“Queer English” and “Heteronormative German”: Negotiating Linguistic Repertoires and Identity in a Queer Activist Context in Berlin

Abstract

This chapter explores linguistic identity construction by L2 speakers in a multilingual context. It is based on an ethnographic field study about the indexical use of English in a queer community of practice (CofP), a queer activist group in Berlin. The chapter analyzes ethnographic interview data with members of the group, focusing on metapragmatic and metadiscursive statements. The main result is that in the group context, English and German are juxtaposed alongside a “queer” versus “heteronormative” dichotomy, leading to the use of English as constitutive of the members' and the group's cosmopolitan queer identity. More generally, the chapter combines 3rd wave variationist perspectives on linguistic indexicality with a contemporary approach to multilingualism and language contact and emphasizes the importance of including L2 speakers to the study of multilingualism and linguistic identity production in order to fully account for the plurality of multilingual experiences.