Use of 3rd-person plural pronoun as 3rd-person gender-neutral pronoun: The reflexive

Here is an excellent discussion on the use of the reflexive 3rd-person plural when used as 3rd-person gender-neutral pronoun:

Themself or Themselves? (Disponible en anglais seulement)

Introduction

As discussed in a previous article in Legistics, the plural pronoun “”they”" can be used to represent a singular antecedent that is gender-neutral and indefinite, for example, “”someone”", “”no one”", “”anyone”" or “”a person”". As the article states, the other grammatical forms of the “”singular they”" are “”them”", “”their”" and “”themselves”", and these are used in a sentence to relate to a “”singular they”" subject, along with a plural verb. The question addressed in this article is whether “”themself”" can be used in some cases instead of “”themselves”" with reference to a singular “”they”" or a singular indefinite antecedent.
Recommendations


1. Use themselves as the reflexive/intensive pronoun to refer to an indefinite gender-neutral noun or pronoun that is the subject of the sentence and avoid themself.

2. If a singular indefinite gender-neutral noun is the subject of a sentence, use the “”singular they”" elsewhere in the sentence, especially as the subject of any subordinate clause, to refer to it rather than repeat the noun; this will improve readability. In the following provision, for example, the use of “”they”" as the subject of the subordinate clause, along with a plural verb, instead of “”the person”" and a singular verb, makes themselves sound more natural.

A claim for refugee protection shall be rejected, and a person is not a Convention refugee if they have voluntarily reavailed themselves of the protection of their country of nationality.

3. If themselves sounds awkward, redraft the sentence without using the reflexive/intensive pronoun.

Grammars

According to the rules of grammar, reflexive/intensive pronouns are formed by adding the singular self or the plural selves to the possessive form of the first- and second-person personal pronouns (myself, yourself, ourselves, yourselves), to the objective form of third-person personal pronouns (herself, himself, itself, themselves), and to the impersonal pronoun “”one”" (oneself). Self is chosen if the pronoun to which it is being added is singular, while selves is chosen if the pronoun is plural.


Project Censored classroom activities

Here are some great activities from Project Censored:

CENSORSHIP GUIDE FOR TEACHERS | Project Censored

CENSORSHIP GUIDE FOR TEACHERS
12 Ways To Use Project Censored In Your Classroom

from 「Challenging Big Media News And Censorship」 in the ACME Activities Guide (http://www.acmecoalition.org/)

1. 「News」 and 「Censorship」: Beginning with definitions can be helpful. Have students define 「news,」 and make a list of topics THEY deem newsworthy. Compare their lists with what 「news」 they actually see, hear or read in various media outlets devoted to 「news」 – television, radio, print, the Internet. Then, have students define 「censorship.」 Ask them: Do we live in a society in which 「news」 is 「censored」? Why might this be?
2. Media Ownership Chart: Most of our media sources are ultimately owned by a very small number of very large media corporations. Have students make a list of all the media they consume in a 「typical」 day – print media, television, video games, music, etc. Aim for a list of between 8-10 media examples. Then, ask students to research and chart who ultimately owns each media example. Use www.cjr.org and www.mediareform.net to help you and your students with questions of ownership, parent companies, etc.
3. Media 「News」 Journal: Have each student monitor or explore ONE specific news source in your community – a local television or radio news show, or a local newspaper (often owned by a large media corporation). Have students make a list of the 4-6 major news stories covered in their particular news source over a 1-2 day period, and then compare their findings in class. What do they observe about the nature of news in their community? Are the same sorts of stories covered across the spectrum? Is there some diversity of news coverage? What stories are of real importance to your students, and which seem irrelevant? Ask them: How do they suppose news stories are chosen by media outlets?



4. Censored News Stories – Research: Have students select a PC news story from the 「Top 25」 list and become an 「expert」 on the story, not only by reading the PC article, but by finding at least 3 other independent news stories about the topic. Then, have students write a short summary of the story, concluding with some thoughts about why that particular story might be on the 「censored」 list.
5. Public Presentation: Have students prepare and present a 5-7 minute speech to the classroom or community on their PC story, complete with a multimedia component if possible (PowerPoint, KeyNote, posters, a collage). Find public spaces for students to display their writing and work.
6. Critical Viewing: Have students watch and critique a 「news」 show, preferably one they have never seen before. Apply ACME』s 「Questioning Media」 principles, available for FREE download at ACME』s web site.
7. Critical Reading: Have students read and critique a daily newspaper or weekly news magazine, preferably one they have never read before. Apply ACME』s 「Questioning Media」 principles, available for FREE download at ACME』s web site.
8. Letters To The Editor: Have students draft and mail letters to the editor of their local newspaper highlighting what they have learned from their conversations and research.

9. Media Production – Radio Spot: Have students script and perform a 2-3 minute radio news story, complete with voice overs and sound effects. If possible, record the stories for public airing and send them to a local radio station.

The language police

This story is fascinating from a social-linguistic, historical perspective. It demonstrates how powerful language is, and the extent to which individuals, groups, and governments identify with it.

Those who are quick to criticize the PRC government for its linguistic intolerance might keep in mind that the same types of policies once existed in the US and many other parts of the world. Just a few years ago, Taiwanese could not be legally taught or used in the media in Taiwan. This type of heavy-handed linguistic intolerance and fear is a human condition, not just a Chinese one.


Taipei Times – archives

Protesters rally in China, Hong Kong over local dialect

AFP , HONG KONG
Monday, Aug 02, 2010, Page 1
More than 1,000 protesters rallied in Guangzhou and Hong Kong yesterday against what they say is China』s bid to champion the national language, Mandarin, over their local dialect, Cantonese.

Hundreds of mainland police officers were deployed to disperse protesters who gathered in People』s Park in Guangzhou to call on authorities to preserve the Cantonese language and culture, Hong Kong broadcasters RTHK and Cable TV reported.

「Guangzhou people speak the Guangzhou language,」 some angry protesters chanted as the size of the crowd grew to about 1,000, RTHK said.

Videos from Cable TV and YouTube showed that some of the rally participants were forcibly carried away. A number of Hong Kong journalists were taken for questioning, Cable TV reported.

Chinese authorities have been anxious to suppress the growing pro-Cantonese movement, sparked after a political advisory body in Guangzhou proposed last month that local TV stations broadcast their prime-time shows in Mandarin instead of Cantonese ahead of the Asian Games in the province in November.

Adopting China』s official language, also known as Putonghua, would promote unity, 「forge a good language environment」 and cater to non-Cantonese-speaking Chinese visitors at the huge sporting event, authorities were quoted as saying.

Hundreds of Guangzhou residents defied government orders and staged their first demonstration the previous Sunday, but the protest was soon suppressed by the authorities, according to reports.

To echo the Guangzhou campaign, about 200 protesters marched to the government headquarters in Hong Kong yesterday.


「We want to show our support to our Guangzhou friends in their campaign to protect Cantonese against any threat of elimination,」 said Choi Suk-fong, organizer of the rally.

Participants wore white T-shirts with a logo which said: 「You want us to shut up. We will speak louder in Cantonese.」

A number of Guangzhou residents crossed the border to take part in the Hong Kong rally, saying that authorities in Guangzhou were trying to silence the protesters.

「I really regretted not going to the rally in Guangzhou last week. I came to Hong Kong today because I want to protect my own culture. Unlike on the mainland, here I can voice my view more directly,」 said 21-year-old Wyman, who refused to give his family name for fear of retaliation by the Chinese authorities.

Instances of mainland protests spilling over into Hong Kong, which was returned to China in 1997, are rare since China』s the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Cantonese is the mother tongue for an estimated 70 million people in Hong Kong, Macau and China』s southern Guangdong Province, and is widely spoken in overseas Chinese communities.

China has long been a patchwork of often mutually unintelligible dialects.

Beijing made Mandarin the country』s official language in 1982, leading to bans on other dialects at many radio and television stations.

The dialect has been further promoted in recent years as migrant workers moved to China』s coastal areas to find jobs.

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Who says the US has no culture?

We have plenty of culture, as this story by the BBC demonstrates.

This story could serve as the basis of a discussion about culture, with a stretch of the imagination. What would Taiwanese, for example, make of this odd American custom?

BBC News – Californians bare bottoms for passing trains

The southern Californian city of Laguna Niguel has been enjoying an annual ritual, in which locals and visitors bare their bottoms at passing trains.

For 30 years, the city has hosted “Mooning Amtrak” as crowds line up along the railway tracks, dropping their trousers when a train passes by.

Up to 10,000 people take part, and visitors are encouraged to leave their cars at home and arrive by train.

Local legend has it the tradition began in 1979, after a bar room bet.

Can I decorate my butt? Yes, that’s OK

A drinker at the Mugs Away Saloon, which stands directly across the road from the railway, offered to buy a drink for anyone who would run outside and moon at the next train.

Mercury Theatre

Radio drama holds tremendous potential as language learning material, and the Mercury Theatre arguably produced some of the best radio drama.

The Mercury Theatre on the Air

The finest radio drama of the 1930』s was The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a show featuring the acclaimed New York drama company founded by Orson Welles and John Houseman. In its brief run, it featured an impressive array of talents, including Agnes Moorehead, Bernard Herrmann, and George Coulouris. The show is famous for its notorious War of the Worlds broadcast, but the other shows in the series are relatively unknown. This site has many of the surviving shows, and will eventually have all of them.


I didn’t know swordfish had Internet access

Can you see what is wrong with this statement?

New oil spill total is bad news for BP, wildlife – Yahoo! News

GRAND ISLE, La. – The astonishing news that the oil leak at the bottom of the sea may be twice as big as previously thought could have major repercussions for both the environment and BP’s financial health, killing more marine life and dramatically increasing the amount the company must pay in fines and damages.


Radio Diaries

Here’s a gem of a site. Along with StoryCorps, this is one of the best sites I’ve stumbled across in a long time, and I’m surprised I hadn’t learned of it sooner. One thing very nice about RadioDiaries is that you have the option of downloading in mp3 format, and it includes transcripts. This is an excellent education tool.

http://www.radiodiaries.org/radiodiaries.html

*Radio Diaries*

China Post is looking for a proofreader

Attention: Proofreader urgently needed at China Post!
China Post needs proofreader

What does your community need?

This invention is incredibly cool. When can I get a hand-held version?

This article and the invention about which it was written could stimulate discussion and group activity related to how science might improve one’s own community. “Given unlimited X, how could you improve Y.”

Such a discussion might start with a brainstorm of the major problems or obstacles facing a community.

Breakthrough Low-Power Desalination and Purification Technology Brings Clean Water To Remote Villages | Popular Science

High costs, in money and energy, limit the usefulness of desalination as a way to provide drinkable water in disaster areas. However, a new method could lead to portable desalination devices simple enough to run off solar power or a battery, but powerful enough to supply a family, or even a small village, with clean water. Additionally, the new desalination device also cleanses water of biological contaminants.

Developed by scientists at MIT, the desalination device is about the size of a postage stamp, and can be fit together into larger daisy chains. An eight-inch-wide array of the desalination chips can produce four gallons of clean water every hour, while only using as much electricity as a light bulb. Plus, when tested with water mixed with plastic bits, human blood, and miscellaneous proteins in addition to salt, the unit pumped out 99-percent-pure water.

The desalination chips separate water from contaminants by repelling the foreign particles electrically. Since this method does not use filter, the system can operate without high pressures. Simply pour the contaminated or sea water in the top, and wait for the pure water to come out of the bottom.

According to the developers, it will take about two years to develop a commercial product containing 10,000 desalination chips. Whether this technique can expand beyond portable low-energy systems, and into the sort of large-scale desalination that provides many Middle Eastern countries with potable water, remains to be seen.

You be the judge

I’m getting increasingly interested in activities that require a discussion of values, community, and society. Related issues are generally ripe discussion topics. The following is from today’s news in Taiwan, and I’m wondering how such a variety of crimes (or otherwise objectionable actions) could serve as the basis for an activity. Can a group be asked to judge the relative harm of each crime? And how is harm defined? Harm to the individual? The community? The larger society? It would take some doing, some careful preparation. These are big questions, after all, but it’s probably doable.

Taipei Times – archives

■ SOCIETY

Celebrity’s son detained

TV celebrity Chen Kai-lun’s (陳凱倫) son, Chen Jui (陳銳), will be detained at least until the end of the Lunar New Year holiday in a case involving campus gangsters, Shilin District prosecutors said yesterday. Prosecutors said major accomplices in the case had not been arrested, while the crimes Chen Jui had allegedly committed were serious and there was a risk that he would collude with witnesses if released. The celebrity’s son was arrested last month along with dozens of senior high school, vocational school and college students believed to be part of campus gangster groups. Twelve were suspected leaders of groups recruited by the notorious Bamboo Union gang. Most were recruited as leaders of gambling rings to attract “customers” to gamble at online casinos under the cover of an information technology firm.

■ CRIME

Alleged con artist arrested

An 82-year-old man was arrested for allegedly conning people out of thousands of dollars by posing as a relative of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), police said yesterday. Deng Wen-shih (鄧文實) obtained NT$4.55 million (US$142,000) from at least two people by claiming he needed the money to release US$9 million frozen in a British bank, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said. Deng, who has a record of fraud and theft, claimed to be a relative of Deng Xiaoping to appear more credible and even had a forged photograph of himself posing with the late Chinese patriarch.

■ CRIME

Pair held in Virgin Islands

A Taiwanese couple is in federal custody in the US Virgin Islands on charges of illegally importing hundreds of kilograms of black coral. Ivan Chu and his wife, Gloria, of Taipei waived their right to appear at a Tuesday hearing in a US District Court on charges that they violated the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law. A grand jury indictment alleges an unidentified St Thomas merchant had illegally bought US$50,000 in black coral from the couple since December 2008. Black coral is a fragile organism that attaches itself to rocks in deep ocean water. The animal’s skeleton is used in jewelry and sculptures.
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