6.1071, Disc: He/She Re: 1023

[The Linguist List]

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-1071. Thu Aug 10 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  51
 
Subject: 6.1071, Disc: He/She Re: 1023
 
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---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Mon, 07 Aug 1995 10:30:54 GMT
From:  Paul.Foulkes at newcastle.ac.uk ("Paul Foulkes")
Subject:        He/She
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Mon, 07 Aug 1995 10:30:54 GMT
From:  Paul.Foulkes at newcastle.ac.uk ("Paul Foulkes")
Subject:        He/She
 
 
>
> Jeffrey Weber replies:
> 1) My own approach to the "generic he" problem is based on my observation of
> the late survival of the h-stem feminine in historical English, in many cases
> the form being identical to the masculine. This observation is counter to
> modern writers such as Pyles/Algeo, Strang, Penelope (e-mail me for
> citations) -- writers who have kept alive and academically popular the idea
> that the h-stem feminine had disappeared before 1300.
 
h-initial forms of the feminine pronoun are alive - if not
necessarily very well - in various parts of Britain, if not
elsewhere. At a guess these are usually restricted to rural areas.
Conservative speakers in parts of Derbyshire, for example, retain
a form typically written as 'her' (and which, naturally, is normally
regarded as misuse of the possessive pronoun). Dialect maps (eg by
Orton) often deal with these pronouns.
 
Paul Foulkes
paul.foulkes at newcastle.ac.uk
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