Gendered Pronouns in Chinese EL2 Speech: The Case of Epicene Pronouns

This paper presents an exploratory study on the usage of epicene pronouns in the speech of Chinese EL2 students, who were undertaking a Master’s programme in the UK. The reasons for speakers’ use or non-use of epicene pronouns is also explored to provide a fuller picture of the speakers’ usage as w...

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Autor principal:	Ashley Reilly-Thornton
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN GA GD
Publicado:	The Irish Association for Applied Linguistics 2021
Materias:	Epicene pronoun EL2 Spoken English Singular they Chinese EL2 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/fdd024efc5dd4f428e7ee56d2b589a6c
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:fdd024efc5dd4f428e7ee56d2b589a6c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:fdd024efc5dd4f428e7ee56d2b589a6c2021-11-27T16:07:08ZGendered Pronouns in Chinese EL2 Speech: The Case of Epicene Pronouns0332-205X2565-6325https://doaj.org/article/fdd024efc5dd4f428e7ee56d2b589a6c2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journal.iraal.ie/index.php/teanga/article/view/697https://doaj.org/toc/0332-205Xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2565-6325 This paper presents an exploratory study on the usage of epicene pronouns in the speech of Chinese EL2 students, who were undertaking a Master’s programme in the UK. The reasons for speakers’ use or non-use of epicene pronouns is also explored to provide a fuller picture of the speakers’ usage as well as their perceptions of gender-inclusive pronouns. An elicitation based speaking task was used to gather epicene pronoun usage. This was followed by a semi-structured interview utilizing stimulated recall techniques to gather data on the participants’ reasons for use or non-use of epicene pronouns as well as their perceptions of gender-inclusive pronouns. The findings showed that singular they was the epicene pronoun used most often, with the reason being that the participants were imagining a group of people. The avoidance strategy employed most often by participants was usage of the pronoun you, and the participants’ reasoning was that it made the response more personal for the listener. Regarding the different antecedent types, there was a higher number of avoidance strategies used with notionally plural antecedents. On the other hand, notionally singular antecedents were found to have a higher number of epicene pronouns used. For EL2 educators, these findings can inform the introduction of epicene pronouns to students. Ashley Reilly-ThorntonThe Irish Association for Applied LinguisticsarticleEpicene pronounEL2Spoken EnglishSingular theyChinese EL2Philology. LinguisticsP1-1091ENGAGDTeanga: The Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics , Vol 28 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN GA GD
topic	Epicene pronoun EL2 Spoken English Singular they Chinese EL2 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091
spellingShingle	Epicene pronoun EL2 Spoken English Singular they Chinese EL2 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 Ashley Reilly-Thornton Gendered Pronouns in Chinese EL2 Speech: The Case of Epicene Pronouns
description	This paper presents an exploratory study on the usage of epicene pronouns in the speech of Chinese EL2 students, who were undertaking a Master’s programme in the UK. The reasons for speakers’ use or non-use of epicene pronouns is also explored to provide a fuller picture of the speakers’ usage as well as their perceptions of gender-inclusive pronouns. An elicitation based speaking task was used to gather epicene pronoun usage. This was followed by a semi-structured interview utilizing stimulated recall techniques to gather data on the participants’ reasons for use or non-use of epicene pronouns as well as their perceptions of gender-inclusive pronouns. The findings showed that singular they was the epicene pronoun used most often, with the reason being that the participants were imagining a group of people. The avoidance strategy employed most often by participants was usage of the pronoun you, and the participants’ reasoning was that it made the response more personal for the listener. Regarding the different antecedent types, there was a higher number of avoidance strategies used with notionally plural antecedents. On the other hand, notionally singular antecedents were found to have a higher number of epicene pronouns used. For EL2 educators, these findings can inform the introduction of epicene pronouns to students.
format	article
author	Ashley Reilly-Thornton
author_facet	Ashley Reilly-Thornton
author_sort	Ashley Reilly-Thornton
title	Gendered Pronouns in Chinese EL2 Speech: The Case of Epicene Pronouns
title_short	Gendered Pronouns in Chinese EL2 Speech: The Case of Epicene Pronouns
title_full	Gendered Pronouns in Chinese EL2 Speech: The Case of Epicene Pronouns
title_fullStr	Gendered Pronouns in Chinese EL2 Speech: The Case of Epicene Pronouns
title_full_unstemmed	Gendered Pronouns in Chinese EL2 Speech: The Case of Epicene Pronouns
title_sort	gendered pronouns in chinese el2 speech: the case of epicene pronouns
publisher	The Irish Association for Applied Linguistics
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/fdd024efc5dd4f428e7ee56d2b589a6c
work_keys_str_mv	AT ashleyreillythornton genderedpronounsinchineseel2speechthecaseofepicenepronouns
_version_	1718408478537547776

Gendered Pronouns in Chinese EL2 Speech: The Case of Epicene Pronouns

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