Authors

Discussion

After centuries of insistence on the use of the generic he in the English-speaking world, in recent decades there has been a shift back to the use of the third-person plural pronominal forms to refer anaphorically to singular indefinite pronouns or nouns of indeterminate gender so as to appear politically correct and gender-sensitive. In this context, this paper aims to explore the strategies employed by speakers of Macedonian when they are faced with the dilemma of choosing the correct pronominal forms to refer back to a gender-inclusive antecedent. In the absence of a formal equivalent to the English singular they, they resort to alternative ways of maintaining gender-neutrality. In cases when speakers are reluctant to use the generic he, there are several strategies that function particularly well in situations when the human antecedent is in subject position. One of them is based on the fact that Macedonian is a null subject language, so one could basically use a verb in the third-person singular without using an explicit gender-specific subject. If a possessive form is required, speakers readily use the possessive-reflexive pronominal forms which are suited to antecedents in subject position, regardless of person, number or gender. The same applies to Macedonian reflexive pronouns. Clearly, these strategies have not been devised specifically to address the issue of gender-neutrality, but have proved to be useful nonetheless.