English neutral pronouns: Difference between revisions

    From Nonbinary Wiki
    imported>TXJ
    (Cleaning up refs and links)
    imported>TXJ
    Line 25: Line 25:
    ====A====
    ====A====


    '''A''' (nominative form only). "In 1789, William H. Marshall records […] Middle English epicene ‘a’, used by the 14th century English writer John of Trevisa and both the OED and Wright's English Dialect Dictionary confirm the use of ‘a’ for he, she, it, they, and even I. This ‘a’ is a reduced form of the Anglo-Saxon he = ‘he’ and heo = ‘she’.”<ref>Baron, Dennis (1986). Grammar and Gender. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03526-8. as cited by Williams, John (1990s).</ref> <ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100418022839/http://www.aetherlumina.com/gnp/history.html "History - Native-English GNPs". Gender-Neutral Pronoun FAQ.] Retrieved 2007-01-01.</ref> Some living British dialects still use the gender-neutral "a" pronoun.<ref>"Epicene pronouns." ''American Heritage Book of English Usage''. [http://web.archive.org/web/20080630041424/http://www.bartleby.com/64/C005/004.html http://web.archive.org/web/20080630041424/http://www.bartleby.com/64/C005/004.html]</ref>
    '''A''' (nominative form only). "In 1789, William H. Marshall records […] Middle English epicene ‘a’, used by the 14th century English writer John of Trevisa and both the OED and Wright's English Dialect Dictionary confirm the use of ‘a’ for he, she, it, they, and even I. This ‘a’ is a reduced form of the Anglo-Saxon he = ‘he’ and heo = ‘she’.”<ref>Baron, Dennis (1986). Grammar and Gender. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03526-8. as cited by Williams, John (1990s).</ref> <ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418022839/http://www.aetherlumina.com/gnp/history.html| url=http://www.aetherlumina.com/gnp/history.html|last=Williams|first=John|archive-date=18 April 2010|title=History - Native-English GNPs|work=Gender-Neutral Pronoun FAQ}}</ref> Some living British dialects still use the gender-neutral "a" pronoun.<ref>{{cite web|title=Epicene pronouns|work=American Heritage Book of English Usage|url=http://www.bartleby.com/64/C005/004.html|archive-date=30 June 2008|archive-url= http://web.archive.org/web/20080630041424/http://www.bartleby.com/64/C005/004.html}}</ref>


    ====Ou====
    ====Ou====

    Revision as of 15:45, 17 October 2020

    Most used neutral pronouns
    1. They/them (79.5%)
    2. Xe/xem (7.2%)
    3. E/em (5.2%)
    4. Ze/hir (4.7%)
    5. It/its (4.4%)
    6. Fae/faer (4.3%)

    Data provided by the 2019 Gender Census.[1]

    English neutral pronouns are useful not only when writing documents that need to use inclusive language, but also for any nonbinary people who prefer not to have their pronouns imply that they are female or male. As shown in surveys, many nonbinary people are okay with being called "he" or "she," but there are also many nonbinary people who don't want to be called either of these. The surveys show that the most popular gender-neutral pronoun for nonbinary people is singular they, but nearly as many prefer or accept some other neutral pronoun. See examples of this in pronouns in use for nonbinary people.

    History

    In English, people are usually called by a pronoun that implies their gender. For example, she for women, and he for men. The use of singular they as a gender-neutral p