台灣男同志話語：從社會語音學角度建構與解構台灣男同志身份認同

Abstract

本研究針對台灣華語語境中的男同志話語進行深入分析，探索其語音特徵、語言風格與身份認同之間的複雜互動。由於在華語的社會語言學領域中，針對男同志話語的研究極為稀少，因此本研究嘗試填補此研究空白，從社會語音學的角度揭示台灣男同志話語的獨特性。本研究以20位男性受試者為研究對象，分別涵蓋10位順性別男同志及10位順性別非男同志，並運用量化分析與深度訪談相結合的研究方法，從語音特徵到話語表達策略進行了系統性探討。 研究的量化部分讓受試者進行兩次錄音，第一次為一般情境，第二次受試者試圖模仿男同志話語，其分析分為聲學分析以及話語結構分析兩部分。聲學分析檢測了平均音高、音高範圍、去掉輕聲的音高範圍、聲音強度、強度範圍、語尾持續時間六項聲學指標；話語結構分析檢驗了音節量、語調單位量、語速、語氣助詞量四項指標。結果顯示，非男同志與男同志在平均音高、音高範圍（去掉輕聲並無影響）、聲音強度、語尾持續時間四項語音特徵上呈現顯著差異，而兩組人在模仿男同志話語時，平均音高、音高範圍（去掉輕聲並無影響）、聲音強度皆有提升，語尾持續時間則並無顯著差異。而在話語結構分析上，男同志更頻繁使用語氣助詞如「啦」、「嘛」、「啊」等，這些語音特徵顯示出男同志話語中獨特的語音風格，並反映出男同志群體在語言表達上的身份標識。量化分析顯示男同志與非男同志在模仿男同志話語時的策略稍有不同，非男同志相對於男同志，更傾向用性別刻板印象中聲音特色「陰柔」或「女性化」的方式模仿男同志話語，而男同志則使用更多語氣助詞作為其男同志話語的展演策略。 本研究的質性部分，透過訪談揭示了男同志受訪者在語音表達上的自我意識，以及他們在日常情境中的語音調節策略。訪談結果顯示，男同志受訪者普遍認知到自己的語音特徵可能帶有「陰柔」或「男同志」特質，這些語音特徵被部分受訪者形容為一種「難以改變的習性」。大多數受訪者表示，在面對異性戀群體或陌生人時，會刻意壓低音調或減少情感化的語氣，以避免被認為是男同志，從而達到「偽裝」的效果。然而，這些受訪者同時也指出，這種「語音偽裝」常因不自覺的語言回歸而「破功」，這一現象反映出他們在語音表達上的掙扎，即希望能符合社會對「正常男性聲音」的期待，但又難以完全壓抑自身的語音風格。幾乎所有男同志受訪者都有提到關於男校以及當兵的經驗會讓他們更有意識地收斂自己的同志身份，因為全男性的環境對他們來說比起其他環境更恐同，而他們所使用的隱藏策略，則是讓自己聲音的情緒起伏變小，以及壓低聲音，也就是像傳統陽剛氣質靠攏，這樣對於傳統非男同志的聲音想像也的確在非男同志的量化分析結果中獲得驗證。 本研究揭示了台灣男同志群體的語音特徵如何在非西方文化背景中構成獨特的語言風格，與西方國家對男同志話語的研究結果有其差異之處。此外，研究結果表明，男同志在語音調節上的主動行為顯示了語音特徵的「可塑性」，即受試者會根據情境需求而調整音高和語氣，以回應外界對其語音風格的刻板印象和社會期待，進而在自我認同與社會期待之間尋求平衡。本研究還進一步揭示了語音作為身份認同的展演方式，如何在不同情境中表現出語言的多重功能。台灣社會對於性少數群體的接受度相對較高，但男同志群體在語音特徵上仍然面臨顯著的社會標籤壓力，因此，本研究的質性分析結果加強對男同志群體在語言策略上的矛盾情境的理解。本研究在理論上驗證了男同志話語作為自我展演和社會互動的工具，並在實證上補充了台灣語言社會學對少數群體語音特徵的研究闕如，為未來華語社會語言學中的性別與語言研究提供了重要的參考依據。

This study conducts an in-depth analysis of gay male speech in Taiwan’s Mandarin-speaking context and explores the complex interaction between its phonetic features, language style and identity. Since there are very few studies on gay male speech in the field of Mandarin sociolinguistics, this study attempts to fill this research gap and reveal the uniqueness of Taiwan gay male speech from a sociophonetic perspective. This study uses 20 male subjects as the research subjects, covering 10 cisgender gay men and 10 cisgender non-gay men respectively. It uses a combination of quantitative analysis and in-depth interviews to conduct a systematic discussion from voice characteristics to discourse expression strategies. The quantitative part of the study had subjects record themselves twice, first in a general situation and then in a second time when the subjects were trying to imitate gay male speech. The analysis of the quantitative part is divided into acoustic analysis and speech structure analysis. The acoustic analysis tested six acoustic indicators: pitch mean, pitch range, pitch range without neutral tone, voice intensity, intensity range, and phrase-final duration; the speech structure analysis tested total syllable count, total intonation unit count, speech rate, and total sentence-final particle count, measuring these four indicators. The results showed that the speech characteristics of non-gay men and gay men showed significant differences in four speech characteristics: pitch mean, pitch range (with and without neutral tone), voice intensity, and phrase-final duration. When performing gay male speech, both groups raised their pitch mean, pitch range (with and without neutral tone), and voice intensity, there is no significant modification in phrase-final duration. In terms of quantitative analysis, gay men use sentence-final particles such as “la,” “ma,” “ah,” etc. more frequently. These phonetic features show the unique phonetic style of gay male speech and reflect the identification mark on the language expression of gay males. Quantitative analysis shows that gay men and non-gay men have slightly different strategies for imitating gay male speech. Compared with gay men, non-gay men are more likely to imitate gay male speech with “feminine” or “female-like” voice characteristics in typical gender stereotypes. In contrast, gay men use more sentence-final particles as a performative strategy for their gay male speech. The qualitative part of this study revealed through interviews the self-awareness of gay male interviewees’ voice expression and their voice regulation strategies in daily situations. Interview results show that gay male interviewees generally realize that their voice characteristics may have “sissy (娘)” or “gay” qualities. These voice characteristics are described by some interviewees as a “hard-to-change habit.” Most of the interviewees said that when facing heterosexual groups or strangers, they would deliberately lower their pitch or reduce their emotional tone to avoid being detected as gay, thus achieving the effect of “covering.” However, these interviewees also pointed out that this “covering” is often “busted” when they subconsciously switched back to their natural speech style. This phenomenon reflects gay men’s struggle with voice expression, that is, they hope to conform to society’s expectations of “normal men,” but it is difficult to completely suppress their own speech style. Almost all gay male interviewees mentioned that the experience of boys’ schools and being in the military would make them more conscious of curbing their gay identity, because the all-male environment was expected to be more homophobic to them than other environments, and their linguistic strategies to hide their identity were to make the emotions of one’s voice less detectable, and to lower the voice, that is, to move closer to the traditional masculine temperament. These conscious linguistic strategies correspond with the data obtained in the quantitative analysis results of non-gay men. This study reveals how the phonetic characteristics of gay men in Taiwan constitute a unique language style in a non-Western context, which is not exactly the same as the results of research on gay male speech in Western countries. In addition, research results show that gay men’s proactive behavior in voice regulation shows the "flexibility” of voice characteristics, that is, subjects will adjust pitch and tone according to situational needs in response to external stereotypes and opinions about their speech style, and then seek a balance between self-identification and social expectations. This study also further reveals how speech, as a way of performing identity, manifests the multiple functions of language in different situations. Taiwanese society has a relatively high acceptance of sexual minorities, but gay men still face significant social labeling pressure on their voice characteristics. Therefore, the qualitative analysis results of this study strengthen the understanding of the ambivalent attitude toward gay men’s linguistic strategies. This study theoretically verifies the use of gay male speech as a linguistic tool for self-performance and social interaction, and empirically complements the lack of research on the phonetic characteristics of this sexually minoritized groups in Taiwanese sociolinguistics, laying the foundation and providing an important reference basis for future gender and language research in Taiwan Mandarin sociolinguistics.