Gender shifts in the history of English

Extract

Anne Curzan, Gender shifts in the history of English (Studies in English language). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. xii, 223. Hb $ 55.

In Gender shifts in the history of English, Anne Curzan sets out to analyze how and why the English language came to change its original grammatical gender system, which it shared with all other Germanic languages, into a natural gender system. She also addresses a number of related questions, such as the relationship between this shift and sexist language. The study is based primarily on the Helsinki Corpus, which comprises texts from Old, Middle, and Early Modern English, but the author also makes use of a number of other sources. Curzan's research methodology may be termed eclectic; it includes corpus linguistics, prototype theory, historical syntax, sociolinguistics, and feminist theory, as well as references to a number of other theories and schools. This eclectic mix is, however, composed with wit, elegance, and great learning, which makes it very interesting to readers of any theoretical persuasion.