Talk:English neutral pronouns: Difference between revisions
Moving some pronouns from the main page to the talk page.
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: In response to your concerns, I expanded the entry for "they" to include all four versions of its reflexive form (themself, theirself, theirselves, themselves) with dictionary sources cited to demonstrate that each form is commonly used. -[[User:Frameacloud|Frameacloud]] ([[User talk:Frameacloud|talk]]) 23:14, 27 June 2015 (CDT) | : In response to your concerns, I expanded the entry for "they" to include all four versions of its reflexive form (themself, theirself, theirselves, themselves) with dictionary sources cited to demonstrate that each form is commonly used. -[[User:Frameacloud|Frameacloud]] ([[User talk:Frameacloud|talk]]) 23:14, 27 June 2015 (CDT) | ||
== | == English pronouns that don't meet notability requirements == | ||
This section is for | This section is for English pronouns that don't cite any sources, are used by only one or two real people, or were used by few or no respondants to the Gender Census. The entries can be moved to the main article if they cite sources, and are used by many real people, and many respondants to the Gender Census. | ||
=== | ===*e (splat pronouns)=== | ||
''' | '''*e, h*, h*s, h*s, h*self''' (this was the exact set used in LambdaMOO).<ref>Klaus Beck, ''Computervermittelte Kommunikation im Internet.'' p. 157.</ref><ref>Laura Borràs Castanyer, ed. ''Textualidades electrónicas: Nuevos escenarios para la literatura.'' p. 158.</ref> Called "splat pronouns," because the asterisk symbol is also called a "splat," these all use an asterisk to represent ambiguity between "he" and "she." | ||
'''Usage:''' | |||
Some software and Internet resources in the 1990s used them informally as gender-neutral pronouns. The multi-user online environment LambdaMOO offered these "splat" pronouns in addition to "[[English neutral pronouns#E|Spivak]]" pronouns. In 2002, 10 out of 4061 people on LambdaMOO had chosen to use splat pronouns for themselves.<ref name="aetherluminarefs">https://web.archive.org/web/20070310125817/http://aetherlumina.com/gnp/references.html</ref> However, splat pronouns didn't make an appearance in the 2015 or 2016 Nonbinary Stats surveys. | |||
'''Forms:''' | '''Forms:''' | ||
* '''Nominative:''' When I tell someone a joke '' | * '''Nominative:''' When I tell someone a joke ''*e'' laughs. | ||
* '''Accusative:''' | * '''Accusative:''' When I greet a friend I hug ''h*''. | ||
* '''Pronominal possessive:''' | * '''Pronominal possessive:''' When someone does not get a haircut, ''h*s'' hair grows long. | ||
* '''Predicative possessive:''' | * '''Predicative possessive:''' If I need a phone, my friend lets me borrow ''h*s''. | ||
* '''Reflexive:''' | * '''Reflexive:''' Each child feeds ''h*self''. | ||
''' | '''On Pronoun Island:''' [http://pronoun.is/*e/h*/h*s/h*s/h*self http://pronoun.is/*e/h*/h*s/h*s/h*self | ||
===Ae=== | ===Ae=== | ||
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'''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Notability. No indication of its actual use in any literature, whether fiction or nonfiction, aside from its appearance in Merriam Webster. This leads one to suspect that it may have been a deliberately fictitious entry. Other dictionaries, such as the New Oxford American Dictionary, have been known to include fictitious entries as copyright traps. Regardless of its origins, it also doesn't seem popularly used among real nonbinary people. "Che" pronouns weren't entered in the 2015 or 2016 Nonbinary Stats surveys. | '''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Notability. No indication of its actual use in any literature, whether fiction or nonfiction, aside from its appearance in Merriam Webster. This leads one to suspect that it may have been a deliberately fictitious entry. Other dictionaries, such as the New Oxford American Dictionary, have been known to include fictitious entries as copyright traps. Regardless of its origins, it also doesn't seem popularly used among real nonbinary people. "Che" pronouns weren't entered in the 2015 or 2016 Nonbinary Stats surveys. | ||
===Co=== | |||
'''co, co, co's (cos), co's, coself'''. Mary Orovan created these in 1970, derived from the Indo-European ''*ko'', as an inclusive alternative to "he or she."<ref name="d baron epicene">Dennis Baron, "The Epicene Pronouns: A chronology of the word that failed." [http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/epicene.htm http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/epicene.htm] {{dead link}}</ref><ref name="aetherlumina listing 1">https://web.archive.org/web/20070310125817/http://aetherlumina.com/gnp/references.html</ref> In the pages about inclusive pronouns in the book ''Words and Women'', authors Miller and Swift talk about this pronoun's origins, history, and contemporary usage: | |||
<blockquote>"'Humanizing English,' an eight-page pamphlet first published in 1970, included [Mary] Orovan's proposed common gender pronoun ''co,'' which is now being used in everyday speech and writing by members of several alternative-life-style communities. Twin Oaks Community, a group of some sixty adults and children living in Louisa, Virginia, adopted Orovan's nonsexist grammatical form in 1972. The pronoun has since spread to other communities in Virginia and Missouri, is used in a book on radical therapy published in 1973 by Harper & Row, and it routinely replaces 'he or she' or 'he/she' in the magazine ''Communities,''' which is addressed to cooperative-living groups across the country. Orovan derived ''co'' from the Indo-European root form ''ko,'' the common ancestor of both the masculine and feminine English pronouns. Co, with its suggestion of 'together,' is not used to replace either the masculine or feminine pronoun when applied to a specific individual, but only as an alternative to the unisex generic ''he.'' Twin Oaks' newsletter ''Leaves,'' for example, comments in an article on communal work undertaken by members, 'Vacations are indeed a burden for the remaining members, but everyone takes cos turn at carrying the burden.'"<ref>Casey Miller and Kate Swift, ''Words and Women.'' Pages 129-130.</ref></blockquote> | |||
Today, "Co" is still used in some intentional communities, such as in the legal policies of Twin Oaks in Virginia, which provides information on the pronoun in its [http://www.twinoaks.org/community/visit/guide.html visitor guide] web page. | |||
'''Use by people:''' | |||
In the 2018 Gender Census, only one respondent entered ''co/co/cos/cos/coself'' as cos favourite pronoun.<ref name="Census2018"/> | |||
'''Forms:''' | |||
* '''Nominative:''' When I tell someone a joke ''co'' laughs. | |||
* '''Accusative:''' When I greet a friend I hug ''co''. | |||
* '''Pronominal possessive:''' When someone does not get a haircut, ''co's'' hair grows long. (Or ''cos'' hair grows.) | |||
* '''Predicative possessive:''' If I need a phone, my friend lets me borrow ''co's''. | |||
* '''Reflexive:''' Each child feeds ''coself''. | |||
'''On Pronoun Island:''' [http://pronoun.is/co/co/co's/co's/coself http://pronoun.is/co/co/co's/co's/coself] | |||
===Em=== | ===Em=== | ||
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'''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Notability citation missing - pronoun was not entered at all in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> Also, some forms missing. | '''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Notability citation missing - pronoun was not entered at all in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> Also, some forms missing. | ||
===E=== | |||
Some variants of the E pronouns are less common. | |||
====E (es)==== | |||
'''e, em, es (e's), (e's), (not recorded)'''. Created in 1890 by James Rogers of Crestview, Florida.<ref name="aetherlumina listing 2"></ref><ref name="d baron epicene" /> In about 1977, version where all forms starts with capital letters was independently "created by psychologist Donald G. MacKay of the University of California at Los Angeles."<ref name="d baron epicene" /> In 1989, independently created by Victor J. Stone, Professor of Law.<ref name="d baron epicene" /> | |||
'''Forms:''' | |||
* '''Nominative:''' When I tell someone a joke ''e'' (or ''E'') laughs. | |||
* '''Accusative:''' When I greet a friend I hug ''em''. | |||
* '''Pronominal possessive:''' When someone does not get a haircut, ''es'' hair grows long. | |||
* '''Predicative possessive:''' (not recorded) | |||
* '''Reflexive:''' Each child feeds ''emself''.<ref>THE LAW: For the Record; E Has a Modest Proposal on Ungendered Personal Pronouns. (1989, August 25). New York Times. Retrieved from https://link-gale-com.lsproxy.austincc.edu/apps/doc/A175745500/OVIC?u=txshracd2487&sid=OVIC&xid=0ae5e2ed</ref> | |||
===Et=== | ===Et=== | ||
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'''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Notability citation missing - pronoun was not entered at all in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> Forms missing. | '''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Notability citation missing - pronoun was not entered at all in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> Forms missing. | ||
===Hu=== | === Hu === | ||
'''hu, hum, hus, hus, humself'''. Several times since the 1970s, pronoun neologisms have been created based on a "humanist" model using <u>hu</u>man as a base or root source for pronouns. These attempts have been about using nominally gender-inclusive or neutral source etymologies in order to create new pronouns with familiar and hence more easily understood spelling and pronunciation. This new humanist model takes these prior efforts and expands it to include options for pronouns, nouns, honorifics and more--and an (eventually) complete framework / model for neutral and inclusive English. | |||
'''hu | Pronunciation of ''hu'' is identical to the first part of ''hu''man (i.e., like the name Hugh), and hum follows the same model (as in, ''hum''an). | ||
'''Forms:''' | '''Forms:''' | ||
'''On | *'''Nominative:''' When I tell someone a joke ''hu'' laughs. | ||
*'''Accusative:''' When I greet a friend I hug ''hum''. | |||
*'''Pronominal possessive:''' When someone does not get a haircut, ''hus'' hair grows long. | |||
*'''Predicative possessive:''' If I need a phone, my friend lets me borrow ''hus''. | |||
*'''Reflexive:''' Each child feeds ''humself''. | |||
'''On Posilicious:''' [https://posilicious.com/2020/08/27/gender-neutral-english-new-humanist-model/ Gender Neutral and Inclusive Humanist English] | |||
'''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Notability citation missing - pronoun was entered only once in over 3,000 participants in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> | '''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Notability citation missing - pronoun was entered only once in over 3,000 participants in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> | ||
=== Hy === | |||
'''hy, hym, hys, hys, hymself'''. Although rarely used nowadays, these pronouns date back to Middle English, in which they were an alternate spelling of he/him/his/his/himself. | |||
A 1991 Usenet user wrote: | |||
{{quote|I rather like Norman Cousin's proposal for a new personal pronoun of indeterminate or insignificant gender (he made this back in the '60s): ne/ner/nim (as in Not He/She, Not her, and Not Him). Of course, we could always extend the "womyn" paradigm and spell he, his, and him with a "y": hy, hys, and hym.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/g/rec.martial-arts/c/55Ckn-bd380/m/EIErfset5HMJ|last=Gombosi|first=Steve|date=11 November 1991|title=rec.martial-arts}}</ref>}} | |||
In 1997, another Usenet user noted these pronouns were in use as masculine pronouns for some members of the furry community.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/g/alt.fan.furry/c/OKacXiwTEk0/m/v-NDSEzAeIwJ|date=14 August 1997|last=Koehler|first=Tobias|quote=There is hy/hys/hym (he-fluff), shy/hyr/hyr (she-fluff), han/per/per, yt/yts/yt, sie/hir/hir .... use what you like :) Of course you can just use `it' if you like to be genderneutral.|title=alt.fan.furry}}</ref> | |||
'''Forms:''' | |||
*'''Nominative:''' When I tell someone a joke ''hy'' laughs. | |||
*'''Accusative:''' When I greet a friend I hug ''hym''. | |||
*'''Pronominal possessive:''' When someone does not get a haircut, ''hys'' hair grows long. | |||
*'''Predicative possessive:''' If I need a phone, my friend lets me borrow ''hys''. | |||
*'''Reflexive:''' Each child feeds ''hymself''. | |||
'''On Pronoun Island:''' https://pronoun.is/hy/hym/hys/hys/hymself | |||
===Id=== | ===Id=== | ||
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===Phe=== | ===Phe=== | ||
'''phe, per, | '''phe, per, pers, pers, perself'''. The phe/per pronoun set was created as an alternative to per/per, since ''per'' is already a word in English (meaning ''according to'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.glasswings.com.au/Storytronics/Odysseus/notes/pronouns.htm|title=Gender Free Pronouns|last=Phelps|first=Katherine|date=May 1998|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref> | ||
'''Forms:''' | '''Forms:''' | ||
* '''Nominative:''' When I tell someone a joke ''phe'' laughs. | * '''Nominative:''' When I tell someone a joke ''phe'' laughs. | ||
* '''Accusative:''' When I greet a friend I hug ''per''. | * '''Accusative:''' When I greet a friend I hug ''per''. | ||
* '''Pronominal possessive:''' When someone does not get a haircut, '' | * '''Pronominal possessive:''' When someone does not get a haircut, ''pers'' hair grows long. | ||
* '''Predicative possessive:''' If I need a phone, my friend lets me borrow ''pers''. | * '''Predicative possessive:''' If I need a phone, my friend lets me borrow ''pers''. | ||
* '''Reflexive:''' Each child feeds ''perself''. | * '''Reflexive:''' Each child feeds ''perself''. | ||
''' | '''Usage:''' In the 2019 Gender Census, no participants chose "phe/per" as an option.<ref name="Census2018"/> Entered only once in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> | ||
===Shey=== | ===Shey=== | ||
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'''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Incomplete. Entered only once in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> | '''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Incomplete. Entered only once in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> | ||
===Zey=== | |||
'''zey/zem/zeir''' is a pronoun set following the pattern of ''they/them/theirs'', but with the letter Z in place of TH.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/employees-and-payroll/new-employee-set-up-for-getting-his-paystub-emailed/00/283925|author=dolphinnetwork|date=December 27, 2019|title=Comment on "New employee set up for getting his paystub emailed"|quote=I personally think it's time for English to have a singular non-gendered pronoun, and suggest contracts and manuals use "Zey/Zem/Zeir" (Zey will need to sign up to receive paystubs zeirself, but if no email was sent to zem automatically the payroll accountant can send it to zem.)}}</ref><ref>[https://www.reddit.com/user/Earl_The_Red/ Reddit profile of u/Earl_The_Red showing use of zey/zem/zeir pronouns]</ref> | |||
'''Use for real nonbinary people:''' | |||
*Writer and advocate [[Chris Paige]] uses zey/zem/zeir in addition to they/them/their. The "zey" pronoun set was suggested by zeir daughter to avoid singular/plural confusion.<ref name="BibleBash">{{Cite web |title=Enuchs and Jesus and Pronouns, Oh My! Mx Chris Paige -- Matthew 19 |author1=Hooper, Liam |author2=Toscano, Peterson |work=The Bible Bash Podcast |date=September 28, 2019 |access-date=July 14, 2020 |url= https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/climate-stew/e/64218290}}</ref> | |||
===Zhe=== | ===Zhe=== | ||
'''zhe, zhim, zher, zhers, | '''zhe, zhim, zher, zhers, zhimself''' or '''zherself'''. This pronoun set was proposed in November 2000 (or possibly earlier) by economist Fred E. Foldvary. Dr. Foldvary wrote:<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001121014600/http://www.progress.org/fold162.htm|url=http://www.progress.org/fold162.htm |last=Foldvary|first=Fred E.|title=Zhe, zher, zhim|work=The Progress Report|archive-date=21 November 2000}}</ref> | ||
{{quote|The English language needs new pronouns to refer to people in a gender-neutral way. I offer the words zhe, zher, and zhim, where the "zh" is pronounced as in the second "g" of garage or the "z" in azure. "Zhe" means either he or she for the subject of a sentence. "Zher" is the possessive "him" or "her." "Zhim" is the accusative or object of a sentence, meaning either "him" or "her." | |||
For example: "Zhe was walking zher dog down the street and then gave zhim a treat." The pronoun "one" would not do here: "One was walking one's dog down the street and then gave one a treat" does not work. The use of the plural would make it sound like more than one person and more than one dog. For gender-neutral pronouns, new words are needed, and zhe, zher, zhim fits the need.}} | |||
Dr. Foldvary did not specify a reflexive form of the pronoun, but various online pronoun lists give the reflexive as "zhimself" or "zherself".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wou.edu/wp/safezone/pronouns/|title=Pronouns|work=Western Oregon University Safe Zone}}</ref><ref name="SmithM2019">{{Cite web |title=LGBTQIA Patients: Initiating a Positive Healthcare Experience with Open Lines of Communication |author=Smith, Margaret |work=nursingcenter.com |date=6 February 2019 |access-date=6 October 2020 |url= https://www.nursingcenter.com/ncblog/february-2019/lgbtqia-patients-initiating-a-positive-healthcare}}</ref> | |||
'''Use in fiction:''' | |||
* Zhe/zher pronouns were sometimes used for space pirate Eleodie Maracavanya in the ''Star Wars: Aftermath'' novels. Eleodie is the first canonly nonbinary character in the ''Star Wars'' universe.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=ChuckWendig| number=1007345075343552513|title=That would be the gender-neutral / non-binary pronoun used by human space pirate Eleodie Maracavanya.|date=14 June 2018}}</ref><ref name="Eleodie">{{Cite web |title=Eleodie Maracavanya |author= |work=Wookieepedia |date= |access-date=6 October 2020 |url= https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Eleodie_Maracavanya}}</ref> | |||
* In season 11, episode 15 of the TV show ''Supernatural'', a character says "Well it's kinda every demon for him/her/zhimself."<ref name="supe_Quee">{{Cite web |title=Queer and Gender Diverse Characters |author= |work=supernaturalwiki.com |date= |access-date=6 October 2020 |url= http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/Queer_and_Gender_Diverse_Characters}}</ref> | |||
'''Forms:''' | '''Forms:''' | ||
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* '''Pronominal possessive:''' When someone does not get a haircut, ''zher'' hair grows long. | * '''Pronominal possessive:''' When someone does not get a haircut, ''zher'' hair grows long. | ||
* '''Predicative possessive:''' If I need a phone, my friend lets me borrow ''zhers''. | * '''Predicative possessive:''' If I need a phone, my friend lets me borrow ''zhers''. | ||
* '''Reflexive:''' | * '''Reflexive:''' Each child feeds ''zhimself''. (or ''zherself'') | ||
'''On Pronoun Island:''' https://pronoun.is/zhe/zhim/zher/zhers/zhimself, https://pronoun.is/zhe/zhim/zher/zhers/zherself | |||
'''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' | '''Why this was moved to the talk page:''' Not entered in the Nonbinary Stats survey in 2016.<ref name=NBGQ2016></ref> | ||
===Ze=== | ===Ze=== | ||