<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div>I hear "emeriti/emertae" in the speech of university presidents who are addressing such gtoups at reunions.</div>
<div>Sounds awkward but it's probably what will become the accepted standard in English.</div>
<div>--Harriet Ottenheimer </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div style="font-size:9px; color:#575757">Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device</div>
</div>
<div></div>
<br>
<br>
-------- Original message --------<br>
From: Richard Senghas <richard.senghas@sonoma.edu> <br>
Date:10/27/2016 5:13 PM (GMT-05:00) <br>
To: LINGANTH@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG <br>
Cc: <br>
Subject: [Linganth] Nonsexist forms of emeritus in singular and plural? <br>
<br>
<div>Well, I knew it was going to happen sooner or later when one of our university policies that referenced
<i class="">emeritus faculty</i> was being invoked: How have institutions resolved the linguistic conundrum of drawing on a latinate form without replicating the habitual association with masculine syntax as default
<div class=""><i class=""><br class="">
</i></div>
<div class=""><i class="">Emeriti</i> as a Latin plural could be seen as a form of erasure. Would the orthographically awkward form
<i class="">emeriti/emeritae</i> (or <i class="">emeritae/emeriti</i>, for that matter) be the best compromise (for now)? [And what about word order?; think a<i class="">ttorneys general</i>. Do we maintain the “traditional” head-initial compound, or switch
to the more regular (in English) head-final version? But I digress….]
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">It’s right up there with <i class="">they/them/their</i> being acceptable (or not) as singular pronouns. Pragmatics (however linguistically “improper”) has long been a force affecting, even effecting syntactic change, hasn’t it?</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">-RJS<br class="">
<div class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Arial; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; letter-spacing:normal; line-height:normal; orphans:2; text-indent:0px; text-transform:none; white-space:normal; widows:2; word-spacing:0px; border-collapse:separate; border-spacing:0px">
<div class="" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="" style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Arial; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; letter-spacing:normal; line-height:normal; orphans:2; text-indent:0px; text-transform:none; white-space:normal; widows:2; word-spacing:0px">
<div class="" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" class="" style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; font-size:12px; line-height:normal; font-family:Helvetica; color:rgb(0,0,0)">===========================</font></div>
<div class="" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" class="" style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; font-size:12px; line-height:normal; font-family:Helvetica; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Richard J. Senghas, Ph.D.</font></div>
<div class="" style="margin:0px"><span class="" style="font-family:Helvetica; font-size:12px">Immediate Past Chair of the Faculty & Academic Senate</span></div>
<div class="" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" class="" style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; font-size:12px; line-height:normal; font-family:Helvetica; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Professor, Anthropology</font></div>
<div class="" style="margin:0px"><span class="" style="font-family:Helvetica; font-size:12px">Sonoma State University</span></div>
<div class="" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" class="" style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; font-size:12px; line-height:normal; font-family:Helvetica; color:rgb(0,0,0)">1801 East Cotati Avenue</font></div>
<div class="" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" class="" style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; font-size:12px; line-height:normal; font-family:Helvetica; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609</font></div>
<div class="" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" class="" style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; font-size:12px; line-height:normal; font-family:Helvetica; color:rgb(0,0,0)">Richard.Senghas[at]<a href="http://sonoma.edu" class="">sonoma.edu</a></font></div>
<div class="" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" class="" style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; font-size:12px; line-height:normal; font-family:Helvetica; color:rgb(0,0,0)">707-664-3920 (fax)</font></div>
</div>
</div>
</span></div>
<br class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>