Gender Politics in English Language: Exploring the Factors that Affect the Use of the Epicene Pronoun in Esl Context

Abstract

The English language lacks a pronoun for a singular genderless nominal antecedent. Due to that, different schools of thought have emerged in language studies over what item to be considered appropriate for such role. The pronouns that are used to play the role are collectively known as epicene pronoun. Over the years, the debate has lingered on three epicenes- generic he, coordinated he or she and the singular they, with recent debates tilting towards the singular they. The APA’s (2019) style manual, in its latest edition, i.e. the 7th edition, instructed scholars to use they/them/their pronouns for situations where gender is unknown or irrelevant. While several studies have confirmed that the singular they has become the most preferred epicene in L1 context, minimum studies have been conducted in L2 contexts. This study explores the factors that affect the use of the epicene in the L2 context, in Ghana precisely. 20 English major tertiary students were recruited for the study and data were collected using questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The outcome of the analysis confirms that the coordinated he or she is the most preferred epicene in the L2 context. However, it is revealed that when the singular antecedent evokes a plural ‘sense’, the singular they is the most preferred. The study also reveals that three factors account for the use of the epicene- socio-cultural factors, input/amount of exposure factor and grammaticality factors. It is recommended that, as the concept of gender evolves and expands beyond the simplistic binary male and female, the singular they becomes more gender responsive and should be introduced into the language curricula of L2 contexts.