Gender and Social Class: A Variationist Phonological Analysis of Gay Language in London

This paper investigates the linguistic mechanisms employed by gay men. Its aim is to identify the specific use of some socio-phonological variables associated with English-speaking gay people, as a means of identity construction and then discuss the role played by two social variables, i.e. gender and social class, during the process. The role of sexuality in the construction of gender, as well as the importance of social class, are still highly debated in linguistic circles. Linguistically, gay style has been associated with features such as: more varied pitch, clearer releases of stop consonants, and even a falsetto voice (Gaudio 1994; Podesva et al. 2002; Levon 2007). Despite being aware that a speaker’s gender influences the way he or she engages in linguistic practice, sociolinguistics remains stuck in a model that interprets gender as a normative biological sex and excludes any contribution of sexuality in the construction of gender.