Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1996 10:36:35 -0500
From: "M. Lynne Murphy" 104LYN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MUSE.ARTS.WITS.AC.ZA
Subject: Re: Gay "accent"?
a few sources on gay language:
there's a study on "gay accent" in the spring 1994 issue of
_american speech_. its bibliography contains a few more things.
it's by rudolf gaudio.
greg ward of northwestern univ. compiles a bibliography on queer
language. it's available at:
http://www.ling.nwu.edu/Individuals/Ward/gaybib.html
or by e-mailing him at gw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nwu.edu
also, if you're working on the reclamation of "queer" etc., might i
shamelessly plug my own work? i've a paper called "the elusive
bisexual: psycho-social constraints on lexical semantic change."
(actually, i may have the subtitle wrong.) to appear in kira hall
and anna livia (eds.) _queerly phrased_, oxford u.p., sept. 96, but
i'd happily send off a pre-publication copy to you. it looks at
(among other things) how the meaning of queer has developed in the
time since it has been reclaimed, and how perceptions of what it
means differ from its use.
i've never heard that "gay accent" was related to san francisco
accent. (i've never even heard of a san francisco accent.) usually,
gay speech styles are attributed to effeminacy, affectedness, drama.
good luck,
lynne
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