Abstract
The English pronoun system is undergoing a change in progress as singular they is used more frequently to refer to specific individuals, especially those who identify as nonbinary. How does this change affect the language production system? Research has shown that the production of he/she pronouns is supported by salient discourse status and inhibited in contexts where the pronoun would be ambiguous. In an analysis of naturally-occurring written texts, we test whether they production patterns with he/she production, controlling for discourse context. Results show that the overall rate of pronoun use is lower for references to nonbinary individuals than for references to binary individuals. This difference is not explained by the potential ambiguity of a referent in context. We speculate that relative unfamiliarity with nonbinary they and nonbinary gender may inhibit the activation of they during production, or may lead writers to avoid using a form that may not be familiar to their addressees.
Highlights
Pronouns are some of the most frequent words in language, and they create cohesion between utterances
Recently English pronouns have been recruited for a social function, where identifying one’s pronouns (e.g. “My pronouns are she/her”) signals gender identity (Out and Equal, 2021)
This practice is inter-related with a growing awareness that gender identity is not always identifiable based on appearance, names, or social role
Summary
Pronouns are some of the most frequent words in language, and they create cohesion between utterances. It is not novel that they is used in a singular sense; singular they has been used for centuries (Baron, 2020; Bjorkman, 2017; Conrod, 2020; Konnelly & Cowper, 2020; Nunberg, 2016), especially in cases where the referent is quantified or ungendered, e.g. Everyone...they, or If you know a student who is absent please send them a recording of today’s lecture Singular they can refer to specific individuals, but is more common when the person’s identity is not contextually critical, for example it is more acceptable when the referent is “socially distant” (my dentist...they) than someone the speaker knows personally (my friend....they; Camilliere et al, 2021). This form is socially appropriate (and for many, required) in contexts where the referent is a person who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them as personal pronouns, so we will use the term “nonbinary they” to refer to this specific linguistic usage
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