The Curious History of the Σπεκουλάτωρ Γραμματεὺς--Donald Reindl SpecGram Vol CXLVII, No 3 Contents How to Spot Fabricated Data--Tim Pulju

An Argument for Them

Typically linguists are not supposed to pass judgement on the acceptability of linguistic forms, instead distancing themselves from all notions of prescriptivism. In practice, this is of course not true, particularly in the realm of their native language. Often, this is compounded by notions of 'grammatical' and, more recently, political correctness learned, paradoxically, from others against their will.

I would like to give a number of arguments against some solutions that have been offered to solve the problem of using singular pronouns, which necessarily indicate gender in Standard English, when referring to an unidentified or unspecified person. I would also like to give arguments for using they, them and related forms in this capacity.

The 'grammatical' solution, force fed to us by our English teachers, is one. This sounds horribly stilted and unnatural even in writing; in casual speech it is even more so, making one sound like one has a stick up one's butt.

Various politically correct alternatives have been offered:

They and related forms have the following benefits:

Meemigh Selfin Aye Rice University,
University of Houston,
Houston Community College, Clearlake

The Curious History of the Σπεκουλάτωρ Γραμματεὺς--Donald Reindl
How to Spot Fabricated Data--Tim Pulju
SpecGram Vol CXLVII, No 3 Contents