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Articles • Rev. bras. linguist. apl. 22 (4) • Oct-Dec 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-6398202218335   copy

Indexicality, Power, and Metapragmatics of Queerness: Gaydar Apparatus

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT:

This article aims to discuss the gaydar as an exercise of power, based on the concept of apparatus by Foucault (2014FOUCAULT, M. O jogo de Michel Foucault. In: MOTTA, M. B. (org.). Michel Foucault: genealogia da ética, subjetividade e sexualidade. Rio de Janeiro: Forense Universitária, 2014. p. 44-77. (Ditos e escritos, v. 9).) and Agamben (2005AGAMBEN, G. O que é um dispositivo. Tradução de Nilcéia Valdati. Outra Travessia, Florianópolis, v. 5, p. 9-16, 2005.). I do not suppose that is possible to identify one’s sexuality like Rule (2011RULE, N. O. The Influence of Target and Perceiver Race in the Categorisation of Male Orientation. Perception, London, v. 40, n. 7, p. 830-839, 2011.) e Sulpizio et al. (2020 SULPIZIO, S. et al. Auditory Gaydar: Perception of Sexual Orientation Based on Female Voice. Language and Speech, London, v. 63, n. 1, p. 184-206, 2020.) do. On the contrary, I investigate the gaydar as a historical apparatus used to exert power, knowledge. To do so I analyse a commercial of an insurance company named Adam and Eve. Firstly, I relate gaydar to the performative conceptions of gender and sexuality. Secondly, I discuss how linguistic profiling ( BAUGH, 2003BAUGH, J. Linguistic Profiling. In: MAKONI, S.; SMITHERMAN, G.; SPEARS, A. K.; BALL, A. (ed.). Black Linguistics: Language, Society, and Politics in Africa and the America. New York: Routledge, 2003. p. 155-168.) and indexicality ( SILVERSTEIN, 2003SILVERSTEIN, M. Indexical Order and the Dialectics of Sociolinguistic Life. Language & Communication, Amsterdam, v. 23, n. 3/4, p. 193-229, 2003.) act as power techniques invested by this device. Finally, I point out how metapragmatics ( SIGNORINI, 2008SIGNORINI, I. Metapragmáticas da língua em uso: unidades e níveis de análise. In: SIGNORINI, I. (org.). Situar a linguagem. São Paulo: Parábola, 2008. p. 117-148.) are relevant to understanding the use of gaydar when analyzing an insurance commercial ending with the presentation of several apparatus for its control.

KEYWORDS:
gaydar; device; power; indexicality; metapragmatics

Faculdade de Letras - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - Faculdade de Letras, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627 4º. Andar/4036, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte/ MG/ Brasil, Tel.: (55 31) 3409-6044, Fax: (55 31) 3409-5120 - Belo Horizonte - MG - Brazil
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