The Science of Pronominal Usage: He and It in Co-Reference to Inanimate Objects in Late Middle English Texts on Alchemy
Issue Date
2011-12-01Author
Grund, Peter
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This article explores the variation between he and it in coreference to inanimate entities (such as mercury, sulfur, and salt). Using alchemical texts from the fifteenth century as material, the article demonstrates that there was much more variation in pronominal reference in this period than has previously been shown. Of the possible explanations suggested by previous research, the earlier grammatical gender system and transference from Latin do not seem to play a role, while pronoun clustering and pronominal reanalysis appear to influence the quantitative distribution. The scale of individuation used by Siemund and Stenroos to explain similar usage is shown not to be a straightforward predictor. Other factors such as personification and perceived similarities between animate and inanimate entities may affect the degree of perceived individuation. The choice of he over she seems to be influenced by pronominal reanalysis and straightforward personification in some cases. In other instances, it is speculated that the he usage reflects (stereotypical) gender conceptions in the Middle Ages.
Description
This is the author's accepted manuscript. The published version can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0075424210384225
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Citation
Grund, Peter. 2011. “The Science of Pronominal Usage: He and It in Co-Reference to Inanimate Objects in Late Middle English Texts on Alchemy.” Journal of English Linguistics 39(4): 335–358. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0075424210384225
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