Transgender Community’s Perceptions of Applicability of Robin Lakoff’s Theory about Language and Gender

Abstract

By applying the features of women’s speech stated by Lakoff, this research study sheds light on the language of transgender people because this population is relatively unexplored in this study area. It is mostly unknown that transgender people speak in terms that are appropriate for either gender because they can be neither male nor female. Thus, this study evaluates how well Lakoff's theory fits the transgender community and also explores their perceptions about it. Furthermore, this study incorporates both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. This study uses a semi-structured interviewing technique and a questionnaire to collect data from 20 transgender individuals in accordance with an explanatory sequential research design. According to the study's findings, transgender people utilize more tag questions, hedges, rising tone in declarative statements, and “empty” adjectives. However, transgender individuals do not lack a sense of humor. The transgender community is therefore relevant to Lakoff's idea. In addition to questioning gender stereotypes and highlighting cultural variety, this study provides a platform for further research on this group of marginalized people in society. The results of this research cannot be applied to other cultural contexts due to its small sample size and restriction to a particular Pakistani cultural context. Furthermore, because transgender people are difficult to reach and due to limited time framework, the research's quality and scope can be affected.