Ten Ways to Avoid Gender Bias

Ten Ways to Avoid Gender Bias Ten Ways to Avoid Gender Bias Ten Ways to Avoid Gender Bias By Mark Nichol How do you write around the outmoded usage of the pronoun he or him when a male is not necessarily the subject of the reference? Here are ten strategies none ideal in every circumstance for achieving gender neutrality. 1. Use He or She Before: â€Å"Ask the student whether he is prepared to give a presentation.† After: â€Å"Ask the student whether he or she is prepared to give a presentation.† This solution is stiffly formal and is awkward in repetition; use sparingly. Using he/she, s/he, or any such alternative (or an invented neutral pronoun like ze) is not advised. 2. Alternate Between He and She Before: â€Å"Ask the student whether he is prepared to give a presentation. If he is ready, tell him that he may begin when he is ready.† After: â€Å"Ask the student whether he is prepared to give a presentation. If she is ready, tell her that she may begin when she is ready.† This solution works only in the case of two or more references to a hypothetical subject of either gender. In the proximity of the references in the examples, this solution is awkward, but when the references are at some distance from each other, it can be effective in moderation. 3. Omit the Pronoun Before: â€Å"Ask the student whether he is prepared to give a presentation.† After: â€Å"Ask whether the student is prepared to give a presentation.† This revision does not clearly indicate whether the student or another person is being asked; writers must recognize and respond to such lack of clarity if it affects comprehension. 4. Repeat the Noun in Place of the Pronoun Before: â€Å"Ask the student whether he is prepared to give a presentation.† After: â€Å"Ask the student whether the student is prepared to give a presentation.† When the noun is repeated in the proximity shown above, the sentence is awkward; in a more complex sentence, the repetition may not seem so obvious. 5. Use a Plural Antecedent for the Pronoun Before: â€Å"Ask the student whether he is prepared to give a presentation.† After: â€Å"Ask the students whether they are prepared to give their presentations.† Employing a plural noun and a plural pronoun may change the meaning somewhat; writers must be alert as to which other nouns, if any, should be made plural as well. 6. Replace the Pronoun with an Article Before: â€Å"Ask the student to prepare his presentation.† After: â€Å"Ask the student to prepare a presentation.† 7. Revise the Sentence to Use the Pronoun One Before: â€Å"A prepared student is more likely to succeed than if he has not done sufficient research.† After: â€Å"A prepared student is more likely to succeed than an unprepared one.† 8. Revise the Sentence to Use the Pronoun Who Before: â€Å"A student is more likely to succeed if he does sufficient research.† After: â€Å"A student who does sufficient research is more likely to succeed.† 9. Revise the Sentence to the Imperative Mood Before: â€Å"A student must be well prepared for his presentation.† After: â€Å"Be well prepared for the presentation.† 10. Use a Plural Pronoun Before: â€Å"Ask the student whether he is prepared to give a presentation.† After: â€Å"Ask the student whether they are prepared to give a presentation.† Many writers reject this solution because traditional grammar rules frown on using a plural pronoun when the antecedent is a singular noun. However, the bewildering absence of a gender-neutral plural pronoun in English calls for a radical solution. This one is widely used in informal writing and in conversation, and it’s commonsensical to welcome it in formal writing. That welcome, however, has not yet been forthcoming, and, regrettably, writers should use the plural pronouns them and they in place of singular pronouns with caution. Some writers reject the notion that one should avoid gender-specific pronouns in universal contexts at all. After all, why change long-standing usage that has only recently been challenged? But these writers, though sensible in the logic of their argument, are culturally insensitive and, ultimately, are on the wrong side of linguistic history. I hope, too, that integration of the singular they and them in any usage will eventually occur. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:4 Types of Gerunds and Gerund PhrasesDisappointed + PrepositionPreposition Mistakes #1: Accused and Excited

What Are the Romance Languages

What Are the Romance Languages The word romance connotes love and wooing, but when it has a capital R, as in Romance languages, it probably refers to a set of languages based on Latin, the language of the ancient Romans. Latin was the language of the Roman Empire, but the classical Latin that was written by the literati like Cicero was not the language of daily life. It was certainly not the language soldiers and traders took with them to the edges of Empire, like Dacia (modern Romania), on the northern and eastern frontier. What Was Vulgar Latin? Romans spoke and wrote graffiti in a less polished language than they used in their literature. Even Cicero wrote plainly in personal correspondence. The simplified Latin language of the common (Roman) people is called Vulgar Latin because Vulgar is an adjectival form of the Latin for the crowd. This makes Vulgar Latin the peoples language. It was this language that the soldiers took with them and that interacted with native languages and the language of later invaders, particularly the Moors and Germanic invasions, to produce the Romance languages throughout the area that had once been the Roman Empire. Fabulare Romanice By the 6th century, to speak in the Latin-derived language was to fabulare romanice, according to Portuguese: a Linguistic Introduction, by Milton Mariano Azevedo (from the Spanish and Portuguese Department at the University of California at Berkeley). Romanice was an adverb suggesting in the Roman manner that was shortened to romance; whence, Romance languages. Simplifications of Latin Some of the general changes to Latin were the loss of terminal consonants, diphthongs tended to be reduced to simple vowels, the distinctions between long and short versions of the same vowels were losing significance, and, together with the decline in terminal consonants that provided case endings, led to a loss of inflection, according to Nicholas Ostler in Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin. The Romance languages, therefore, needed another way to show the roles of words in sentences, so the relaxed word order of Latin was replaced with a fairly fixed order. RomanianRoman Province: DaciaOne of the changes to Vulgar Latin made in Romania was that an unstressed o became u, so you may see Rumania (the country) and Rumanian (the language), instead of Romania and Romanian. (Moldova-)Romania is the only country in the Eastern European area that speaks a Romance language. At the time of the Romans, the Dacians may have spoken a Thracian language. The Romans fought the Dacians during the reigns of Trajan who defeated their king, Decebalus. Men from Dacia became Roman soldiers who learned the language of their commanders Latin and brought it home with them when they settled in Dacia upon retirement. Missionaries also brought Latin to Romania. Later influences on Romanian came from Slavic immigrants.Reference: The History of the Romanian Language.ItalianItalian emerged from further simplification of Vulgar Latin in the Italic peninsula. The language is also spoken in San Marino as the official language, and in Switzerland, as one of the official languages. In the 12th to 13th century, the vernacular spoken in Tuscany (formerly the area of the Etruscans) became the standard written language, now known as Italian. A spoken language based on the written version became standard in Italy in the 19th century.References: Italian - Language Information and ResourcesHistory of the Italian Language From a Local Tuscan Dialect to the Language of a New Nation - From Italian at About.comPortugueseRoman Province: LusitaniaOrbilat says that the language of the Romans practically wiped out the earlier language of the Iberian peninsula when the Romans conquered the area in the third century B.C. Latin was a prestige language, so it was in the interest of the population to learn it. Over time the language spoken on the west coast of the peninsula came to be Galician-Portuguese, but when Galicia became part of Spain, the two language groups split.Reference: Portuguese: a Linguistic Introduction, by Milton Mariano AzevedoGallicianRoman Province: Gallicia/Gallaecia.The area of Gallicia was inhabited by Celts when the Romans conquered the area and made it a Roman province, so the native Celtic language mixed with Vulgar Latin from the second century B.C. Germanic invaders also had an impact on the language.Referenc e: Galician Spanish (Castilian)Latin Term: HispaniaThe Vulgar Latin in Spain from the 3rd century B.C. was simplified in various ways, including the reduction of cases to just the subject and object. In 711, Arabic came to Spain via the Moors, and as a result, there are Arabic borrowings in the modern language. Castilian Spanish comes from the 9th century when Basques influenced the speech. Steps towards its standardization took place in the 13th becoming the official language in the 15th century. An archaic form called Ladino was preserved among Jewish populations forced to leave in the 15th century.References:CastilianWhy Is Spanish Sometimes Called Castilian? - About.com Guide to SpanishCatalanRoman Province: Hispania (Citerior).Catalan is spoken in Catalonia, Valencia, Andorra, the Balearic Isles, and other small regions. The area of Catalonia spoke Vulgar Latin but was influenced heavily by the southern Gauls in the 8th century,  becoming a distinct language by the 10th century.Reference: Catalan FrenchRoman Province: Gallia Transalpina.French is spoken in France, Switzerland, and Belgium, in Europe. The Romans in the Gallic Wars, under Julius Caesar, brought Latin to Gaul in the 1st century B.C. At the time they were speaking a Celtic language known as Gaulish. Germanic Franks invaded in the early 5th century. By the time of Charlemagne (d. A.D. 814), the language of the French was already sufficiently removed from Vulgar Latin to be called Old French. Comprehensive List of Romance Languages of Today With Locations Linguists may prefer a list of the Romance languages with more detail and more thorough. Ethnologue, a publication of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc (SIL), contains a comprehensive list of languages of the world, including languages that are dying. Here are the names, geographic divisions and national locations of major divisions of the modern Romance languages given by Ethnologue. Eastern Aromanian (Greece)Romanian (Romania)Romanian, Istro (Croatia)Romanian, Megleno (Greece) Italo-Western Italo-DalmatianIstriot (Croatia)Italian (Italy)Judeo-Italian (Italy)Napoletano-Calabrese (Italy)Sicilian (Italy)WesternGallo-IberianGallo-RomanceGallo-ItalianEmiliano-Romagnolo (Italy)Ligurian (Italy)Lombard (Italy)Piemontese (Italy)Venetian (Italy)Gallo-RhaetianOilFrenchSoutheasternFrance-ProvencalRhaetianFriulian (Italy)Ladin (Italy)Romansch (Switzerland)Ibero-RomanceEast IberianCatalan-Valencian Balear (Spain)OcOccitan (France)Shuadit (France)West IberianAustro-LeoneseAsturian (Spain)Mirandese (Portugal)CastilianExtremaduran (Spain)Ladino (Israel)SpanishPortuguese-GalicianFala (Spain)Galician (Spain)PortuguesePyrenean-MozarabicPyrenean Southern CorsicanCorsican (France)SardinianSardinian, Campidanese (Italy)Sardinian, Gallurese (Italy)Sardinian, Logudorese (Italy)Sardinian, Sassarese (Italy) For more details, see: Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online.