NAVIGATING GENDERED LANGUAGE: LINGUISTIC STRATEGIES OF NON-BINARY INDIVIDUALS IN PAKISTAN'S URDU-ENGLISH BILINGUAL CONTEXT

Abstract

Gendered language represents a dramatic challenge to the linguistic self of non-binary people, especially in situations where grammatical gender is mandatory and identity expression is limited against the background of socio-cultural stigma. This qualitative sociolinguistic study explores how non-binary people in Pakistan deal with the (in Urdu) highly inflexible, binary gender system using strategies and techniques that negotiate the Urdu-English bilingual world that is pervasive in Pakistan. The study is based on Queer Performativity theory and thematic analysis through semi-structured interviews of 25 bilingual participants in urban Pakistan reveals two strategic areas at the centre of the evasion and affirmation. The evasion strategies are mainly based on the use of the available cultural mechanism of honorific pluralization in the Urdu language in order to avoid obligatory gender agreement. Affirmation strategies greatly build on intra-sentential code-switching into Urdu, introducing structurally gender-neutral pronouns (e.g., they/them) into the Urdu discourse. The results suggest that honorific pluralization is a crucial form of linguistic protection against injury in non-affirming situations, whereas English code-switching is the major and most effectual form of performative action of clear validation of identity. This incessant drilling between the two systems causes great linguistic fatigue and emotional strain, which makes it indispensable to introduce linguistic and policy changes that will help to overcome structural oppression in language. The research paper adds empirical information into the scanty literature of queer linguistics in the South Asian region and underscores the instrumental aspect of code choice in building marginalized identities.