Anne Curzan (Ann Arbor University of Michigan)

Gender Shifts in the History of English

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

How did grammatical gender in English get replaced by a system dependent on natural gender? How is this related to 'irregular agreement' (she for ships) and 'sexist' language use (generic he) in Modern English? This study, based on extensive corpus data, offers an important historical perspective on these controversial questions.

Produktdetails

• Studies in English Language
• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 236
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. März 2009
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 15mm
• Gewicht: 368g
• ISBN-13: 9780521117265
• ISBN-10: 0521117267
• Artikelnr.: 26204965

Autorenporträt

Anne Curzan is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Michigan. She has written extensively on the history of English, lexicography, and pedagogy, and is co-author of First Day to Final Grade: A Graduate Student's Guide to Teaching (2000). Professor Curzan is also co-editor of the Journal of English Linguistics.

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Defining English gender
2. The gender shift in histories of English
3. A history of gender, people and pronouns: the story of generic he
4. Third-person pronouns in the gender shift: why is that ship a she?
5. Gender and asymmetrical word histories: when boys could be girls
6. Implications for non-sexist language reform
Appendix 1. Background on early English personal pronouns
Appendix 2. Helsinki corpus texts and methodology
References
Index.