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Singular they.

Lagunoff, Rachel.

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Singular they.

Record Type:	Language materials, printed : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Singular they./
Author:	Lagunoff, Rachel.
Description:	219 p.
Notes:	Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 58-08, Section: A, page: 3108.
Contained By:	Dissertation Abstracts International58-08A.
Subject:	Language, Linguistics. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=9804605
ISBN:	9780591544473

Singular they.
Lagunoff, Rachel.

Singular they. - 219 p.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 58-08, Section: A, page: 3108.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1997.

In English, the third person plural pronouns they, them, their, theirs, themself, and themselves can be anaphoric to a grammatically singular antecedent, that is, a noun phrase which has singular verb agreement. The use of what is called singular they has puzzled grammarians since at least the 19th century, since agreement rules appear to be violated (Visser, 1963; Bodine, 1975). Often, singular they is assumed to be a pragmatic strategy for avoiding one of the gender-marked singular pronouns, he or she (e.g., Corbett, 1991). In this study I propose that singular they, while useful as an evasive form, exists independently in the grammar of present-day English, as it has from Middle English on. Singular they can appear in any form, in any structural relationship to an antecedent which describes or quantifies humans (or sometimes animals). Certain types of antecedents appear more often with singular they and are accepted by more native speakers, in the following semantic hierarchy: universal quantifiers, existential quantifiers, indefinite noun phrases, definite noun phrases (cf. Newman, in press; Parker, 1983; Whitley, 1978). Antecedents of singular they can be of any kind, including those where gender is overt or implied, except names. In addition, singular they cannot be used with pointing (deixis), providing support for a theory of reference where only names and deictics are referential (Russell, 1919; Neale, 1990). Antecedents which indicate gender are restricted to those which do not introduce a discourse referent, a noun phrase which can be referred to later by a pronoun later in the discourse (Karttunen, 1976). Agreement rules are not violated if the concept of 'plural' is understood as indicating lack of precise number or identity, rather than 'more than one'. Singular they is then often the best choice with animate nonreferential antecedents.

ISBN: 9780591544473Subjects--Topical Terms:

1018079
Language, Linguistics.

Singular they.
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020 $a 9780591544473
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100 1 $a Lagunoff, Rachel. $3 2101106
245 1 0 $a Singular they.
300 $a 219 p.
500 $a Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 58-08, Section: A, page: 3108.
500 $a Chair: Pamela Munro.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1997.
520 $a In English, the third person plural pronouns they, them, their, theirs, themself, and themselves can be anaphoric to a grammatically singular antecedent, that is, a noun phrase which has singular verb agreement. The use of what is called singular they has puzzled grammarians since at least the 19th century, since agreement rules appear to be violated (Visser, 1963; Bodine, 1975). Often, singular they is assumed to be a pragmatic strategy for avoiding one of the gender-marked singular pronouns, he or she (e.g., Corbett, 1991). In this study I propose that singular they, while useful as an evasive form, exists independently in the grammar of present-day English, as it has from Middle English on. Singular they can appear in any form, in any structural relationship to an antecedent which describes or quantifies humans (or sometimes animals). Certain types of antecedents appear more often with singular they and are accepted by more native speakers, in the following semantic hierarchy: universal quantifiers, existential quantifiers, indefinite noun phrases, definite noun phrases (cf. Newman, in press; Parker, 1983; Whitley, 1978). Antecedents of singular they can be of any kind, including those where gender is overt or implied, except names. In addition, singular they cannot be used with pointing (deixis), providing support for a theory of reference where only names and deictics are referential (Russell, 1919; Neale, 1990). Antecedents which indicate gender are restricted to those which do not introduce a discourse referent, a noun phrase which can be referred to later by a pronoun later in the discourse (Karttunen, 1976). Agreement rules are not violated if the concept of 'plural' is understood as indicating lack of precise number or identity, rather than 'more than one'. Singular they is then often the best choice with animate nonreferential antecedents.
590 $a School code: 0031.
650 4 $a Language, Linguistics. $3 1018079
650 4 $a Language, Modern. $3 1018098
650 4 $a Language, General. $3 1018089
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690 $a 0679
710 2 $a University of California, Los Angeles. $3 626622
773 0 $t Dissertation Abstracts International $g 58-08A.
790 $a 0031
791 $a Ph.D.
792 $a 1997
793 $a English
856 4 0 $u http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=9804605