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

Daniel Arkoh Fenyi, Rebecca Arthur
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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.
英语语言中的性别政治:探究影响英语语境中Epicene代词使用的因素
英语中缺少指代单数无性别名义先行词的代词。正因为如此,在语言研究中出现了不同的思想流派,关于什么项目被认为适合这样的角色。用来扮演这个角色的代词统称为epicene代词。多年来,争论一直停留在三个震中词上——通用的他,协调的他或她和单数的他们,最近的辩论倾向于单数的他们。美国心理学协会(2019)的最新版本(即第七版)风格手册指示学者在性别未知或不相关的情况下使用they/them/their代词。虽然有几项研究已经证实,在第一语言语境中,单数的they成为最受欢迎的表戊烯,但在第二语言语境中进行的研究却很少。本研究探讨了影响在第二语言背景下,在加纳使用的外茂烯的因素。本研究招募了20名英语专业的大学生,采用问卷调查和半结构化访谈的方式收集数据。使用专题分析对数据进行分析。分析结果证实,在L2背景下,配位的他或她是最优选的表生体。然而,研究表明,当单数先行词唤起复数意义时,单数they是最受欢迎的。研究还揭示了三个因素:社会文化因素、输入/暴露量因素和语法因素。我们建议,随着性别概念的发展和扩展,超越了简单的二元男性和女性,单数的“他们”变得更加具有性别敏感性,应该被引入第二语言语境的语言课程中。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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