Transmen , Transwomen & Talk

1. Transmen,Transwomen & Talk Kristen Precht-Byrd, Ph.D. Kent State University kprecht@kent.edu

2. nature vs nurture

3. women’s language

4. women’s language

5. women’s language

6. women’s language

7. women’s emotional language • People sold him poison that was supposedly peacefulpoison. 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 painand hejust wanted thepainto stop. • --Kay, cis-female

8. men’s language

9. men’s language

10. emotional men’s language • I think the first stage is shock. And for us, shockstill 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 wassosudden. • --Rick, cis-male

11. this language study

12. text bank • Emotional interviews with: • 25 TGMs • 15 cismales • 15 cisfemales • Total: 285,000 words • (50 hours of conversation)

13. computer analysis • StanceSearch computer program identifies 1,300 emotion and attitude words

14. category 1: emotion words • Positive 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

15. Who are the TGMs most like in using EMOTION words? • CIS-MALES • CIS-FEMALES

16. emotionTGMs are like cismales

17. cisfemalesemotion • positivenegative • care angry • fortunate anxious • happy distressing • hope hurt • proud nervous • support sorry

18. results #1

19. category 2 positive judgement words • amazing, beautiful, best, better, funny, good, great, important, interesting, lucky, nice, perfect, right, strong, success, successful, wonderful

20. Who are TGMs most like for POSITIVE JUDGEMENT words? • CIS-MALES • CIS-FEMALES

21. positive judgement TGMs are like cisfemales

22. positive judgement • cisfemaleTGM • funny • beautiful good • important important • interesting interesting • lucky lucky • nice nice • perfect perfect

23. results #2

24. category 3: negative judgement • awful, bad, challenge, crazy, difficult, horrible, odd, problem, risk, serious, silly, strange, stupid, terrible, tragic, trouble, weird, worst, wrong

25. Who are TGMs most like for NEGATIVE JUDGEMENT words? • CIS-MALES • CIS-FEMALES

26. negative judgement: TGMs are like cismales

27. negative judgement • cisfemales • bad silly • challenge strange • horrible stupid • serious terrible

28. results #3

29. 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

30. Who are the TGMs most like for AMPLIFIERS? • CIS-MALES • CIS-FEMALES

31. amplifiers: TGMs are like cisfemales

32. amplifiers • TGMcisfemales • always absolutely • definitely never • really so • totally very

33. results #4

34. 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

35. Who are the TGMs most like for HEDGES? • CIS-MALES • CIS-FEMALES

36. HedgesTGMs are unique

37. hedges • TGM • a lot pretty • just probably • kind of question • like seem • necessarily well

38. 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

39. results #5

40. category 6 politeness • fine, glad, regret, sorry, thank, thankful

41. Who are the TGMs most like in POLITENESS words? • CIS-MALES • CIS-FEMALES

42. politenessTGMs are like cismales

43. politeness • cisfemales • thanks • thankful • sorry

44. Summing up the results

45. TGM -- emotional language • If they say they reallyfeel like, you know, • their gender identity is a problem, • a birth defect that needs to be corrected, • I think that’s very sad.

46. 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 words • Match your/your client’s language to men you want to emulate: BALANCE

47. what this means if you are a transwoman • In emotional contexts with other women: • use more emotional language • make more judgements about things • hedge/amplify more • use politeness markers

48. Context • more feminine language with other women, close family • less feminine language in mixed company, at work • BALANCE masculine and feminine language

49. nature vs nurture • Nature for Emotion, Negative Judgement & Politeness? • Nurture for Positive Judgement & Amplifiers? • What about Hedges?

50. future directions • We need more research on transwomen • Research 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.