Intergender

Pronouns

-(pro)nominal, LGBTQ-alphabet, Non binary spectrum (gender)

What are pronouns?

Pronouns or pronouns are words that can be used in place of a noun. The best-known example of pronouns are personal pronouns, which can refer to the person or persons speaking (first person), the person or persons spoken to (second person), or other persons or things (third person).

In many Indo-European languages personal pronouns are gendered and have three grammatical genders: masculine (he/him/his), feminine (she/her/his) and neuter (it/his), although the distinction between masculine and feminine has largely disappeared as they are grammatically equivalent in almost all respects. The grammatical gender does not always correspond to the natural gender of a word; for example, all diminutive forms are neuter.

Why are pronouns important?

Because pronouns are usually gender-specific, the pronouns one uses are often used as a way to indicate a person’s sex or gender. Because of this, using the wrong pronouns, intentionally or accidentally, is one of the most common forms of misgendering. Transgender people often change pronouns as part of their transition.

Pronouns are important because by using someone’s pronouns correctly you are showing other people respect and forming an inclusive environment. Using the wrong pronouns can be offensive or even harmful. Ignoring someone’s pronouns can also imply that people who fall under the transgender umbrella – such as those who are transgender, non-binary, or gender non-conforming – do not exist.

Using one’s pronouns correctly can reduce adverse effects of social oppression. A 2016 study found that affirming one’s pronouns – and by extension, proper gender – lowers depression and increases self-esteem. Using others’ pronouns properly can help someone feel comfortable with their/their/… gender expression and gender identity.

Use of the pronoun

Not everyone uses pronouns that match their gender. Pronouns are a form of gender expression, similar to how clothing, hairstyles, or other physical traits relate to gender. While pronouns can reflect someone’s gender, they don’t have to align with it. Some people intentionally use pronouns that don’t conform to traditional expectations as a way to express their gender non-conformity. Anyone, regardless of their gender, can choose to use any pronoun.

Here are some variations in how people approach pronouns:

  • Some people are comfortable using multiple pronouns, which is called multipronominal.
  • Some people choose not to use pronouns at all, referred to as nullpronominal.
  • Some prefer pronouns that aren’t part of the standard language, known as neopronominal. This can include using nouns as pronouns or even emojis (emojiself pronouns).
  • Some people question or feel uncertain about their pronouns from time to time. This is called dubtiopronominal.

Pronoun choices are deeply personal and can vary widely. The suffix -(pro)nominal refers to the diverse ways individuals choose to express themselves through pronouns, which can serve as a form of gender expression but are not always tied directly to one’s gender.

What are gender-neutral pronouns?

Gender-neutral pronouns are personal pronouns in the third person singular to indicate someone whose gender is not known to the speaker or writer, or someone who identifies as non-binary or genderqueer.

Some people prefer not to use a single pronoun, and prefer to be addressed by their name, initials, or prefer that you avoid pronouns by making passive sentences.

Commonly used neutral pronouns:

  • they/them
  • them/them
  • them/them/humans
  • who/they/their
  • who/who/did

Several other inflections can also be used depending on the person’s preference.

What are neonoun names or neopronouns?

In search of a solution to the problem of the lack of a gender-neutral pronoun, people have proposed many new gender and gender-neutral singular pronouns since the mid-nineteenth century.

Neo-nouns or neopronouns is a category of pronouns that are independent of traditional third person pronouns. In the strictest sense, a neopronoun is a pronoun that is not based on a noun and is not he/him, she/him, it/his, or they/they.

Neo-nouns have not become standard usage and are not included in books on grammar. However, some of these neo-pronouns are used by people with non -binary gender identities or by characters in fiction.

Some people prefer to use neopronouns, for example, because:

  • they want to avoid confusing singular ‘them or ‘they’ with plural,
  • neopronouns express something about them or their gender (as with xenogenders),
  • they feel more comfortable using a specific neo noun

List of known neonouns

Over the past 200 years, there have been many instances where people have created new pronouns to refer to a singular gender-neutral person. Particularly in the mid- and late 20th century, several neophytes popped up.

Many new neopronomes emerged in the Internet age, when the existence of non-binary people became more widely known. Here are some of the most notable and popular examples ( in order from oldest to newest).

Thon

Thon: American composer Charles Crozat Converse proposed the pronoun series thon in 1858, based on a contraction of “that one.

E

E: Several very similar sets of pronouns e have been proposed, the earliest known example was made in 1890 by James Rogers of Crestview, Florida

Ae

Ae: In his 1920 novel A Voyage to Arcturus, David Lindsay used an ae pronoun set for an alien race born of air and having a third gender. These pronouns are still somewhat familiar on the Internet.

thoneae
Thon went to the store.E went to the store.Ae went to the store.
I met thon today.I met em today.I met aer today.
I was walking thon’s dog today.I was walking es dog today.I was walking aer dog today.
When I lose my bike my friend lends me thon’s.When I lose my bike my friend lends me ems’.When I lose my bike my friend lends me aers’.
Thon thinks of thonself.E thinks of emself.Ae thinks of aerzelf.
first set of conjugations gender-neutral neo nouns

Co

Co: Was coined in 1970 by Mary Orovan. It is derived from the Indo-European *ko, as an inclusive alternative to he or she.

Ve

Ve: The earliest known example comes from the May 1970 issue of Everywoman and included ve/vir/vis. The best-known use of ve comes from Greg Egan, who used it in his books Distress (1995) and Diaspora (1998).

Xe

Xe: This pronoun series seems to have been first coined by Don Rickter in a May 1973 issue of Unitarian Universalist and used in Mario Pei’s 1978 book Weasel Words. This series has a large number of variations.

CoVeXe
Co went to the store.Ve/Vi went to the store.Xe / Xhe / Xey went to the store.
I met co today.I met far / vir today.I met xem / Xer / xim / xym today.
I was walking co’s / cos dog today.I was walking fish dog today.I was walking xyr / xir / xis / xer / xeir dog today.
When I lose my bike my friend lends me co’s.When I lose my bike my friend lends me the one from fresh / virs.When I lose my bike, my friend lends me the one from xyrs / xirs / xis / xers / xeirs.
Co thinks of cozelf.Ve thinks of verzelf / virzelf.Xe thinks of xemzelf / xirzelf, xyrzelf / ximzelf, xymzelf / xerzelf.
second set of conjugations gender-neutral neo nouns

Per (person pronouns)

Per: was coined by John Clark in a 1972 issue of the Newsletter of the American Anthropological Association as a pronoun that would appeal to persons of any gender. These pronouns were used in Marge Piercy’s 1976 novel Woman on the Edge of Time.

Ey (Elverson pronouns)

Ey: The Elverson pronouns were created by Christine M. Elverson of Skokie, Illinois for a contest in which you could come up with an alternative to the singular “they” in 1975.

Hu (humanistic pronouns)

Hu: This pronoun series was created by Sasha Newborn in 1982, in a college humanities text. They are based on the word “human” or “people.

Per / PersonEyHu
Per / Person went to the store.Ey went to the store.Hu went to the store.
I met per today.I met em today.I met hum today.
I was walking by dog today.I was walking eir dog today.I was walking hus dog today.
When I lose my bike, my friend lends me the one from press.When I lose my bike my friend lends me eirs.When I lose my bike my friend lends me hus’s .
Per thinks of per himself.Ey thinks of emself.Hu thinks of huzelf.
third set of conjugations gender-neutral neo nouns

E (Spivak pronouns)

E: The “Spivak pronouns” were created by Michael Spivak in 1990. They were used in his manual The Joy of TeX so that no person in his examples had a particular gender. The pronouns became somewhat well-known on the Internet because they were built into the popular multi-user chat LambdaMOO in 1991. The pronouns then became a common feature of other multi-user chats created during the 1990s.

The creation of this set of pronouns is attributed to Spivak, although his book does not claim that they are his own invention. It is not known whether Spivak was inspired by the other “E” pronouns that have existed, or by the similar Elverson pronouns.

She

They: Similar to the xe pronoun set, there are several versions of this pronoun set. She is also pronounced the same way as xe. The set is probably based on the German plural 3rd person pronoun sie. The first known case of the use of ze was in 1997, by Richard Creel, who suggested ze/zer/mer.

Another version was possibly created independently by Kate Bornstein in the 1998 book My Gender Workbook. This version uses she (sometimes see or sie) and hir. The most popular variation of these pronouns are based on this version and originated in 2013.

Fae / Fey

Fae: The fae pronouns are a collection of neopronomes that fall under nouns. They were created by Tumblr user shadaras in 2013, although they may have previously been created independently by someone else. It is one of the most commonly used sets of nouns as pronouns. Fae probably inspired the trend of using nouns as pronouns.

Fey: A similarly popular “noun” series with fairy tale theme is fey. Presumably this is an alternate spelling of this series.

ESheFae / Fey
E went to the store.She went to the store.Fae / Fey went to the store.
I met em today.I met zit today.I met faer / fey today.
I was walking eir dog today.I was walking zir dog today.I was walking faer / feys dog today.
When I lose my bike my friend lends me eirs.When I lose my bike, my friend lends me zirs’s.When I lose my bike my friend lends me the one from faers /feys.
E thinks of emself.She thinks of zir herself.Fae thinks of faerzelf /feyzelf.
fourth set of conjugations gender-neutral neo nouns

Nouns

Noun pronouns or Nounself Pronouns are a type of neo pronouns that are clearly derived from an existing word or multiple words to be used as a gender-neutral pronoun set.

  • The best-known and first-known series is the aforementioned fae/fae/faer/faers/faeself
  • Another very familiar one derives from the English word ‘bunny’: bun/bun/buns/buns/self

In principle, any word can be made into a pronoun set, so there are theoretically an infinite number of sets of independent pronouns. In addition, the word in question does not have to be a noun. The sets can be thematized around concepts unrelated to gender, such as:

  • nature,
  • technology,
  • abstract notions

Unlike other neocon names, these sets are usually intended to be used by a small number of people who feel that these pronouns express something distinctive about themselves or their gender. In those respects, they resemble xenogenders and pocket genders, but not all people who use nouns are xenogenders or use pocket genders. Everyone can use nouns regardless of their gender.

Emojiself pronouns

Pronouns

Emojiself pronouns are a form of genderneutral neonoun names. They are similar to nouns, but instead of letters, emojis or other icons are used. They can be used for a variety of reasons, such as because the emoji looks nice, because the emoji has a sound in your head or because you think the emoji describes you well or reflects something about your gender well.

Emojiself pronouns are intended for online communication and not meant to be spoken.

  • Some emojiself pronoun users use a neo pronoun derived from a noun based on the emoji. For example, if someone uses a pear emoji as a pronoun, they may use a noun string like pear/pear/pears/pears/pearself.
  • Other users of the emojiself pronoun use pronouns such as he, she, “them,” or other pronouns unrelated to the emoji in spoken conversation.
  • Others do not use pronouns in speech.

Most emojiself pronouns follow the same grammatical formula. For example:

emoji went to the store.
I met emoji today.
I was walking emojis dog today.
When I lose my bike, my friend lends me the one from emojis.
E thinks of emojiself.
conjugations emojiself pronouns

General do’s and don’ts

There are some general rules you can follow when using pronouns:

  • Ask a person what pronouns this person uses.
  • Practice a person’s pronouns in private to reduce the chance of making a mistake.
  • Apologize if you accidentally use the wrong pronoun.
  • Don’t ignore it when someone uses the wrong pronoun for you
  • Don’t assume someone’s pronouns.
  • Do not assume that one’s pronouns always remain the same.

By following these general rules, you will be less likely to make assumptions about another person’s pronouns and less likely to accidentally use an incorrect term.

Summary

Pronouns are an important part of the way people communicate. They take the place of nouns such as names and allow people to easily share information about themselves.

Although many people use he, she, or them pronouns, there are also many other pronouns that people can use. It is important to ask a person what their pronouns are and share your own to promote an inclusive environment.


Resources

Source

https://new.lgbtqia.wiki/wiki/pronouns

Read more about: -(pro)nominal, LGBTQ-alphabet, Non binary spectrum (gender)