Perception and production of singular They in British English

Abstract

Singular they has been part of the English language since at least the late 14th century, when it first appears in written records (Newman, 1992). Historically used in epicene contexts, the pronoun has been expanding to more specific contexts as part of a language change currently in progress (Conrod, 2019).

One of these new uses is as a singular personal pronoun, where they has received increased attention, due to its signaling of gender-neutrality, inclusivity and diversity. Especially in its latter function, attitudes towards singular they may indicate attitudes towards queer people themselves (Hernandez 2020).

While initial studies did not take gender diversity into account, more recent studies have included or focused on data from the speakers who are most impacted by the discourse around singular they - trans* and non-binary people who use singular they as their personal pronoun. Through this shift to a trans linguistics (Zimman, 2020) viewpoint, studies have confirmed a language change currently in progress that sees singular they expand beyond its traditional contexts (Konnelly & Cowper, 2020; Conrod, 2019).

My study aims to add to the growing, queer-centric literature on singular they, by analysing the impact of language-internal and –external factors on naturalness rating, reading time and oral production data. While the rating data shows similar effects as observed in previous research, the reading time data indicates a significant demographic effect which has not been reported in previous studies. Finally, the oral production experiment does not return a significant impact of auditory priming, but some novel demographic effects.

The study provides a holistic snapshot of singular they in British English, underscoring the importance of diverse data collection due to the differences observed across the three data types. It further highlights the benefits of a trans linguistics approach, as the highly gender-diverse sampling reveals some novel insights that have been absent from previous research. Finally, the results of the production task, in particular the lack of a short-term priming effect, indicate the importance of explicit exposure to singular they such as pronoun statements and correcting cases of misgendering, to encourage the use of the pronoun. If corroborated in future research, this may help inclusive and trans-affirmative language policies, offering support for LGBTQ+ people in English-speaking countries.