Unveiling the Grammatical and Semantic Manifestation of Ironic Misgendering Among Cisgender People in Algerian Dialects

Abstract

The present research work is an attempt to examine the North West of Algerian speakers’ attitudes regarding the sociolinguistic practice known as ‘Ironic Misgendering’ towards cisgender people in the dialects they speak. It sheds light on how social norms can be reflected in the linguistic profile of its people. Algeria, as it was explored here, is characterized by a different set of dialects that originate from two genetically unrelated languages, which are Arabic and Berber. This, interestingly, has represented the topic in hand based on the different cultures and the distinctive societal outlook of each community speaking a divergent dialect, this in its turn, showed new standpoints apropos our topic of research. In order to reach our intended objectives, we planned our work in a way that guarantees all related points are to be probed. Accordingly, this research aimed, first, at finding out whether Ironic Misgendering is a conscious or an unconscious behaviour, in addition to knowing which gender is more targeted by it. The second vital purpose of this work was to investigate the reasons behind this phenomenon since only by figuring the factors out and studying them, solutions then, can be determined. Correspondingly, in order to fulfil the research objectives, participant observation, an interview, content analysis, and a questionnaire were used as research tools in a mixed method investigation. Correspondingly, the obtained data had well-answered the main points of the research. It was found that the number of people aware of Ironic Misgendering are much more than we expected. Besides that, the results showed that males are the ones most aimed by this phenomenon, the finding that reflects on females and on gender in general a certain reality that needs to be taken into account.