LINGUIST List 3.260

Tue 17 Mar 1992

Qs: Gender-Specific Pronouns, French

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. Margaret Fleck, sex and third-person pronouns
2. "Wayles Browne, Cornell Univ.", French and Dutch pronunciation

A while back, various people on the linguist discussed uses of the
pronoun "they" with singular referents. In this context, I note that
the latest issue of the LSA bulletin recommends not using
"he"/"him"/etc in generic contexts, decrying the influence of
"prescriptive grammarians," but it stops short of allowing "they" (or
any other specific word) as an alternative. If the editors of
Language believe that the traditions of the prescriptive grammarians
are bogus, then why....

[Did anyone else besides me find other features of that style sheet
odd? For example, does point #2 on generics presuppose a theory of
the meaning of English generics contrary to some (e.g. Carlson's)
recent linguistic work on the subject? I mean, if "Linguists argue
with their wives" suggests that all linguists are male, then what are
we to think of "Primates bear live young"?]

Margaret Fleck

Where can I find out how to pronounce the name of the French linguist
Gougenheim?
To put the question more generally: Some dictionaries of French give
an IPA transcription for ordinary words. These same dictionaries may
give a table of irregular verbs and/or a list of proper names of persons
and places; but they do not transcribe the verb forms or the
names. Is there any dictionary which gives pronunciations of verbs
and of proper names (both names from French territory and those from
other parts of the world)?
Pronouncing native words in Dutch is probably more straightforward
than in French; but is there any Dutch dictionary which will tell me
how to pronounce 1) foreign words used in Dutch, 2) personal and
geographical names?
Please reply to jn5jcornella.bitnet or jn5jcornella.cit.cornell.edu
Many thanks in advance.