Gender Shifts in the History of English |
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| Author:
| Curzan, Anne |
| Series title: | Studies in English Language Ser. |
| ISBN: | 978-0-521-11726-5 |
| Publication Date: | Jul 2009 |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press
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| Book Format: | Paperback |
| List Price: | USD $50.99 |
Book Description:
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How and why did grammatical gender gradually disappear from English and get replaced by a system where the gender of nouns and the use of personal pronouns depend on the natural gender of the referent? How is this shift related to 'irregular agreement' (she for ships) and 'sexist' language use (generic he) in Modern English, and how is the language continuing to evolve in these respects? Anne Curzan's study, based on extensive corpus data, will make a major contribution by providing a...
More DescriptionHow and why did grammatical gender gradually disappear from English and get replaced by a system where the gender of nouns and the use of personal pronouns depend on the natural gender of the referent? How is this shift related to 'irregular agreement' (she for ships) and 'sexist' language use (generic he) in Modern English, and how is the language continuing to evolve in these respects? Anne Curzan's study, based on extensive corpus data, will make a major contribution by providing a historical perspective on these often controversial questions.