English neutral pronouns: Difference between revisions
Cleaning up refs and links
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==History== | ==History== | ||
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 | 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 name-"Churchyard">{{cite web|first=Henry|last= Churchyard|title=Jane Austen and other famous authors violate what everyone learned in their English class|url=http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319092926/http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html |archive-date=19 March 2012}}</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"> | 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">{{Cite web |title=Our Desperate, 250-Year-Long Search for a Gender-Neutral Pronoun |last=Bustillos |first=Maria |work=The Awl |date=6 January 2011 |access-date=17 October 2020 |url= https://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 name="Pullum">{{cite web|first=Geoffrey|last=Pullum|title=Canada Supreme Court Gets the Grammar Right.|work=Language Log|date=18 August 2004 |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html}}</ref> | ||
===Regional nominative pronouns=== | ===Regional nominative pronouns=== | ||
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===E=== | ===E=== | ||
There are several very similar sets of pronouns with the nominative form of "E," which have been independently proposed or revived over the last hundred years.<ref name="aetherlumina listing 2">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070310130020/http://aetherlumina.com/gnp/listing.html ''4.2.5. Comprehensive Listing of Neologisms'', March 10 2007]</ref><ref name="d baron epicene">Dennis Baron | There are several very similar sets of pronouns with the nominative form of "E," which have been independently proposed or revived over the last hundred years.<ref name="aetherlumina listing 2">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070310130020/http://aetherlumina.com/gnp/listing.html ''4.2.5. Comprehensive Listing of Neologisms'', March 10 2007]</ref><ref name="d baron epicene">{{cite web|first=Dennis|last= Baron|title=The Words that Failed: A chronology of early nonbinary pronouns|url=http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/epicene.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622223218/http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/epicene.htm|archive-date=22 June 2017}}</ref> | ||
====E (Spivak pronouns)==== | ====E (Spivak pronouns)==== | ||
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===Fae=== | ===Fae=== | ||
'''fae, faer, faer, faers, faerself'''. A fairy (faery, faerie, fey or Fair Folk) themed set created by Ciel (Tumblr user shadaras) in 2014 (or earlier?)<ref>http://quasiboi.co.vu/post/74445593229/list-of-pronouns</ref> It may also have been independently coined earlier by someone else. This is the most commonly used [[nounself pronouns|nounself pronoun]] set, and it may have been created earlier than them. It may have been what inspired many people to create nounself pronouns in 2014. A similar fairy-themed set is '''fey, fey, feys, feys, feyself''', which was recorded in 2014,<ref name="askanonbinary general">[http://askanonbinary.tumblr.com/general Ask A Nonbinary's list of unthemed pronouns], captured March 2016</ref> of unknown origin. Additionally, as coined by Lake in 2020 (discord user lake.sato#6026) '''fey, feyr, feyrself'''. Further evidence shows use of fey, feyr, feyrself in 2018 by Kallifrey (discord user 物の哀れ#1760). | '''fae, faer, faer, faers, faerself'''. A fairy (faery, faerie, fey or Fair Folk) themed set created by Ciel (Tumblr user shadaras) in 2014 (or earlier?)<ref>http://quasiboi.co.vu/post/74445593229/list-of-pronouns (dead link)</ref> It may also have been independently coined earlier by someone else. This is the most commonly used [[nounself pronouns|nounself pronoun]] set, and it may have been created earlier than them. It may have been what inspired many people to create nounself pronouns in 2014. A similar fairy-themed set is '''fey, fey, feys, feys, feyself''', which was recorded in 2014,<ref name="askanonbinary general">[http://askanonbinary.tumblr.com/general Ask A Nonbinary's list of unthemed pronouns], captured March 2016</ref> of unknown origin. Additionally, as coined by Lake in 2020 (discord user lake.sato#6026) '''fey, feyr, feyrself'''. Further evidence shows use of fey, feyr, feyrself in 2018 by Kallifrey (discord user 物の哀れ#1760). | ||
'''Usage:''' | '''Usage:''' | ||
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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 | '''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 name="Pullum" /> 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>{{cite journal |first=Elizabeth|last=Isele|title=Casey Miller and Kate Swift: Women Who Dared To Disturb the Lexicon|journal=Women in Literature and Life Assembly|volume=3|date=Fall 1994|url=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 [[ | '''Use for real non-binary people:''' There are non-binary people who ask to be called by "he" pronouns, such as comedian [[Eddie Izzard]], writer [[Richard O'Brien]], autobiographer [[Jennie June]], and guitarist [[Pete Townshend]]. | ||
'''Forms:''' | '''Forms:''' | ||
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====Ne (ner)==== | ====Ne (ner)==== | ||
'''ne, ner, nis, nis, nemself'''. In a 1974 issue of ''Today's Education,'' "Mildred Fenner attributes this to Fred Wilhelms."<ref name="d baron epicene"></ref><ref name="aetherlumina listing 2"></ref> Veterinarian Al Lippart independently proposed the same set of pronouns in 1999, recommending them for use when it would be inappropriate to specify the gender of a human, animal, or deity.<ref>Al Lippart | '''ne, ner, nis, nis, nemself'''. In a 1974 issue of ''Today's Education,'' "Mildred Fenner attributes this to Fred Wilhelms."<ref name="d baron epicene"></ref><ref name="aetherlumina listing 2"></ref> Veterinarian Al Lippart independently proposed the same set of pronouns in 1999, recommending them for use when it would be inappropriate to specify the gender of a human, animal, or deity.<ref>{{cite web|first=Al|last= Lippart|title=Introducing the New Neutral Third Person Singular Personal Pronoun|date=1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318000953/http://www.lippart.com/ne.html |archive-date=18 March 2009|url=http://www.lippart.com/ne.html}}</ref> Lawyer Roberta Morris also independently proposed this same set of pronouns in 2009, saying that these pronouns would be more efficient for within the 140 character limit of Twitter than "he or she." Morris also pointed out that the "n" can refer to "neuter."<ref>Roberta Morris, "The need for a neuter pronoun: A solution." September 29, 2009. [http://myunpublishedworks2.blogspot.com/2009/09/need-for-neuter-pronoun-solution.html http://myunpublishedworks2.blogspot.com/2009/09/need-for-neuter-pronoun-solution.html]</ref> | ||
'''Forms:''' | '''Forms:''' | ||
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* Cartoonist [[Rebecca Sugar]] [http://www.reddit.com/user/RebeccaSugar explained] that in her animated science fiction series, ''Steven Universe,'' the alien people called Gems really have no sex or gender, even though they all look like women. For this reason, the Gems are only arbitrarily called by "she" pronouns. Sugar said, "Technically, there are no female Gems! There are only Gems! [...] Why not look like human females? That's just what Gems happen to look like! [...] There's a 50 50 chance to use some pronoun on Earth, so why not feminine ones-- it's as convenient as it is arbitrary!"<ref>Rebecca Sugar. ''Reddit.'' [http://www.reddit.com/user/RebeccaSugar http://www.reddit.com/user/RebeccaSugar]</ref> This is a gender-neutral use of "she" pronouns. | * Cartoonist [[Rebecca Sugar]] [http://www.reddit.com/user/RebeccaSugar explained] that in her animated science fiction series, ''Steven Universe,'' the alien people called Gems really have no sex or gender, even though they all look like women. For this reason, the Gems are only arbitrarily called by "she" pronouns. Sugar said, "Technically, there are no female Gems! There are only Gems! [...] Why not look like human females? That's just what Gems happen to look like! [...] There's a 50 50 chance to use some pronoun on Earth, so why not feminine ones-- it's as convenient as it is arbitrary!"<ref>Rebecca Sugar. ''Reddit.'' [http://www.reddit.com/user/RebeccaSugar http://www.reddit.com/user/RebeccaSugar]</ref> This is a gender-neutral use of "she" pronouns. | ||
'''Use by real nonbinary people:''' There are nonbinary people who ask people to use "she" pronouns for them, such as singer-songwriter [[ | |||