Neelam Nazir2025-11-212025-11-212017https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/11530This study is an attempt to shed a light on the linguistic choices of the Hijra (eunuch or hermaphrodite) communities responsible for discursive practices within their communities located mostly if not all in the suburb of Lahore. A sample comprised 25 members of the hijra communities was selected to investigate what kind of discursive practices they carry out in their everyday interaction within their communities. The data was elicited through interviews and observations of the target communities. The analysis procedure was conceived from three-dimensional model of Fairclough (2010) to unpack some discursive practices produced by them. The results show that their unique discursive practices (e.g., daira for circle, castration, singing, and dancing) in many ways different from others are characteristics of their group formation such as chandni dera, rawana dera, muhatia daira, marjaye daira, and arrwana daira. They communicate through a vernacular dialect of Punjabi, may be labeled as hijra vernacular. They claimed switching into the garbled Urdu sometime for communication outside their group. Their community of practices cover registers (e.g., khol for home, luri for girl, khondi for mother, santla for clothes, jog for hair and so on) are exclusive to them. They prefer to use highly contextual masculine and feminine pronouns (e.g. mera guru sahib for my teacher, meri behan for my sister and, mera beta for my son) to mark their group formation. Gender is not a fixed category for hijras and they use masculine and feminine pronouns according to the masculine or feminine roles assigned to them in their groups. In addition to linguistic features, they express them through paralinguistic features (e.g., clapping, facial expression, and gaze) as a meaning making source in their discourses. The study motivates future researchers to investigate how social practices are influencing linguistic choices of Hijra communities at their workplaces. Key terms of the study: Hijra, Eunuch, Hermaphrodites, Discursive Practices and GenderenThesis