Lesbian language can be defined as a codified (Queen 1997) and/or an indexible and discursive body of knowledge (Morrish and Sauntson 2007). A large proportion of research has been conducted on the heterosexual-homosexual binary and the construction of the social relations that constitute normalcy and its discursive opposite, abnormalcy, and the various codifications that exemplify these locations. The objective of this present research is to locate the social construction of inclusion within lesbian language using the empirical research technique of memory work (Haug 1987). The data were obtained from a longitudinal group process involving six respondents identifying as lesbian. The results consist of the analysis of discursive patterns produced by the group using written narratives and discussions ensuing from the reading of the narratives. Memory work is the methodology used to obtain the data and is supported by a broad theoretical framework comprising ethnographic sociolinguistics (Berger and Luckmann 1966; Bourdieu 1980; Rampton et al 2006), critical discourse analysis (Halliday 1994), queer theory (Butler 1990-1997) as well as the newly evolving post-queer theories (Seidman 1997; McLaughlin 2003). My focus is on the richer patterns of discursive content that denote the production of textual lesbian-specific inclusion. The results were contextualised as negotiations of inclusion through the process of self-construction within the dichotomous social locations constituting society, specifically those that surround the concept of reality fantasy - and the accumulations of knowledge realised as inclusiveness. Through these three discrete modes of discursive and cultural expression as bodies of research, the memory work group participants demonstrated their discursive and cultural self construction and subsequent inclusion in lesbian language. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/273603 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Kleinert, Veronica, University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, School of Humanities and Languages |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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