Transgender communication is emerging as a field of inquiry in its own right (Spencer & Capuzza, 2015), and interpersonal communication studies involving transgender studies is emerging as a field within this larger trend (e.g., Kosenko, Rintamaki, & Maness, 2015; Norwood & Lannutti, 2015). Social scientific scholarship on interpersonal communication involving transgender people is, as typical of emerging fields of study, still marked by somewhat incidental publications and research projects. This particular project seeks to advance this area of inquiry by pursuing five objectives: (a) extending previous work on transgender communication dynamics, (b) contributing to the growth of interpersonal communication studies and transgender studies in a Canadian context, (c) extending traditional applications of communication scholarship to include transgender individuals, (d) generating recommendations to help address communication needs and expectations identified by needs assessments, and (e) demystifying cisgender-transgender communication (Dixon, 2015). To these ends, this study offers quantitative data on loneliness, willingness to communicate, and communication apprehension in a Canadian transgender sample and qualitative data on communication dynamics experienced by Canadian transgender people. The immediate goal of the study was to explore communication experiences and descriptors of Canadian transgender people, with a particular emphasis on loneliness, willingness to communicate, and communication apprehension. In this way, this study builds on previous work exploring communication needs of transgender Canadians (heinz, 2015; heinz & MacFarlane, 2013). Nomenclature Scholarly, professional, cultural, personal, and political preferences and conventions differ greatly when it comes to describing individuals who are not cisgender. Language use in this area is also changing rapidly, and differs in national contexts even when English is used as a common language. In this study, participants answered "yes" to the screening question of whether they "identify as transgender," so this study uses both identity language and the referent "transgender" throughout as affirmed language. When other literature is cited, the language used in that particular work is maintained. Interpersonal Transgender Communication Spencer (2015) provided a succinct and first overview of the emergence of transgender studies in communication. Spencer demonstrated the emergence of a field of study, notably 777780S GOXXX10.
