Singular they in English as a foreign language
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Charlotte Stormbom
Abstract
A much-debated issue in English is the use of “epicene pronouns”, i.e. third-person singular pronouns of indeterminate gender. Previous studies have shown that singular they is the most common epicene in L1 English, but this pronoun has not received much attention in studies of L2 use. The present study extends previous research by examining variation between L2 groups in the distribution of epicene pronouns, focussing particularly on the use of singular they and how it is affected by three features of the antecedent: definiteness, notional number, and gender expectancy. The data originate in an elicitation experiment, which was completed by 338 university students of English from eight L1 backgrounds. The results show that singular they was most frequently used with notionally plural antecedents, whereas it was least common with gender-stereotyped antecedents. The study also disclosed variation between learners: In some L1 groups, they was used frequently with all types of antecedents, suggesting that these learners perceive singular they as a singular pronoun in its own right. In other groups, singular they appeared to function mostly as a modification of the plural they, as the pronoun was only frequent with notionally plural antecedents. The findings have important implications for language teaching.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Situated incidental vocabulary acquisition: The effects of in-class and out-of-class novel reading
- To translanguage or not to translanguage: Ideology, practice, and intersectional identities
- Psychotherapist’s empathic responses to client’s troubles telling/feelings talk in psychotherapy: A conversation analysis
- Refugees’ dehumanization in the Spanish media: A corpus-assisted study within the semantic preference framework
- Young children’s language-based agency in multilingual contexts in Luxembourg and Israel
- Effects of Group Dynamic Assessment on L2 Chinese learners’ literacy development: Learners’ responsiveness to interactive mediation
- Singular they in English as a foreign language
- Searching for the unit of meaning: Knowledge construction in university small group talk
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Situated incidental vocabulary acquisition: The effects of in-class and out-of-class novel reading
- To translanguage or not to translanguage: Ideology, practice, and intersectional identities
- Psychotherapist’s empathic responses to client’s troubles telling/feelings talk in psychotherapy: A conversation analysis
- Refugees’ dehumanization in the Spanish media: A corpus-assisted study within the semantic preference framework
- Young children’s language-based agency in multilingual contexts in Luxembourg and Israel
- Effects of Group Dynamic Assessment on L2 Chinese learners’ literacy development: Learners’ responsiveness to interactive mediation
- Singular they in English as a foreign language
- Searching for the unit of meaning: Knowledge construction in university small group talk
