“The one and only Boy that can Catwalk like Zeda Jane”: Language Use Among a Group of Homosexual Individuals
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
ABSTRACT
“The one and only boy that can catwalk like Zeda Jane”- Most male individuals would not know who Zeda Jane is and how to catwalk. However, the homosexuals studied in this paper are the experts. The Malaysian community refuses to understand the psyche and identity of the homosexual individuals or learn about their language usage much less take note of their interests, skills and talents and because of this, the homosexuals are estranged from the community. This paper is an outcome of a study that investigated the language use of a group of homosexual individuals (gays). The objective of this paper is to discuss the language features used by the homosexual individuals in verbal communication and to identify whether the homosexuals use feminine language features or masculine language features in verbal communication. The data is obtained from qualitative recorded conversations between two respondents. The recorded conversations were transcribed and analyzed using Discourse Analysis and Conversational Analysis as the Analytical Framework. The results reveal that the homosexual individuals studied used feminine language features more than masculine language features in their verbal interaction. This shows that the homosexuals have a unique way of communication since they use mixed language features in their conversation. This paper is of interest to academicians, students and researchers interested in feminine and masculine language in language and gender.
KEYWORDS
Discourse Analysis, Conversation Analysis, homosexuals, feminine language, masculine language.