Are gender diverse individuals natural linguists?

This study looks at how four folks who identify as gender diverse view their gendered language performativity. As people in a marginalized community– especially in the South– their language use is overlooked as well as their perception of their language use. This is especially unique in Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s unique positionality of having multiple dialectal regions allows for Oklahoma natives to have a wider linguistic toolbox. As well as linguistics, Oklahoma’s conservative politics affect how people in the trans and gender diverse communities (a marginalized one) use gender performativity. Some of the participants had attributes of natural linguists and some of the participants did not exhibit the same nuanced understanding. None of the participants discussed how the different dialect regions of Oklahoma assisted or affected their linguistic gender performativity. Most of the participants brought up how the political background of the state affected their performativity. Various factors, such as politics, linguistic background, time in identity, affect how gender diverse individuals perform as natural linguists.