Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference

Last updated
Lavender Languages & Linguistics Conference
StatusActive
Founded1993
FoundersWilliam Leap

The Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference is an international conference for LGBT linguistics and other related queer language research and discourse studies. [1] It provides a place for emerging queer linguistics scholarship. [2] The conference is the longest continually running LGBT studies conference in the US. [3]

Contents

In 2017 the conference expanded to a Summer Institute [4] with 10 days of class discussion, research opportunities and informal conversations exploring topics of current interest in language and sexuality studies, queer linguistics, and various lavender language themes.

History

The Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference was founded in 1993 by William Leap [5] [6] to coincide with the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. At the time, research on these topics was considered marginal within linguistics, and the conference was a key place for researchers to come together to discuss issues in the field. [7] [8] By the 20th conference, there were over 80 presentations and 150 attendees. [9] The conference was host yearly at American University in Washington, DC until 2017 when the conference began to move each year.

A meta-synthesis of conference abstracts by Paul Baker and published in Milani's chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Language and Society found early work presented at the conference focused on the existence of "gay language" such as Polari and "lesbian language". In line with the trajectory of the field, more recent work has focused on how various linguistic features index different identities. [10]

The Journal of Language and Sexuality (though not officially linked to LavLang) is closely affiliated with the conference. [11] It was an established venue to publish queer linguistics research. [7] [12]

Conferences

NumberYearDateHost UniversityCityCountryWebsiteNotes
1st1993April American University Washington, D.C. United States
2nd1994 American University Washington, D.C. United States
3rd1995 American University Washington, D.C. United States
4th1996September American University Washington, D.C. United StatesKeynote speakers: Ellen Lewin, Charles Nero, Deborah Tannen, Riki Ann Wilchins
5th1997 American University Washington, D.C. United States
6th1998 American University Washington, D.C. United States
7th1999 American University Washington, D.C. United States
8th2000 American University Washington, D.C. United States
9th2002February American University Washington, D.C. United States
11th2003 American University Washington, D.C. United States
12th2004 American University Washington, D.C. United States
13th2005 American University Washington, D.C. United States
14th2006 American University Washington, D.C. United States
15th2008 American University Washington, D.C. United States
16th2009February American University Washington, D.C. United StatesPlenaries: Aren Aizura and Mary Weismantel
17th2010April American University Washington, D.C. United StatesPlenaries/Special Presentations:

Gibran Guido, Ellen Lewin, Andrew Tucker

18th2011February American University Washington, D.C. United StatesPlenaries:

Scott Kiesling, Carlos Decena, Sharif Mowlabocus

19th2012February American University Washington, D.C. United StatesSpecial Events:
  • Reporting and Writing Queer Temporalities (Panel discussion)
  • Voices from a Chorus(featuring Paula Bresnan Gibson)
  • 1 Girl, 5 Gays and LGBTQ Discourses in School Settings (featuring Philip Tetro)
  • A Reading from “The Bar Notebook” (featuring Bonnie Morris)
20th2013February American University Washington, D.C. United StatesSpecial Events:
  • Master Class with Tom Boellstorff
  • 20th Annual Conference Reception with AU Pride
21st2014February American University Washington, D.C. United StatesSpecial Events:
  • Critical Discourse Analysis Workshop with David Peterson
  • Premier of Reinterpreting Bukovac (A Documentary Film)
  • “American Orientation: Interpellation of the Gay Male Subject in Literary Narratives in Taiwan” with Ta-Wei Chi
22nd2015February American University Washington, D.C. United StatesPlenary: Rusty Barrett
23nd2016February American University Washington, D.C. United States
24th2017April University of Nottingham Nottingham United Kingdom Keynote speakers: Dr Helen Sauntson, York St John University (UK) and Professor Paul Baker, Lancaster University (UK).
25th2018April Rhode Island College Providence, Rhode Island United States Keynote speakers: Mie Hiramoto (National University of Singapore) Margot Weiss (Wesleyan University) and Lal Zimman (University of California, Santa Barbara).
26th2019May University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden Keynote Speakers: Erika Alm, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Mons Bissenbakker, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Rodrigo Borba, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Holly Cashman, University of New Hampshire, USA, Thabo Msibi, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

27th2021May California Institute of Integral Studies San Francisco United States Keynote speakers: Jack Halberstam, Columbia University and Elizabeth Freeman, University of California at Davis

Originally planned to be hosted in 2020 in San Francisco at California Institute of Integral Studies, the conference was postpoponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually moved to an online format in 2021.

28th2022May University of Catania Catania Italy [5] Keynote speakers: J Calder, Adriana Di Stefano, Busi Makoni, Pietro Maturi, Tommaso M. Milani, Eva Nossem
29th2023March Boise State University Boise United States Keynote speakers: Nikki Lane, Luhui Whitebear, and a Plenary Roundtable "Lavender Languages Past, Present, and Future"
30th2024August University of Brighton Brighton EnglandKeynote Speakers: William Leap, Jenny Davis, Veronika Koller

Lavender Languages Summer Institute

The Lavender Language Institute, a summer program that Leap founded at Florida Atlantic University in 2017, offers training in queer linguistics to undergraduates, grad students, and others interested in language and sexuality studies.

NumberYearDateHost UniversityCityStateNotes
1st2018June Florida Atlantic University Boca RatonFlorida
2nd2019June Florida Atlantic University Boca RatonFlorida
3rd2021June Florida Atlantic University Originally planned to be hosted in 2020 in person at Florida Atlantic University the conference was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually moved to an online format in 2021.
4th2022June Florida Atlantic University
5th2023June Florida Atlantic University
6th2024June California Institute of Integral Studies

Related Research Articles

<i>LGBTQ</i> Initialism for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer"

LGBTQ is an initialism of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning. It is an umbrella term, broadly referring to all sexualities, romantic orientations, and gender identities which are not heterosexual or cisgender.

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.

The origin of the LGBT student movement can be linked to other activist movements from the mid-20th century in the United States. The Civil Rights Movement and Second-wave feminist movement were working towards equal rights for other minority groups in the United States. Though the student movement began a few years before the Stonewall riots, the riots helped to spur the student movement to take more action in the US. Despite this, the overall view of these gay liberation student organizations received minimal attention from contemporary LGBT historians. This oversight stems from the idea that the organizations were founded with haste as a result of the riots. Others historians argue that this group gives too much credit to groups that disagree with some of the basic principles of activist LGBT organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robyn Ochs</span> American bisexual activist, professional speaker and workshop leader

Robyn Ochs is an American bisexual activist, professional speaker, and workshop leader. Her primary fields of interest are gender, sexuality, identity, and coalition building. She is the editor of the Bisexual Resource Guide, Bi Women Quarterly, and the anthology Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. Ochs, along with Professor Herukhuti, co-edited the anthology Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men.

Over the course of its history, the LGBTQ community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies</span>

CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies was founded in 1991 by professor Martin Duberman as the first university-based research center in the United States dedicated to the study of historical, cultural, and political issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) individuals and communities. Housed at the Graduate Center, CUNY, CLAGS sponsors public programs and conferences, offers fellowships to individual scholars, and functions as a conduit of information. It also serves as a national center for the promotion of scholarship that fosters social change.

Don Kulick is a Swedish anthropologist and linguist who is the professor of anthropology at Uppsala University. Kulick works within the frameworks of both cultural and linguistic anthropology, and has carried out field work in Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Italy and Sweden. Kulick is also known for his extensive fieldwork on the Tayap people and their language in Gapun village of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.

Kira Hall is Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology, as well as director for the Program in Culture, Language, and Social Practice (CLASP), at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

LGBT linguistics is the study of language as used by members of LGBTQ 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.

<i>Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality</i> Academic journal

The Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality is a student-edited law review published by Tulane University Law School, and is the official law journal for the National LGBT Bar Association. It was the first law journal to solely discuss legal issues concerning the LGBTQ+ community in the United States, and continues to publish the winning article of the annual Michael Greenberg Writing Competition. The journal has published works involving constitutional, employment, family, healthcare, insurance and military law among other topics intersecting with sexuality.

William Leap is an emeritus professor of anthropology at American University and an affiliate professor in the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Florida Atlantic University. He works in the overlapping fields of language and sexuality studies and queer linguistics, and queer historical linguistics.

Queer pornography depicts performers with various gender identities and sexual orientations interacting and exploring genres of desire and pleasure in unique ways. These conveyed interactions distinctively seek to challenge the conventional modes of portraying and experiencing sexually explicit content. Scholar Ingrid Ryberg additionally includes two main objectives of queer pornography in her definition as "interrogating and troubling gender and sexual categories and aiming at sexual arousal."

Racism is a concern for many in the Western lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) communities, with members of racial, ethnic, and national minorities reporting having faced discrimination from other LGBT people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Bronski</span> American academic and writer (born 1949)

Michael Bronski is an American academic and writer, best known for his 2011 book A Queer History of the United States. He has been involved with LGBT politics since 1969 as an activist and organizer. He has won numerous awards for LGBTQ activism and scholarship, including the prestigious Publishing Triangle's Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement. Bronski is a Professor of Practice in Media and Activism at Harvard University.

LGBT migration is the movement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people around the world or within one country. LGBT individuals choose to migrate so as to escape discrimination, bad treatment and negative attitudes due to their sexuality, including homophobia and transphobia. These people are inclined to be marginalized and face socio-economic challenges in their home countries. Globally and domestically, many LGBT people attempt to leave discriminatory regions in search of more tolerant ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African-American LGBTQ community</span> African-American population within the LGBT community

The African-American LGBT community, otherwise referred to as the Black American LGBT community, is part of the overall LGBTQ culture and overall African-American culture. The initialism LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT people in science</span> Overview of LGBT people in science

LGBT people in science are students, professionals, hobbyists, and anyone else who is LGBT and interested in science. The sexuality of many people in science remains up for debate by historians, largely due to the unaccepting cultures in which many of these people lived. For the most part, we do not know for certain how people in the past would have labelled their sexuality or gender because many individuals lived radically different private lives outside of the accepted gender and sexual norms of their time. One such example of a historical person in science that was arguably part of the LGBT community is Leonardo da Vinci, whose sexuality was later the subject of Sigmund Freud's study.

Elizabeth McDermott is a Professor of Health Inequality at Lancaster University, in England. Her research considers mental health inequality, with a focus on gender, social class and young people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Nickolaus Tretter</span> American LGBTQ archivist (1946–2022)

Jean-Nickolaus Tretter was an American activist and LGBT archivist who created the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies, housed by the University of Minnesota.

The Rainbow History Project, also known as RHP, is an American history project founded in Washington, D.C. in November 2000. Its purpose is to “collect, preserve, and promote an active knowledge of the history, arts, and culture of metropolitan Washington DC's diverse LGBTQ+ communities.” RHP's various activities include collecting oral histories, providing walking tours, hosting panel presentations, gathering archival materials, recognizing community pioneers, and research assistance.

References

  1. "Breaking the Stereotype of LGBTQ Language". www.newswise.com. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  2. Blauenstein, Laura (April 26, 2021). "Lavender Languages Legacy: The No Attitude, Community-Building Conference Comes to CIIS". CIIS News and Events. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  3. Friess, Caitlin (February 7, 2014). "Lavender Languages: Linguistics and Culture for the LGBTQ Community". American University. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  4. "2nd Annual Lavender Languages – Summer Institute" . Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  5. "Lavender Language, The Queer Way to Speak". www.out.com. 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  6. "This Month in Linguistics History: Lavender Language/Linguistics | Linguistic Society of America". www.linguisticsociety.org. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  7. 1 2 Jones, Lucy (2021-02-15). "Queer linguistics and identity: The past decade". Journal of Language and Sexuality. 10 (1): 13–24. doi:10.1075/jls.00010.jon. ISSN   2211-3770. S2CID   234078991.
  8. "Definition of lavender language, BuzzWord from Macmillan Dictionary". www.macmillandictionary.com. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  9. DiGuglielmo, Joey (2013-02-14). "Queer conference explores language". Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  10. García, Ofelia; Flores, Nelson; Spotti, Massimiliano, eds. (2016-12-05). "The Oxford Handbook of Language and Society". Oxford Handbooks Online. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212896.001.0001. ISBN   978-0-19-021289-6.
  11. "William Leap's Reflections upon Retirement". CaMP Anthropology. 2019-12-15. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  12. Leap, William L.; Motschenbacher, Heiko (eds.). "Journal of Language and Sexuality". JLS. Retrieved 2021-06-12.