DOCSLIB.ORG

The Use of Personal Pronouns in Political Speeches a Comparative Study of the Pronominal Choices of Two American Presidents

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

School of Language and Literature G3, Bachelors’ Course English Linguistics Course Code: 2EN10E Supervisor: Ibolya Maricic Credits: 15 Examiner: Charlotte Hommerberg Date: May 28, 2012 The Use of Personal Pronouns in Political Speeches A comparative study of the pronominal choices of two American presidents Jessica Håkansson ! !"#$%&'$( The study investigates the pronominal choices made by George W Bush and Barack Obama in their State of the Union speeches. The main focus of the study is on determining whom the two presidents refer to when they use the pronouns I, you, we and they, and to compare the differences in pronominal usage by the two presidents. The results suggest that the pronominal choices of the presidents do not differ significantly. The results also indicate that the pronoun I is used when the speaker wants to speak as an individual rather than as a representative of a group. You is used both as generic pronoun as well as a way for the President to speak to the Congress, without speaking on their behalf. The pronoun we is used to invoke a sense of collectivity and to share responsibility, in most cases it refers to the President and the Congress. They is used to separate self from other; whom the speaker refers to while using they varied greatly between the speakers. The study also showed that the pronominal choices and whom the pronouns refer to vary greatly depending on the context of the speech. Since a great deal of studies on pronominal choices in political interviews and debates already exist, this study can be regarded as significant because it deals with prepared speeches rather than interviews and debates. ! )*+,-%.#/ Personal pronouns, political speeches, pronominal choice, State of the Union Address ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( ( ( ( ( ! 0&"1*(-2('-3$*3$#( 45(63$%-.7'$8-3(5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555(4! "#"!$%&'!()*)+(,-!./)*0%12*!+23!*,14)!################################################################################################!5! 9(:&$*%8&1(&3.(;*$<-.(5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555(=! 5#"!6+0)(%+7!#######################################################################################################################################################!8! 5#5!6)0-13!########################################################################################################################################################!9! 5#8!:(1;7)&*!+23!7%&%0+0%12*!####################################################################################################################!9! =(0<*-%*$8'&1("&'>?%-73.(555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555(@! 8#"!<-)!=(+&&+0%,+7!,+0)=1(>!1?!4(121/2*!#######################################################################################!@! 8#5!:()A%1/*!*0/3%)*!12!4)(*12+7!4(121/2*!%2!417%0%,*!#################################################################!B! A(B*#71$#(555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555(C! 9#"!<-)!/*)!1?!!!+23!%0*!A+(%+20*!############################################################################################################!"C! 9#5!<-)!/*)!1?!"#$%+23!%0*!A+(%+20*!######################################################################################################!"5! 9#8!<-)!/*)!1?!&'%+23!%0*!A+(%+20*!########################################################################################################!"9! 9#9!<-)!/*)!1?!()'"%+23!%0*!A+(%+20*!#####################################################################################################!"B! 9#@!D1&4+(%*12!1?!0-)!/*+=)!1?!4(121/2*!%2!0-)!0E1!4()*%3)20*F!*4)),-)*!#####################!"G! @(D-3'17#8-3(555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555(9E! B*2*%*3'*#(5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555(99! ! !"#$%&'()*+&,(%( Political speeches have been regarded a major part of American democracy, and they have been so throughout history (Irimiea 2010:2). The speeches are usually held by leading politicians, who speak either to the nation as a whole or to a specific political group. The politicians who give the speeches usually do it as representatives of political groups such as political parties, governments or nations, rather than as individuals. What they are allowed to say and how is often very limited, because one of the main goals of giving a political speech is to enhance the credibility of the politician in question (Irimiea 2010:4). Political speeches are supposed to increase the population’s political participation, help them to understand important issues and how a problem is best solved as well as a way for the politicians to persuade others to have the same opinions as them. The speeches usually rest on the discussion and exposure of an issue and, most importantly, the use of persuasion techniques (Irimiea 2010:3). Making speeches is the way leading politicians convey information and opinions to the people, and computers and TV have undoubtedly made it easier for the citizens (and other people across the world) to access those speeches. These days, although the audience is a key part of political speeches, the real audience is the millions of people reading the speeches in the newspapers, listening to them on the radio or watching them on TV (Beard 2000:37). The speeches are usually written in advance for the speakers by professional speechwriters. Not very many political speeches are transmitted as wholes. Instead, only highlights of the speeches are broadcasted; the highlights are sometimes referred to as soundbites. Experts always consciously choose the soundbites in advance (Beard, A. 2000:37). While listening to or reading speeches, we might not reflect on or even notice the use of personal pronouns. Personal pronouns make up a big part of political speeches, because they can give an idea of whom the speaker in question identifies with. The pronominal choices in political speeches are also interesting because they make an important influence to the overall effect (Beard 2000:43). Politicians present themselves as being able to identify with the wants, interests and needs of the audience. They present themselves in that way to be perceived as good politicians i.e. suitable leaders of the nation. The way politicians present themselves in their speeches, by referring to themselves, their audience and also their opposition can successfully be used to persuade the audience to agree with them. When giving speeches, politicians have a tendency to present the positive aspects of themselves and the ! "! negative aspects of their opponents. One way of achieving this is by intentionally using specific personal pronouns, which refer to themselves or others (Allen 2007:2). 454(!8;F(%*#*&%'<(G7*#$8-3#(&3.(#'-H*( The aim of this study is to compare and analyze the use of personal pronouns in speeches held by former American president, George W. Bush, and the current president of the United States, Barack Obama. The personal pronouns that are analyzed in depth are I, you, we and they. They were chosen because they are the most interesting ones in political contexts, and the ones that affect the outcome of the speeches. They do this by either including or excluding the audience. In addition, this study also investigates who of the two presidents uses the pronouns I, you, we and they most frequently, and why that might be. The research questions for this study are: 1. How are the personal pronouns I, you, we and they used in the speeches held by the two presidents? 2. To whom are the personal pronouns I, you, we and they referring in the speeches? 3. What differences in the use of the personal pronouns I, you, we and they can be found in a comparison between the presidents’ speeches? The study focuses only on specific speeches, and the results can therefore not be applied to Bush’s and Obama’s use of personal pronouns in their speeches in general. Their use of personal pronouns might be dissimilar in their other speeches, especially due to the fact that they have a degree of assistance in the writing of the speeches. The study is divided into sections; the first one presents different categories of pronouns and the next presents previous research on personal pronouns in general as well as in politics. The results sections of the study present both a qualitative analysis accompanied by examples from the eight speeches as well as a comparison of the pronominal usages. The qualitative results are given first, and are divided into four different sections. The following section is the comparison of the speeches, which is a quantitative study. Lastly, there is a conclusion with final thoughts and suggestions for further studies within the topic of pronouns in political speeches. ! 5! !!!"#$%&"'(!"#!!"#$%&( 954(:&$*%8&1( The analysis is based on eight speeches, more specifically the annual speeches referred to as the State of the Union Address. Four of these speeches are from Bush’s presidency, between the years of 2001 and 2004, i.e. his first time at office, and another four from Obama’s presidency, i.e. the four most recent speeches. The reason for choosing these speeches in particular is the fact that they were given under their first presidential terms, perhaps making the study more equal. These
Recommended publications
  • Old English: 450 - 1150 18 August 2013

    Old English: 450 - 1150 18 August 2013

    Chapter 4 Old English: 450 - 1150 18 August 2013 As discussed in Chapter 1, the English language had its start around 449, when Germanic tribes came to England and settled there. Initially, the native Celtic inhabitants and newcomers presumably lived side-by-side and the Germanic speakers adopted some linguistic features from the original inhabitants. During this period, there is Latin influence as well, mainly through missionaries from Rome and Ireland. The existing evidence about the nature of Old English comes from a collection of texts from a variety of regions: some are preserved on stone and wood monuments, others in manuscript form. The current chapter focusses on the characteristics of Old English. In section 1, we examine some of the written sources in Old English, look at some special spelling symbols, and try to read the runic alphabet that was sometimes used. In section 2, we consider (and listen to) the sounds of Old English. In sections 3, 4, and 5, we discuss some Old English grammar. Its most salient feature is the system of endings on nouns and verbs, i.e. its synthetic nature. Old English vocabulary is very interesting and creative, as section 6 shows. Dialects are discussed briefly in section 7 and the chapter will conclude with several well-known Old English texts to be read and analyzed. 1 Sources and spelling We can learn a great deal about Old English culture by reading Old English recipes, charms, riddles, descriptions of saints’ lives, and epics such as Beowulf. Most remaining texts in Old English are religious, legal, medical, or literary in nature.
  • Learn Pronouns As Part of Speech for Bank & SSC Exams

    Learn Pronouns As Part of Speech for Bank & SSC Exams

    Learn Pronouns as Part of Speech for Bank & SSC Exams - English Notes in PDF Are you preparing for Banking or SSC Exams? If you aim at making a career in the government sector & get a reputed job, it is very important to know the basics of English Language. To score maximum marks in this section with great accuracy, it is important for you to be prepared with the basic grammar & vocabulary. Here we are with a detailed explanatory article on Pronouns as Part of Speech with relevant examples. So, read the article carefully & then take our Online Mock Tests to check your level of preparation. Before moving ahead with Pronouns, let’s have a look at what are parts of speech in brief: Parts of Speech Parts of speech are the basic categories of words according to their function in a sentence. It is a category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions. English has eight main parts of speech, namely, Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions & Interjections. In grammar, the parts of speech, also called lexical categories, grammatical categories or word classes is a linguistic category of words. Pronouns as Part of Speech 1 | Pronouns as part of speech are the words which are used in place of nouns like people, places, or things. They are used to avoid sounding unnatural by reusing the same noun in a sentence multiple times. In the sentence Maya saw Sanjay, and she waved at him, the pronouns she and him take the place of Maya and Sanjay, respectively.
  • “The Relative Pronoun” As Has Been the Case in the Last Several Chapters

    “The Relative Pronoun” As Has Been the Case in the Last Several Chapters

    CHAPTER 17 “Te Relatve Pronoun” As has been te case in te last several chaptrs, tis chaptr realy doesn’t confont te neophyt wit a lot of new grammatcal concepts; it builds on knowledge already mastred. Stl it’s going t take a litle patence, but we’l go slowly. Before we get t te relatve pronoun per se, we’re going t clean up a syntactcal point you’ve already been working wit, but may not have yet a firm conceptual understanding of. Let’s look at what we mean by a “clause”. THE CLAUSE You al remember te junior high school definiton of a sentnce: it’s a complet tought. And by tat we mean a tought which includes a noun, eiter expressed or implied, and a verb, eiter expressed or implied. Tat is, a complet tought must involve someting which is doing someting or which is being held up for descripton: “Te road is blocked”; “Te tee fel down”; and so on. Now, te human mind is a wonderfl ting. It reasons and perceives dozens of different kinds relatonships between events, tings, and ideas. It arranges events and facts logicaly and tmporaly, and in levels of priorit. Tat is t say, it takes two or more tings, tings which are separat ideas, separat visions, and weaves tem tgeter conceptualy and linguistcaly int what we “reasoning”. Te way tis reasoning is expressed in language is caled “syntax”, which litraly means “arranging tgeter”; puting tgeter events and tings and facts. For example, te two separat ideas or visions -- “te road is blocked” and “te tee fel down” -- might have a causal relatonship, which te mind instantly recognizes and expresses linguistcaly wit an appropriat conjuncton: “Te road is blocked because te tee fel down”.
  • Participial Relative Clauses

    Participial Relative Clauses

    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Participial Relative Clauses Sleeman, P. DOI 10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.185 Publication date 2017 Document Version Other version Published in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Sleeman, P. (2017). Participial Relative Clauses. In M. Aronoff (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics [185] (Oxford Research Encyclopedias). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.185 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:01 Oct 2021 Participial relative clauses Petra Sleeman Sleeman, P. Mar 2017, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Aronoff, M. (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, (Oxford Research Encyclopedias). Summary Relative clauses of which the predicate contains a present, past or passive participle can be used in a reduced form.
  • Automatic Recognition of Relative Clauses with Missing Relative Pronoun

    Automatic Recognition of Relative Clauses with Missing Relative Pronoun

    Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium Volume 15 Issue 1 Article 14 3-14-1989 Automatic Recognition of Relative Clauses with Missing Relative Pronoun Kenton L. Chauncey Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/dlls BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Chauncey, Kenton L. (1989) "Automatic Recognition of Relative Clauses with Missing Relative Pronoun," Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium: Vol. 15 : Iss. 1 , Article 14. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/dlls/vol15/iss1/14 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Automatic Recognition of Relative Clauses with Missing Relative Pronoun 1 Kenton L. Chauncey Brigham Young University As I was pondering my thesis topic a few years ago, Professor Skousen suggested that I do an analysis of the Tagged Brown Corpus. I told him that I wanted to do a thesis in linguistics and that I didn't know anything about performing autopsies. He said it wouldn't really be an autopsy, since the Brown Corpus isn't really dead yet, although it is getting old. So I asked him what the body tag was for. He said it wasn't a body tag; it was grammatical tags. For those of you unfamiliar with the Brown Corpus, it is a corpus of about a million word~ compiled at Brown University (hence the name) by Nelson Francis and Henry Kucera in the early 1960s.
  • The Use of Demonstrative Pronoun and Demonstrative Determiner This in Upper-Level Student Writing: a Case Study

    The Use of Demonstrative Pronoun and Demonstrative Determiner This in Upper-Level Student Writing: a Case Study

    English Language Teaching; Vol. 8, No. 5; 2015 ISSN 1916-4742 E-ISSN 1916-4750 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education The Use of Demonstrative Pronoun and Demonstrative Determiner this in Upper-Level Student Writing: A Case Study Katharina Rustipa1 1 Faculty of Language and Cultural Studies, Stikubank University (UNISBANK) Semarang, Indonesia Correspondence: Katharina Rustipa, UNISBANK Semarang, Jl. Tri Lomba Juang No.1 Semarang 50241, Indonesia. Tel: 622-4831-1668. E-mail: [email protected] Received: January 20, 2015 Accepted: February 26, 2015 Online Published: April 23, 2015 doi:10.5539/elt.v8n5p158 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v8n5p158 Abstract Demonstrative this is worthy to investigate because of the role of this as a common cohesive device in academic writing. This study attempted to find out the variables underlying the realization of demonstrative this in graduate-student writing of Semarang State University, Indonesia. The data of the study were collected by asking three groups of students (first semester, second semester, third semester students) to write an essay. The collected data were analyzed by identifying, classifying, calculating, and interpreting. Interviewing to several students was also done to find out the reasons underlying the use of attended and unattended this. Comparing the research results to those of the Michigan Corpus of Upper-level Student Paper (MICUSP) as proficient graduate-student writing was done in order to know the position of graduate-student writing of Semarang State University in reference to MICUSP. The conclusion of the research results is that most occurrences of demonstrative this are attended and these occurrences are stable across levels, similar to those in MICUSP.
  • Pronouns: a Resource Supporting Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (Gnc) Educators and Students

    Pronouns: a Resource Supporting Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (Gnc) Educators and Students

    PRONOUNS: A RESOURCE SUPPORTING TRANSGENDER AND GENDER NONCONFORMING (GNC) EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS Why focus on pronouns? You may have noticed that people are sharing their pronouns in introductions, on nametags, and when GSA meetings begin. This is happening to make spaces more inclusive of transgender, gender nonconforming, and gender non-binary people. Including pronouns is a first step toward respecting people’s gender identity, working against cisnormativity, and creating a more welcoming space for people of all genders. How is this more inclusive? People’s pronouns relate to their gender identity. For example, someone who identifies as a woman may use the pronouns “she/her.” We do not want to assume people’s gender identity based on gender expression (typically shown through clothing, hairstyle, mannerisms, etc.) By providing an opportunity for people to share their pronouns, you're showing that you're not assuming what their gender identity is based on their appearance. If this is the first time you're thinking about your pronoun, you may want to reflect on the privilege of having a gender identity that is the same as the sex assigned to you at birth. Where do I start? Include pronouns on nametags and during introductions. Be cognizant of your audience, and be prepared to use this resource and other resources (listed below) to answer questions about why you are making pronouns visible. If your group of students or educators has never thought about gender-neutral language or pronouns, you can use this resource as an entry point. What if I don’t want to share my pronouns? That’s ok! Providing space and opportunity for people to share their pronouns does not mean that everyone feels comfortable or needs to share their pronouns.
  • Personal Pronouns, Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement, and Vague Or Unclear Pronoun References

    Personal Pronouns, Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement, and Vague Or Unclear Pronoun References

    Personal Pronouns, Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement, and Vague or Unclear Pronoun References PERSONAL PRONOUNS Personal pronouns are pronouns that are used to refer to specific individuals or things. Personal pronouns can be singular or plural, and can refer to someone in the first, second, or third person. First person is used when the speaker or narrator is identifying himself or herself. Second person is used when the speaker or narrator is directly addressing another person who is present. Third person is used when the speaker or narrator is referring to a person who is not present or to anything other than a person, e.g., a boat, a university, a theory. First-, second-, and third-person personal pronouns can all be singular or plural. Also, all of them can be nominative (the subject of a verb), objective (the object of a verb or preposition), or possessive. Personal pronouns tend to change form as they change number and function. Singular Plural 1st person I, me, my, mine We, us, our, ours 2nd person you, you, your, yours you, you, your, yours she, her, her, hers 3rd person he, him, his, his they, them, their, theirs it, it, its Most academic writing uses third-person personal pronouns exclusively and avoids first- and second-person personal pronouns. MORE . PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT A personal pronoun takes the place of a noun. An antecedent is the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers. In all of the following examples, the antecedent is in bold and the pronoun is italicized: The teacher forgot her book.
  • Gender Differences in the Personal Pronouns Usage on the Corpus of Congressional Speeches

    Gender Differences in the Personal Pronouns Usage on the Corpus of Congressional Speeches

    jrds (print) issn 2052-417x jrds (online) issn 2052-4188 Article Gender differences in the personal pronouns usage on the corpus of congressional speeches Dragana Bozic Lenard Abstract Gender differences in language have been extensively investigated by sociolinguists since the 1960s. This paper aimed to study gender differences in the personal pro- nouns usage on the corpus of the 113th United States Congress. All uninterrupted speeches (672 by women and 3,655 by men) whose transcripts were downloaded from the official repository Thomas were analyzed with the text analysis software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count calculating the degree to which the politicians use personal pronouns. In addition, the computational analysis results were further analyzed with the software for statistical analysis SPSS. The quantitative analysis results pointed to minor statistically significant gender differences in the personal pronouns usage. However, the qualitative analysis showed more subtle gender differ- ences pointing to linguistic changes in stereotypization. Keywords: congressional speeches; gender differences; LIWC; SPSS; personal pronouns 1. Introduction Language is one of the most important means of humans’ expression of thoughts. Guided by thoughts, choices people make in the forms of expres- sion can be paralleled to their perception of things from the real world and consequently the way they express themselves about those things. Hence, two people may be speaking about the same thing with their descriptions being Affiliation University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia. email: [email protected] jrds vol 3.2 2016 161–188 https://doi.org/10.1558/jrds.30111 ©2017, equinox publishing 162 Gender differences in personal pronouns usage utterly unrelated.
  • Nominative and Objective Cases Reteaching

    Nominative and Objective Cases Reteaching

    Name Date Lesson 1 Nominative and Objective Cases Reteaching Personal pronouns change form depending on how they function in a sentence. The form of a pronoun is called its case. The cases are nominative, objective, and possessive. Nominative Objective Possessive Singular First Person I me my, mine Second Person you you your, yours Third Person he, she, it him, her, it his, her, hers, its Plural First Person we us our, ours Second Person you you your, yours Third Person they them their, theirs The nominative form of a personal pronoun is used when the pronoun functions as a subject, as part of a compound subject, or as a predicate nominative. A pronoun used as a predicate nominative is called a predicate pronoun. It takes the nominative case. SUBJECT She is my mother’s niece. PART OF COMPOUND SUBJECT She and I are cousins. PREDICATE PRONOUN The cousin I most resemble is she. The objective form of a personal pronoun is used when the pronoun functions as a direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition. Use it also when the pronoun is part of a compound object, or when it’s used with an infinitive. An infinitive is the base form of a verb preceded by the word to —to visit, to jog, to play. DIRECT OBJECT You can see her in these old family portraits. INDIRECT OBJECT My aunt sent me invitations to her wedding. OBJECT OF PREPOSITION A distant cousin has been searching for us. PART OF COMPOUND OBJECT My aunt reserved rooms for them and us.
  • AN INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR of OLD ENGLISH Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies

    AN INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR of OLD ENGLISH Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies

    AN INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR OF OLD ENGLISH MEDievaL AND Renaissance Texts anD STUDies VOLUME 463 MRTS TEXTS FOR TEACHING VOLUme 8 An Introductory Grammar of Old English with an Anthology of Readings by R. D. Fulk Tempe, Arizona 2014 © Copyright 2020 R. D. Fulk This book was originally published in 2014 by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Arizona State University, Tempe Arizona. When the book went out of print, the press kindly allowed the copyright to revert to the author, so that this corrected reprint could be made freely available as an Open Access book. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE viii ABBREVIATIONS ix WORKS CITED xi I. GRAMMAR INTRODUCTION (§§1–8) 3 CHAP. I (§§9–24) Phonology and Orthography 8 CHAP. II (§§25–31) Grammatical Gender • Case Functions • Masculine a-Stems • Anglo-Frisian Brightening and Restoration of a 16 CHAP. III (§§32–8) Neuter a-Stems • Uses of Demonstratives • Dual-Case Prepositions • Strong and Weak Verbs • First and Second Person Pronouns 21 CHAP. IV (§§39–45) ō-Stems • Third Person and Reflexive Pronouns • Verbal Rection • Subjunctive Mood 26 CHAP. V (§§46–53) Weak Nouns • Tense and Aspect • Forms of bēon 31 CHAP. VI (§§54–8) Strong and Weak Adjectives • Infinitives 35 CHAP. VII (§§59–66) Numerals • Demonstrative þēs • Breaking • Final Fricatives • Degemination • Impersonal Verbs 40 CHAP. VIII (§§67–72) West Germanic Consonant Gemination and Loss of j • wa-, wō-, ja-, and jō-Stem Nouns • Dipthongization by Initial Palatal Consonants 44 CHAP. IX (§§73–8) Proto-Germanic e before i and j • Front Mutation • hwā • Verb-Second Syntax 48 CHAP.
  • Pronoun Primer

    Pronoun Primer

    What are pronouns? Pronouns take the place of a noun (a person, place, or thing). Pronouns can be seen when referring to someone during a conversation or in written communication. Example of “she” series: “Hope has been doing very well in adjusting to her time at Tufts. I hope she continues to support staff and faculty in her efforts to create a respectful and affirming environment for all students!” How do pronouns affect me? Tufts University has announced that students on all campuses can change their names in various online Tufts systems such as the Student Information System (SIS). SIS updates class rosters which contains the names of students. When updated, class rosters include the students preferred name as well as the pronouns students are using at that particular time (yes, pronouns can change!). Rosters are points of contact for many student and professor interactions. Students are more likely to come to class and maintain retention if they feel affirmed and respected in classroom spaces. How are pronouns being used? In the chart below there are three examples of the most common pronouns used; she, he, and they. We are familiar with the most common pronouns (he and she) being used in the singular form; referring to only one person. The pronoun series “they”, in this instance, is used in a similar way (in the singular form, referring to one person). Typically, “they” is an example of gender neutral or non-binary pronouns. Example of “they” series as a singular: “I like Cool’s work ethic, they are such a hard-working employee.