The role of English in multilingual online transgender communities

在这个项目中，我将调查英语在国际在线跨性别（trans-）社区中迄今为止毫无疑问的作用，特别是它在身份建构中的作用，以及它在连通性和排斥性方面的潜力。英语媒体在线空间的出现-即，在跨性别者的空间中，英语是主要语言或唯一语言，这大大增加了跨性别者与其他跨性别者接触的机会，对于那些与跨性别者特定资源和安全空间脱节的人来说，这是一条生命线。然而，英语媒介空间的主导地位排除了那些不能或不想使用英语与跨性别社区联系的人。此外，英语媒体社区可能会优先考虑跨性别和跨性别问题的话语，这些话语与人们需要导航他们（非英语母语）的家庭context.Research跨身份和在线跨社区近年来有所增加，但这项研究主要是基于英语媒体的数据，而没有质疑英语在社交媒体等国际空间中的作用。因此，这些平台用户群令人难以置信的多语言性往往被忽视。在我的项目中，我的目标是把英语作为一个特点，而不是一个给定的跨社区研究的调查，从而结合跨研究工作的英语作为一种语言弗兰卡和多语制。为了更好地理解英语对跨性别者所起的作用，无论英语是他们成长过程中使用的语言还是他们后来获得的语言，我将分析和比较跨性别的在线空间，其中英语是主导语言，其中另一种语言是主导语言，并且多种语言一起使用。具体来说，我调查了跨性别者的子Reddit（社交平台Reddit的子论坛）。在本文的分析中，笔者运用语篇分析的方法来解决以下研究问题：1.在这些网络空间中，跨性别者在使用跨性别资源和社区时如何使用英语，以及在多大程度上使用英语？2.跨性别者如何在这些网络空间中使用英语来构建他们的跨性别身份，在不同的语言、网络空间和/或用户之间，他们的做法是否存在差异？3.跨性别和跨性别问题在不同的亚语言（英语媒介、非英语媒介或混合语言）上的主导叙述之间是否存在差异？我的分析将在定性分析软件EQUAS. TI中进行。Atlas.ti有一个编码系统，通过允许在线代码更新和分组，特别适合自适应和反射归纳分析。因此，它将有助于对大量数据进行定性分析，组织到不同的语言环境中，同时为用户提供数据中出现的各种主题的概述。

n this project, I will investigate the hitherto unquestioned role of the English language in international online transgender (trans) communities, specifically its role in identity construction and its potential for connectedness but also exclusion. The emergence of English-medium online spaces - i.e., spaces where English is the dominant or only language - for trans people has considerably increased trans people's access to spaces with other trans people, and they are a lifeline for those who are otherwise disconnected from trans-specific resources and safe spaces. However, the dominance of English-medium spaces excludes those who cannot, or do not want to, use English to connect with trans communities. Moreover, English-medium communities may prioritise discourses of transness and trans issues that are misaligned with the discourses that people need to navigate their (non-Anglophone) home context.Research on trans identities and online trans communities has in recent years increased, but this research has largely been based on English-medium data without questioning the role of English on international spaces such as social media. As such, the incredible multilingualism of the userbase of such platforms is often overlooked. In my project, I aim to bring an investigation of English as a characteristic rather than a given into research on trans communities, thus combining trans studies with work on English as a Lingua Franca and on multilingualism. To better understand the role that English plays for trans people, whether English is a language they grew up using or one they acquired later in life, I will analyse and compare trans-specific online spaces in which English is the dominant language, in which another one language is the dominant language, and in which multiple languages are used alongside each other. Specifically, I investigate subreddits (subforums of the social platform Reddit) by and for trans people. For my analysis, I draw on discourse analysis to address the following research questions:1. How, and to what extent, do trans people in these online spaces use English when engaging with trans-specific resources and communities?2. How do trans people use English in these online spaces to construct their trans identity, and are there differences in how they do so among the different languages, online spaces, and/or among users?3. Are there differences between the dominant narratives of transness and trans issues on different subreddits (whether English-medium, non-English-medium, or mixed-language)?My analysis will be carried out in the qualitative analysis software Atlas.ti. Atlas.ti has a coding system which, by allowing for on-line code updating and grouping, is particularly well suited to adaptive and reflective inductive analyses. As such, it will facilitate the qualitative analysis of large amounts of data, organised into different language contexts, whilst giving the user an overview of the various themes that emerge from the data.