity have taken place in the last decade: for example, we have seen increasing attention paid to the use of non-binary pronouns (Conrod 2020;Konnelly & Cowper 2020) and variation in grammatical gender (Abe 2019;Bershtling 2014;Borba & Ostermann 2007). We have seen studies of how transgender speakers modulate phonetic features in identity construction (Zimman 2012), how transgender communities navigate discursive expectations of normative forms of embodiment (Jones 2019;Miller 2019), and how (trans)gender identities intersect with other axes such as racialization (Davis 2014; Steele forthcoming).…”