Lal Zimman

Last updated

Lal Zimman
NationalityAmerican
TitleAssociate Professor
Awards Ruth Benedict Prize
Academic background
Alma mater
Thesis Voices in Transition: Testosterone, Transmasculinity, and the Gendered Voice among Female-to-Male Transgender People
Doctoral advisor Kira Hall

Lal Zimman is an American linguist who works on sociocultural linguistics, sociophonetics, language, gender and identity, and transgender linguistics.

Contents

Education

Zimman received his BA in Philosophy and MA in English with a Linguistics concentration from San Francisco State University. He received his PhD in linguistics from University of Colorado Boulder in 2012 where he worked under Kira Hall. [2] His dissertation, Voices in Transition: Testosterone, Transmasculinity, and the Gendered Voice among Female-to-Male Transgender People, used both ethnographic and sociophonetic methods to explore the effects of hormone therapy on the voices of trans men. [3]

Career

Zimman's work has been influential in developing the field of trans linguistics. [4] [5] He has been widely recognized for his work on inclusive language reform and activism, [6] [7] [8] the relationship between the body, biological sex, and the voice, [9] [10] and pronouns and singular they. [11] [12]

Zimman is currently assistant professor of Linguistics & Affiliated Faculty in Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also General Editor for Studies in Language, Gender, and Sexuality for Oxford University Press. [1]

In 2014, Zimman published a co-edited volume, Queer Excursions: Retheorizing Binaries in Language, Gender, and Sexuality (published by Oxford University Press), which won the Association for Queer Anthropology's Ruth Benedict Prize. [13]

He has taught several classes on Sociocultural Linguistics, Language, Gender & Sexuality, and Sociophonetics. [1] He has been interviewed for programs such as The Vocal Fries podcast. [10]

Personal life

Zimman was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Zimman is transgender and uses he/him and they/them pronouns. [14]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

The word cisgender describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not transgender. The prefix cis- is Latin and means on this side of. The term cisgender was coined in 1994 as an antonym to transgender, and entered into dictionaries starting in 2015 as a result of changes in social discourse about gender. The term has been and continues to be controversial and subject to critique.

Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies and women's studies.

Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality is the preferred or normal sexual orientation. It assumes the gender binary and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between people of opposite sex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pansexuality</span> Sexual attraction to people regardless of sex or gender identity

Pansexuality is sexual, romantic, or emotional attraction towards people of all genders, or regardless of their sex or gender identity. Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determining factors in their romantic or sexual attraction to others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-binary gender</span> Gender identities that are neither exclusively male nor female

Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is different from the sex assigned to them at birth, although some non-binary people do not consider themselves transgender.

LGBT slang, LGBT speak, queer slang, or gay slang is a set of English slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBTQ+ people. It has been used in various languages since the early 20th century as a means by which members of the LGBTQ+ community identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to others. The acronym LGBT was popularized in the 1990s and stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-cisgender, instead of exclusively to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. To recognize this inclusion, a popular variant, LGBTQ, adds the letter Q for those who identify as queer or are questioning their sexual or gender identity.

Gay male speech has been the focus of numerous modern stereotypes, as well as sociolinguistic studies, particularly within North American English. Scientific research has uncovered phonetically significant features produced by many gay men and demonstrated that listeners accurately guess speakers' sexual orientation at rates greater than chance. Historically, gay male speech characteristics have been highly stigmatized, so that such features were often reduced in certain settings, such as the workplace.

Riki Anne Wilchins is an American activist whose work has primarily focused on the impact of gender norms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attraction to transgender people</span> Romantic or sexual attraction to transgender people

Sexual attraction to transgender people has been the subject of scientific study and social commentary. Psychologists have researched sexual attraction toward trans women, trans men, cross dressers, non-binary people, and a combination of these. Publications in the field of transgender studies have investigated the attraction transgender individuals can feel for each other. The people who feel this attraction to transgender people name their attraction in different ways.

The gender binary is the classification of gender into two distinct forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system, cultural belief, or both simultaneously. Most cultures use a gender binary, having two genders.

Research into the many possible relationships, intersections and tensions between language and gender is diverse. It crosses disciplinary boundaries, and, as a bare minimum, could be said to encompass work notionally housed within applied linguistics, linguistic anthropology, conversation analysis, cultural studies, feminist media studies, feminist psychology, gender studies, interactional sociolinguistics, linguistics, mediated stylistics, sociolinguistics, and feminist language reform and media studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender</span> Gender identity other than sex assigned at birth

A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. Some transgender people who desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another identify as transsexual. Transgender is also an umbrella term; in addition to including people whose gender identity is the opposite of their assigned sex, it may also include people who are non-binary or genderqueer. Other definitions of transgender also include people who belong to a third gender, or else conceptualize transgender people as a third gender. The term may also include cross-dressers or drag kings and drag queens in some contexts. The term transgender does not have a universally accepted definition, including among researchers.

LGBT linguistics is the study of language as used by members of LGBT communities. Related or synonymous terms include lavender linguistics, advanced by William Leap in the 1990s, which "encompass[es] a wide range of everyday language practices" in LGBT communities, and queer linguistics, which refers to the linguistic analysis concerning the effect of heteronormativity on expressing sexual identity through language. The former term derives from the longtime association of the color lavender with LGBT communities. "Language", in this context, may refer to any aspect of spoken or written linguistic practices, including speech patterns and pronunciation, use of certain vocabulary, and, in a few cases, an elaborate alternative lexicon such as Polari.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny L. Davis</span> American linguist and anthropologist

Jenny L. Davis is an American linguist, anthropologist, and poet. She is an Associate Professor of Anthropology, American Indian Studies, and Gender & Women's Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign where she is the director of the American Indian Studies Program. Her research is on contemporary Indigenous languages and identity, focusing on Indigenous language revitalization and Indigenous gender and sexuality, especially within the Two-Spirit movement.

Homonormativity is the adoption of heteronormative ideals and constructs onto LGBT culture and identity. It is predicated on the assumption that the norms and values of heterosexuality should be replicated and performed among homosexual people. Those who assert this theory claim homonormativity selectively privileges cisgender homosexuality as worthy of social acceptance.

Neopronouns are neologistic third-person personal pronouns beyond those that already exist in a language. In English, neopronouns replace the existing pronouns "he", "she", and "they". Neopronouns are preferred by some non-binary individuals who feel that they provide options to reflect their gender identity more accurately than conventional pronouns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autism and LGBT identities</span>

Current research indicates that autistic people have higher rates of LGBT identities and feelings than the general population. A variety of explanations for this have been proposed, such as prenatal hormonal exposure, which has been linked with sexual orientation, gender dysphoria and autism. Alternatively, autistic people may be less reliant on social norms and thus are more open about their orientation or gender identity. A narrative review published in 2016 stated that while various hypotheses have been proposed for an association between autism and gender dysphoria, they lack strong evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terminology of transgender anatomy</span>

Transgender people use a variety of terms to refer to their genitals and other sexually dimorphic body parts and bodily functions. While some may use the standard clinical and colloquial terms, others follow neologistic approaches. These replacement words serve as alternatives to existing names that may conflict with a person's gender identity and trigger gender dysphoria. In medical contexts, providers may use traditional clinical terms, or may use alternate terms such as internal genitals and external gonads.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Lal Zimman | Department of Linguistics - UC Santa Barbara". www.linguistics.ucsb.edu. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  2. "Lal Zimman". lalzimman.org. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  3. Zimman, Lal (2016), "Sociolinguistic Agency and the Gendered Voice: Metalinguistic Negotiations of Vocal Masculinization among Female-to-Male Transgender Speakers", Awareness and Control in Sociolinguistic Research, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 253–277, doi:10.1017/cbo9781139680448.013, ISBN   9781139680448 , retrieved June 4, 2022
  4. Zimman, Lal (September 2, 2020), "Transgender Language, Transgender Moment: Toward a Trans Linguistics", The Oxford Handbook of Language and Sexuality, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212926.013.45, ISBN   978-0-19-021292-6 , retrieved June 4, 2022
  5. Zimman, Lal (October 6, 2021). "Beyond the cis gays' cis gaze". Gender and Language. 15 (3). doi:10.1558/genl.20883. ISSN   1747-633X. S2CID   240256058.
  6. "Facebook, the gender binary, and third-person pronouns". OUPblog. September 23, 2014. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  7. Harrison, Olivia. "Our Partners, Ourselves: Why Is It So Hard To Know What To Call A Significant Other?". www.refinery29.com. Archived from the original on May 29, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  8. Zimman, Lal (2018), "Pronouns and Possibilities: Transgender Language Activism and Reform", Language and Social Justice in Practice, Routledge, doi:10.4324/9781315115702-23, ISBN   978-1-315-11570-2, S2CID   187627389, archived from the original on March 13, 2022, retrieved June 4, 2022
  9. "Pronunciation of 's' sounds impacts perception of gender, researcher finds". ScienceDaily. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  10. 1 2 "The Vocal Fries – Lal-apalooza – 58:57". radiopublic.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  11. "He, she, they … should we now clarify our preferred pronouns when we say hello?". the Guardian. September 13, 2019. Archived from the original on June 1, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  12. McCurdy, Christen (June 14, 2017). "Are Gender-Neutral Pronouns Actually Doomed?". Pacific Standard. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  13. "Congratulations to Lal Zimman, Jenny L. Davis, and Joshua Raclaw, winners of the 2014 Ruth Benedict Book Prize for Queer Excursions" (PDF). University of Illinois American Indian Studies. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  14. "Lal Zimman". lalzimman.org. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.