Bilingual subjectivity among Filipino male queers: A phenomenological study

• Main Author: Guianan, Darwin M
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Bilingualism, Subjectivity (Linguistics); Gay men—Communication > Philippines; Gay men > Language; Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdd_deal/12; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdd_deal/article/1016/viewcontent/Bilingual_subjectivity_among_filipino_male_queers__A_phenomenolog.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Looking at gender, subjectivity, and queer theory into an eclectic critical form of inquiry could lead to a discovery of linguistic gendered phenomenon known as “queer subjectivity.” Taking Pavlenko’s post-feminist approach to gender and bilingualism realizes queer subjectivity from a bilingual perspective. Bilingual subjectivity among L2 queer speakers may reveal “a speaker’s capacity to posit him-self as a “subject”; a transcendence of one’s totality of actual experiences which assembles and makes the permanence of the consciousness” (Benveniste, 1958 p.224). Thus, looking at language subjectivity from a bilingual and queer theoretical perspective, the present study attempts to describe Filipino male queers as bilingual subjectives. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, a model was proposed that represents Filipino male queer bilingual subjectivity using English as L2 on the following bilingual aspects: domains and settings, intentions and motivations, and how queerness contributes to them as bilingual subjectives. The findings highlight Filipino male queers as competent bilinguals who see English as a language of prestige, intelligibility, and queerness. Keywords: Queer, Bilingual Subjectivity, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis