text_combined: femininehe singularthey content length 8133 dear language scholars presenting following material discussion item one ultimate purposes contribute revised oed due 2005 paper currently working requesting comments contributions summary forthcoming femininehe singularthey mine new set explanations two regularly discussed grammatical oddities english indefinite proverbial singular also touch orthodox view pronoun history involves northto south wave theory stated early 1866 richard morris theory set forth oed never questioned feminine h stem according accepted view displaced language wave cultural diffusion feminine pronunciation began approximate masculine pronoun 12th 13th centuries pronouns discussed also involved northto south waves diffusion contention significant cause historical replacement pronouns except h stem subject plural standardizing force exerted printing press happened rather quickly waves cultural diffusion centuries analysis seventeen manuscripts version piers plowman h stem feminine found great regularity explained many lines occurrences manuscripts h stem feminines outnumber sh forms found lines many manuscripts use forms manuscripts copies copies copies bases manuscripts dated place average manuscript within generations advent printing explanation perhaps anglo norman rulers predilection distinction masculine feminine singular folk generally used bigendric egalitatian h stem form vernacular politically correct sh form preferred oxford cambridge proper social etiquette writing referring lady caxton began enterprise sh form well others spoken became enforced correct form great power press h stem feminine remained known spoken language alongside sh form well beyond printing dropped speech become archaic 1300 prescriptive grammarians prescribed indefinitehe h stem still carried semantic domain bigendric reference although seventeen manuscripts piers main corpus evidence various kinds evidence support theory late survival h stem feminine colloquial middle ages one interesting existence h stem feminine gullah west african origins discounted supporting evidence found various places oed scanty scattered nonetheless h stem sh form feminines existed centuries side side formal informal although sure many cases distinction lost hi fair wifman found mid 14th century agenbite inwyt currently translating work pronunciation feminine pronoun modern masculine vowel yet diphthongized supposition h stem literary form suggested oed presumably means copied manuscript earlier exemplar untenable agenbite translated directly french extracted pronoun paradigms manuscripts version piers addition great evidence wide use h stem feminine centuries beyond supposed demise h stem plural although extremely rare also found line prologue 63 used satisfy alliteration every manuscript piers h stem obliques modern found often alongside th forms generation printing h stems seem vanish least written evidence h stem feminine held wide currency colloquial middle ages therefore supported evidence unknown prescriptive grammarians centuries later accepted theory h stem feminine dropped language 1300 prior time poem alysoun written need revision piers shows much alive 15th century explanation replacement h stem plural nominative replacement occurring earlier pronouns question never proposed would nt pressure alternative oe h stem subject plural result disappearance preterit plural period english verb lost marker preterit number h stem plural shared form feminine singular nominative became contexts ambiguous number new form needed although norse form may reinforced among northern speakers native singular form available set oe demonstratives gave us appear duplets singular morphology fact historical alive colloquial long time oe singular developed singular plural car cars extended accusative lost absolute standalone use retaining pronunciation oe restricted nominative became unambiguous written plural 1400 colloquial retained also singular morphology later regard caxton used th forms unambiguous plurals h stems pronouns throughout england tremendous diversity forms example one written dialect would feminine singular possesive another would allgenders plural possesive caxton needed forms would universally understood hence written th form obliques replaced h stems historic blink eye wave cultural diffusion coincidentally wafted london time caxton set print shop well supported case made late survival h stem feminine 15th century hence case cultural currency time prescriptive grammarians exclusion one gender cognitive space would apply hence motives grammarians would reassessed fact sapir whorf hypothesis apply pronouns invite comment help understand two facts 1 twothirds history english subject pronoun used refer group men boys form identical feminine singular 2 expression pronoun possessing something men boys also twothirds history english expressed form morphologically marked feminine masculine