Male youth talk in the construction of black lesbian identities

Abstract

This study focuses on young black lesbians’ use of male township youth's ways of talking. Data come from ethnographic work among four lesbians in a township near Mafikeng, the capital city of North-West province in South Africa. Our analysis draws on audio- and video-recorded spontaneous interactions, observation, and interviews. The participants use a limited repertoire of well-known lexical items considered part of what is sometimes referred to as tsotsitaal or by its male users as go ringa1 ‘to talk.’ They also engage in ritual verbal duelling associated with male youth interactions. Lesbians who self-identify as butch draw on the tsotsitaal lexicon to enact a streetwise township identity and to express their sexual identities and roles in their lesbian partnerships. Lesbians, who self-identify as femme, avoid using the tsotsitaal lexicon. Since our participants do not use tsotsitaal in a unified way, we conclude that lesbians do not ‘speak tsotsitaal,’ and there is no identifiable language unique to them. Instead, lesbians draw on features associated with male ways of talking as semiotic resources to express aspects of their identities as well as enact sexual roles, relationships and desires.