METAHUMANIORA
ISSN: 2085-4838 : eISSN: 2657-2176 Vol.
No.
April 2026 Halaman: 20 - 29 MAKING QUEER KNOWLEDGE VISIBLE:
DEBBY SAHERTIAN AND THE DIGITAL ARCHIVING OF INDONESIAN QUEER
TECHNOLECT ON TIKTOK
Gilang Januarsyah dan Cicu Finalia Faculty of Cultural Sciences.
Universitas Padjadjaran E-mail: gilang.
januarsyah@unpad.
finalia@unpad.
ABSTRACT.
This study explores how Indonesian queer linguistic knowledge becomes visible and preserved through digital platforms by focusing on a single TikTok video uploaded by Debby Sahertian on 7 July 2021.
In this study, queer visibility is understood not merely as the appearance of queer expressions in public space, but as the process through which marginalized linguistic practices gain recognition, circulation, and partial legitimacy within broader sociocultural and digital infrastructures.
Known for documenting queer slang .
ahasa gay/bahasa gau.
in the late 1990s.
SahertianAos presence on TikTok marks a shift from print-based documentation toward platform-mediated, audiovisual forms of linguistic knowledge production.
Drawing on queer sociolinguistics, digital archiving studies, and platform theory, this research conceptualizes TikTok as an informal, community-driven archive where queer language is not only recorded but also performed, interpreted, and transmitted across generations.
Methodologically, the study employs qualitative content analysis of the selected video, examining queer technolectal utterances, their lexical and phonetic features, and the metalinguistic explanations provided by Sahertian.
These explanations function not merely as translations, but as pedagogical and archival strategies that render in-group language intelligible to wider audiences while maintaining its social markedness.
The videoAos sustained engagement, evidenced by millions of views and continued interaction years after its publication, demonstrates its ongoing role as an active digital artifact.
The findings show that SahertianAos digital practices perform multiple intersecting functions: documenting queer linguistic creativity, facilitating intergenerational knowledge transmission, and countering the historical exclusion of queer voices from formal linguistic and cultural archives.
At the same time, the visibility afforded by TikTok is ambivalent.
While it enables broader access and recognition of queer linguistic knowledge, it also exposes such knowledge to heightened surveillance, algorithmic filtering, and potential commodification.
Overall, this study argues that queer visibility on digital platforms carries significant epistemic and sociopolitical implications: it reshapes how queer linguistic knowledge is legitimized, how community memory is constructed, and how marginalized identities negotiate presence within algorithmically governed spaces.
Keywords: Knowledge production.
Queer technolect.
Queer sociolinguistics.
TikTok.
Visibility ABSTRAK.
Penelitian ini mengkaji bagaimana pengetahuan linguistik queer di Indonesia menjadi tampak dan terarsipkan melalui platform digital dengan berfokus pada satu video TikTok yang diunggah olehDebby Sahertianpada 7 Juli 2021.
Dalam konteks penelitian ini,visibilitas queertidak sekadar dimaknai sebagai kemunculan ekspresi queer di ruang publik, melainkan sebagai proses di mana praktik linguistik yang selama ini terpinggirkan memperoleh pengakuan, mengalami peredaran yang lebih luas, dan mendapatkan bentuk legitimasi tertentu dalam lanskap sosial-budaya dan digital yang lebih luas.
Dikenal sebagai sosok yang mendokumentasikan bahasa gay .
ahasa gay/bahasa gau.
sejak akhir 1990-an, kehadiran Sahertian di TikTok menandai pergeseran dari dokumentasi berbasis cetak menuju bentuk produksi pengetahuan linguistik yang dimediasi platform dan bersifat audiovisual.
Dengan mengacu pada perspektif sosiolinguistik queer, studi pengarsipan digital, dan teori platform, penelitian ini memposisikan TikTok sebagai arsip informal yang digerakkan oleh komunitas, di mana bahasa queer tidak hanya direkam, tetapi juga dipertunjukkan, ditafsirkan, dan diwariskan lintas Secara metodologis, penelitian ini menggunakan analisis konten kualitatif terhadap video yang dipilih, dengan menelaah tuturan-tuturan teknolek queer, ciri leksikal dan fonetiknya, serta penjelasan metalinguistik yang diberikan oleh Sahertian.
Penjelasan-penjelasan ini tidak semata berfungsi sebagai terjemahan, tetapi juga sebagai strategi pedagogis dan arsip, yang membuat bahasa kelompok dalam dapat dipahami oleh khalayak yang lebih luas tanpa menghilangkan penanda sosialnya.
Tingginya keterlibatan audiens, yang terlihat dari jutaan penonton serta interaksi yang terus berlangsung bahkan beberapa tahun setelah video tersebut diunggah, menunjukkan bahwa konten ini tetap berfungsi sebagai artefak digital yang aktif dan mudah diakses.
Temuan penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa praktik digital Sahertian menjalankan berbagai fungsi yang saling beririsan: mendokumentasikan kreativitas linguistik queer, memfasilitasi transmisi pengetahuan antar generasi, serta menantang keterpinggiran suara queer dalam arsip linguistik dan kultural Namun demikian, visibilitas yang dihadirkan oleh TikTok juga bersifat ambivalen.
Di satu sisi, ia membuka akses yang lebih luas sekaligus memungkinkan pengakuan terhadap pengetahuan linguistik queer.
di sisi lain, ia juga membuat pengetahuan tersebut lebih rentan terhadap pengawasan, penyaringan algoritmik, dan komodifikasi.
Secara keseluruhan, penelitian ini berargumen bahwavisibilitas queerdi platform digital membawa implikasi epistemik dan sosiopolitik yang signifikan: ia membentuk ulang cara pengetahuan linguistik queer dilegitimasi, bagaimana memori kolektif komunitas dikonstruksi, serta bagaimana identitas yang termarjinalkan menegosiasikan kehadirannya dalam ruang yang diatur oleh Kata kunci: Produksi pengetahuan.
Sosiolinguistik queer.
Teknolek queer.
TikTok.
Visibilitas DOI: https://doi.
org/10.
24198/metahumaniora.
Dikirim: 30 Maret 2026.
Diterima: 20 April 2026.
Terbit: 23 April 2026 Metahumaniora.
Vol.
No.
April 2026
INTRODUCTION
The relationship between language, identity, and visibility has long been central to queer communities However, the ways in which queer linguistic practices are documented and preserved remain uneven and often fragile.
These inequalities are shaped by geography, culture, and unequal access to archival institutions and technologies.
As a result, many forms of queer language circulate informally and risk disappearing over time.
This condition raises important questions about how queer knowledge is produced, transmitted, and remembered.
In Indonesia, linguistic research has identified a socially marked form of language used within transgender .
communities and other queer This linguistic register is commonly referred to as bahasa gay or bahasa gaul.
Rather than functioning as a regional dialect or a standardized language variety, it operates as a socially situated register that indexes belonging, solidarity, and shared identity within queer communities (Boellstorff, 2.
Boellstorff conceptualizes bahasa gayas a flexible and context-dependent form of communication.
Here, flexibility refers to its adaptive and non-fixed nature: its lexical items, phonological patterns, and usage can shift across contexts, speakers, and interactional settings, allowing users to creatively modify expressions while maintaining mutual intelligibility within the community.
In this sense, bahasa gay functions less as a stable linguistic system and more as a dynamic, collectively negotiated repertoire shaped through ongoing social interaction.
Importantly, this flexibility is closely tied to the socio-historical conditions in which queer communities in Indonesia have navigated marginalization and limited public recognition.
The use of a distinct linguistic repertoire has historically enabled forms of selective visibility, allowing speakers to signal in-group belonging while simultaneously obscuring meaning from outsiders.
As such, bahasa gay has functioned not only as a marker of identity and solidarity, but also as a resource for negotiating safety, resistance, and community formation across different periods.
In this study, this register is therefore understood as a queer technolect, highlighting its patterned lexical and phonological features as well as its role as a shared system of in-group knowledge that is continuously reworked in response to changing social and technological environments.
Historically, this adaptive and socially negotiated queer technolect circulated primarily through oral interaction and everyday community practices, reflecting the need for both flexibility and selective visibility in marginal social contexts.
Salon and beauty industry spaces played a crucial role as key sites of queer sociality, where linguistic knowledge was continuously produced, shared, and sustained through face-to-face interaction.
Testimonial accounts from community insiders further illustrate this pattern of circulation.
Debby Sahertian, for instance, recalls that queer slang was actively used within transgender communities in Medan in the late 1990s before spreading to Jakarta through salon networks (Debby Sahertian Ceritakan Awal Mula Kamus Gaul Tercipta, n.
Despite its sociolinguistic richness.
Indonesian queer language has remained largely marginal in both formal linguistic scholarship and popular discourse.
Documentation efforts have been limited, fragmented, and often dependent on individual initiatives rather than sustained institutional recognition.
One of the earliest attempts to document this linguistic practice in written form occurred with the publication of Kamus Bahasa Gaul by Debby Sahertian in 2000 (Sahertian & Danandjaja, 2.
The dictionary rendered a predominantly oral queer technolect visible as an object of linguistic reference.
As a lexicographic work, it followed the conventions of print dictionaries by presenting language through discrete entries and glosses.
While significant as an early documentation effort, its print-based format necessarily reduced language to decontextualized lexical items.
The embodied, performative, and interactional dimensions of queer language use could not be fully captured within this medium.
The expansion of digital platforms in the twenty-first century has transformed the possibilities for documenting and preserving marginalized forms of knowledge.
Social media platforms have enabled informal and community-driven modes of archiving that challenge institutional gatekeeping and expand access to cultural memory (Caswell et al.
, 2016.
Cook, 2.
These platforms do not replace print archives, but extend them by allowing performance, interaction, and context to become part of the record.
This shift is especially relevant for linguistic practices that rely on demonstration and embodied use.
Within this broader transition from print to digital media.
TikTok has emerged as a particularly significant platform for queer identity expression and knowledge transmission.
Its importance intensified during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when physical spaces of queer sociality became inaccessible and digital platforms became central to everyday interaction (Duguay, 2023.
Hiebert & Kortes-Miller, 2.
TikTokAos emphasis on short-form video, audiovisual performance, and Making Queer Knowledge Visible: Debby Sahertian and the Digital Archiving of Indonesian Queer Technolect on Tiktok (Gilang Januarsyah dan Cicu Finali.
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These affordances differ markedly from text-based documentation practices (Abidin, 2020.
Lee & Abidin, 2.
As such.
TikTok provides a platform through which queer linguistic knowledge can be shown, explained, and circulated in ways that were previously unavailable.
It is within this digital environment that Debby SahertianAos renewed presence on TikTok becomes analytically significant.
Since 2020, she has maintained an active presence on the platform, appearing in a wide range of content.
While many videos focus on entertainment and social interaction, some explicitly feature the use of Indonesian queer technolect.
In these videos, queer language appears either as the primary focus or as part of casual interaction.
As of February 2026.
SahertianAos TikTok account has amassed approximately 297.
followers, indicating sustained public engagement and the platformAos capacity to circulate queer linguistic practices beyond their original community This visibility positions Sahertian not only as a content creator, but as a key figure through whom queer linguistic knowledge intermittently becomes publicly accessible in contemporary digital space.
At the same time, these digital archiving practices must be understood within IndonesiaAos broader sociopolitical context.
Queer communities continue to face discrimination, legal precarity, and expanding forms of digital surveillance (Wijaya, 2020.
Platform visibility enables queer linguistic knowledge to circulate beyond traditional community However, it also exposes such knowledge to appropriation, ridicule, and surveillance (Are et al.
Duguay, 2.
Importantly, these risks do not depend solely on the positionality of the individual documenting the language.
Regardless of whether the documentation is produced by community insiders or external mediators, the increased visibility of queer linguistic forms on mainstream platforms renders them accessible to wider publics, including those who may reinterpret, appropriate, or regulate Documenting queer language on platforms such as TikTok therefore entails a complex dynamic of opportunity and vulnerability, where visibility simultaneously enables circulation and exposes marginalized cultural knowledge to new forms of This study examines how the TikTok content ofDebby Sahertianfunctions as an informal, community-mediated archive of Indonesian queer linguistic knowledge.
Sahertian is widely recognized for her early efforts in documentingbahasa gaythrough print media in the late 1990s, making her a significant figure in the circulation and popularization of queer linguistic forms in Indonesia.
Her transition to TikTok thus offers a unique site for examining how earlier practices of linguistic documentation are reconfigured within contemporary digital platforms.
While previous studies in queer sociolinguistics have examined the structure, function, and social meanings of bahasa gay (Boellstorff, 2.
, and emerging research has explored digital archiving and platform-mediated cultural production, limited attention has been given to how queer linguistic knowledge is re-mediated, performed, and sustained across different media environments.
In particular, the role of short-form video platforms such as TikTok in shaping the visibility, transmission, and reinterpretation of queer technolect remains Addressing this gap, this study asks how platform-mediated documentation shapes queer memory, identity formation, and intergenerational Drawing on queer sociolinguistics, digital archiving studies, and platform theory, it focuses on how queer technolect is performed, contextualized, and made intelligible in digital By situating these practices within IndonesiaAos queer linguistic history, this paper argues that digital platforms do not merely preserve queer knowledge, but actively participate in transforming how it is remembered, circulated, and negotiated in the METHOD This study adopts a qualitative descriptive approach to examine how Indonesian queer linguistic knowledge is documented and made visible through digital platforms, with a specific focus on Debby SahertianAos TikTok content.
The analysis is informed by an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that integrates queer sociolinguistics, the concept of technolect as a socially marked linguistic register, digital archiving studies, and platform theory.
Queer sociolinguistics provides the basis for understanding Indonesian queer language as a socially situated register that indexes belonging and identity rather than as a standardized or regional variety (Boellstorff.
The notion of technolect is employed to emphasize the patterned lexical and phonological features of this register as a shared system of ingroup knowledge.
Digital archiving studies frame social media platforms as informal, community-driven archives through which marginalized knowledge can be Making Queer Knowledge Visible: Debby Sahertian and the Digital Archiving of Indonesian Queer Technolect on Tiktok (Gilang Januarsyah dan Cicu Finali.
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Cook, 2011.
McKinney, 2.
Platform theory is used to examine how TikTokAos audiovisual affordances, participatory features, and algorithmic visibility shape the circulation, explanation, and interpretation of queer linguistic practices (Abidin.
Duguay, 2023.
Lee & Abidin, 2.
Together, these perspectives allow the study to situate linguistic analysis within broader questions of visibility, access, and digital mediation.
The data for this study consist of a single TikTok video uploaded by Debby Sahertian on 7 July 2021, which serves as the primary unit of analysis.
This study adopts a qualitative case study approach, prioritizing depth of analysis over breadth in order to closely examine how queer linguistic knowledge is performed, explained, and circulated within a specific digital artifact.
In addition to the video content itself, selected user engagement metrics .
iews, likes, comments, saves, and share.
and recent viewer interactions are used as contextual data to understand its ongoing circulation and reception.
This video was selected purposively for three First, it was published during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period when digital platforms became central to queer social interaction and knowledge Second, the video is pinned on SahertianAos TikTok profile, indicating its continued relevance and prominence within her digital presence.
Third, it has received approximately 1.
8 million views, suggesting wide circulation and sustained audience Although the video was originally uploaded in 2021, the data reflect a longitudinal observation of its continued activity up to February 2026, when this article was written.
At that point, the video had accumulated approximately 166.
6K likes, 2,841 comments, 5,160 saves, and 2,041 shares, with the most recent viewer comment posted on 20 January These metrics indicate that the video is not only repeatedly viewed but also actively interacted with and recirculated over time.
While the analysis is based on a single piece of content, this study does not aim for statistical Instead, it seeks analytical depth by treating the video as a critical case that illustrates how queer linguistic knowledge is mediated, interpreted, and sustained within platform environments.
As such, the findings are intended to contribute to theoretical understanding rather than represent the entirety of Indonesian queer digital practices.
The sustained engagement and layered interaction surrounding this video support its interpretation as a living digital archive rather than a static or time-bound artifact (Source: TikTo.
Figure 1.
Debby SahertianAos TikTok video The audiovisual format of the video further strengthens its archival function.
Through SahertianAos spoken performance, viewers are exposed not only to lexical items but also to their pronunciation, rhythm, and distinctive intonation.
These phonological features, which are difficult to capture through text-based documentation alone, allow the queer technolect to be learned as an embodied and sounded practice.
In this sense, the videoAos continued circulation, multisensory affordances, and participatory engagement contribute to the effectiveness of TikTok as a platform form the digital archiving of queer linguistic knowledge.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This section presents and discusses the findings of the analysis of Debby SahertianAos TikTok video as a site of queer linguistic performance and digital The discussion is organized into two main subsections.
The first focuses on the linguistic features of Indonesian queer technolect as performed in the video.
The second examines how the linguistic practices are archived and circulated through TikTokAos platform affordances and participatory Queer Technolect in Performance: Lexical Creativity.
Phonological Stylization, and Community Knowledge The analyzed TikTok video presents a short but dense performance of Indonesian queer technolect framed as an invitation to learn.
In the video.
Debby Sahertian addresses viewers enthusiastically and asks them to translate a full utterance produced entirely in queer technolect into standard Indonesian.
Crucially, the on-screen text displays only the technolectal sentence, without any official translation.
Meaning- Making Queer Knowledge Visible: Debby Sahertian and the Digital Archiving of Indonesian Queer Technolect on Tiktok (Gilang Januarsyah dan Cicu Finali.
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This interactional setup positions queer language not as a closed code, but as shared cultural knowledge that is activated through communal engagement.
The utterance performed in the video is as follows:
AuYuhuuA Belagio bahasa gaul lenggang yuk.
Terjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia.
Shanghai-shanghai begindang, akika mawar makasar baksos yang pedesaan.
Hm pesantren yuk, pakarena gojija.
Ay Her followers subsequently provide the following interpretation in Indonesian:
AuYuhuuA Belajar bahasa gaul lagi yuk.
Terjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Indonesia.
Siangsiang begini, aku mau makan bakso yang pedas.
Hm pesan yuk, pakai Go-Jek.
Ay This example illustrates how Indonesian queer technolect operates as a systemic yet playful linguistic repertoire, rather than as random word The technolect draws on multiple cultural resources such as: brands, toponyms, food, institutional terms, and inherited in-group forms, while maintaining phonological proximity to the base words.
Such practices align with observations in queer sociolinguistics that marginalized communities often develop speech styles characterized by exaggeration, recontextualization, and semi-opacity to index solidarity and identity (Barrett, 2006.
Zimman, 2.
Historically.
Indonesian queer technolect emerged and circulated through oral practices within waria communities and urban salon networks, long before its appearance on digital platforms.
Sahertian herself has recalled, these forms were actively used in Medan in the late 1990s and later spread to Jakarta through salon cultures.
The video thus represents not the invention of a new register, but the re-performance of historically grounded linguistic repertoire within a platform-mediated TikTok enables this repertoire to be preserved audio visually, allowing viewers to access not only lexical meanings but also pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation.
Lexical Patterns and Cultural Resources The table below summarizes the key lexical substitutions used in the video, their standard Indonesian equivalents, and the dominant linguistic strategies involved.
Table 1.
Lexical Patterns of Indonesian Queer Technolect Queer Technolect Standard Indonesian Belagio Belajar Lenggang Lagi Shanghai Siang Begindang Begini Akika Aku Mawar Mau Makasar Makan Baksos Bakso Pedesaan Pedas Pesantren Pesan Pakarena Pakai Gojija Go-Jek Linguistic Strategy Partial syllabic retention brand-based substitution Cultural reference-based substitution .
egional food Toponymic substitution .
honological similarit.
Syllabic expansion and rhythmic elaboration Inherited in-group form .
aria Lexical substitution via phonological similarity .
lower Toponymic substitution .
ity Recontextualized abbreviation Semantic extension via rural Institutional reference Cultural reference .
raditional dance and son.
Phonological modification expressive infixation One prominent lexical strategy evident here is toponymic substitution, such as siang becoming Shanghai and makan becoming makasar, inspired by Makassar city.
In both cases, geographic names are repurposed based on phonological resemblance rather than semantic equivalence.
This practice can be understood through EckertAos notion of stylistic bricolage, in which linguistic forms are assembled from heterogeneous cultural resources to produce social meaning and index social positioning (Eckert.
Another recurring strategy involves lexical recontextualization, as seen in baksos for bakso.
While baksos is widely known as an abbreviation for bakti sosial .
ocial servic.
, its use here reassigns the term of denote food.
This playful shift exemplifies processes of resignification, whereby established meanings are strategically reworked in new contexts (S.
Hall & Du Gay, 1.
The humor and opacity produced through such recontextualization serve important in-group functions, reinforcing shared knowledge while resisting full transparency.
Several substitutions draw on culturally loaded references, such as pesantren (Islamic boarding schoo.
for pesan and pakarena .
traditional dance and song from South Sulawes.
for pakai.
These choices expand the base word into a longer, rhythmically rich form, foregrounding expressivity over communicative efficiency.
Similarly, lenggang, a term associated with a Palembang culinary variant Making Queer Knowledge Visible: Debby Sahertian and the Digital Archiving of Indonesian Queer Technolect on Tiktok (Gilang Januarsyah dan Cicu Finali.
Metahumaniora.
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April 2026 of pempek, functions as a substitute for lagi, though its formation does not follow a clear phonological This irregularity highlights that not all elements of queer technolect are rule-governed.
Some forms circulate because of shared cultural familiarity rather than structural predictability.
Importantly, akika occupies a distinct position within this repertoire.
Unlike substitutions that draw on external cultural resources, akika originates from long-standing waria speech practices as stylized form of aku.
Its use involves vowel expansion and rhythmic elaboration, producing a form that is both phonetically expressive and socially The presence of akika signals historical continuity between pre-digital queer interaction and contemporary TikTok performances, demonstrating that digital archiving does not erase earlier linguistic traditions but reanimates them in new modalities.
Phonological and Suprasegmental Stylization as Performative Practice Beyond lexical substitution, the Indonesian queer technolect performed in SahertianAos TikTok video relies heavily on phonological and suprasegmental In this performance, meaning is not carried by words alone, but how those words are sounded, through intonation, rhythm, and duration, becomes equally salient in the unfolding of utterance.
At the suprasegmental level.
SahertianAos speech marked by deliberate manipulation of intonation, rhythm, and vowel length.
The opening exclamation AuYuhuuAAy provides a clear example.
The initial syllable yu is produced with a falling pitch, followed by an elongated huu that rises and is sustained.
This falling-rising contour appears before any lexical explanation is offered, foregrounding vocal delivery at the very outset.
Previous sociolinguistic research has shown that pitch movement and vowel elongation can function as resources for stance-taking and interactional alignment in queer and performative speech styles (K.
Hall & Bucholtz, 1995.
Podesva.
Importantly, phonetic and prosodic modification in this utterance is not applied uniformly across all lexical items.
Most words are articulated with relatively neutral segmental realization, more salient phonetic expansion is concentrated in a limited set of forms, most notably Indonesia and Go-Jek.
This selective patterning indicates that phonological stylization in the video is selective and localized rather than pervasive.
Table 2 summarizes these forms by presenting their IPA transcriptions, the type of phonological or prosodic modification involved, and the observable features associated with each The word Indonesia /indoneOsja/, for instance, is realized as Indoneysia /indonejOsja/, involving the insertion of palatal glide /j/ and inscreased vowel duration.
This results in syllabic expansion and a more elaborated phonetic form, making the articulation of the word acoustically prominent within the utterance.
A comparable process occurs in Go-Jek /oOdeuk/, which is realized as gojija / oOdeidea/.
Here, segmental modification and syllabic expansion produce a rhythmically more complex form, accompanied by observable pitch movement across syllables.
Elsewhere in the utterance, prosodic organization takes the form of segmentation rather than internal phonological change.
Short pauses separate lexical groups, as in Shanghai shanghai begindang | akika | mawar makasar | baksos | yang These pauses structure the utterance into rhytmic units without altering the segmental makeup of individual words.
In baksos, inscreased prominence is observable on the second syllable (-so.
, while in yuk, vowel duration is extended, particularly on /u/.
In the final sequence pakarena gojija, pitch movement is distributed across syllables, with a downward contour on ji followed by a rising contour on ja.
Taken together, the analysis shows that phonetic and prosodic resources, such as pause placement, syllabic prominence, vowel duration, and Table 2.
Phonetic and Prosodic Modifications Observed in the Utterance Lexical item
IPA
Standard Indonesia /indoneOsja/ Technolect form Indoneysia /indonejOsja/ Standard Go-Jek /oOdeuk/ Technolect form Gojija /oOdeidea/ Standard Bakso /baksoO/ Technolect form Baksos /baksoOs/ Standard Yuk /yuk/ Technolect form Yuk /yuuk/ Lexical groups Shanghai-shanghai begindang akika mawar makasar baksos yang pedesaan Modification Type Phonetic and prosodic Observable features Palatal glide /j/, vowel lengthening, syllabic Phonetic and prosodic Segmental modification, syllabic expansion, pitch movement.
Prosodic prominence Increased prominence on second syllable.
Prosodic segmentation Vowel lengthening on /u/.
Modification Type Prosodic segmentation Observable features Pauses between word groups.
Making Queer Knowledge Visible: Debby Sahertian and the Digital Archiving of Indonesian Queer Technolect on Tiktok (Gilang Januarsyah dan Cicu Finali.
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Only certain lexical items are phonologically expanded, while others remain segmentally unmarked and are organized primarily through rhythmic segmentation.
This pattern underscores that phonological stylization in the video operates as a targeted practice, allowing particular form to become acoustically salient without transforming the utterance as a whole.
The salience of these features depends on their audibility.
Through TikTokAos audiovisual affordances, phonetic detail and prosodic patterning are not merely implied but directly perceivable and reproducible by viewers.
The platform enables repeated listening, imitation, and circulation.
It positioning the video not only as a moment of linguistic performance but also as a form of digital archiving through which queer technolectal knowledge is preserved and transmitted.
This shift from localized phonological practice to mediated circulation provides the basis for the discussion in the following section on digital archiving and platform affordances.
Digital Archiving and Platform Affordances In addition to its phonological and prosodic patterning.
SahertianAos utterance can be understood in relation to the affordances of TikTok as a digital The speech analyzed here is not produced solely for immediate interaction, but is recorded, circulated, and made available for repeated In this sense.
TikTok operates not only as a site of performance, but also as a space where spoken language may persist, be replayed, and be recontextualized over time.
The notion of affordances refers to the possibilities for action that an environment makes available to its user (Gibson, 2.
In the context of digital platforms, affordances emerge through an interaction between technical design and user practices rather than form technological features alone (Bucher & Helmond, 2.
TikTok offers affordances that are particularly relevant for spoken performance, such as short video duration, a strong orientation toward sound, and the option to reuse audio across multiple videos.
Within these conditions, speech that is rhythmically clear and acoustically salient becomes especially In a limited temporal frame, phonetic exaggeration such as: vowel lengthening, pitch movement, and syllabic expansion, can increase perceptual prominence and recognizability.
Rather than serving expressive purposes alone, prosodic stylization functions as a resource that supports the circulation and replayability of speech within the platformAos sound-oriented TikTokAos infrastructure further enables this process by allowing spoken utterances to be detached from their original visual and interactional contexts and reused as audio tracks.
Research on social media discourse has shown that platform affordances play a significant role in shaping how linguistic forms are repeated, circulated, and imbued with social meaning (Zappavigna, 2.
Through such processes, stylized speech may come to function as a shared semiotic resource across multiple performances.
Although TikTok content is often perceived as ephemeral, recorded speech remains accessible within the Phonetic and prosodic features that would ordinarily be fleeting in face-to face interaction thus become fixed and replayable.
Through repetition and circulation, these features may accumulate indexical meaning beyond the moment of initial performance.
From this perspective, phonetic and prosodic stylization in SahertianAos utterance emerges as the result of an interaction between linguistic practice and platform conditions.
TikTokAos affordances, particularly its emphasis on sound, replayability, and short-form video, create an environment in which selective phonological highlighting becomes especially effective.
Rather than stylizing all lexical material.
Sahertian foregrounds specific forms in ways that are compatible with platformAos soundbased logic.
Through this alignment, prosodic variation functions not simply as expressive ornamentation, but as a resource that supports circulation, recognizability, and the accumulation of meaning within TikTokAos informal digital archive.
This study set out to examine how Indonesian queer linguistic knowledge is made visible and preserved through digital platforms, focusing on Debby SahertianAos TikTok activity as a contemporary site of documentation.
By analyzing a single, highly circulated video, the study demonstrates that Indonesian queer technolect is not constituted through lexical substitution alone, but through a combination of selective lexical strategies, phonetic and prosodic patterning, and platform-mediated circulation.
Rather than treating TikTok as a neutral container for preexisting language, the findings show that linguistic form, performance, and platform affordances are deeply intertwined in documenting queer linguistic creativity, enabling intergenerational knowledge transmission, and countering the historical exclusion of queer voices from formal linguistic and cultural At the same time, this intertwining remains shaped by the ambivalence of platform visibility, as Making Queer Knowledge Visible: Debby Sahertian and the Digital Archiving of Indonesian Queer Technolect on Tiktok (Gilang Januarsyah dan Cicu Finali.
Metahumaniora.
Vol.
No.
April 2026 TikTokAos algorithmic affordances both expand access to queer knowledge and expose it to processes of surveillance and commodification.
From a queer sociolinguistic perspective, the video illustrates that Indonesian queer technolect operates as a socially marked repertoire rather than a fixed or standardized system.
The lexical strategies observed, such as: partial phonological resemblance, toponymic substitution, cultural referencing, and inherited in-group forms, reflect processes of stylistic bricolage (Eckert, 2.
, in which heterogeneous linguistic and cultural resources are recombined to produce recognizable social meaning.
These patterns are consistent with earlier descriptions of bahasa gay as flexible, playful, and context-dependent (Boellstorff, 2.
, while also showing how such practices are rearticulated within contemporary digital environments.
At the level of linguistic form, this study extends existing accounts of Indonesian queer language by foregrounding the role of phonetic and suprasegmental detail.
While prior research has emphasized lexical creativity and social indexing, the analysis demonstrates that fine-grained phonetic features, such as: syllabic expansion, pitch movement, vowel duration, and pause placement, play a crucial role in making queer linguistic style perceptible and learnable.
Importantly, these features are not applied uniformly across the utterance.
Instead, phonological stylization is localized and selective, with only certain lexical items undergoing salient expansion or modification.
This pattern resonates with sociophonetic research showing that identity work often emerges through targeted phonetic detail rather than categorical alternation between linguistic varieties (Eckert, 2008.
Podesva, 2.
These linguistic practices gain additional significance when situated within TikTokAos platform TikTokAos emphasis on sound, short-form video, repetition, and replayability creates conditions in which phonetic and prosodic detail becomes durable rather than ephemeral.
Spoken language is not limited to the moment of performance, but remains accessible for repeated listening over time.
The continued circulation of the video, sustained audience engagement, and the accumulation of comments across several years suggest that TikTok enables a form of informal digital archiving in which queer linguistic knowledge can be stored, revisited, and transmitted beyond its original interactional The role of audience participation further complicates conventional distinctions between speaker, analyst, and archivist.
In the absence of an official translation within the video itself, metalinguistic explanations emerge through viewer comments that gloss, interpret, and normalize the technolect for broader audiences.
Following digital archiving scholarship, these participatory practices can be understood as community-driven archival labor rather than peripheral interaction.
Linguistic knowledge is not transmitted solely from Sahertian to her audience, but co-produced through platformmediated engagement.
At the same time, the visibility afforded by TikTok remains ambivalent.
While platform circulation allows queer linguistic practices to reach audiences beyond their original community contexts, it also exposes them to misinterpretation, appropriation, and surveillance.
This tension reflects broader discussions in queer digital studies about the double-edged nature of platform visibility, particularly in sociopolitical contexts where queer identities remain precarious.
Digital archiving, in this sense, does not merely preserve language but reshapes its social trajectories and associated risks.
Overall, this study contributes to queer sociolinguistics by demonstrating that Indonesian queer technolect is best understood as a multimodal sociolinguistic practice shaped by selective phonetic, prosodic, and platform-mediated processes.
Rather than a stable code or bounded variety, technolect emerges here as a flexible repertoire whose meaning is produced through patterned use, performance, and By foregrounding sound, rhythm, and delivery alongside lexical creativity.
TikTok extends earlier print-based documentation and reconfigures how queer linguistic knowledge is remembered, shared, and carried forward.
In doing so, the platform participates actively in shaping how IndonesiaAos queer linguistic pas is rearticulated in the present and projected into the future.
CONCLUSION
This study demonstrates that Indonesian queer linguistic knowledge can be made visible and sustained through platform-mediated practices that foreground sound, performance, and participation.
Focusing on a single, highly circulated TikTok video by Debby Sahertian, the analysis shows that queer technolect is produced not only through lexical creativity, but through selective phonetic and prosodic patterning that becomes durable through circulation and repeated access.
The findings highlight TikTokAos role as more than a site of performance.
Through recording, replayability, and audience engagement, spoken language acquires archival value, allowing Making Queer Knowledge Visible: Debby Sahertian and the Digital Archiving of Indonesian Queer Technolect on Tiktok (Gilang Januarsyah dan Cicu Finali.
Metahumaniora.
Vol.
No.
April 2026 phonetic and prosodic detail to persist beyond the moment of interaction.
In this context, queer linguistic knowledge is preserved through everyday digital practices rather than through formal or institutional At the same time, the study underscores the ambivalent nature of platform visibility.
In this context, ambivalence refers to the simultaneous production of accessibility and exposure through the same discursive and platform-mediated processes.
On the one hand, the videoAos metalinguistic explanations, through which Debby Sahertian translates, contextualizes, and performs queer technolect, enable broader audiences to understand linguistic forms that were previously restricted to ingroup communication.
On the other hand, this very process of explanation and circulation renders these forms available for reinterpretation beyond their original social context.
This ambivalence is further reflected in patterns of audience engagement, where repeated viewing, commenting, and sharing contribute to the circulation of queer linguistic knowledge across heterogeneous publics.
While such circulation facilitates intergenerational transmission and collective interpretation, it also opens the possibility for appropriation, trivialization, or surveillance, particularly in a platform environment where content visibility is shaped by algorithmic amplification rather than community control.
Digital archiving, therefore, does not simply preserve language, but actively reshapes its conditions of circulation, intelligibility, and risk.
bringing queer sociolinguistics into dialogue with platform affordances and digital archiving studies, this article emphasizes the importance of sound, delivery, and circulation in understanding how marginalized linguistic practices endure.
It suggests that contemporary queer linguistic archives are increasingly audiovisual, participatory, and platformbased, transforming how queer linguistic histories are not only preserved, but also reinterpreted and contested in the present.
REFERENCES