Date:  Wed, 10 Aug 1994 15:14:32 -0400

From:  Ellen Johnson <ellenj[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ATLAS.UGA.EDU>

Subject: he/she



As part of my field work, I interviewed a white male from Middle Georgia,

in fact Baldwin County, who was about 75 and who had a bizarre use of

pronouns. Everything was "he", including an insect and a nursing mother

cat he showed me in his barn. I don't remember him ever using "it",

though I can't think of a use of "he" for an inanimate object right now.

At the time, Sali Mufwene suggested to me that this usage was like the

creole "i" or "im" for an all-purpose third person pronoun.



I've visited this area several times lately and haven't noticed it

again. My own Southern, though Atlanta-born, idiolect includes the use

of "it" for babies when I don't know (or remember) their sex, though I

have a sense that it might be offensive to some. For some strange

cognitive reason, I almost always refer to dogs as "he" and cats as

"she", slipping up even when I know better.



Ellen JOhnson