Most gender-based linguistic studies in literature are related to men and women only, whereas the term gender is supposed to refer to transgender people as well. People whose sex and gender do not match (GLAAD, 2010) obviously use language in a different way from men and women in some aspects. This study aims to find out the acoustic and phonological differences of male homosexual language from those of men and women. Some male to female transgender people such as trans-sexuals and cross-dressers speak in a distinctive way, which usually becomes a criterion of judgment for stereotyping (Medhurst, 2002: pp. 314-315) and a matter of ridicule on the part of other people. The distinctiveness of this language use may result from acoustic, anatomical, hormonal, physiological and even philosophical differences (Pepiot, 2012). This study focuses on the acoustic and phonological aspects. To identify these aspects, voice recordings of male homosexuals were manipulated in the phonology laboratory and perception tests were conducted on a control group. The results of the study confirmed that one of the most important acoustic and phonological features that differentiate male homosexual speech from male and female heterosexual speech is pitch range, in other words intonation.
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