Re: [PATCH 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they

[Jeff King <peff@peff.net>]

On Mon, Jun 07, 2021 at 04:57:48PM +0000, Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget wrote:

> If we use singular "they/them" pronouns instead of "he/him" or "she/her"
> pronouns, then we can avoid this congitive load on the reader.
> 
> Using singular "they" is also incredibly efficient. Choosing a gendered
> pronoun is usually arbitrary between "he" or "she". Using constructs
> such as "he or she", "s/he", or "(s)he" are more complicated than
> singular "they".

In general, I do like the efficiency and readability of singular "they".
As a native speaker, I have no problem reading it, and I have little
sense that most of my native-speaker acquaintances would, either.

I _do_ worry that it would be jarring or difficult to read for
non-native speakers (or perhaps native speakers who aren't in my circle
of acquaintances). There have been a few comments to that effect on the
list, but it's hard to consider that data and not anecdotes.

One thing that gives me some comfort is your research here:

> Perhaps due to similar reasons, official style guides have changed their
> stance on singuler "they" in recent years. For example, the APA style
> guide changed their official recommendation in 2019 [1]. The MLA
> handbook also references helpful ways to use singular "they" [2]. While
> not fully endorsing it, the Chicago Manual of Style has removed its
> blanket ban on singular "they" [3] (the previous recommendation was to
> only use "it" as a singular non-gendered pronoun).
> 
> [1] https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/singular-they
> [2] https://style.mla.org/using-singular-they/
> [3] https://libraries.indiana.edu/chicago-manual-style-singular-pronoun-they

I don't know to what degree those style guidelines take into account
non-native speakers. But they at least provide a sense that this style
is in wide-ish use. And probably growing use, as well, considering that
they have changed recently. So even if it may be surprising to some
readers at first, I hope it may become less so as time goes on and
projects (like ours) make it more commonplace.

(You could perhaps argue the same "it may become less surprising over
time" for something like "xe", but that one does not seem to be in
particularly wide or growing use, from my experience).

So I think this is a reasonable style suggestion to put in our
guidelines.

-Peff