Human voice and speech production and perception as a locus of gender (de)categorization: Shifting towards an emergent non-binary gender paradigm – NoBiPho

The aim of our project is to explore the language and cognition interface, a yet underexplored field.

We aim to elaborate an experimental approach taking into account the complexity of ideological issues involved in all language behavior, including scientific metadiscourses. The current debate around the proliferation of new gender labels and identities constitutes our research ground. The consortium includes cognitive linguists and sociolinguists, sociophoneticians, and experts in ideology analysis and gender studies, based in Sorbonne Nouvelle University and in Aix-Marseille University. Additionally, it benefits from the participation of Aron Arnold, as an external expert based at the Université Catholique de Louvain. Our consortium works in collaboration with people identifying as genderqueer, gender diverse or non-binary (to be compared to a control group of random cisgender people).

The study of voice and speech production in this project will take into account gender performativity; the binarity of gender is not assumed in order to avoid data description in terms that are circular. The cognition of gendered speech remains largely under-described. For these reasons, we suggest to use experimental methods to explore vocal and speech production and perception practices and thus bring together both the social and cognitive dimensions of gender. The first goal of the project is to test emerging paradigms that view gender as a non-binary system, free from the postulate of the human sexual dimorphism. The second goal is to propose new modelizations that account for human diversity and for cognitive human potentialities to adapt to new gender paradigms.
In our research protocol, we evaluate the possibility of describing gender through models with two, three, four or more categories, or even to eliminate gender categorization as a relevant operational criterion. This framework will be used to revisit a long series of previous studies which have highlighted a gendered bi-partition of particular phonetic markers or parameters, in order to challenge the interpretations of previous studies that have used a binary gender paradigm.

We will use mixed methods to investigate self-categorization and voice control, as well as the categorical perception of others based on audio stimuli. What do individuals do linguistically when they perceive gender categories as fluid, mosaic, or non-existent? How do individuals achieve a fluid or non-binary gender performance from a critical linguistic and cognitive perspective? What are the empirical foundations of non-binarity in the fields of production and perception of speech and human voices? Or, more broadly, how can language (i.e., voice and speech) be a locus of new gender paradigms? The languages chosen to explore the linguistic effects of large scale gender paradigm shifts are French and English.
The impact of the project is substantial not only on the scientific field, but also on the social field, by providing solid foundations for future public policies and societal approaches to sex and gender identity going beyond biology.

The funding request focuses on the recruitment of a postdoctoral researcher (24 months) and a research engineer (part-time for 10 months). The postdoctoral researcher will split their time between Aix and Paris in order to benefit from the resources of both laboratories and the expertise of all team members.
The project will rely on informants and participants from different populations (individuals with and without experience with non-binary speakers, trained in an experimental condition and not trained random listeners, as well as French and English speakers), thus a key element in the proposal concerns the request for fees needed as compensation for their time and participation.