Nounself pronouns
Nounself pronouns are a wide variety of kinds of gender neutral pronouns. By adapting any noun of one's choosing into a pronoun, one can create a wide variety of very personal and descriptive pronouns. The variations can be themed around concepts that have nothing to do with gender, such as nature, technology, or abstract concepts. This is similar to xenogender, in which a nonbinary person describes their gender by means of metaphorical concepts that have nothing to do with female or male. Nounself pronouns are a creative and often light-hearted experiment in gender expression. Unlike most neologistic pronouns that are in this wiki's list of English neutral pronouns, which are intended to be used for all people regardless of gender, nounself pronouns are intended to be used by only a small number of people who feel that they express what is distinctive about themselves.
Nounself pronouns can be especially difficult to use for people who speak English as a second language, or who are neurodivergent or disabled. For this reason, if you ask others to call you by nounself pronouns, it's good etiquette to offer a secondary set of more standard pronouns, for accessibility. This secondary set may be called "auxiliary pronouns".[1][2]
History
Starting in late 2013[3], a community of nonbinary people on the social blogging site Tumblr.com offered the idea of "nounself pronouns." (Some call these "otherkin pronouns," but few otherkin use them, and not all using them are otherkin.) Some of the earliest nounself pronouns are "fae, fae, faer, faers, faeself" derived from fae or faeries, and "bun, bun, buns, buns, bunself" derived from bunny. During 2014, the community proposed about a hundred variations of such pronouns, and many were adopted as the pronouns of particular nonbinary people, and see actual use.
As of 2016, fae pronouns are by far the most represented of any kind of the nounself pronouns, with bun pronouns coming in second, judging by the 2016 Nonbinary Stats survey.[4]Many other nounself pronouns never showed up in any surveys of what pronouns nonbinary people really use.
List of nounself pronouns
An alphabetical list of nounself pronouns, and their origins. More of these variations have been proposed than have been used.
| Subject | Object | Possessive adjective | Possessive pronoun | Reflexive | Source |
| one laughs, giggles, chuckles, cackles, guffaws, snickers, titters, snorts, tee-hees, chortles, and sniggers | I hugged one | one heart warmed | that is one's | one loves oneself | |
| the other laughs, giggles, chuckles, cackles, guffaws, snickers, titters, snorts, tee-hees, chortles, and sniggers | I hugged the other | the other heart warmed | that is the other's | the other loves the otherself | |
| somebody laughs, giggles, chuckles, cackles, guffaws, snickers, titters, snorts, tee-hees, chortles, and sniggers | I hugged somebody | somebody heart warmed | that is somebody's | somebody loves somebodyselves | |
| someone laughs, giggles, chuckles, cackles, guffaws, snickers, titters, snorts, tee-hees, chortles, and sniggers | I hugged someone | someone heart warmed | that is someone's | someone loves someoneselves | |
| this laughs, giggles, chuckles, cackles, guffaws, snickers, titters, snorts, tee-hees, chortles, and sniggers | I hugged bee | beets heart warmed | that is beets | bee loves beetleself | |
| that laughs, giggles, chuckles, cackles, guffaws, snickers, titters, snorts, tee-hees, chortles, and sniggers | I hugged bog | bogs heart warmed | that is bogs | bog loves bogself | |
| something laughs, giggles, chuckles, cackles, guffaws, snickers, titters, snorts, tee-hees, chortles, and sniggers | I hugged boo | boos heart warmed | that is boos | boo loves booself | |
| everything laughs, giggles, chuckles, cackles, guffaws, snickers, titters, snorts, tee-hees, chortles, and sniggers | I hugged bot | bots heart warmed | that is bots | bot loves botself | |
| bu laughs | I hugged bu | buz heart warmed | that is buz | bu loves buzzself | |
| bud laughs | I hugged bud | buds heart warmed | that is buds | bud loves budself | |
| bug laughs | I hugged bug | bugs heart warmed | that is bugs | bug loves bugself | |
| bun laughs | I hugged bun | buns heart warmed | that is buns | bun loves bunself | |
| byte laughs | I hugged byte | bytes heart warmed | that is bytes | byte loves byteself | |
| cancer laughs | — | cans heart warmed | — | cancer loves canself | |
| cap laughs | — | capris heart warmed | — | cap loves capriself | |
| compute laughs | I hugged compute | computes heart warmed | that is computes | compute loves computeself | |
| cub laughs | I hugged cub | cubs heart warmed | that is cubs | cub loves cubself | |
| cy laughs | I hugged cyb | cyber heart warmed | that is cybers | cy loves cyberself | |
| dre laughs | I hugged droid | droids heart warmed | that is droids | dre loves droidself | |
| doll laughs | I hugged doll | dolls heart warmed | that is dolls | doll loves dollself | |
| ecto laughs | I hugged ecto | ects heart warmed | that is ects | ecto loves ectself | |
| eep laughs | I hugged eep | eeps heart warmed | that is eeps | eep loves eepself | |
| fae laughs | I hugged faer | faer heart warmed | that is faers | fae loves faerself | |
| faun laughs | I hugged faun | fauns heart warmed | that is fauns | faun loves faunself | |
| fawn laughs | I hugged fawn | fawns heart warmed | that is fawns | fawn loves fawnself | |
| fel laughs | I hugged fel | felis heart warmed | that is felis | fel loves feliself | |
| fey laughs | I hugged fey | feys heart warmed | that is feys | fey loves feyself | |
| file laughs | I hugged file | files heart warmed | that is files | file loves fileself | |
| fin laughs | I hugged fin | fins heart warmed | that is fins | fin loves finself | |
| fluff laughs | I hugged fluff | fluffs heart warmed | that is fluffs | fluff loves fluffself | |
| gem laughs | I hugged gem | gemis heart warmed | that is gemis | gem loves geminiself | |
| gem laughs | I hugged gem | gems heart warmed | that is gems | gem loves gemself | |
| giga laughs | I hugged giga | gigas heart warmed | that is gigas | giga loves gigaself | |
| gill laughs | I hugged gill | gills heart warmed | that is gills | gill loves gillself | |
| glit laughs | I hugged glitter | glitter heart warmed | that is glitters | glit loves glitterself | |
| gro laughs | — | gross heart warmed | that is gross | gro loves goreself | |
| hart laughs | I hugged hart | harts heart warmed | that is harts | hart loves hartself | |
| haun laughs | — | haunts heart warmed | that is haunts | haun loves hauntself | |
| hy laughs | I hugged hy | hydras heart warmed | that is hydras | hy loves hydraself | |
| inter laughs | I hugged inter | inters heart warmed | that is inters | inter loves interself | |
| kelp laughs | I hugged kelp | kelps heart warmed | that is kelps | kelp loves kelpself | |
| kit laughs | I hugged kit | kits heart warmed | that is kits | kit loves kitself | |
| leo laughs | I hugged leo | leos heart warmed | that is leos | leo loves leoself | |
| lib laughs | — | libras heart warmed | — | lib loves libraself | |
| lun laughs | I hugged lun | luns heart warmed | that is luns | lun loves lunself | |
| lynx laughs | I hugged lynx | — | — | lynx loves lynxself | |
| mechie laughs | I hugged mechien | mechs heart warmed | that is mechs | mechie loves mechself | |
| meow laughs | I hugged mew | mews heart warmed | that is mews | meow loves meowself | |
| mer laughs | I hugged mer | mers heart warmed | that is mers | mer loves merself | |
| neb laughs | I hugged neb | — | — | neb loves nebself | |
| nov laughs | I hugged nov | novs heart warmed | that is novs | nov loves novself | |
| paw laughs | I hugged paw | paws heart warmed | that is paws | paw loves pawself | |
| purr laughs | I hugged purr | purrs heart warmed | that is purrs | purr loves purrself | |
| qwe laughs | I hugged qwer | qwer heart warmed | that is qwers | qwe loves qwertyself | |
| rai laughs | I hugged rain | rainbow heart warmed | that is rainbows | rai loves rainself | |
| ram laughs | I hugged ram | rams heart warmed | that is rams | ram loves ramself | |
| sagit laughs | I hugged sagit | sagits heart warmed | that is sagits | sagit loves sagittself | |
| scor laughs | I hugged scor | scorps heart warmed | that is scorps | scor loves scorpself | |
| spide laughs | I hugged spide | spides heart warmed | that is spides | spide loves spiderself | |
| spiri laughs | — | spirs heart warmed | that is spirs | spiri loves spirself | |
| squeak laughs | I hugged squeak | squeaks heart warmed | that is squeaks | squeak loves squeakself | |
| squid laughs | I hugged squid | squids heart warmed | that is squids | squid loves squidself | |
| stag laughs | I hugged stag | stags heart warmed | that is stags | stag loves stagself | |
| star laughs | I hugged star | stars heart warmed | that is stars | star loves starself | |
| taur laughs | I hugged taur | taurus heart warmed | that is taurus | taur loves tauruself | |
| tech laughs | I hugged techne | techan heart warmed | that is techans | tech loves techself | |
| tik laughs | I hugged tik | tiks heart warmed | that is tiks | tik loves tikself | |
| tok laughs | I hugged tok | toks heart warmed | that is toks | tok loves tokself | |
| vam laughs | I hugged vamp | vamps heart warmed | that is vamps | vam loves vampself | |
| vir laughs | I hugged vir | virgos heart warmed | that is virgos | vir loves virgoself | |
| voi laughs | I hugged void | voids heart warmed | that is voids | voi loves voidself | |
| ware laughs | I hugged ware | wares heart warmed | that is wares | ware loves wareself | |
| whisker laughs | I hugged whisker | whiskers heart warmed | that is whiskers | whisker loves whiskerself | |
| whomp laughs | I hugged whizz | whirr heart warmed | that is whirrs | whomp loves whizelf | |
| wer laughs | I hugged wer | weres heart warmed | that is weres | wer loves wereself | |
| wit laughs | I hugged witch | — | — | wit loves witchself | |
| wy laughs | I hugged wir | wire heart warmed | that is wires | wy loves wirself |
See also
References
- ↑ Roxiw (28 December 2015). "What's the deal with auxiliary pronouns vs other pronouns?". Transgender Teen Survival Guide. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ↑ otherkinlogic, vulpinekin, and roborenard. "Nounself pronouns and how to use them." https://autismserenity.tumblr.com/post/172817325306/whew-ok-i-made-a-powerpoint-thing-for-nounself Archived on 17 July 2023
- ↑ Miltersen, E.H. (2016). "Nounself pronouns: 3rd person personal pronouns as identity expression". Journal of Language Works - Sprogvidenskabeligt Studentertidsskrift. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023.
- ↑ NB/GQ Survey 2016 - the worldwide results, March 2016. Archived on 17 July 2023
