Transgender voices: Insights on identity, embodiment, and the gender of the voice

The voice is a highly salient cue in the perception of gender and an important analytic factor in both phonetic and sociophonetic analysis. Although we have a wealth of knowledge about the social construction of gender through language, gender differences in the voice are frequently treated as natural, direct products of sex differentiation. This article focuses on three major areas of insight from studies of transgender people's voices that build on previous evidence that even biologically influenced features of the gendered voice, like pitch, are shaped by sociocultural practice: the identification of features that distinguish voices perceived as female from those perceived as male; the examination of the degree to which the gendered characteristics of the voice can change; and the theorization of where gender differences in the voice come from. Inclusion of trans speakers in the sociophonetic study of the gendered voice requires linguists to be more cautious in the categorization of voices as female or male on the basis of speakers' perceived sex.