The evolution of "she" : a case study : reviews and an evaluation of the evolutionary approach to language change
Institution: | University of Oslo |
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Department: | |
Year: | 1000 |
Keywords: | VDP::020 |
Record ID: | 1279481 |
Full text PDF: | https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/25505 https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/10852/25505/2/Thesis.pdf |
This case study is in part a critical evaluation of (and departure from) contemporary approaches to the subject of linguistic evolution that are largely modelled on biological analogues and theory, in part a problematisation of the very notion of explanation in this context, and in part a review of various historical attempts at offering explanations, or alternatives to such, for the 'perennial puzzle' of the English third person feminine personal pronoun - 'she' - with or without reference to evolutionary hypotheses.