Pronouns
The War on Grammar
Found on r/badlinguistics. An "explanation" for why the singular use of 'they' is wrong. Includes the line, "Ideally we’d still use “thou” as the familiar for an individual." [Published on 10-08-2016]
A letter saying they won
Linguist Geoff Pullum ignites a new firestorm with a blog post about singular they to refer to a non-binary person. [Published on 12-04-2017]
Everybody uses singular they, whether they realize it or not
Linguist Geoff Nunberg weighs on in singular they after it was voted 2016 word of the year. [Published on 12-30-2016]
The Pronoun They
This article explains how we have gender pronouns in the English language. By drawing examples from how English developed, McCulloch provides information of why gender pronouns are important and are used today.
#Ideology
#Lexicon
#Performativity
#Gender non conforming
#Gender binary [Published on 06-02-2014]
'He', 'She', 'They' and 'Us'
This article appeared on The New York Times Insider and discusses transgender issues and the use of a person’s preferred pronoun rather than the conventional or binary pronouns commonly used when reporting a news story. The Washington Post, The Associated Press, and The New York Times policy for use of unconventional pronouns is discussed. [Published on 04-05-2017]
Lying Words: Predicting Deception From Linguistic Styles
This article studies how our linguistic styles differ when we are telling a lie. It uses a “computer based-text analysis program” to study whether study participants were telling the truth or not. It was able to correctly identify the liars and truth tellers at a rate of 61% overall. This article shows how liars showed “lower cognitive complexity, used fewer self-references and other-references, and used more negative emotion words.”
[Published on 06-01-2002]
Sorry, grammar nerds: The singular "they" has been declared Word of the Year
Coverage of the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year 2016 vote, in which singular 'they' used to refer to a known reference was voted word of the year.
Washington Post accepts singular they
The Washington Post's style guide now accepts singular they. [Published on 12-10-2015]
Facebook, the gender binary, and third person pronouns
An article by Lal Zimman about Facebook's changes to the options provided to users for gender identity and preferred pronoun usage. [Published on 09-23-2014]
The Gender neutral pronoun: 150 years later, still an epic fail
An article suggesting that efforts to introduce a gender neutral pronoun into English are bound to fail, given the history of the practice. [Published on 08-16-2010]
'Yo' Said What?
In Baltimore kids have started using "yo" as a gender neutral pronoun. [Published on 03-15-2015]
How using 'they' as a singular pronoun can change the world
This is an article that discusses the importance of using singular 'they' and addresses issues related to its "correctness". [Published on 02-03-2015]
57% of Languages do not have gendered pronouns
A map from the website "Sociological Images" showing the distribution of gendered and gender-neutral pronouns in the world's languages. 57% of languages profiled here make no gender distinctions. [Published on 10-11-2014]
Sweden's new gender neutral pronoun is a step towards equality, and catching on quick
A blog post on the recent spread of the gender neutral pronoun "hen" in Sweden. [Published on 10-08-2014]
NPR: Our use of hidden words
An NPR story on the work of psychologist James Pennebaker, who uses computers to track the use of function words and pronouns in spoken corpora, illustrating the process of accommodation. [Published on 09-01-2014]
What Is a “Preferred Gender Pronoun,” and Is It Always Obnoxious?
A discussion of the practice of asking individuals in advance to select their preferred gender pronoun.
Using Unbiased language
This site offers suggestions for avoiding gender bias and sexism in the English language.