Lal Zimman

Lal Zimman is a linguist who works on sociocultural linguistics, sociophonetics, language, gender and identity, and transgender linguistics.

Education
Zimman received his BA in Philosophy and MA in English with a Linguistics concentration from San Francisco State University. He received his PhD in linguistics from University of Colorado at Boulder in 2012 where he worked under Kira Hall. His dissertation, Voices in Transition: Testosterone, Transmasculinity, and the Gendered Voice among Female-to-Male Transgender People, used both ethnographic and sociophonetic methods to explore the effects of hormone therapy on the voices of trans men.

Career
Zimman's work has been influential in developing the field of trans linguistics. He has been widely recognized for his work on inclusive language reform and activism,  the relationship between the body, biological sex, and the voice, and pronouns and singular they.

Zimman is currently assistant professor of Linguistics & Affiliated Faculty in Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also General Editor for Studies in Language, Gender, and Sexuality for Oxford University Press.

In 2014, Zimman published a co-edited volume, Queer Excursions: Retheorizing Binaries in Language, Gender, and Sexuality (published by Oxford University Press), which won the Association for Queer Anthropology's Ruth Benedict Prize.

He has taught several classes on Sociocultural Linguistics, Language, Gender & Sexuality, and Sociophonetics. He has been interviewed for programs such as The Vocal Fries podcast.

Personal life
Zimman was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Zimman is transgender and uses he or they pronouns.