Date:  Sat, 5 Nov 1994 10:52:43 -0600

From:  "Timothy C. Frazer" <mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU>

Subject: Re: "them" singulars



>   certainly a generic form. To demonstrate this one need only suppose that

>   it was intended as masculine. The result would be that the preceding

 noun,

>   "person," was meant to refer only to a male--clearly a ridiculous

>   assumption.

In fact, there is research in Thorne, Kararae and Henly which shows that

most people really DO preceive the recerence as masculine.



> We already find ourselves in a situation in which

>   grammatical structure has broken down to the extent that millions of

>   Americans are unable to say clearly what they mean.

As a linguist, I am confused by your assertion that grammatical structure

has "broken down." What I think IS going on is a decline in general

literacy.

We have many college graduates who have never read a book. And so,

unlike most academics and some professionals, their speech is NOT

influenced by a familiarity with the world of writing. And speech is NOT

always "clear" because it depends on things like context and preconditions;

it is often, for reasons of politeness or self=affacemtn, indirect. That

does not mean that "grammatical structure has broken down."



(And one wonders, if

>   they are unable to say it, whether they know what they mean.) I, for one,

>   am unwilling to sanction any surrender of clarity of expression for

>   sociological purposes.

>

>   Bob Lancaster

>   SUNY-emeritus, English

>   slancaster[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]colgate.edu



I wonder if Bob is concerned more with a general breakdown in authority

for which I am also concerned. That's a different issue and one on about

which I know very little. But grammatical structure is alive and well

and will definitely outlast what we think of as civilization.



Timothy Frazer

Dept of English

Western Illinois University