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Article published In: Journal of Language and Sexuality
Vol. 9:2 (2020) ► pp.127–151

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Menos masculino, demasiado infantil

How age and gender ideologies index sexuality in diminutive perception in Madrid Spanish

 | University of Pittsburgh, USA
 | University of Pittsburgh, USA
Published online: 7 September 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.19013.had
Abstract
Age is an under-analyzed variable in linguistic research concerning gender and sexuality. We consider these three constructs by examining diminutives as an index of gay sexuality in Madrid Spanish across two tasks. Although phonetic cues have received great attention, morphological features (e.g. diminutives) may also index gayness ( 2014. Diminutives and masculinity. In Language and Masculinities: Performances, Intersections, Dislocations, Tommaso Milani (ed), 117–132. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Moreover, despite frequent usage across Spanish-speaking varieties, diminutives are primarily restricted to women and children in north-central Spain (Haensch, Günther. 2002. Español de América y español de Europa (2ª parte). Panace 3(7): 37–64.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). In a diminutive reaction task, 53 Madrid residents indicated whether men, women, adults, or children were likely to have uttered diminutivized sentences. Mixed-effects models indicated that the number of diminutives and sentence theme significantly affected perception, and participants’ evaluations in a free response task corroborated that men using diminutives were considered effeminate, gay, and childish. Thus, even with sociophonetic cues removed, morphological phenomena create a gay percept. This study demonstrates how age ideologies inform indexicalization processes related to gender and sexuality.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The Spanish diminutive
    • 2.1Functions of the diminutive
    • 2.2Diminutive variation
    • 2.3Diminutives and age, gender, and sexuality
  • 3.Method
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Overall rates of selection in diminutive reaction task
    • 4.2Mixed-effects models for diminutive reaction task
    • 4.3Item-analysis: Responses by number of diminutives and sentence theme
    • 4.4Free response task data
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Contextualizing results through the free response task
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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