Lal Zimman (FAQ)



Department of Linguistics
Stanford University
Margaret Jacks Hall
Building 460
Stanford, CA 94305-2150
Welcome to my website! I am currently an Instructor in the Department of Linguistics at Stanford University following the recent defense of my dissertation in Department of Linguistics at the University of Colorado, where I was also affiliated with the programs in Culture, Language and Social Practice (CLASP) and Women's and Gender Studies. This fall, I will join the Department of Linguistics at Reed College as a Visiting Assistant Professor.

My research pursuits are situated in the interdisciplinary field of sociocultural linguistics and deal broadly with the relationship between language, gender, and embodiment in transgender and LGBQ communities (see my research page for more). My dissertation research consisted of a two year ethnographic and sociophonetic study of the changes that take place in the voices of transgender men and others on the female-to-male identity spectrum as they begin masculinizing hormone therapy. As a complement to its sociophonetic component, the study also integrates analysis of metalinguistic discourse and language ideologies, as well as meta-analysis of extant research on trans voices, to situate speakers' vocal changes in broader socio-political context. Currently I am working to expand this research to consider issues like the perception of gender based on the voice, stylistic variability in the gendered voice, and the sociophonetic intersections of gender, race, and other social positionalities.

Download my full CV as a PDF (last updated March, 2013).

Frequently Asked Questions about my name:
How do you pronounce Lal?
Phonemically, my pronunciation of Lal is just like it's spelled: /lal/, though other [+back] [+low] vowels are also fine to my ear. No front vowels, please. In less technical terms, it shouldn't rhyme with Hal or pal - it should sound more like Paul or fall.

Is that short for anything?
Nope, that's it.

So what kind of name is Lal?
It comes from Sanskrit, meaning 'to play or caress'. It also means 'red' in Hindi, though the latter meaning is not what my parents had in mind when naming me. Other, perhaps better known, Lals include the second Prime Minister to India, Lal Bahadur, Data's android daughter in a memorable episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and a few others.

What about your last name?
Much less interesting, but sometimes exotified in pronunciation (presumably because of my first name). It's actually just like Zimmerman, but without the 'er'.