"gender neutral pronouns"

[Valentino, Russell]

Yes, very interesting. I inferred mostly (a).

Russell

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Robert Chandler
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 11:50 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] "gender neutral pronouns"

Thank you, John - this is interesting.  I intended both meanings, but
(b)
most of all.

R.




> The sentence is actually ambiguous (sorry, Robert): does it mean (a)
the first
> great historian produced by Russia or (b) the first person to achieve
> greatness in writing about the history of Russia?  To my
> linguistically-befuddled ear 'her', perhaps because it is 'emotional'
and more
> suited to more figurative uses, tends to foreground meaning (b), while
'its'
> tends to foreground meaning (a).  Now try that one on your editor...
 
> John Dunn.

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