Until Recently, gay and lesbian communication has been characterized as gender-oriented dialects, secret codes or specialized argots and imitations or paraphrases of heterosexual discourse. This collection of fifteen essays by linguists, anthropologists and historians moves beyond previous studies and pursues new directions in exploring lesbian/gay discourse as comprised of distinct and independently developed linguistic constructions. It examines specific instances of language use, surveying the range of discourse skills which enable gay men and Lesbians to make use of these "dialects" when they talk amongst themselves and to others. By emphasing that there are indeed gay/lesbian languages, this collection draws attention not only to their distinctiveness, but also to their cultural and sociological significance in gay and lesbian life.

This [book] opens an entirely new field in Gay/Lesbian Studies. There is nothing else like it. It marks a significant departure in the way the making of Gay/Lesbian communities is studied.

–Randolph Trumbach of Baruch College, CUNY, New York