English neutral pronouns: Difference between revisions
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In English, people are usually called by a [[pronouns|pronoun]] that implies their gender. For example, [[English neutral pronouns#She|she]] for women, and [[English neutral pronouns#He|he]] for men. The use of [[singular they]] as a gender-neutral pronoun has been documented as standard usage in English throughout the past thousand years. However, prescriptive grammarians in the late eighteenth century decided that it was bad grammar because it works like a plural and because it isn't done in Latin.<ref>Henry Churchyard, "Singular 'Their' in Jane Austen and Elsewhere." [http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html]</ref> | In English, people are usually called by a [[pronouns|pronoun]] that implies their gender. For example, [[English neutral pronouns#She|she]] for women, and [[English neutral pronouns#He|he]] for men. The use of [[singular they]] as a gender-neutral pronoun has been documented as standard usage in English throughout the past thousand years. However, prescriptive grammarians in the late eighteenth century decided that it was bad grammar because it works like a plural and because it isn't done in Latin.<ref>Henry Churchyard, "Singular 'Their' in Jane Austen and Elsewhere." [http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html]</ref> | ||
Prescriptive grammarians of the late eighteenth century instead recommended using "he" as a gender-neutral pronoun when one is needed, instead of "singular they."<ref name="bustillos 250">Maria Bustillos, "Our desperate, 250-year-long search for a gender neutral pronoun." January 6, 2011. [http://www.theawl.com/2011/01/our-desperate-250-year-long-search-for-a-gender-neutral-pronoun http://www.theawl.com/2011/01/our-desperate-250-year-long-search-for-a-gender-neutral-pronoun]</ref> However, "gender-neutral he" results in writings that are unclear about whether they mean only men or not, which makes problems in law.<ref>Geoffrey Pullum, "Canada Supreme Court Gets the Grammar Right." ''Language Log.'' August 18. 2004. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html]</ref> | Prescriptive grammarians of the late eighteenth century instead recommended using "he" as a gender-neutral pronoun when one is needed, instead of "singular they."<ref name="bustillos 250">Maria Bustillos, "Our desperate, 250-year-long search for a gender-neutral pronoun." January 6, 2011. [http://www.theawl.com/2011/01/our-desperate-250-year-long-search-for-a-gender-neutral-pronoun http://www.theawl.com/2011/01/our-desperate-250-year-long-search-for-a-gender-neutral-pronoun]</ref> However, "gender-neutral he" results in writings that are unclear about whether they mean only men or not, which makes problems in law.<ref>Geoffrey Pullum, "Canada Supreme Court Gets the Grammar Right." ''Language Log.'' August 18. 2004. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html]</ref> | ||
===Regional nominative pronouns=== | ===Regional nominative pronouns=== | ||
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====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’.” Source: Baron, Dennis (1986). Grammar and Gender. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03526-8. as cited by | '''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’.” Source: Baron, Dennis (1986). Grammar and Gender. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03526-8. as cited by Williams, John (1990s)." <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> | ||
====Ou==== | ====Ou==== | ||
'''Ou''' (nominative form only) was first recorded in a native English dialect the sixteenth century. "In 1789, William H. Marshall records the existence of a dialectal English epicene pronoun, singular ou: '"Ou will" expresses either he will, she will, or it will.' Marshall traces ou to Middle English epicene a, used by the fourteenth-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." In K. A. Cook's short story "The Differently Animated and Queer Society," the queer character Moon asks to be called by "ou" pronouns.<ref>K. A. Cook, "The Differently Animated and Queer Society." ''Crooked Words.'' Unpaged.</ref> | '''Ou''' (nominative form only) was first recorded in a native English dialect in the sixteenth century. "In 1789, William H. Marshall records the existence of a dialectal English epicene pronoun, singular ou: '"Ou will" expresses either he will, she will, or it will.' Marshall traces ou to Middle English epicene a, used by the fourteenth-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." In K. A. Cook's short story "The Differently Animated and Queer Society," the queer character Moon asks to be called by "ou" pronouns.<ref>K. A. Cook, "The Differently Animated and Queer Society." ''Crooked Words.'' Unpaged.</ref> | ||
====Yo==== | ====Yo==== | ||
'''Yo''' (nominative form only). In addition to an interjection and greeting, "yo" is a gender-neutral pronoun in a dialect of African-American Vernacular English spoken by middle school students in Baltimore, Maryland, the student body of which is 97% African-American. These students had spontaneously created the pronoun as early as 2004 | '''Yo''' (nominative form only). In addition to an interjection and greeting, "yo" is a gender-neutral pronoun in a dialect of African-American Vernacular English spoken by middle school students in Baltimore, Maryland, the student body of which is 97% African-American. These students had spontaneously created the pronoun as early as 2004 and commonly used it. A study by Stotko and Troyer in 2007 examined this pronoun. The speakers used "yo" only for same-age peers, not adults or authorities. They thought of it as a slang word that was informal, but they also thought if it as just as acceptable as "he" or "she". "Yo" was used for people whose gender was unknown, as well as for specific people whose gender was known, often while using a pointing gesture at the person in question. The researchers collected examples of the word in use, such as "yo threw a thumbtack at me," "you acting like I said what yo said," and "she ain't really go with yo." The researchers only collected examples of "yo" used in the nominative form. That is, they found no possessive forms such as "yo's," and no reflexive forms such as "yoself." As such, "yo" pronouns might be used only in nominative form, similar to another native English gender-neutral pronoun, "[[English neutral pronouns#A|a]]." Either that, or these forms exist, and the researchers just didn't collect them.<ref>Rebecca Hersher, "'Yo' said what?" April 24, 2013. ''NPR: Code Switch''. [http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/04/25/178788893/yo-said-what]</ref><ref>Elizabeth J. Elrod, "Give us a gender neutral pronoun, yo!: The need for and creation of a gender neutral, singular, third person, personal pronoun." ''Undergraduate Honors Theses'' paper 200. 2014. http://dc.etsu.edu/honors/200 or http://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1203&context=honors (PDF)</ref> | ||
===Neopronouns=== | ===Neopronouns=== | ||
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'''Neopronoun''' is a category for any English neutral pronouns that are independent from traditional third person English pronouns. In the strictest sense, a neopronoun is a pronoun which is not based on a noun ([[nounself pronouns]]), and is not [[English_neutral_pronouns#He|he/him]], [[English_neutral_pronouns#She|she/her]], [[English_neutral_pronouns#It|it/its]], or [[English_neutral_pronouns#They|they/them]]. <ref>http://www.xojane.com/issues/we-need-more-pronouns</ref> | '''Neopronoun''' is a category for any English neutral pronouns that are independent from traditional third person English pronouns. In the strictest sense, a neopronoun is a pronoun which is not based on a noun ([[nounself pronouns]]), and is not [[English_neutral_pronouns#He|he/him]], [[English_neutral_pronouns#She|she/her]], [[English_neutral_pronouns#It|it/its]], or [[English_neutral_pronouns#They|they/them]]. <ref>http://www.xojane.com/issues/we-need-more-pronouns</ref> | ||
Seeking a solution to the problem of a lack of a gender-neutral pronoun in English that satisfies all needs, people since the mid nineteenth century have proposed many new gender-neutral singular pronouns.<ref name="aetherlumina archive history">"History." ''Gender Neutral Pronoun FAQ''. https://web.archive.org/web/20050207103316/http://www.aetherlumina.com/gnp/history.html</ref> For example, [[English neutral pronouns#Sie|sie]], [[English neutral pronouns#E|Spivak pronouns]], and others. None of these new words (neologisms) has become standard use or adopted into books of English grammar. However, some sets of these neologistic pronouns have seen a use for real people with [[nonbinary]] gender identities, and for characters in fiction. These neologisms are the main topic explored in the list that follows in this article. | Seeking a solution to the problem of a lack of a gender-neutral pronoun in English that satisfies all needs, people since the mid-nineteenth century have proposed many new gender-neutral singular pronouns.<ref name="aetherlumina archive history">"History." ''Gender-Neutral Pronoun FAQ''. https://web.archive.org/web/20050207103316/http://www.aetherlumina.com/gnp/history.html</ref> For example, [[English neutral pronouns#Sie|sie]], [[English neutral pronouns#E|Spivak pronouns]], and others. None of these new words (neologisms) has become standard use or adopted into books of English grammar. However, some sets of these neologistic pronouns have seen a use for real people with [[nonbinary]] gender identities, and for characters in fiction. These neologisms are the main topic explored in the list that follows in this article. | ||
==The list== | ==The list== | ||
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'''Usage:''' | '''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 | 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:''' | ||
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'''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]</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: | '''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]</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 | <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. | 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. | ||
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'''Use in real life and non-fiction:''' | '''Use in real life and non-fiction:''' | ||
* When a programmer added this pronoun set to LambdaMOO in 1991, he used the same spelling as Spivak, but not capitalized.<ref>V.Dentata, "MOO Bash FAQ." 1999. http://www.amanita.net/bashfaq.html </ref> Regarding LambdaMOO, John Costello wrote, "I know the wizard who originally included the spivak pronouns on the MOO. He says he did it just on a whim after having read ''the Joy of TeX'' — he never thought they'd acquire the sexual and political nimbus they have over the years."<ref name="aetherluminarefs"></ref> LambdaMOO's "help spivak" command explains that these pronouns "were developed by mathematician Michael Spivak for use in his books."<ref>Sue Thomas, ''Hello World: Travels in Virtuality.'' 2004. P. 33.</ref> Programmer Roger "Rog" Crew tested the LambdaMOO system by putting more pronoun options into it in May | * When a programmer added this pronoun set to LambdaMOO in 1991, he used the same spelling as Spivak, but not capitalized.<ref>V.Dentata, "MOO Bash FAQ." 1999. http://www.amanita.net/bashfaq.html </ref> Regarding LambdaMOO, John Costello wrote, "I know the wizard who originally included the spivak pronouns on the MOO. He says he did it just on a whim after having read ''the Joy of TeX'' — he never thought they'd acquire the sexual and political nimbus they have over the years."<ref name="aetherluminarefs"></ref> LambdaMOO's "help spivak" command explains that these pronouns "were developed by mathematician Michael Spivak for use in his books."<ref>Sue Thomas, ''Hello World: Travels in Virtuality.'' 2004. P. 33.</ref> Programmer Roger "Rog" Crew tested the LambdaMOO system by putting more pronoun options into it in May 1991, including Spivak's set he remembered from ''The Joy of TeX.'' Crew didn't delete the pronouns after testing them, and later expressed "dismay" that the spivak pronouns became popular.<ref>Sue Thomas, ''Hello World: Travels in Virtuality.'' p. 34.</ref><ref>Steve Jones, ''Cybersociety 2.0: Revisiting Computer-Mediated Community and Technology.'' p. 141.</ref> | ||
* Spivak pronouns became such a part of 1990s Internet culture that a handbook to that culture, ''Yib's Guide to Mooing'' (2003), uses spivak pronouns whenever speaking of a hypothetical person whose gender need not be specified.<ref>Elizabeth Hess, ''Yib's Guide to Mooing: Getting the Most from Virtual Communities on the Internet.'' 2003. p. 3, p. 283.</ref> | * Spivak pronouns became such a part of 1990s Internet culture that a handbook to that culture, ''Yib's Guide to Mooing'' (2003), uses spivak pronouns whenever speaking of a hypothetical person whose gender need not be specified.<ref>Elizabeth Hess, ''Yib's Guide to Mooing: Getting the Most from Virtual Communities on the Internet.'' 2003. p. 3, p. 283.</ref> | ||
* In Internet environments, spivak was categorized not only as a set of pronouns but as a gender identity, which Thomas describes: "The spivak gender [...] is more representative of an emotional and intellectual state than of a physical configuration. It should be pointed out at the start that the sexuality available to a spivak is a bonus of online life, but it isn't the raison d'etre. Rather, it's a subtle notion of a gender-free condition. It's not androgynous. It's not unisexual. It's simply ambiguous."<ref>Sue Thomas, ''Hello World: Travels in Virtuality.'' p. 31-32.</ref> Some self-described spivaks use spivak as a proper noun for their non-binary gender identity. | * In Internet environments, spivak was categorized not only as a set of pronouns but as a gender identity, which Thomas describes: "The spivak gender [...] is more representative of an emotional and intellectual state than of a physical configuration. It should be pointed out at the start that the sexuality available to a spivak is a bonus of online life, but it isn't the raison d'etre. Rather, it's a subtle notion of a gender-free condition. It's not androgynous. It's not unisexual. It's simply ambiguous."<ref>Sue Thomas, ''Hello World: Travels in Virtuality.'' p. 31-32.</ref> Some self-described spivaks use spivak as a proper noun for their non-binary gender identity. | ||
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'''Use in real life and non-fiction:''' | '''Use in real life and non-fiction:''' | ||
* The Elverson pronouns were used by Eric Klein in the ''Laws of Oceania'', 1993, to be gender-inclusive in a nonfictional micronation. Sometimes this pronoun set is mistakenly called "[[English neutral pronouns#E|spivak pronouns]]," which differ only in the nominative form. | * The Elverson pronouns were used by Eric Klein in the ''Laws of Oceania'', 1993, to be gender-inclusive in a nonfictional micronation. Sometimes this pronoun set is mistakenly called "[[English neutral pronouns#E|spivak pronouns]]," which differ only in the nominative form. | ||
* In the 2019 Gender Census, about | * In the 2019 Gender Census, about 0.1% of participants were happy for people to use Elverson pronouns when referring to them.<ref name="Census2018"/> | ||
'''Use in fiction:''' | '''Use in fiction:''' | ||
* CJ Carter's science fiction novel, ''Que Será Serees'' (2011) is about a species of people with a single gender, who are all called by Elverson's "ey" pronouns. Carter encourages other authors to use these gender-neutral pronouns.<ref>CJ Carter, "Genderless singular pronouns." [http://tib.cjcs.com/genderless-pronouns-ey-em-and-eir-2/ http://tib.cjcs.com/genderless-pronouns-ey-em-and-eir-2/]</ref><ref>"Que Será Serees". ''CJ's Creative Studio''. [http://cjcs.com/writing/fiction/que-sera-serees/ http://cjcs.com/writing/fiction/que-sera-serees/]</ref> | * CJ Carter's science fiction novel, ''Que Será Serees'' (2011) is about a species of people with a single-gender, who are all called by Elverson's "ey" pronouns. Carter encourages other authors to use these gender-neutral pronouns.<ref>CJ Carter, "Genderless singular pronouns." [http://tib.cjcs.com/genderless-pronouns-ey-em-and-eir-2/ http://tib.cjcs.com/genderless-pronouns-ey-em-and-eir-2/]</ref><ref>"Que Será Serees". ''CJ's Creative Studio''. [http://cjcs.com/writing/fiction/que-sera-serees/ http://cjcs.com/writing/fiction/que-sera-serees/]</ref> | ||
* In K. A. Cook's short story "Misstery Man," the self-described non-binary character Darcy asks to be called by "ey and eir" pronouns.<ref>K. A. Cook, "Misstery Man." ''Crooked Words.'' Unpaged.</ref> | * In K. A. Cook's short story "Misstery Man," the self-described non-binary character Darcy asks to be called by "ey and eir" pronouns.<ref>K. A. Cook, "Misstery Man." ''Crooked Words.'' Unpaged.</ref> | ||
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===He=== | ===He=== | ||
'''he, him, his, his, himself'''. Often called male pronouns, grammarians acknowledge that this standard set of pronouns can also be used as gender-neutral or gender-inclusive pronouns for unspecified persons, such as in instructions and legal documents. In the eighteenth century, when prescriptive grammarians decided that "singular they" was no longer acceptable as a gender-neutral pronoun, they instead recommended "gender-neutral he." "Prescriptive grammarians have been calling for 'he' as the gender-neutral pronoun of choice since at least 1745, when a British schoolmistress named Anne Fisher laid down the law in ''A New Grammar''."<ref name="bustillos 250"></ref> The use of "gender-neutral he" can make problems in how laws are interpreted, because it's unclear whether it is meant to be gender-inclusive or male-only. For example, in 1927, "the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that women were not persons because its statutes referred to 'persons' with male pronouns."<ref>"Pronoun perspectives." ''Gender neutral pronoun blog.'' [https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/pronoun-perspectives/ https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/pronoun-perspectives/]</ref><ref>Geoffrey Pullum, "Canada Supreme Court Gets the Grammar Right." ''Language Log.'' August 18. 2004. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html]</ref> In the USA in the nineteenth century, suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for laws to stop using the "gender-neutral he," because there were cases where this pronoun had been arbitrarily interpreted as a "male he" in order to exclude women from legal protections, or from the right to a license that they had passed exams for. This abuse of legal language happened even in if the documents explicitly said that "he" was meant to include women.<ref name="bustillos 250"></ref> Thanks to the work in the 1970s by feminists Casey Miller and Kate Swift, "gender-neutral he" has been significantly phased out of use, replaced by the more inclusive [[English neutral pronouns#He or she|he or she]].<ref>Elizabeth Isele, "Casey Miller and Kate Swift: Women Who Dared To Disturb the Lexicon." ''Women in Literature and Life Assembly,'' Vol. 3, Fall 1994. [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/old-WILLA/fall94/h2-isele.html]</ref> | '''he, him, his, his, himself'''. Often called male pronouns, grammarians acknowledge that this standard set of pronouns can also be used as gender-neutral or gender-inclusive pronouns for unspecified persons, such as in instructions and legal documents. In the eighteenth century, when prescriptive grammarians decided that "singular they" was no longer acceptable as a gender-neutral pronoun, they instead recommended, "gender-neutral he." "Prescriptive grammarians have been calling for 'he' as the gender-neutral pronoun of choice since at least 1745, when a British schoolmistress named Anne Fisher laid down the law in ''A New Grammar''."<ref name="bustillos 250"></ref> The use of "gender-neutral he" can make problems in how laws are interpreted, because it's unclear whether it is meant to be gender-inclusive or male-only. For example, in 1927, "the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that women were not persons because its statutes referred to 'persons' with male pronouns."<ref>"Pronoun perspectives." ''Gender neutral pronoun blog.'' [https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/pronoun-perspectives/ https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/pronoun-perspectives/]</ref><ref>Geoffrey Pullum, "Canada Supreme Court Gets the Grammar Right." ''Language Log.'' August 18. 2004. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html]</ref> In the USA in the nineteenth century, suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for laws to stop using the "gender-neutral he," because there were cases where this pronoun had been arbitrarily interpreted as a "male he" in order to exclude women from legal protections, or from the right to a license that they had passed exams for. This abuse of legal language happened even in if the documents explicitly said that "he" was meant to include women.<ref name="bustillos 250"></ref> Thanks to the work in the 1970s by feminists Casey Miller and Kate Swift, "gender-neutral he" has been significantly phased out of use, replaced by the more inclusive [[English neutral pronouns#He or she|he or she]].<ref>Elizabeth Isele, "Casey Miller and Kate Swift: Women Who Dared To Disturb the Lexicon." ''Women in Literature and Life Assembly,'' Vol. 3, Fall 1994. [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/old-WILLA/fall94/h2-isele.html]</ref> | ||
'''Use for real non-binary people:''' There are non-binary people who ask to be called by "he" pronouns, such as comedian [[Nonbinary celebrities#Eddie Izzard|Eddie Izzard]], writer [[Nonbinary celebrities#Richard O'Brien|Richard O'Brien]], autobiographer [[Jennie June]], and guitarist [[Nonbinary celebrities#Pete Townshend|Pete Townshend]]. | '''Use for real non-binary people:''' There are non-binary people who ask to be called by "he" pronouns, such as comedian [[Nonbinary celebrities#Eddie Izzard|Eddie Izzard]], writer [[Nonbinary celebrities#Richard O'Brien|Richard O'Brien]], autobiographer [[Jennie June]], and guitarist [[Nonbinary celebrities#Pete Townshend|Pete Townshend]]. | ||
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Other noteworthy techniques for removing third-person pronouns from a sentence include: | Other noteworthy techniques for removing third-person pronouns from a sentence include: | ||
*'''Passive voice:''' "Taylor's mopping the kitchen. When ''he'' finishes, we'll go for a walk" becomes "Taylor's mopping the kitchen. When it's done, we'll go for a walk." Here "it" refers to the kitchen or maybe the task of mopping, and we use passive voice because there's no need to repeat who's doing it. | *'''Passive voice:''' "Taylor's mopping the kitchen. When ''he'' finishes, we'll go for a walk" becomes "Taylor's mopping the kitchen. When it's done, we'll go for a walk." Here "it" refers to the kitchen or maybe the task of mopping, and we use the passive voice because there's no need to repeat who's doing it. | ||
*'''Second person:''' Instead of talking about someone in third person, why not talk to them instead? Say you're talking to Kevin and Elisa, who prefers no third-person pronouns, is in the room. You could tell Kevin, "I'd love to go with you for coffee, but Elisa's already claimed me for the evening," but if you do that and want to start expanding on what Elisa's up to, you might be tempted to use third-person pronouns. Instead, you could shift to Elisa and say "but ''you've'' got me booked for the evening," and then Elisa could tell about the plans without being spoken for. | *'''Second person:''' Instead of talking about someone in the third person, why not talk to them instead? Say you're talking to Kevin and Elisa, who prefers no third-person pronouns, is in the room. You could tell Kevin, "I'd love to go with you for coffee, but Elisa's already claimed me for the evening," but if you do that and want to start expanding on what Elisa's up to, you might be tempted to use third-person pronouns. Instead, you could shift to Elisa and say "but ''you've'' got me booked for the evening," and then Elisa could tell about the plans without being spoken for. | ||
*'''Substitute an article for a possessive pronoun:''' "Morgan couldn't find his coat" becomes "Morgan couldn't find the coat." "Ash broke her toe" becomes "Ash broke a toe." | *'''Substitute an article for a possessive pronoun:''' "Morgan couldn't find his coat" becomes "Morgan couldn't find the coat." "Ash broke her toe" becomes "Ash broke a toe." | ||
*'''Other ways to rephrase.''' "The alien slithered closer, and its eyes glowed" becomes "The alien slithered closer, eyes glowing." | *'''Other ways to rephrase.''' "The alien slithered closer, and its eyes glowed" becomes "The alien slithered closer, eyes glowing." | ||
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====Xe, xyr (xem)==== | ====Xe, xyr (xem)==== | ||
'''xe, xyr (xem), xyr, xyrs, xyrself (xemself)'''. This pronoun set makes its earliest known appearance in 1993 in a conversation in an autism mailing list on the Internet.<ref>Jim Sinclair, "Re: Jim and Steve's snoring discussion." September 14, 1993. bit.listserv.autism, Usenet. [https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!msg/bit.listserv.autism/2pyrOMzt_nQ/5J-RU5P3hnIJ https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!msg/bit.listserv.autism/2pyrOMzt_nQ/5J-RU5P3hnIJ]</ref><ref>"Xe." ''Wiktionary.'' [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xe http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xe]</ref> The "xem" version of this pronoun set appears in a printed discussion from the mailing list of Autism Network International in 2000, with the explanation that it "was originally used to refer to an intersexed person, but is also used to refer to a person of any gender."<ref>J. Blackburn, K. Gottschewski, Elsa George, and Niki L. "A discussion about Theory of Mind : From an Autistic Perspective," Proceedings of ''Autism Europe's 6th International Congress'', Glasgow 19-21 May 2000, in print. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060213070451/http://www.autistics.org/library/AE2000-ToM.html https://web.archive.org/web/20060213070451/http://www.autistics.org/library/AE2000-ToM.html]</ref> This pronoun set was recommended in 2005 by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard, with the version that includes "xem," and both "xyrself" and "xemself."<ref>Jonathan de Boyne Pollard. "'Xe', 'xem', and 'xyr' are sex-neutral pronouns and adjectives." 2005. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071010095912/http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollard/FGA/sex-neutral-pronouns.html https://web.archive.org/web/20071010095912/http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollard/FGA/sex-neutral-pronouns.html]</ref> | '''xe, xyr (xem), xyr, xyrs, xyrself (xemself)'''. This pronoun set makes its earliest known appearance in 1993 in a conversation in an autism mailing list on the Internet.<ref>Jim Sinclair, "Re: Jim and Steve's snoring discussion." September 14, 1993. bit.listserv.autism, Usenet. [https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!msg/bit.listserv.autism/2pyrOMzt_nQ/5J-RU5P3hnIJ https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!msg/bit.listserv.autism/2pyrOMzt_nQ/5J-RU5P3hnIJ]</ref><ref>"Xe." ''Wiktionary.'' [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xe http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xe]</ref> The "xem" version of this pronoun set appears in a printed discussion from the mailing list of Autism Network International in 2000, with the explanation that it "was originally used to refer to an intersexed person, but is also used to refer to a person of any gender."<ref>J. Blackburn, K. Gottschewski, Elsa George, and Niki L. "A discussion about Theory of Mind: From an Autistic Perspective," Proceedings of ''Autism Europe's 6th International Congress'', Glasgow 19-21 May 2000, in print. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060213070451/http://www.autistics.org/library/AE2000-ToM.html https://web.archive.org/web/20060213070451/http://www.autistics.org/library/AE2000-ToM.html]</ref> This pronoun set was recommended in 2005 by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard, with the version that includes "xem," and both "xyrself" and "xemself."<ref>Jonathan de Boyne Pollard. "'Xe', 'xem', and 'xyr' are sex-neutral pronouns and adjectives." 2005. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071010095912/http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollard/FGA/sex-neutral-pronouns.html https://web.archive.org/web/20071010095912/http://homepages.tesco.net/J.deBoynePollard/FGA/sex-neutral-pronouns.html]</ref> | ||
'''Use for real nonbinary people:''' | '''Use for real nonbinary people:''' | ||
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===Zie=== | ===Zie=== | ||
'''zie, zir (zim), zir, zirs, zirself'''. (Compare the most similar pronoun set, "ze, zir", and other similar pronouns, "xe" and "zhe".) The Gender Neutral Pronoun FAQ says this set (with the "zie" spelling, and accusative "zir") was widely used on the Internet at the time but doesn't know when it was created.<ref>"GNP FAQ." [https://web.archive.org/web/20120229202924/http:/aetherlumina.com/gnp/listing.html]</ref> Andrés Pérez-Bergquist recommended a version of this set (with the "zie" spelling, and accusative "zim") in 2000, but claims not to have created it.<ref>Andrés Pérez-Bergquist, "Gender-neutral pronouns: The value of zie." 2000. [http://santiago.mapache.org/nonfiction/essays/zie.html http://santiago.mapache.org/nonfiction/essays/zie.html]</ref> | '''zie, zir (zim), zir, zirs, zirself'''. (Compare the most similar pronoun set, "ze, zir", and other similar pronouns, "xe" and "zhe".) The Gender-Neutral Pronoun FAQ says this set (with the "zie" spelling, and accusative "zir") was widely used on the Internet at the time but doesn't know when it was created.<ref>"GNP FAQ." [https://web.archive.org/web/20120229202924/http:/aetherlumina.com/gnp/listing.html]</ref> Andrés Pérez-Bergquist recommended a version of this set (with the "zie" spelling, and accusative "zim") in 2000, but claims not to have created it.<ref>Andrés Pérez-Bergquist, "Gender-neutral pronouns: The value of zie." 2000. [http://santiago.mapache.org/nonfiction/essays/zie.html http://santiago.mapache.org/nonfiction/essays/zie.html]</ref> | ||
'''Use in fiction:''' | '''Use in fiction:''' | ||