Materializing gay identity
An analysis of gay-sounding speech in Thai
This paper aims at investigating (1) whether young Thai adults can distinguish between straight male and
gay-sounding speech and (2) how listeners feel about speech sounds performed by Thai straight and gay speakers in varying
situations in terms of likeability and annoyance. Two experiments were conducted: first, straight males, gay males and females
listened to voice stimuli of self-identified straight males and gay males and were asked to identify the sexual orientation of the
speakers; second, another three groups of listeners were asked to rate the speakers’ levels of likeability and annoyance using a
5-point Likert scale. The findings indicate that there exist voice characteristics of gay- as opposed to straight-male sounding
speech. Regarding the listeners’ perception in relation to speech style in four varying situations, the results indicate that
listeners’ perception is not affected by situations in which the speech is delivered.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Recent research on gay-sounding speech: Concepts and approaches
- 3.Research questions
- 4.Methodology
- 4.1First experiment
- 4.1.1Speakers and their task
- 4.1.2Recording
- 4.1.3Listeners and their tasks
- 4.1.4Findings of the first experiment
- 4.2Second experiment
- 4.2.1Speakers and their task
- 4.2.2Recording
- 4.2.3Listeners and their task
- 4.2.4Evaluation form
- 4.2.5Findings of the second experiment
- Three groups of listeners
- Voice stimuli (from Speaker SM1, SM2, SM2toGM, and GM2) in relation to other variables
- Situations: Formal and informal settings, and academic and non-academic contents
- 5.Discussion
- 6.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
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