TRANS AFFIRMING LINGUISTICS Kirby Conrod University of Washington

TRANS AFFIRMING LINGUISTICS Kirby Conrod University of Washington @kirbyconrod

ABD Ph. D candidate fifth year Nonbinary/agender Started social and biomedical transition in grad school Experiences with being misgendered drew me to researching pronouns Encountering linguistics research that “can’t account for” my existence drew me to sociolinguistics ABOUT ME

First GP: Pronominal Relative Clauses Second GP: Pronouns and Misgendering Dissertation Predicative pronouns; change in singular they; sociopragmatics of pronouns; syntax of pronouns Talks: sociolinguistic methods around sex; changes in singular they; alternations of pronouns; pronouns and misgendering Soon: learning / learnability; nonbinary speakers in gendered languages MY RESEARCH STORY

Misgendered by students and faculty Responses to corrections: I’m trying but it’s hard Don’t correct me in front of students Publicly calling me Stalinist The GOOD: Students this quarter only used singular they in teaching evals (even negative ones) More public understanding/awareness of singular they (supported by my research & others) TRANS EXPERIENCES IN LINGUISTICS

Put your pronouns on your nametag, in your email signature, etc. – normalize! Get GOOD at being flexible with pronouns so that you won’t misgender your students or colleagues. Practice! Correct others (especially senior scholars) who misgender (anyone, not just students or linguists) Call out transphobic comments when you see them (especially from senior scholars) Approach foundational literature with a critical eye, seek out logical problems in textbooks and discuss them openly and carefully Use this power as an instructor, reviewer, editor, researcher Include trans authors in your syllabi, etc WANT MORE TRANS LINGUISTS?

Seek out peers at other institutions (network @ conferences, FB groups, Twitter) Be prepared to do a little bit of educating – but don’t let them derail you from your actual research interests Cis advisors can be empathetic and supportive (especially if they have lived experience with prejudice of other kinds) If your advisor is not growing and learning, switch advisors (earlier rather than later) ARE YOU A TRANS LINGUIST?

Don’t start with a transphobic research question Un-conflate sex and gender in your mind and your experiment design And don’t just then chalk something up to sex if gender doesn’t explain it (cf my GURT talk) Be thoughtful about discussing gendered language (e. g. pronouns, gendered verb endings, etc. ) – if you can, look into how trans people are using that language Get input from trans scholars on trans issues (and pass it on to your students – not just the trans ones but all of them!). NOT DOING TRANSPHOBIC RESEARCH

More resources about pronouns: https: //pronounsday. org/resources Trans linguistics bibliography: http: //www. lalzimman. com/transbibliography. html Considerations for Research with Trans Subjects and Communities: http: //www. transacademics. org/considerations_research_t Recommendations for research with trans subjects: https: //www. tandfonline. com/doi/abs/10. 1080/19419899. 2018. 1434558 (WIP) – Nonbinary language annotated bibliography: https: //docs. google. com/document/d/19 r. BG 6 ZDhr-0 rs. NSm. P 7 l. JI 6 Cz. Ypc 0 Jztrd. Qk. AG 1 o 6 qc/edit? usp=sharing RESOURCES