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Transgender stigma

A collective and constitutive effect of language linked to the speech act of disapproving and social control

ORCiD logo with link | The Fenway Institute, USABostonMA
 | Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
 | University of Toronto
 | Whitman-Walker, USA
 | Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
 | University of Michigan
Published online: 10 March 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.24078.dam
Abstract
This study analyzes the discursive construction of transgender stigma in depictions of transgender people by the Peruvian press. It provides an important theoretical advancement establishing the press’ disapproving language actions (DLAs) as the nexus between social control and stigma. It connects sociolinguistics, speech act theory, media studies, and transgender research, leveraging the value of prior research informing the speech action of disapproving. It shows stigma operates as a collective, constitutive, and reproducible effect in public discourse through language mechanisms of implication-inference, prioritization of heteronorms, and repetition of negative and polarizing social meanings. Data triangulation combining Hymesian ethnography with quantitative analysis enhances study credibility and validity. Six detailed analytic steps are described in the qualitative component to encourage study replicability. This study identifies linguistic mechanisms for interventions, offers evidence for more inclusive media policies, aligns with current trends in the literature highlighting the need for speech act analysis in artificial intelligence.
Article outline
  • Language, semiotics, and speech act theory and analysis: The speech act of disapproving and disapproving language actions (DLAs)
  • Media and the press
  • Recent TGD representations in contemporary media
  • Methods
    • Data source
    • Sample selection process
    • Sensitizing frameworks and approach to analysis
    • Units of study
    • Data analysis process
    • Inter-rater reliability and reflexivity
  • Results
    • Quantitative results and discussion (Tables 1 and 2)
    • Qualitative results and discussion
    • Relational posturing/relational dynamics (Table 4, #1)
    • Linguistic Language symbols (Syntactic and lexical-semantic) (Table 4, #2)
    • Paralinguistic and nonlinguistic language symbols (Table 4, #3)
    • Hidden dimensions of language (Table 4, #4)
    • Inference (Table 4, #4a)
    • Prioritization of gender-sex heteronorms/deprioritization of social meaning/values (Table 4, #4b)
    • Repetition (Table 4, #4c)
  • Discussion
  • Limitations and study contributions
  • Conclusions
  • References
References (91)
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