The queerest click: a lesson in linguistic marginalia by Drag Queens

In linguistics as in popular culture, “the periphery” is making its way to the centre stage. The internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) has been widely applauded for its contribution to the mainstream visibility of Drag (and LGBT+) subculture over the last decade. In linguistics, certain sounds and words that were long considered marginal and eccentric are also enjoying a heyday (see e.g., Ameka 2020). Clicks are speech sounds that are used phonemically in only a handful of (endangered) languages but occur frequently, perhaps even universally, as paralinguistic expressions. Interjections are words that have long been neglected by language studies: once deemed “non-words”, linguists now see interjections as a core part of language systems. In this presentation, I shall show what we can learn about clicks, about interjections, and what the Queens mean when they tongue pop.

Part of the fabulously camp, performative language use of Drag Queens on RPDR, the click interjection known as a “tongue pop” is a small performance in itself: a complex medley of phonetics, gesture, and language to encode a (socio)pragmatically marked and contextually bound expression. In this presentation, I provide a first linguistic analysis of the tongue pop, from its phonetic form to its discourse-pragmatic and sociopragmatic function in the language of Drag Queens (literally) and the international LGBT+ community. I will also discuss what click genesis in Queer English means for certain theories about these phonemic clicks in African languages and language evolution. More generally, this talk serves as an important reminder of the contribution of non-standard language varieties, including genderlects, to the study of spoken language.