A Study of Neologisms and Semantic Shifts in Queer Discourse: The Influence of Drag Lexicon in RuPaul’s Drag Race on Audience Language Practices in the Comments

Abstract

Language is a tool for communication and a medium that reflects creativity, identity,and community belonging. In the queer community, many specialized words have emerged,and media such as RuPaul’s Drag Race play a crucial role in spreading them to wider society.This study examines queer lexicons in three dimensions: neologisms, semantic shifts, andpolarity. The data come from RuPaul’s Drag Race Seasons 1, 2, 15, and 16, chosen to comparethe early and contemporary periods. The analysis combines quantitative methods, focusing onword frequency, with qualitative discourse analysis. The results reveal 166 queer lexicons: 35 neologisms from the early period and 60 from the contemporary period, as well as 30 semantic shifts from the early period and 51 from the contemporary period. The findings also show that positive polarity dominates in both periods, while negative polarity appears more often in the contemporary period but still less than positive polarity. These outcomes highlight the dynamic nature of queer language, which reflects identity, creativity, and the influence of mainstream media. The study also uses audience comments as supporting evidence of the spreading of queer language.