Gender neutral language in English: Difference between revisions
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* '''Parental Unit (PU).''' Neutral, informal, humorous, possibly disrespectful. Used by the alien family in ''Coneheads,'' and taken up by popular culture.<ref name="titles queeries"></ref> | * '''Parental Unit (PU).''' Neutral, informal, humorous, possibly disrespectful. Used by the alien family in ''Coneheads,'' and taken up by popular culture.<ref name="titles queeries"></ref> | ||
* '''Per.''' "Neutral, short for parent."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref> (See also: [[Pronouns#Per|per pronouns]] and [[Gender neutral titles#Pr|Pr title]].) | * '''Per.''' "Neutral, short for parent."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref> (See also: [[Pronouns#Per|per pronouns]] and [[Gender neutral titles#Pr|Pr title]].) | ||
* '''Ren.''' Derived from "pa< | * '''Ren.''' Derived from "pa<u>ren</u>t." Gender-neutral. The equivalent to mommy or daddy is "renny." Coined or popularized by Katie Hall in 2017.<ref> Katie Hall. June 11, 2017. https://ithelpstodream.tumblr.com/post/161695436793 </ref> | ||
* '''Zaza.''' "Queer, based on mama and papa/dada."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref> | * '''Zaza.''' "Queer, based on mama and papa/dada."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref> | ||
* '''Zither.''' "Queer, based on mother and father. (Note, zither is also the name of a musical instrument.)"<ref name="titles queeries"></ref> | * '''Zither.''' "Queer, based on mother and father. (Note, zither is also the name of a musical instrument.)"<ref name="titles queeries"></ref> | ||
Revision as of 07:46, 23 February 2019
Gender neutral language in English is easier than gender neutral language (also called gender inclusive language) in many other languages, because its grammatical gender is less pervasive than in, say, German or French. See the main article on gender neutral language for general reasons to use neutral language, common problems in using it, and its use for nonbinary people.
History
Although English has grammatical gender, it's only a vestige of what it once had. Old English once had grammatical gender for inanimate objects, but this practice started to disappear in the 700s, and vanished in the 1200s. The population of England at that time spoke several languages, and the same inanimate objects had different genders in those different languages. They may have stopped using that part entirely just to make it simpler. English stopped using grammatical gender for inanimate objects, but it still uses grammatical gender for people and personal pronouns.[1] There is enough to make a challenge for nonbinary people who don't want gendered language to be used for them.
Gender-neutral language has become common in English today largely thanks to the pioneering work by feminists Casey Miller and Kate Swift. During the 1970s, they began the work of encouraging inclusive language, as an alternative to sexist language that excludes or dehumanizes women. Miller and Swift wrote a manual on gender-neutral language, The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing (1980). Miller and Swift also proposed a set of gender-neutral pronouns, tey, although they later favored singular they, or he or she.[2] There are several books on gender-neutral English, such as Rosalie Maggio's book The Nonsexist Word Finder: A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage (1989).
Words and alternatives
This is a list of both standard (dictionary) and non-standard (created) terms and pronouns to include nonbinary identities. It should be noted that while some are genderless or third gender, others are multigender. Terms will be marked with the implied gender identity when possible.
Pronouns
See main article at English neutral pronouns.
Titles
See main article at Gender neutral titles.
Common nouns
| Type of common noun | Feminine | Masculine | Gender inclusive (could be masculine or feminine) | Specifically nonbinary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Young person | Girl, maiden | Boy, youth | Child, kid, infant, teen, tween, young person | Enby |
| Adult person | Woman, lady | Man, gentleman | Adult, gentlebeing, gentleperson, grownup | Enby, enban |
| Person of any age | Female | Male | Being, puman, human being, one, person, somebody, someone | Enby |
Family and relationship words
See also: family and intimacy.
Parent
Parents as in the formal words mother or father, or the informal mama or dada. Gender-neutral and gender-inclusive words for a parent of any gender, or non-standard specifically nonbinary, queer, or genderqueer words.
- Common words
- Parent: Neutral, formal[3]
- Baba. "Neutral, based on mama and dada. (Note, baba means dad in some languages and grandmother in others.)"[3]
- Bibi. "Queer, based on the B in NB [nonbinary], similar to mama and papa/dada."