Acceptability and Usage of Gay Lingo at St. Paul University of The Philippines

Author: Randymax Maramag Bulaquit (Technological University of the Philippines)
Speaker: Randymax Maramag Bulaquit
Topic: Language, gender, sexuality
The (SCOPUS / ISI) SOAS GLOCAL CALA 2019 General Session

Abstract

Gay lingo, the language of gays has now earned higher degree of acceptance across all folks in the community and have been used and infused in the mainstream language of the society especially in social media. Both gays and non-gays can be heard uttering gay lingo expressions for humorous purposes. The main role of this new language for gay people in the Philippines is to serve as an “armor” to shield themselves from the chasm and the social stigma caused by gender differences.
Moreover, language is continues to evolve and with its unique nature, the existing language needs to be studied and documented for posterity reasons. This study focused on the acceptability and usage of gay lingo at St. Paul University of the Philippines, a Catholic institution owned and managed by the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres.

There were Eighteen Professors and Two Hundred Five students from the School of Arts, Sciences and Teacher Education were chosen as purposive samples for this study. The researcher made questionnaire was used as its instrument for a descriptive-correlational study aimed at determining the relationships between the independent and dependent variables. The frequency counts and percentage was used to describe the profile of the respondents while the weighted mean was used to describe the acceptability and usage of gay lingo. The Chi-Square was utilized for the analysis of the significant difference in the acceptability level of gay lingo; significant difference in the extent of use of gay lingo in communication ; and the significant relationship between the level of acceptability and extent use of gay lingo in communication.

Based on the respondents profile, the study revealed that majority of the respondents were female. Both female teacher and student respondents have a moderate acceptability of gay lingo while male teacher and student respondents have a low acceptability. Moreover, the study confirms the hypothesis that no significant difference on the acceptability level of gay lingo among the respondents when grouped according to level or status and gender. However, there is a significant relationships exist between the level of acceptability and the usage of gay lingo in communication. Furthermore, gay lingo is not yet accepted and widely used in the university, though it has already achieved its popularity and acceptance and usage outside the school premises.

Keywords: gayspeak, gay-lingo, languages, communication, swardspeak, second-language