Nonbinary & Black corpus

The Nonbinary & Black Corpus (NBBC) is a collection of discourse-level transcriptions composed of twenty semi-structured interviews with an evenly split group of Black and white nonbinary individuals in Columbus, Ohio, USA in 2017-2018. This corpus is the first of its kind to collate language use amongst a racially diverse group of nonbinary people.

Topics range from discovering nonbinary identity, coming out, nonbinary social scenes, how to tell if someone is nonbinary (nonbinary 'dar'), nonbinary clothing styles, self-described nonbinary language use, and other aspects of nonbinary sociocultural life. Possible use cases include research into trans identities, race and gender, nonbinary socialization, nonbinary language, and more. The corpus may be of unique interest to linguists, sociologists, psychologists, and others in the humanities and social sciences interested in nonbinary identity.

Coming soon in 2026. Corpus will be available on a by-request basis for research projects uplifting nonbinary gender, identity, and language. First release of corpus will include de-identified discourse-level transcriptions; future releases may also include recorded speech.

Those with preliminary interest may email Dr. Steele at arianasteele[at]psu.edu.