Sexualities are perceived, constructed and represented in different ways in various languages and cultures. This volume addresses how people use various linguistic features to construct their sexual identities and relationships and how membership of specific social groups, based on sexual and lifestyle choices, may be signalled through language.

Introduction: Language, Sexualities and Desires; H.Saunston & S.Kyratzis Sex Talk: Language, Desire, Identity and Beyond; L.Morrish & W.Leap "Everyone was convinced that we were closet fags": The Role of Heterosexuality in the Construction of Hegemonic Masculinity; J.Coates "This Sex Thing is such an Important Issue now": Sex Talk and Identities in Three Groups of Adolescent Girls; P.Pichler The Semantics of Desire: Exploring Desire, Love and Sexuality Through Metaphor; S.Kyratzis Queering Language: A Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name Comes Out of the Closet; Y.Dröschel Education, Culture and the Construction of Sexual Identity: An Appraisal Analysis of Lesbian Coming Out Narratives; H.Sauntson The Transformed Gay Self: The Male Body and Its Scenic Presence as Sites of Gay Self-Enunciation; S.A.Grosse The Subversive Effect of the Signals of Erotic Text Patterning; M.Hoey Going 'Back to Basics': Moral Panics about Heterosexual Relationships; L.Litosseliti Women Like Us: Mediating and Contesting Identity in Lesbian Advice Literature; D.A.Chirrey Index