Questions regarding your line of work.

I would appreciate it if you took your time to answer these questions on whatever way you
feel like. As I wrote in my email we have an assignment to reach out to organisations,
students, scientist on an international level that’s in the same field as oneself. I’m interested in
learning what you personally think about your line of work, what you think is crucial to be in
it and how one would go about to start in your field.

1. What made you interested in your line of work?

Growing up I had always been interested in language, and when I entered university, I
decided to major in linguistics. It wasn’t until my 3rd year of university when I discovered
sociolinguistics and took a class on language and gender. At the time, I was beginning to
explore my own gender, and I became interested both personally and professionally. I began
to research the ways that trans people and communities talked about gender as well as
language change and decided to pursue a PhD to research the topic more!

2. Could you tell me what you believe is the most important quality for someone
to have in your line of work?
I think being community-oriented and reflexive about one’s own work is crucial for people
working within trans and queer linguistics. It is important to think about the communities that
are impacted by the work we are doing, and how our work is in conversation with them.

3. What do you believe is the most important aspect of your work and what do
you hope to contribute to society?
I think the most important aspect of my work is engaging in conversation about how language
changes over time and encouraging people to embrace and be curious about that change. I hope
to contribute to society by cultivating students and humans who are critical about the
importance of language, respectful of the power that language has, and working to use language
to support the people around them.
 4. Why should someone aspire to apply to your line of work?
Linguistics is a very broad field with a wide array of practical applications, and sociolinguistics
specifically is an engaging area of study. People might aspire to doing sociolinguistic work with
queer and trans communities to better understand how language works in talking about or
performing different identities, to increase awareness and dialogue about how to better support
these communities, and to spread knowledge about the power of language in understanding
ourselves and respecting others.

5. What is needed to get into your line of work?

I was prepared for my line of work through academic training at university, which is often
how most people get into linguistics. But as far as doing work on linguistic advocacy for
queer and trans communities, I think what is necessary is a strong connection to and
engagement with how people are using language and an openness to creating dialogue with
non- queer and trans communities about how language operates.

6. Anything else you want to add?