MS newsletter
"Ze" has the disadvantage of using a Constructive Suggestion: Replace this Latin
phoneme which, although present, eg, "zoo,"
"zero," is relatively rare in the initial position.
On the other hand, it can be spelled "ze,"
thus being similar to the masculine "he,"
which is also spelled consonant-vowel (that is
one reason I don't spell it "zee"), and it is
also homologous to the feminine (and plural)
German "sie." Kaplan's "shis" for subjective
can be faulted on the grounds of too much
similarity to the possessive forms, not to
mention what happens when you say fast:
"he, she, shis, it."
Once we are committed to "ze" for the
subjective, the other forms follow fairly
easily. There is hardly any pattern for the
objective—the seven pronouns having six dif-
ferent endings. The one duplicate is -m
("him" and "them") so we might as well use
it. Thus, I propose "zim."
The possessive might as well accord with
the more general /-s, -ez, -zl ending, and there
is little reason to propose two different forms
for the his/her and his/hers positional vari-
ants: thus "zees."
The reflexive seems to be more often
possessive + self/selves than objective + self/
selves (thus the common "hisself" and "their-
self," but to my knowledge never "meself" or
"usselves"). Thus—dropping one of the "s"s
in spelling, as usual— "zeeself."
One may expect continuation of the
gender distinction in some contexts even if a
set of non-distinguishing third person forms is
adopted. If my proposed additions are
accepted, that would then give us the follow-
ing paradigm:
I me my mine myself
you you your yours yourself/selves
he him his his himself
she her her hers herself
ze zim zees zees zeeself
it it its its itself
we us our ours ourselves
they them their theirs themselves
As a postscript, as long as the topic is
ambigenderous terms, I would like to record
in print the neologism I used in a letter to my
pregnant sister in 1955: I referred to the fetus
as my "nibling"—a term she (and a few others
to whom I mentioned it) found attractive.
Steven Polgar
Chapel Hill, NC
• Re Paul Kay's letter (April 1972 News-
letter, p 3), my solution is to use the first syl-
lable of "person": per=he, she, her, him; pers=
they, them (optional); Pr=Ms, Miss, Mr, Mrs.
"Ms" is poor. It is a non-standard pro-
nunciation of "Mrs," which is a contraction
of "Mistress," which connotes superior and
inferior
John Clark
New York, NY
• tn reference to the April 1972 Newsletter
(p 3), you might consider the following terms
among those to be replaced in the English
language, on the grounds of offense to
females:
Testimony. Derived from the belief in
encient Egypt, Bible-Talmud, early Rome,
that only adults possessing testicles can be
MEETING CALENDAR
t e r m w i t h the Anglo-Saxon neologism
"Witness-Thing."
Hysteria. Based on the erroneous belief of
the ancient Greeks that the seat of hysteria is
located in the uterus. Constructive Sugges-
tion: Replace with "Uteria."
Perhaps we need a committee on purifica-
tion of the language, patterned after such a
traditional committee of the Academie
Francaise. Students of culture are uniquely
qualified for this task, and it may become a
relevant branch of applied anthropology.
Simon O Messing
Southern Connecticut State College
• I have read with increasing pain the letters
in the Newsletter concerned with "sexist
vocabulary." The pain comes from the re-
cognition that the letters are expressing cov-
ertly the view that the feminist movement is
silly and can be reduced to absurdity just as
"feminist vocabulary" can be.
I have found this need to joke about
various aspects of the feminist movement not
uncommon among male anthropologists.
While they profess sympathy with feminist
principles, they do not take women seriously
enough to accord them places equal to men in
the profession. They are like alcoholics who
abhor alcoholism and josh about drinking. In
this way, by making drinking a joke, and not
something important enough to act upon,
they conceal from themselves the fact that
they, not others, are indeed alcoholics.
Women anthropologists, as the Associa-
tion's Committee on the Status of Women in
Anthropology has shown, have suffered
serious discrimination in their profession. This
had led to self-doubt, anxiety and despair. In
reading case histories and letters from women
engaged in struggles to find jobs and to get
promotions, I have been made aware finally
of the terrible personal trial a career in
anthropology has been to many.
It is to this matter we should turn our
attention. Let us have the courage to face the
distress of women squarely. Let us not turn
away, hiding under the cover of flippancy.
Shirley Gorenstein
Chairman, Committee on the
Status of Women in Anthropology
References
to Female Monasticism Sought
I would like to begin research on the
institution of female monasticism. Ultimately,
I hope to do fieldwork with Buddhist and/or
Christian nuns. At the moment, however, I
am simply trying to assemble a bibliography
on the subject, and I am having a great deal of
trouble finding material. I would greatly ap-
preciate any references-anthropological, his-
torical, literary, etc—which anyone might
know of.
Neediest to say, if anyone has any field
data on this subject which they would be
willing to share with me, I would be extreme-
ly grateful for that too.
(The address for Sarah Lawrence College
is Bronxvllle, NY 1 0 7 0 8 ]
Sherry B Ortn*
voi 13 no 7
continued from p 20
12-14 Apr SOCIETY FOR APPLIED AN-
THROPOLOGY 3 3 rd Annual Meeting, Pio-
neer Hotel, Tucson. Deadline for abstracts
Jan 15, Program Chmn; Theodore E Dowrv
ing, Oept of Anth, U Arizona; Local Arrs
Chmn-. James E Officer, Intl Studies. U
Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.
18-21 Apr SOUTHWESTERN ANTHRO-
POLOGICAL ASSOCIATION Annual Meet-
ing, St Francis Hotel, San Francisco (jointly
with Society for California Archaeology)
Deadline for abstracts, Dec 1. Programed
ordinator: Luis S Kemnitzer, Dept of Anth,
San Francisco State College, San Francisco'
CA94132.
18-21 Apr SOCIETY FOR CALIFORNIA
ARCHAEOLOGY Annual Meeting, St Francis
Hotel, San Francisco (Jointly with Southwest-
ern Anthropological Association). Deadline
for abstracts, Dec 1. Information: Michael
Moratto, Dept of Anth, San Francisco, CA
94132.
27-29 Apr NORTHEASTERN ANTHRO-
POLOGICAL ASSOCIATION Annual Meet-
ing, Sheraton Motor Inn, Burlington. Deadline
for abstracts and symposia suggestions, Dec
15. Program Chmn: Stephen Pastner, Dept of
Anth, U Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401.
3-5 May SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN AR-
CHAEOLOGY 38 th Annual Meeting, Shera-
ton Palace, San Francisco. Abstracts of papers
due Dec 1. Program Chmn: Ezra B W Zubrow,
Dept of Anth, Stanford U, Stanford, CA
94305.
17 Jun-7 Jury CONSEJO NACIONAL DE
CIENCIA Y TECNOLOGIA and AMERICAN
ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
OF SCIENCE Joint Meeting, Mexico City.
Theme: Science and Man in the Americas.
(Secty, Sect H: Anthony Leeds, Dept of
Anth, U Texas, Austin, T X 78 712.
1-8 Sept I X T H INTERNATIONAL CON-
GRESS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND
ETHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES Chicago. Con-
tact ICAES, 1126 E 59th St, Chicago, IL
60637.
10-15 Sept INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIA-
T I O N FOR CYBERNETICS 7th international
Congress, Namur, Belgium. Send title and
summary of papers by Jan 1 to Secretariat,
I AC, Palais de Expositions, Place Andre
Rijkmans, Namur, Belaium.
2-10 Dec IX INTERNATIONAL CON-
GRESS FOR QUATERNARY RESEARCH
University of Canterbury, Chrlstchurcrt, New
Zealand. Address: Jane M Soons, Secty-Genl,
IX INQUA Congress, Dept of Geog, Christ-
church, New Zealand.
NSF PROPOSAL SCHEDULE
The schedule for submission of
proposals to the National Science
Foundation for senior research proj-
ects in anthropology continues as fol-
lows:
Proposals
should arrive For funds
in (or before) needed in
December June-July
March Septem ber-October
August January-February