4. Monday, July 1, 1:30 pm (NY): "Pronoun Euphoria"

Creativity and playfulness in linguistic expression can be sites of resistance, identity-formation, and solidarity-building among marginalized groups. English neopronouns like xe, fae, and ze are one such site of creativity, and provide insight into the diverse ways of languaging that exist on the margins. I show that these extremely low-frequency forms are nonetheless true components of the English grammar, and that users' own perceptions of them give valuable insight into the origins of language change and variation.