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Junquan Pan_MA_Thesis.pdf (762.12 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Constructing a Gay Persona: A Sociophonetic Case Study of an LGBT Talk Show in Taiwan

Pan, Junquan, Pan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532014383060877

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, East Asian Languages and Literatures.
The thesis draws upon both quantitative and qualitative approaches to linguistic variation. Specifically, for the quantitative study, the thesis conducts a sociophonetic case study of an LGBT talk show in Taiwan, with a focus on one gay speaker’s variation in pitch range. In this quantitative approach, statistically significant differences are found across the subject’s various speaking situations. The subject, HY, exhibits a considerable cross-situational variation: When HY participates in the talk show both as a guest and as a host his average maximum f0 is higher than as an applicant. More crucially, when HY is attending the talk show as a guest, his f0 pitch range is significantly wider than as an applicant and a host. To explain the phonetic variation, the thesis proposes that the sociophonetic variation in pitch range is motivated by interactional personas that are subject to specific speaking situations. However, the sociophonetic variation observed in the talk show is just part of the story of HY's stylistic performance. In order to tell the entire story, the study also includes a qualitative study via the analysis of discourse to examine two conversational excerpts where HY participates in the talk show as a guest. HY uses some linguistic and gestural features that have been ideologically associated with Chinese women, such as the female term of reference laoniang 'old woman' or a typical feminine gesture, such as tucking hair behind the ears. In this thesis, I seek an explanation for the relationship between these semiotic features observed in the talk show and HY's gay identity. Adopting the social constructionist paradigm, the study demonstrates that the form-meaning relationship is not a one-to-one mapping, but is mediated through stance-taking. According to the notion of indexicality, the linguistic and gestural features take on their semiotic value through HY's stance in the LGBT talk show and these interactional stances are ideologically re-associated with, and reinterpreted as his gay identity. Throughout the online talk show, HY develops his persona and his own personal style through interactions on a micro level, which help him to construct his gay identity.
Chan Marjorie K.M. (Advisor)
Xie Zhiguo (Committee Member)
114 p.
Asian Studies; Language; Linguistics; Sociolinguistics
the LGBT Community; Gay Men; Taiwan Mandarin; Taiwan; Chinese Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Sociophonetics; Speaker Design; Indexicality; Language Performance; Identity; Style; Persona;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pan, Pan, J. (2018). Constructing a Gay Persona: A Sociophonetic Case Study of an LGBT Talk Show in Taiwan [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532014383060877

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pan, Pan, Junquan. Constructing a Gay Persona: A Sociophonetic Case Study of an LGBT Talk Show in Taiwan. 2018. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532014383060877.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pan, Pan, Junquan. "Constructing a Gay Persona: A Sociophonetic Case Study of an LGBT Talk Show in Taiwan." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1532014383060877

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.