Date of Award

7-17-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Writing

College

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

First Advisor

Kristin Fleckenstein

Second Advisor

Daniel Hasty

Third Advisor

Denise Paster

Abstract

While linguists have long used discourse analysis to study language variation in binary and nonnormative gender groups, nonbinary people have often been excluded from analyses or treated without a nonbinary-informed framework. Nevertheless, nonbinary language use can provide key insights into the relationship between gender and language. In this thesis, I propose Nonbinary Discourse Analysis, a set of recommendations and best practices for conducting discourse analysis in nonbinary communities. These methods are informed by previous empirical research on nonnormative gender identities and theoretical work in trans linguistics (Zimman, 2020) and trans epistemologies (Nordmarken, 2019; Raclaw, in press). To demonstrate the methodology, I conducted a qualitative analysis of turn-taking and overlap management strategies in paired conversations within an all-nonbinary population. Results indicated that participants shared a distinct nonbinary discourse when discussing their gender identity but did not share common turn-taking and overlap management strategies. These findings add to existing literature suggesting nonbinary language users directly index their gender in consistent ways, but do not indirectly index gender using features previously studied in cisgender groups. I argue that Nonbinary Discourse Analysis affords linguists a nonbinary-affirming method to study the ways nonbinary people may index gender differently from their cisgender peers.

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