Common-number pronouns, such as generic he and singular they, have a high
profile in certain areas of today's linguistic research, and have been a
topic for intense debate and prescriptivism for centuries. The research
presented in this book focuses on corpus linguistic observations of
common-number pronouns from the 16th century to the present day,
investigating the processes of change in pronominal agreement patterns in
two closely-related common-number structures, one anaphoric and one
cataphoric. This research illustrates (dis)similarities in the variant
frequencies in these structures and explores the types of sociolinguistic
generalisation which can be made concerning this particular change. Using
quantitative evidence of the diachronic paths of common-number pronouns,
the study suggests a scale modelling the role of various social factors and
language-internal constraints in language variation and change.