'They' Wins as Linguists’ Word of the Year

'They' Wins as Linguists²’ Word of the Year

From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.

The competition was more youthful, more hipster, more urban, even naughtier.  

But in the end, “they” won.

The pronoun “they” won out as Word of the Year, voted by the esteemed⁴ members of the American Dialect Society (ADS) on Friday.

It is a pesky pronoun: It has been used as a singular pronoun in spoken English for years. In writing, however, it has mostly been used as the third-person plural⁵.

Although some linguists say “they” has been used in both of these ways for many years, the media has been forced to use “they” more often when reporting about people who identify as transgender.

“Singular they [had] the best chance of winning,” says linguist¹ Ben Zimmer, who writes a column in the Wall Street Journal. “There’s been a lot of discussion this year about something that has actually existed in the language for centuries.”

English does not have a standard third-person pronoun that is gender⁶-neutral, Zimmer explained. But very often “they” is used to describe a generic⁷ person like “everyone” or “anyone.”

More and more, “they” is being used beyond the traditional gender binary⁸ of the “he” and “she” pronouns, he said. For example, “they” is used for people who identify as transgender, gender-fluid or gender-queer.

When former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner took a female identity this year, he changed his name to Caitlyn Jenner. The new use of “they” would allow the use of “their” instead of “his,” as in, “they changed their name to Caitlyn Jenner.”

American Dialect Society president Alan Metcalf said people have argued about the use of “they” for more than 100 years.

“I think there is often a false sense that this is the turning point, that from now on this particular usage will be accepted and won’t be argued about,” Metcalf said.

"But you look at 100 years ago and you will find the same sorts of arguments. … I think that 100 years from now they will still be a bit of a discussion point."

Words from seven categories are considered in the competition: most useful, most creative, most unnecessary, most outrageous⁹, most euphemistic, most likely to succeed and least likely to succeed.

Competing with "they" in the "most useful" category were:

mic drop, a definitive¹⁰ end to a discussion after making an impressive point

microaggression, subtle form of racism¹¹ or bias¹²

shade, insult, criticism or disrespect, shown in a subtle or clever manner

"There is no scientific criteria¹³. It's just from all the words used during the past year. Sometimes it's a phrase or an abbreviation, but which one really seems to express the concerns and attitudes of the year gone by?" said Alan Metcalf, president of ADS.

Metcalf explains that the group had the idea for the Name of the Year back in 1990.

"Every year, Time magazine does a 'Person of the Year,' and we're the experts on words, so why don't we come up with a 'Word of the Year?' And we gradually developed the procedures for doing it, so those who vote on it would take some time to think about it."

The society voted at its annual conference in Washington, D.C. Another group, the American Name Society, chose the important names of the year. You will probably not be surprised to learn that the name of the year was "Caitlyn Jenner."

Words in this Story

pesky – adj. making someone annoyed or irritated

esteem³ – v. to think very highly or favorably of (someone or something) —usually used as (be) esteemed

transgender – adj. of or relating to people who have a sexual identity that is not clearly male or clearly female

gender – n. the state of being male or female

binary – adj. relating to or consisting of two things or parts

gender fluid - a gender which varies over time (A person who is gender fluid may always feel like a mix of the two traditional genders¹⁴, but may feel more boy some days, and more girl other days.)

gender queer – adj. used to describe a person who feels that his/her gender identity does not fit into the socially constructed "norms" associated with his/her biological sex 

euphemism¹⁵ - n. a mild or pleasant word or phrase that is used instead of one that is unpleasant or offensive

1 linguist   

n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者

参考例句：

• I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家，后来成了作家。
• Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。

2 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句

3 esteem   

n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• The veteran worker ranks high in public love and esteem.那位老工人深受大伙的爱戴。

4 esteemed   

adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为

参考例句：

• The art of conversation is highly esteemed in France. 在法国十分尊重谈话技巧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He esteemed that he understood what I had said. 他认为已经听懂我说的意思了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

7 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

8 binary   

adj.二，双；二进制的；n.双(体)；联星

参考例句：

• Computers operate using binary numbers.计算机运行运用二进位制。
• Let us try converting the number itself to binary.我们试一试，把这个数本身变成二进制数。

9 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

10 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

11 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

12 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

13 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

14 genders   

n.性某些语言的（阳性、阴性和中性，不同的性有不同的词尾等）( gender的名词复数 )；性别；某些语言的（名词、代词和形容词）性的区分

参考例句：

• There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neuter. 德语中有叁性：阳性、阴性和中性。 来自辞典例句
• Japan was fourth among the genders of foreign students. 日本在二十个留美学生输送地中列第四位。 来自互联网

15 euphemism   

n.婉言，委婉的说法

参考例句：

• Language reflects culture and euphemism is a mirror of culture.语言反映文化,而婉语则是各种文化的一面镜子。
• Euphemism is a very common and complicated linguistic phenomenon.委婉语是一种十分常见而又非常复杂的语言现象。