[Gala-l] Routledge Handbook of Pronouns - call for chapters

[Laura.Paterson (Senior Lecturer)]

Call for Chapters – Routledge Handbook of Pronouns
The Routledge Handbook of Pronouns draws together research from language studies, syntactic theory, experimental psychology, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, and case study research to provide readers with an overview of some of the key issues in pronoun debates in the early 21st century. It uses data from multiple languages to compare different pronoun systems and considers the different historical, social, cultural, and political factors that influence pronoun use today. Each specially commissioned chapter includes an overview of current research and highlights potential avenues for future inquiry.
Due to authorship changes and the inclusion of additional chapters, the following chapter topics are still available (indicative synopses have been provided below). The deadlines for submission of first drafts is relatively tight – to keep the Handbook on track – but negotiable, and sufficient time can be given for final chapters post-review.
If you would be interested in writing one of these chapters, please contact Laura Paterson (laura.paterson at open.ac.uk<mailto:laura.paterson at open.ac.uk>) by the 30th October 2021.



Chapter 7: How and why pronouns agree

This chapter concentrates on how pronouns work within wider syntactic structures. It sets out the basics of pronoun agreement, using syntactic trees to illustrate how pronouns interact with other components of language. It will introduce readers to current understandings of pronoun agreement, using examples from several languages, as well as demonstrating what goes wrong when pronouns do not agree with other syntactic components. There is also scope for this chapter to discuss current issues of contention in theoretical understandings of pronoun resolution.



Chapter 8: Pronouns in the brain

Drawing on the field of neuroscience, this chapter gives an overview of studies which have focused on how we can observe pronoun processing within the brain. Detailing experimental procedures, this chapter explains how researchers have sought to understand pronoun processing by testing how the brain responds to pronoun mismatches. It explains how ERP (event related potentials) are measured and documents what the P600 and N400 effects can tell us about how humans process the information that is encoded on pronouns.



Chapter 11: The hierarchy of person, number, and gender

This chapter draws on the concept of phi-features to explain how pronouns are marked in their underlying structure for person, number, etc. It demonstrates how the results of studies into pronoun processing suggest a hierarchy of how such features are sequentially attended to by the brain. Understanding the apparent robustness of this underlying structure can also shed light on why pronoun changes (covered in Part I) tend to be gradual rather than abrupt.



Chapter 12: When pronouns are personal but impersonal

This chapter considers how we understand the use of generic second-person pronouns for which there is no retrievable antecedent. There is no participant you encoded in syntax and so this pronoun can only be understood at the level of discourse. The investigation of the use of this impersonal you illustrates a shift away from the minutiae of pronoun processing towards a wider view of pronouns within their wider textual and social context. The chapter also notes that this impersonal use of pronouns is not possible in some languages (i.e. German) and again invites the reader to acknowledge the differences between how pronouns function and encode meaning in different languages.



Chapter 19: Tu and vous in the 21st century: cross-linguistic evidence

This chapter considers how cultural norms and notions of politeness can influence the pronouns we choose to use. Taking French as a primary case study, but acknowledging similarities with other languages, this chapter discusses how people learn which pronouns are expected in particular social situations. It considers how these expectations may change over time, focusing particularly on contemporary attitudes to pronoun choice. The chapter presents further evidence for the claim that, despite being a closed-class, pronouns can carry a lot of semantic information.



Chapter 20: Pronouns as shibboleths: prescriptive attitudes to case forms

Focusing on the concepts of hypercorrection and dialectal variation, this chapter interrogates how pronoun choice can index more than just case, number, person, or gender. Taking examples from English, it highlights the interplay between pronoun choice and value judgements about ‘correct’ or ‘proper’ speech. By considering both order and case form in binomials (she and I, her and me) and the use of reflexives in nominative/accusative positions (what brought yourselves here today?) it dissects how constructions can become associated with certain social judgements and/or attributes.



Chapter 25: Us and them in race debates

While previous chapters have focused on how pronouns can be used to established shared goals or adhere to social norms, this chapter considers how pronouns can be used to signify boundaries and differences between social groups, for example, through the use of personal pronouns (It’s them or us) or demonstratives (those people). Taking a case study approach, this chapter looks at pronoun use in contemporary debates about race and racism to investigate what the close analysis of pronouns can tell us about stance. It questions whether pronoun choice can shed light on implicit bias.



Chapter 29: Trends towards individualism: A move away from collective pronouns

The final chapter of this section focuses on changes pronoun use that have been linked to cultural shifts towards individualism and away from collectivism. Drawing on examples from Chinese and Japanese, this chapter considers whether such changes can be linked to a wider shift towards informal language, or whether they are influenced by cross-cultural interactions and language contact, and even technological innovations.



Chapter 31: Gender-neutrality in clitic pronoun systems

Situating pronouns in their wider linguistic context this chapter interrogates how gender-neutrality can be achieved in languages that use clitics to mark gender. Epicene debates take on a different shape in such languages where gender-neutral language cannot be achieved solely through modifications to the personal pronoun paradigm.
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