This study investigated pronoun choices made by third-grade, eighth-grade, and college students on a written production task for 10 agent words which could be of either male or female gender. Masculine pronouns were the predominant choice by all age groups for five words, and feminine pronouns for one word. Four words showed variation across age groups. Both prescriptive grammar rules and knowledge of the world were considered as possible explanations for these results.
APA Publication Manual Task Force. (1977). Guidelines for nonsexist language in APA journals: Publication Manual Change Sheet2. American Psychologist, 32, 487–494.
2.
Brown, R. and Fraser, C., (1963). The acquisition of syntax. In C.N. Cofer and B.S. Musgrave (Eds.), Verbal Behavior and Learning: Problems and Processes (pp. 158–197). New York: McGraw-Hill.
3.
Deboer, J., (1978). Basic Language: Messages and Meanings. New York: Harper and Row.
4.
Fraier, J. and Brown, F., (1982). Effective English. Morristown, N.J.: Silver Burdett.
5.
Huxley, R., (1970). The development of the correct use of subject personal pronouns in two children. In G.B. Flores d'Arcais and W.J.M. Levelts (Eds.), Advances in Psycholinguistics (pp. 141–165). Amsterdam: North Holland.
Mackay, D., (1980). Psychology, prescriptive grammar, and the pronoun problem. American Psychologist, 35, 444–449.
8.
Mackay, D. and Fulkerson, D., (1979). On the comprehension and production of pronouns. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 661–673.
9.
Martyna, W., (1978). What does 'he' mean?: Use of the generic masculine. Journal of Communication, 28, 130–136.
10.
Martyna, W., (1980). Beyond the “he/man” approach: The case for nonsexist language. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 5, 482–493.
11.
Menyuk, P., (1969). Sentences Children Use. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press.
12.
Miller, C. and Swift, K., (1977). Words and Women. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday.
13.
Moulton, J., Robinson G. and Elias, C., (1978). Psychology in action: Sex bias in language use: “Neutral” pronouns that aren't. American Psychologist, 33, 1032–1036.
14.
Nilsen, A., Bosmajian, H., Gershuny H. and Stanley, J., (1977). Sexism and Language. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English.
15.
Scholes, R., (1981). Developmental comprehension of third person personal pronouns in English. Language and Speech, 24, 91–98.
16.
Spencer, N.J., (1978). Can 'she' and 'he' coexist?American Psychologist, 34, 782–783(Comment).
17.
Wilbur, R., Montanelli D. and Quigley, S., (1976). Pronominalization in the language of deaf students. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 19, 120–140.