Gendering in open access research articles: The role of epicene pronouns

Stormbom, Charlotte

doi:10.1016/j.esp.2020.08.001

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…Hekanaho (2020) found singular "they" was the most commonly used (80%) pronoun in written responses. Stormbom (2020) conducted a search of gendered language in open research articles and reported that singular "they" was the most commonly used pronoun (46.8%). Similarly, Yakut et al (2021) found that the usage of the pronoun "they" as a non-binary singular pronoun considerably increased from the year 2010 to the year 2019 in Social Science academic journals.…”

Section: The Use Of "They" In Spoken and Written Englishmentioning

confidence: 99%

“What do they mean?” a systematic review on the interpretation, usage and acceptability of “they”

Batista da Costa,

Tenenbaum,

Grandison

2024

Front. Psychol.

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The rise of feminist and LGBTQIA+ movements paved the way for many equality reforms. These include language reforms, which facilitate inclusion of multiple groups in society. For example, the shift from the generic “he” to “he or she” and “they” allows for the inclusion of women, transgender, and non-binary individuals in many narratives. For this reason, many institutions worldwide encourage neutral language. It remains unclear how individuals interpret neutral language. One case of neutral language is the pronoun “they,” which has been assigned multiple definitions from the 1970s to 2022. We examine how the pronoun “they” has been interpreted, used, and accepted over time. We discuss trends in the findings and make suggestions for future research directions, including the need for better methods to investigate pronouns and clarification on what the focus of neutral language should be. This timely commentary has implications for action on equality, diversity, and inclusion.

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Section: The Use Of "They" In Spoken and Written Englishmentioning

confidence: 99%

“What do they mean?” a systematic review on the interpretation, usage and acceptability of “they”

Batista da Costa,

Tenenbaum,

Grandison

2024

Front. Psychol.

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“…Regardless of the spiked interest of language scholarship on the concept of the singular they in recent years especially in the past 30 years (Breccia, 2021), not many studies have researched into it, most especially in the second language context (Abudalbuh, 2012 Stormbom, 2020). In his comparative study, Abudalbuh (2012) found that while native English speakers used the singular they most often, the non-native speakers, Arabs, preferred the generic he.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, two studies are regarded as the most comprehensive on the epicene; Stormbom (2020) and Conrod (2019) (Moulton et al, 2020). Stormbom (2020) examined 1003 research papers on the epicene pronouns and confirmed that the singular they was the most frequently used epicene while the generic he and the binary he/she had equal representation in the data, suggesting that they are equally preferred, i.e., neither is preferred over the other. Conrod (2019) conducted an acceptability judgement study on the singular they engaging 754 participants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Fenyi¹,

Arthur²

2023

JLLS

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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.

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