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William Leap

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William (Bill) Leap
Known forLavender Languages and Linguistics
TitleProfessor Emeritus
AwardsRuth Benedict Prize (monograph 1996; edited volume 2004, 2009)[1] Association for Queer Anthropology Distinguished Achievement Award (2023)
Academic background
Alma materFlorida State University Southern Methodist University
Academic work
InstitutionsAmerican University, Florida Atlantic University

William Leap is an emeritus professor of anthropology at American University (Washington, DC) and an affiliate professor in the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL). He works in the overlapping fields of language and sexuality studies and queer linguistics, and queer historical linguistics.

William Leap earned his bachelor's degree from Florida State University in 1967[2] and his Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University[3] in 1970. His dissertation advisor was George Trager.[4]

Contributions

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Leap has been openly gay since he began teaching at American University in Washington, D.C. in 1970.[2] Leap is a leading academic in Lavender linguistics and has been a recipient of the American Anthropological Association Ruth Benedict Award for publishing in Gay and Lesbian anthropology in 1996, 2003, and 2009. He founded the annual Lavender Languages & Linguistics conference in 1993 to coincide with the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.[5] The conference continues to meet annually, and provides a focal point for international discussion of lgbtq-related language issues worldwide. The Lavender Language Institute, a summer program that Leap founded at Florida Atlantic University in 2017, offers training in queer linguistics to undergraduates, grad students, and others interested in language and sexuality studies.

In 2012, Leap launched The Journal of Language and Sexuality with Heiko Motschenbacher.[6] He has been a member of the American Anthropological Association's AIDS task force[3] and co-chaired the AAA's Commission on Gay, Lesbian Bisexual, Trans and Queer Issues in Anthropology (1993-1998). He has done research among Native Americans of the Southwest U.S., South Africans, and Gay men in Washington, DC. He was one of the first researchers to study American Indian varieties of English (including American Indian Pidgin English) in the same way that others had studied Black English,[7] and he has been prominent in Indian language revitalization projects.[8] In November 2023, Leap was recognized by the Association for Queer Anthropology with its Distinguished Achievement Award.

Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference

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Lavender Languages and Linguistics conference is an international conference for LGBT linguistics and other related queer language research and discourse studies. The conference was founded in 1993 by Leap to coincide with the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.[9] At the time, research on these topics was considered marginal within linguistics, and the conference was a key place for researchers to come together to discuss issues in the field.[10][11] By the 20th conference, there were over 80 presentations and 150 attendees. The conference was host yearly at American University in Washington, DC until 2017 when the conference began to move each year.[12] It provides a place for emerging queer linguistics scholarship, and it is the conference is the longest continually running LGBT studies conference in the US.[13]

A meta-synthesis of conference abstracts by Paul Baker and published in Milani's chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Language and Society found early work presented at the conference focused on the existence of "gay language" such as Polari and "lesbian language". In line with the trajectory of the field, more recent work has focused on how various linguistic features index different identities.

The Journal of Language and Sexuality (though not officially linked to LavLang) is closely affiliated with the conference.[14] It was established venue to publish queer linguistics research.

Number Year Date Host University City Country Website Notes
1st 1993 April American University Washington, D.C. United States
2nd 1994 American University Washington, D.C. United States
3rd 1995 American University Washington, D.C. United States
4th 1996 September American University Washington, D.C. United States Keynote speakers: Ellen Lewin, Charles Nero, Deborah Tannen, Riki Ann Wilchins
5th 1997 American University Washington, D.C. United States
6th 1998 American University Washington, D.C. United States
7th 1999 American University Washington, D.C. United States
8th 2000 American University Washington, D.C. United States
9th 2002 February American University Washington, D.C. United States
11th 2003 American University Washington, D.C. United States
12th 2004 American University Washington, D.C. United States
13th 2005 American University Washington, D.C. United States
14th 2006 American University Washington, D.C. United States
15th 2008 American University Washington, D.C. United States
16th 2009 February American University Washington, D.C. United States Plenaries: Aren Aizura and Mary Weismantel
17th 2010 April American University Washington, D.C. United States Plenaries/Special Presentations:

Gibran Guido, Ellen Lewin, Andrew Tucker

18th 2011 February American University Washington, D.C. United States Plenaries:

Scott Kiesling, Carlos Decena, Sharif Mowlabocus

19th 2012 February American University Washington, D.C. United States Special Events:
  • Reporting and Writing Queer Temporalities (Panel discussion)
  • Voices from a Chorus(featuring Paula Bresnan Gibson)
  • 1 Girl, 5 Gays and LGBTQ Discourses in School Settings (featuring Philip Tetro)
  • A Reading from “The Bar Notebook” (featuring Bonnie Morris)
20th 2013 February American University Washington, D.C. United States Special Events:
  • Master Class with Tom Boellstorff
  • 20th Annual Conference Reception with AU Pride
21st 2014 February American University Washington, D.C. United States Special Events:
  • Critical Discourse Analysis Workshop with David Peterson
  • Premier of Reinterpreting Bukovac (A Documentary Film)
  • “American Orientation: Interpellation of the Gay Male Subject in Literary Narratives in Taiwan” with Ta-Wei Chi
22nd 2015 February American University Washington, D.C. United States Plenary: Rusty Barrett
23nd 2016 February American University Washington, D.C. United States
24th 2017 April University of Nottingham Nottingham United Kingdom [1] Keynote speakers: Dr Helen Sauntson, York St John University (UK) and Professor Paul Baker, Lancaster University (UK).
25th 2018 April Rhode Island College Providence, Rhode Island United States [2] Keynote speakers: Mie Hiramoto (National University of Singapore) Margot Weiss (Wesleyan University) and Lal Zimman (University of California, Santa Barbara).
26th 2019 May University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden [3] Keynote Speakers: Erika Alm, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Mons Bissenbakker, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Rodrigo Borba, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Holly Cashman, University of New Hampshire, USA, Thabo Msibi, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

27th 2021 May California Institute of Integral Studies San Francisco United States [4] Keynote speakers: Jack Halberstam, Columbia University and Elizabeth Freeman, University of California at Davis

Originally planned to be hosted in 2020 in San Francisco at California Institute of Integral Studies, the conference was postpoponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually moved to an online format in 2021.

28th 2022 May University of Catania Catania Italy [5] Keynote speakers: J Calder, Adriana Di Stefano, Busi Makoni, Pietro Maturi, Tommaso M. Milani, Eva Nossem

Lavender Languages Summer Institute

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In 2017 the Lavender Languages Conference expanded to a Summer Institute, a summer program that Leap founded Florida Atlantic University. The institute offers 10 days of class discussion, research opportunities and informal conversations exploring topics of current interest in language and sexuality studies, queer linguistics, and various lavender language themes.[15] The program focuses on training undergraduates, grad students, and others interested in language and sexuality studies.

Number Year Date Host University City State Notes
1st 2018 June Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton Florida
2nd 2019 June Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton Florida
3rd 2021 June Florida Atlantic University Virtual Originally planned to be hosted in 2020 in person at Florida Atlantic University the conference was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually moved to an online format in 2021.
4th 2022 June Florida Atlantic University Virtual

Selected publications

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  • 2020 Language Before Stonewall London: Palgrave.
  • 2020 Language, sexuality, history. in The Oxford Handbook of Language and Sexuality. Kira Hall and Rusty Barrett. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • 2016 Language, sexuality, heteroglossia and intersectionality. in The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology. Nancy Bonvillain,. 177–190. New York: Routledge.
  • 2015 Queer linguistics as critical discourse analysis. in The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Deborah Tannen, Heidi E. Hamilton and Deborah Schiffrin. 661–680.
  • 2012 Queer linguistics, sexuality and discourse analysis. in The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis James Paul Gee and Michael Haniford eds. 558–571. New York: Routledge.
  • 2011 Language, gay pornography and audience reception. Journal of Homosexuality 58(6-7);932-952).
  • 2010 Homophobia as moral geography. Gender and Language 4(2):187-220.
  • 2009 Introducing Sociolinguistics, (2nd ed.) (Raj Mesthre, Joan Swann, Anna Deumert, and William Leap). Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press. (First edition, 2000)
  • 2009 (co-edited with Ellen Lewin) Out in Public: Lesbian and Gay Anthropology in a Globalizing World. Malden MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • 2008 Queering gay men's English. in Gender and Language Research Methodologies. Kate Harrington, Lia Lotosseliti, Helen Sauntson and Jane Sunderland. 283–296. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
  • 2007 (with Liz Morrish) Sex talk: Language, desire, identity and beyond. in Language, Sexualities, and Desires: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Helen Sauntson and Sakis Kyratzsis. 17–40. London: Palgrave Press.
  • 2007 Queering the disaster: A Presidential session. (with Ellen Lewin and Natasha Wilson). North American Dialogues, 10(2):11-14.
  • 2005 "Finding the Centre: Claiming gay space in Cape Town, South Africa." in Performing Queer: Shaping Sexualities 1992–2004. Mikki van Zyl and Melissa Steyn, eds. pp. 235–266. Cape Town: Kwela Press.
  • 2004 "Marriage," "Family" and Same-Sex Marriage: Are We Addressing the Right Questions? Anthropology Newsletter, 45(6): 6.
  • 2004 (co-edited with Tom Boellstorff) Speaking in Queer Tongues: Globalization and Gay Language. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
  • 2003 Language and gendered modernity. in The Handbook of Language and Gender. Janet Holmes and Miriam Meyerhoff, eds. pp. 401–422. London: Blackwell
  • 2002 (co-edited with Ellen Lewin) Out in Theory: The Emergence of Lesbian and Gay Anthropology. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
  • 1998 (editor) Public Sex/Gay Space New York City: Columbia University Press.
  • 1996 (co-edited with Ellen Lewin) Out in the Field: Lesbian and Gay Reflections. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
  • 1996 Word's Out: Gay Men's English. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Now in second printing). A sociolinguistic discussion of gay English, including coded terms.[16]
  • 1996 Representation, subjectivity and ethics in urban gay ethnography (with Alan Hersker). City and Society, 12: 142–147.
  • 1995 Review essay: Liminal gender categories: Third Sex, Third Gender. [Gilbert Herdt, ed]. American Anthropologist, 87 (3): 589–590.

References

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  1. ^ "The Ruth Benedict Prize – Association for Queer Anthropology (AQA)".
  2. ^ a b Leap, William L. (1996). "Studying Gay English". In Ellen Lewin, William Leap (ed.). Out in the field: reflections of lesbian and gay anthropologists. University of Illinois Press. p. 0252065182.
  3. ^ a b Kleiman, Carol (28 April 1991). "Anthropology Heads Into Business World". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  4. ^ "OBITUARY George L. Trager (1906-1992)". Newsletter of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas. 12–17. 1993.
  5. ^ O'Bryan, Will (8 February 2007). "Speaking of Gay: Pioneering local conference continues study of 'Lavender Languages'". Metro Weekly. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  6. ^ "Breaking the Stereotype of LGBTQ Language". Echelon Magazine. 7 February 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  7. ^ Stephen Adolphe Wurm; Peter Mühlhäusler; Darrell T. Tryon, eds. (1996). Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia and the Americas. Walter de Gruyter. p. 1225. ISBN 3-11-013417-9.
  8. ^ Cutler, Charles L. (2000). O Brave New Words!: Native American Loanwords in Current English. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 31. ISBN 0-8061-3246-9.
  9. ^ "This Month in Linguistics History: Lavender Language/Linguistics | Linguistic Society of America". www.linguisticsociety.org. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  10. ^ Jones, Lucy (2021-02-15). "Queer linguistics and identity: The past decade". Journal of Language and Sexuality. 10 (1): 13–24. doi:10.1075/jls.00010.jon. ISSN 2211-3770. S2CID 234078991.
  11. ^ DiGuglielmo, Joey (2013-02-14). "Queer conference explores language". Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  12. ^ "Breaking the Stereotype of LGBTQ Language". www.newswise.com. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  13. ^ "Community-Building Conference Comes to CIIS". www.ciis.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  14. ^ Leap, William (2019-12-15). "William Leap's Reflections upon Retirement". CaMP Anthropology. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  15. ^ by, Written (12 January 2019). "2nd Annual Lavender Languages SUMMER INSTITUTE". Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  16. ^ Kitson, Peter; The English Association (1999). The Year's Work in English Studies. Vol. 77: YW 1996. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 66. ISBN 0-631-21293-0.
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