Use my language, use my pronouns: Queer approaches to linguistic justice for inclusive language policies

The linguistic environment of any given country, region, or city is fluid: minoritised, migrant, heritage and Indigenous languages defeat the dichotomy of ‘one nation, one language’ and challenge the hierarchies of power behind monolingualism. At the same time, gender identity also refuses binarity: similarly to language, the way people experience and express their gender identity is much more diverse, with new linguistic avenues being opened to represent the lived experience of genderqueer and trans people. This article adopts nonbinarity as an intrasemantic approach, grounded in postcolonial and queer theory, to reflect on the complexity of linguistic and gender identity. Drawing from trans linguistics, I argue that gender-fair and trans language is a quintessential part of linguistic justice as a practice of social justice and thus that “queer linguistic justice” advocates for an inclusive avenue for language policies incorporating a holistic view of the languagers.