the conceptualization of transgender identities in the us: a lexical, diachronic and corpus-based approach
doi: https://doi.org/10.31810/rsel.53.1.10
Keywords:
transgender linguistics; diachronic variation; corpus linguisticsAbstract
The aim of this study is to examine the conceptualization of the transgender community in the US from the mid-twentieth century until nowadays. This is achieved by analyzing the three most common terms which have been used to refer to the trans community in the timespan previously mentioned: transvestite, transsexual, and transgender. The investigation follows a corpus-based approach, gathering the data from COHA and COCA, and combines quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the use and frequency of the words, and the semantic prosody associated to them. Similar results are obtained between the terms transvestite and transsexual both regarding their frequency distribution and usage. These terms emerged in the medical field during the 70s and the 80s, and progressively became popular in informal vocabulary. Hence, a significant semantic change is appreciated towards a more colloquial and negative meaning in which the use of the terms is sometimes conflictive, conceptualizing transgender women in derogatory and violent terms. The results regarding the term transgender are significantly different, it popularized from 2010 onward representing the transgender community a plural entity. Therefore, it is more prevalent in political, legal, mediatic and educational contexts, showing positive connotations related to the trans rights movement.
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