Breaking, Bending, Stretching the Rules of Singular They in Academia

Researchers have historically discussed whether the epicene pronoun singular they should be used as a gender-neutral pronoun in academic discourses (Noll, Lowry, & Bryant, 2018), yet more recently have looked beyond the need for a gender-neutral pronoun for the heteronormative community and more toward a gender inclusive or specifying pronoun that is accepted within the transgender and genderqueer communities (Nicholas, 2019; Thorne, et al., 2019). However, despite some movement toward queering grammar rules and formal writing styles, much scholarship still focuses on heteronormative, binary gender constructions and dismisses the need for appropriate terminology when identifying and referring to gender variant individuals (Bada & Genc, 2018). This oversight often continues the marginalization and misrepresentation of genderqueer individuals and allows grammar rules to perpetuate the exclusion of these folx from academic spheres. Thus, I join this conversation through a participatory-action research study, advocating for the shift toward queering prescriptive grammar rules. I use qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct a critical discourse analysis of 12 stylization manuals to determine where singular they is allowed in academic writing and how guidebooks that follow traditional “language pedagogies” (Daniels, 2019) affect the genderqueer community as well as perpetuate heteronormative standards and ideologies. I structure my research through a two-step approach, first exploring the discussion around using and advocating for singular they, showing where and how singular they has already been incorporated in written and spoken discourses. Then, I analyze the stylization guidebooks themselves for mentions of singular they, making note of how each manual directs its readers on pronoun usage and the correlating explanations for those directives. I focus on commonly used style guides such as AMA, AP, APA, Chicago, MLA, and Turabian but also ground my research in local functionality using manuals most utilized by students at my university. Accordingly, these 12 texts represent and dictate the rules of academic writing across disciplines and affect not only student populations but also faculty and staff members. Ultimately, I argue the need for more genderqueer studies both on and in using gender inclusive, neutral, and/or specifying language.

https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/lavlang/2021/friday/33