Gay Language: Defying the Structural Limits of English Language in the Philippines

• Main Author: Casabal, Norberto V.
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: code-mixing; gayspeak; gender difference; Philippine English; street-talk
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss11/18; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1155/viewcontent/_5BKKv00n11_2008_5D_205.1_NewScholarsForum_Casabal.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Gay language has achieved a higher degree of acceptance in recent years in the Philippines. Both gays and non-gays can be heard uttering gay expressions. But the main role of gayspeak for gay people in the Philippines is to function as an “armor” to shield themselves from the chasm and the social stigma caused by gender differences. From a linguistic point of view, this paper not only describes the nature of this gay language and how expressions are coined; it also looks at how code mixing (gayspeak + English language) is made possible. This paper also examines how this code-mixing creatively violates the grammatical structure of the use of the English language in the Philippines.