Stylistics Variation: Understanding Gay Lingo in Social Perspectives

Abstract

Gay lingo is one of the languages commonly spoken by gays and their friends. It manifests linguistics traits that prevent non-speakers from interacting with its speakers. This qualitative research used a case study combined with discourse analysis through production task and elicitation to determine the background of gay lingo speakers, gay lexicon, coinage, social context, and social perspectives of gay lingo speaking. The researcher used semi-structured interviews and survey (using questionnaires) to gather data from purposively selected 12 (gay and non-gay) senior high students and teachers in a secondary school. The study found that the stylistics variation of gay lingo is in the word coinage through phonology, and morphological transformations, among others. The social context of gay lingo is to provide cover for sensual topics, to gossip, and to upscale one's status. For non-gays, gay lingo speaking is a means to remove communication barriers. Gays perceive gay lingo speaking of non-gays as affirmation. Discursive studies of gay lingo is needed, while studies on the effects of gay lingo on the mainstream language is also recommended.