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.' | |||