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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Sexuality
Vol. 8:1 (2019) ► pp.1–29

Performing graysexuality

A segmental and prosodic analysis of three voices employed in the construction of the graysexual self

| University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

While recent work in sociophonetics has focused on the speech of gay men (Gaudio 1994; Podesva 2007; Podesva, Roberts & Campbell-Kibler 2002), lesbian women (Camp 2009; Van Borsel Vandaele & Corthals 2013), and transgender people (Zimman 2017a), the speech styles of asexual individuals remain understudied. This study analyzes an interview with a graysexual and homoromantic cisgender student at a research university in California, examining the segmental and prosodic characteristics of three voices he uses to construct and position his graysexual identity: a questioning voice, a judgmental voice, and a non-desiring voice. The analysis finds that the questioning voice is characterized by decreased speech rate, high F0, and modal phonation; the judgmental voice, by low F0; and the non-desiring voice, by low F0, narrow F0 range, low intensity, reduced gesture, flat facial expression, and a centralized vowel space. The results emphasize the importance of stylistic reticence to the construction of graysexuality.

Keywords: asexuality, sociophonetics, prosody, constructed dialogue, sexual refusal
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Language and asexuality
  • 2.Background: Interview context
  • 3.Questioning, judgmental, and non-desiring voices as resources for graysexual identity construction
    • 3.1Questioning voice
    • 3.2Judgmental voice
    • 3.3Non-desiring voice
  • 4.Comparison and discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Transcription conventions
  • References
Published online: 7 March 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.18003.coo
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