Anaphoric gender agreement: the data 7.2.2.2
209
The contemporary component
Table 7.12: Agreement with 3SG pronouns in CC-W, by pronoun type
Agr. Total % agr.
Simple Masc. Fem. 172 33 174 36 99 92 p = 0.0364
Prep. Masc. Fem. 24 6 24 8 100 75 p = 0.05645
Poss. Masc. Fem. 32 6 35 8 91 75 p = 0.2276
All types Masc. Fem. 228 45 233 52 98 86.5 p = 0.0017
The figures in Table 7.12 show us that, on the whole, agreement with third-person singular pronouns in CC-W is regularly observed with masculine antecedents and is statistically significantly less frequent with feminine ones. The appearance of feminine pronouns with masculine controllers was observed with both simple and possessive pronouns. In the case of the two simple pronouns, this is explained as due to semantic agreement, as shown in examples (3) and (4). (3) Welsh (jonsi.cha 977–1000) JON: mae (y)r hen gwn ˆ fath ˆa ni yndydyn? LIM: ie mae (y)r hyna fourteen and a half dach chi (y)n gwybod? JON: ydy o wir? JON: (y)dy hynny (y)n hen i Labrador yndy? LIM: well mae tua hundred and thirty i ni yndydy? JON: ydy o wir? LIM: yndy. LIM: (dy)dy (ddi)m yn ryw special iawn. LIM: oedd y farrier yn gweld hi bore (y)ma. Translation: JON: the dogs are like us, aren’t they? LIM: yeah, the oldest is fourteen and a half, you know? JON: is he really? JON: is that old for a Labrador, is it? LIM: well, it’s about a hundred and thirty for us, isn’t it? JON: is it really?