Binary-constrained code-switching among non-binary French-English bilinguals

Abstract

This paper presents data on non-binary French-English bilinguals’ metalinguistic analyses of their code-switching behavior in discussing their gender identities. Six non-binary French-English bilinguals were recruited for sociolinguistic interviews via Montréal-based LGBT+ organizations and asked about their experiences using non-binary French and English, especially how they describe themselves in each language. Participants’ preferences for using English to describe issues of gender identity reveals a particular type of topic-based code-switching is utilized in this community—a novel phenomenon that I have deemed Binary-Constrained Code-Switching, where participants switch out of an L1 (French) into an L2 (English) because they perceive their L1 as lacking the appropriate lexicon or grammatical features, specifically non-binary pronouns and gender agreement markers, to index their gender identities. In parallel to their dispreference for using French to describe their gender identities, participants’ preference for using English correlated with their perceptions of English as a more gender-neutral language than French, as well as a language with more linguistic resources—chiefly, vocabulary— to describe LGBT+ identities (c.f. queer). The data presented here not only supplement the primarily binary gender models found in extant studies of socially-motivated code-switching, but also provide greater evidence for the perceptual link between grammatical gender and social gender.