Just put up with it and turn a blind eye! How do LGBT+ people estimate themselves in Georgia?
Tinatin Dadianidze

This article looks at the linguistic andsociolinguistic manifestations of self-esteem ofsexual minorities in Georgia. Although the issueof self-esteem among the LGBT+ communitymembers has been studied both within oneculture and from cross-cultural perspectives[Manalansan 1997; Hall 1997], it has not yet beendescribed in the context of Georgia throughsociolinguistic research.Due to the unfavourable atmosphere in Georgia inthis respect [Lomjaria 2020; p.137, p.138], it seemsnecessary to conduct a sociolinguistic study thatwould reflect the linguistic and sociolinguisticsituation in Georgia regarding the vulnerablegroups of society.This study aims to answer the following questions:(1) How do Georgian LGBT+ people estimatethemselves? (2) What do LGBT+ people associatetheir (high versus low) self-esteem with? (3) Whatlinguistic strategies do LGBT+ people use duringself-expression?The research is based on an open-endedquestionnaire and includes questions aboutself-attitude and self-esteem. As well as this, itdescribes the attitude of LGBT+ members to theissues of homophobia and oppression.

To conduct in-depth research of the above-mentioned empirical data, thestudy combines a qualitative method of research with the interdiscipli-nary approach to discourse analysis which involves anthropology, history,culture and sociology [Bucholtz 2003].The study of both sets of empirical material revealed linguistic markersof self-esteem employed by the LGBT+ members in Georgian society andthe way they reflect the social and cultural environment of the country.