“He Said, Scheme Said” by Mark Peters Critical Analysis
The following essay being summarized and analyzed “He Said, Scheme Said” by Mark Peters was originally published in the Boston Globe on January 31, 2016. Peters has a PhD in English and is a member of the American Dialect Society. This essay is a piece that explores the English language, specifically the need for a gender-neutral singular pronoun. I will examine whether the text is balanced, examples of various perspectives the author adopts, and main questions and ideas that provoke and drive the author.
This essay opens explaining the problem of the English language from Peter’s perspective which is the gender problem. Peters explains that the words he, she, his, and her are perfectly functional singular pronouns but do not help describe one in a non-gendered way. Peters states that this issue is old; however, it is relevant as more people are declaring as transgender or identifying without a primary gender but want a word to match them.
The …show more content…
Baron gives three main reasons why invented pronouns have failed. According to Baron, the first reason is that “You simply can’t create and legislate language.” because language changes by evolution (162). The second reason is the invented pronouns have scored on the FUDGE scale invented by Allen Metcalf, cofounder of the American Dialect Society. The FUDGE scale has five factors that predict a word’s success: frequency of use, unobtrusiveness, diversity of users, generation of meanings and forms, and endurance of the concept (163). The third reason according to Baron is that no other coinage has succeeded another already existing word. In the words of Michael Adams, Indiana University professor, why invent a new word when an old one will do
The following essay being summarized and analyzed “He Said, Scheme Said” by Mark Peters was originally published in the Boston Globe on January 31, 2016. Peters has a PhD in English and is a member of the American Dialect Society. This essay is a piece that explores the English language, specifically the need for a gender-neutral singular pronoun. I will examine whether the text is balanced, examples of various perspectives the author adopts, and main questions and ideas that provoke and drive the author.
This essay opens explaining the problem of the English language from Peter’s perspective which is the gender problem. Peters explains that the words he, she, his, and her are perfectly functional singular pronouns but do not help describe one in a non-gendered way. Peters states that this issue is old; however, it is relevant as more people are declaring as transgender or identifying without a primary gender but want a word to match them.
The …show more content…
Baron gives three main reasons why invented pronouns have failed. According to Baron, the first reason is that “You simply can’t create and legislate language.” because language changes by evolution (162). The second reason is the invented pronouns have scored on the FUDGE scale invented by Allen Metcalf, cofounder of the American Dialect Society. The FUDGE scale has five factors that predict a word’s success: frequency of use, unobtrusiveness, diversity of users, generation of meanings and forms, and endurance of the concept (163). The third reason according to Baron is that no other coinage has succeeded another already existing word. In the words of Michael Adams, Indiana University professor, why invent a new word when an old one will do