Arkansas'? Arkansas's? Who's to Say?

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Is the razorback hog Arkansas’ mascot or Arkansas’s mascot? Whether an apostrophe after an “s” should be followed by another “s” has been a question for grammarians globally and at the University of Arkansas long before the Arkansas state legislature joined the debate.

Not surprisingly, journalism instructor Katherine Shurlds teaches students the standard for journalists, the Associated Press style, which mandates an apostrophe after a proper name that ends in “s” but without a following “s.” Shurlds, who is featured as the Militant Grammarian on the local NPR affiliate, KUAF, prefers to keep it simple, “otherwise, there are too many “s’s” and it just looks silly.”

Patrick Slattery, associate professor of English who instructs the graduate students who teach English composition to first-year students, notes that it has long been considered proper to use an apostrophe alone or an apostrophe with an “s” to form the possessive of nouns like “Arkansas.” Yet he was surprised when he opened the department’s guide to English grammar and usage, The St. Martin’s Handbook, to find its author had come down on the side of the “s.” The handbook’s author, Andrea A. Lunsford, spoke on the UA campus recently and told Slattery that she chose that option because it was easier for students to learn to use an “s” following the apostrophe for all singular possessives.

In the classroom, Slattery tells students that either possessive form is acceptable, as long as they are consistent. He also cautions them to inquire about the style in other fields of study, since some, like journalism, have set a standard.

Both Slattery and Shurlds agree that possessive forms are changing, and often the possessive is disappearing. Slattery predicted the gradual abandonment of the apostrophe altogether.

“With a proper noun, sometimes it can be a good idea to drop the possessive,” Shurlds said. “There’s a logical reason for writing 'Arkansas high schools,’ but overall the trend toward dropping the possessive is bad. You see billboards not using the possessive simply because the apostrophe affects the line length.”

The apostrophe may be disappearing in part because students increasingly learn by hearing, rather than by reading and seeing words, and many people communicate electronically, Slattery suggested.

“The culture is more aural than in the past,” Slattery said. “Conventions are evolving for communicating electronically. For many people using e-mail, there is a sense that prose doesn’t have to be technically correct. It’s especially difficult with instant messaging to proofread and to write in standard usage.”

Shurlds and Slattery are both faculty in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. To hear Shurlds, the Militant Grammarian, discuss possessives, tune to Ozarks at Large on KUAF, 91.3 FM, at 6 p.m.  Friday, March 9, or 9 a.m. Sunday, March 11.