The aim of the present study is to explore the connections between pronoun use and the orientation to the marital relationship of different couples and of the two sexes in the early years of their marriage. Pronouns have been found to be a sensitive indicator of interpersonal orientation in some situations. Mowrer (1953), in a discussion of verbal behavior in psychotherapy, cites a study by Zimmerman and Langdon which found systematic changes in the relative frequency of use of certain common personal pronouns during the course of psychothera Zimmerman and Langdon derived their expectations from G* W. Allport's (1937) criteria for a mature or normal personality.