The Epicene Pronoun
The Word That Failed
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8727276 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dennis Baron (0000-0003-0372-5317, corresponding author), Dennis E Baron |
| Year | 1981 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 83-83 |
| Publication date | 1981-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Speech (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-1283 • E-ISSN: 1527-2133 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/455007 |
| OpenAlex | W2322330284 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 14 |
| References cited | 1 |
A mong the many reforms proposed for the English language by its right-minded, upstanding, and concerned users, the creation of an epicene or bisexual pronoun stands out as the one most often advocated and attempted, and the one that has most often failed. The absence in English of a third-person, common-gender pronoun became apparent when grammarians in the eighteenth century began objecting to the apparently widespread use of they, their, and them with singular, sex-indefinite antecedents on the grounds that it violated number concord. Of the following three alternatives, use of the plural in the first was labeled downright wrong, if not worthy of eternal damnation, and pairing of the masculine and feminine in the second was most often rejected as ugly and cumbersome
Linguistics · Pronoun · Word (group theory · Gender Studies in Language · Psychology · History · Philosophy
Forbidden Words
To Disclose a Less Generic Pronoun
Gender diversity and morphosyntax
(Un)democratic Epicene Pronouns in Asian Englishes
A corpus-based study of epicene pronouns used by Macedonian learners of English
Singular they in English as a foreign language
A thematic analysis of attitudes towards English nonbinary pronouns
Does Alternating Between Masculine and Feminine Pronouns Eliminate Perceived Gender Bias in Text
Dennis Baron, What's your pronoun? Beyond he & she. New York
Moving Counseling Forward on LGB and Transgender Issues
Everybody Likes Pizza, Doesn't He or She
Changes Over Time in the Comprehension of He and They as Epicene Pronouns
Gender bias in the Chinese epicene pronoun ta
Pronominal disagreements
| Unique citing works | 14 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,32 |
| Citation span | 1982 - 2024 (43) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 14 |