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Language and Sexuality – Lebanon: A Case Study Using Linguistic Corpora
Abstract
This paper deals with the issues presented by both pre-existing terms used to describe concepts of sexuality in MSA and Lebanese Arabic as well as neologisms that have been created to describe these concepts. The aim of the paper is to look at the adaptation of language in the face of modernity and through the lens of postcolonial theory, and Lebanon has been chosen as a case study. That is, how has modernity affected concepts of sexuality in Lebanon, and how has this been shown through changes in language, and how much of this has been a result of colonial influence in Lebanon (and the surrounding Arab World)? Particular attention will be given to the literature that has been published by the Lebanese LGBTIQ activist groups Helem and Meem, such as Helem’s pamphlet Homosexuality: Myths and Facts. Also, media sources will be analyzed through the use of linguistic corpora, that is, large databases of media and Internet texts, to provide empirical data regarding the usage of terms in the Arabic language to describe concepts of sexuality in the Arab World. In a field where most of the research has been qualitative instead of quantitative, it is the hope of this writer that the inclusion of empirical data regarding the topic will be a useful addition. Also, the sociolinguistic contribution to studies of Arabic language and gender will be discussed as well in this paper. The central argument of this paper is that while Helem and Meem have been informed by the West in their discourse, instead of functioning as a direct “copy” of a Western LGBTIQ group and its discourse, they have, both by choice and by force, begun to create a new form of reverse discourse about sexuality that is capable of being both culturally appropriate and at the same time attacking what they see as the problems in Lebanese society. Furthermore, this writer argues that Helem and Meem’s activism, combined with the incitement to discourse on the topic that has taken place in the Arab World (particularly in Lebanon) has resulted in a form of “politically correct” terminology regarding the issue of sexuality entering into the Arabic language lexicon that did not exist there before.
Discipline
Language
Geographic Area
Lebanon
Sub Area
Queer/LGBT Studies