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Open access versions of publications by faculty, postdocs, and graduate students in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science.
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Browsing Open Access Publications by Subject "gender expansive"
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Item Differences in Sibilant Perception between Gender Expansive and Cisgender Individuals(Seminars in Speech and Language, 2023-03-07) Hope, Maxwell; Lilley, JasonAcoustic cues of voice gender influence not only how people perceive the speaker's gender (e.g., whether that person is a man, woman, or non-binary) but also how they perceive certain phonemes produced by that person. One such sociophonetic cue is the [s]/[ʃ] distinction in English; which phoneme is perceived depends on the perceived gender of the speaker. Recent research has shown that gender expansive people differ from cisgender people in their perception of voice gender and thus, this could be reflected in their categorization of sibilants. Despite this, there has been no research to date on how gender expansive people categorize sibilants. Furthermore, while voice gender expression is often discussed within a biological context (e.g., vocal folds), voice extends to those who use other communication methods. The current study fills this gap by explicitly recruiting people of all genders and asking them to perform a sibilant categorization task using synthetic voices. The results show that cisgender and gender expansive people perceive synthetic sibilants differently, especially from a “nonbinary” synthetic voice. These results have implications for developing more inclusive speech technology for gender expansive individuals, in particular for nonbinary people who use speech-generating devices.Item Gender expansive listeners utilize a non-binary, multidimensional conception of gender to inform voice gender perception(Brain and Language, 2022-01-01) Hope, Maxwell; Lilley, JasonHighlights: • People of all genders rated themselves and voices on continuous gender scales. • Men and those with higher masculine identity perceived voices as less masculine. • Women and those with higher feminine identity were more flexible in gender perception. • Increase in “other” gender identity facilitates “other” voice gender perception. • Gender expansive people have a distinct “neutral” voice gender reference point. Abstract: Few studies on voice perception have attempted to address the complexity of gender perception of ambiguous voices. The current study investigated how perception of gender varies with the complexity of the listener’s own gender conception and identity. We explicitly recruited participants of all genders, including those who are gender expansive (i.e. transgender and/or non-binary), and directed them to rate ambiguous synthetic voices on three independent scales of masculine, feminine, and “other” (and to select one or multiple categorical labels for them). Gender expansive listeners were more likely to use the entire expanse of the rating scales and showed systematic categorization of gender-neutral voices as non-binary. We propose this is due to repeated use of reflective processes that challenge pre-existing gender categories and the incorporation of this decision-making process into their reflexive system. Because voice gender influences speech perception, the perceptual experience of gender expansive listeners may influence perceptual flexibility in speech.