What are the linguistic dimensions of pain, and what kind of articulations arise from these painful experiences? How does the language of pain circulate, connect, and reach across histories, gendered realities, and social politics? In what ways might the language of pain act on and transform the world by shaping and changing socio-political agendas? I explored these questions among women in Kosovo and discovered a unique symptomatic language which I call SymptomSpeak. SymptomSpeak is a powerful language evoked, shared, and exchanged by women to articulate political, social, and economic grievances, to challenge societal norms, and to demand justice. The language itself consists of a detailed symptom vocabulary which is variously assembled into meaning complexes. Such assemblages shift depending on the social context in which they are conveyed and are referred to as nervoz (nervousness), mërzitna (worried, sad), mzysh (evil eye), and t’bone (spell). I describe in detail how women variously combine and exchange components of SymptomSpeak and, thereby, question dominant framings of reality. Thereby, my intention is to contribute to a new understanding of pain as language which straddles the fine line between socio-political commentary and illness; produces gendered political realities; and challenges the status quo through its communicative power.

痛苦的语言维度是什么，这些痛苦经历产生了什么样的表达方式？痛苦的语言如何在历史、性别现实和社会政治中传播、联系和传播？痛苦的语言会以何种方式通过塑造和改变社会政治议程来影响和改变世界？我在科索沃妇女中探讨了这些问题，并发现了一种独特的症状语言，我称之为 SymptomSpeak。SymptomSpeak 是一种强大的语言，由女性唤起、分享和交流，以表达政治、社会和经济上的不满，挑战社会规范，并要求正义。语言本身由详细的症状词汇组成，这些词汇以不同的方式组合成意义复合体。nervoz（紧张）、mërzitna（担心、悲伤）、mzysh（邪恶之眼）和t'bone（咒语）。我详细描述了女性如何以不同的方式组合和交换 SymptomSpeak 的组成部分，从而质疑现实的主导框架。因此，我的目的是促进对疼痛作为跨越社会政治评论和疾病之间细线的语言的新理解；产生性别化的政治现实；并通过其传播能力挑战现状。