When last we visited this issue Judy wrote--and
here I'm relying on unreliable memory--that using "they" as a
replacement for "he/she" had become acceptable in her world.
then I may have given the wrong impression. It's certainly acceptable to
me
(and has been in English, IMO, for some while) but a lot of people her
still
don't like it and will say it's ungrammatical.
The London thing is I suppose evidence of a change -- if 'they' singular
is a change.
This page isn't the one I was looking for but does make the point about
Austen and 'they'
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html
and here's one from Oz
http://www.editorscanberra.org/they.htm
Partly because we haven't heard much from
Judy recently
Yes (hello, David, thanks for thinking of me); I've been in
non-philosophical mood
and also very recently, have been watching Wimbledon. Great Men's Final.
Judy Evans, Cardiff
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Ritchie" <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 5:20 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Revisiting Judy's World
It has been a while since we discussed changes in how personal pronouns
are used. When last we visited this issue Judy wrote--and here I'm
relying on unreliable memory--that using "they" as a replacement for
"he/she" had become acceptable in her world. I wrote that I thought
this was an ugly solution and that in this part of the world we still
mark this usage as an error.
Here acceptable solutions to the problem are:
* A German must always think about what he is doing.
* A German must always think about what she is doing.
*A German must always think about what he or she is doing.
*Germans must always think about what s/he is doing.
*Germans must always think about what they are doing.
The error I'm putting before you is:
*A German must always think about what they are doing.
Why revisit the issue now? Partly because we haven't heard much from
Judy recently but also because I wonder whether our language's progress
has followed Judy's world's pioneer road. Here is an ad for a paid
Ph.D. slot at the University of London:
We anticipate that the student will contribute to contextual
genealogical research on the main project and draw from this material to
underpin their own research topic. The student will be given extensive
guidance on research methods, on the use of the appropriate archives in
England, France and Belgium and training in the software used in the
main project. They will be part of a team while at the same time
developing their own research.
What say you, an error or evidence that language has changed?
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html