It’s important as academics that
we acknowledge people’s preferred pronouns, but how do we handle this in our
research? Is the singular “they” acceptable? The community of non-gender-
conforming persons is pushing for the use of gender-inclusive or neutral pronouns.
For many years the feminist community has pushed push to abolish the use of the
universal “he.” How should we as scholars approach the pronoun issue in our
scholarly writing? Both the MLA and the APA have updated their style manuals to
incorporate the use of the singular “they.”
The 7th edition of the
APA advises researchers to “respect participants’ preferences” (APA Publication Manual, 2019, p. 121). It’s important to remember
that transgender people use the pronoun that matches the identity of their
gender expression, so the singular “they” is appropriate only when referring to
non-gender-binary individuals. When referring to a person whose gender is
unknown or not relevant to the subject matter, both APA and MLA suggest
alternatives to the use of the singular “they.” According to the APA, preferred
alternatives include:
·
Making the
subject of the sentence plural
·
Using an
article such as “a,” “an,” or “the” instead
·
Reconstructing
the sentence so that pronouns are not needed
·
Combining both
singular pronouns, “he and she,” “his or her,” but avoiding “his/her," when the
gender of the subjects is known
The MLA advises, like the APA, that researchers respect the wishes of
individuals they write about. Outside of this specific context, however, the
MLA instructs that the use of the plural pronoun “they” is not to be used in formal
writing and recommends rewording sentences for agreement in number, recasting a
sentence so the pronoun is no longer needed, or using plural constructions.
Both organizations make it clear that writers should only use the singular “they”
in specific circumstances, i.e., when it’s not possible to rework sentences.
Like MLA and APA, the most recent 17th ed. of the Chicago Manual
of Style suggests nine alternative constructions to the singular “they,” which
can be found in Section 5.225, and discourages its use. However, Section 5.48 states
that a person’s preferences should be respected.
Another viable option, of course,
is to use the hypothetical “one,” but this option to me seems unnecessarily
esoteric and stilted, significantly altering the writer’s tone.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
the first use of the singular “they” occurred in the 14th century, documenting
that the pressing need for a singular gender-neutral pronoun in the English
language is not new. The issue certainly runs deeper than grammatical correctness or formality in academic settings. We must acknowledge that
standards are created and reinforced by institutions in power, like the academy,
and the elevation of certain usages of language to “standard” conveys acceptance
or resistance to social change. Of the three style manuals, the MLA seems to be
the most accepting. For more information see sources below:
