Random bisexual forests: Intersections between gender, sexuality, and race in /s/ production

The ideology of “the gay lisp” has inspired numerous quantitative studies examining the relationship between /s/ production and sexuality in American English (e.g. Linville 1998; Munson et al. 2006a; Zimman 2013). There are two key gaps this literature. First, research area typically focuses on monosexual (i.e. lesbian, gay, straight) speakers to exclusion bisexuality. Second, work rarely considers intersection with factors outside gender or sex, a lesser extent geographic location Campbell-Kibler 2011; Podesva & Hofwegen 2014). This article addresses these disparities by (1) centralizing bisexual (2) attending social such as race, place, age, their intersections analysis. To that end, we build upon previous Willis (forthcoming) apply random forest (Breiman 2001) center gravity measurements. In doing so, follow Tagliamonte Baayen (2012) demonstrating utility forests an approach sociolinguistic Ultimately, analysis underscores need attend power structures biases within practice: monosexist ideologies normativity obfuscate bisexuality, privileging whiteness permeates voice.