The present study investigated children’s pronoun usage in reference to animals of unknown sex. It was found that different factors that lie in the nature and behavior of the antecedents influence the choice between masculine he, feminine she and neuter it. Moreover, it could be shown that children’s use of the masculine pronoun he is disproportionally more frequent than their use of feminine she and neuter it. These results support the animal=male hypothesis framed by Lambdin et al. (Lambdin et al, 2003).
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. English Pronouns
1.1 The Pronominal System of Modern Standard English
1.2 Pronouns in Reference to Animals in Modern Standard English
2. Possible Influences on the Choice of Pronouns
2.1 Generic Reference vs. Specific Reference
2.2 Animal-like Behavior vs. Personification
2.3 Passive Object vs. Active Agent
2.4 Gender-neutral Behavior vs. Maternal Behavior
2.5 The Hierarchy of Individuation
3. Methodology
3.1 Material
3.1.1 Picture Story: Generic Reference vs. Specific Reference
3.1.2 Picture Story: Animal-like Behavior vs. Personification
3.1.3 Picture Story: Passive Object vs. Active Agent
3.1.4 Picture Story: Gender-neutral Behavior vs. Maternal Behavior
3.2 Procedure
4. Results
5. Discussion
5.1 Pronoun Switches Induced by the Set Triggers
5.2 The Choice of Gender-specific Pronouns over Neuter it
5.3 The Choice of Masculine he over Feminine she and Neuter it
6. Conclusion
List of References
Appendix
Picture Stories
- Quote paper
- Marie Alicja Adler (Author), 2012, Variable Pronoun Usage in Child Speech, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/207163
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