m
no edit summary
(reverted to version from before hacking) |
MagicManager (talk | contribs) mNo edit summary Tag: Manual revert |
||
(198 intermediate revisions by 90 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
[[File:
[[File:Neopronoun Flag.png|thumb|220x220px|A neopronoun user flag ]]
'''Neopronouns''' are any set of singular third-person [[pronouns]] that are not officially recognized in the language they are used in, typically created with the intent of being a gender-neutral pronoun set. In English, and many other [[wikipedia:Indo-European languages|Indo-European languages]], third-person pronouns can be gendered. In English, "she/her" is most often used by women, "he/him" most often by men, and "they/them" by non-binary individuals, though some individuals [[Pronoun Non-Conforming|deviate]] from this convention.
[[File:Neopronouns.png|thumb|220x220px|A neopronoun user flag ]]
Some individuals prefer using neopronouns as an alternative gender-neutral pronoun set. This could be because they want to avoid singular "they" being confused with plural "they," because neopronouns express something about them or their gender (like [[xenogender]]s), or because they feel more comfortable using neopronouns over any of the standard pronoun options.
== Regional Nominative Pronouns ==
Some regional dialects of English
These pronouns do not strictly fit the definition of neopronouns, as they developed naturally in the language and, as far as we know, were not created by
=== A (
In 1789, William H. Marshall documented the use of
=== Ou (
Ou was first recorded in a native English dialect in the
=== Yo (
In addition to an interjection and greeting,
== List of Neopronouns ==
There have been many instances of
[[File:Thon thons.png|thumb|The thon/thons pronoun user flag ]]
=== Thon ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|Thon
|''Thon'' went to the store.
|/ðɑn/
|-
|Accusative
|Thon
|I met ''thon'' today.
|/ðɑn/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Thons
|Thon walked ''thon's'' dog today.
|/ðɑnz/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Thon's
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''thon's''.
|/ðɑnz/
|-
|Reflexive
|Thonself
|Thon has to drive ''thonself'' to school.
|/ðɑnsɛlf/
|}
One of the first known instances of someone purposely creating a new gender-neutral pronoun set in English is that of American composer Charles Crozat Converse, who proposed the pronoun set thon/thons/thonself in 1858.<ref>https://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=43422</ref> It was based on a contraction of "that one." The ''thon'' pronoun was included in some dictionaries such as Webster's International Dictionary (1910), Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary (1913), and Webster's Second International (1959). The pronouns are not widely used in the present day. In the 2019 Gender Census, 18 (0.2%) individuals said that they were happy to be referred to as ''thon''.<ref name=":0">https://gendercensus.com/post/183832246805/gender-census-2019-the-full-report-worldwide</ref>
[[File:E em.png|thumb|The e/em pronoun user flag]]
=== E ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|E
|''E'' went to the store.
|/i/
|-
|Accusative
|Em
|I met ''em'' today.
|/ɛm/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Es
|E walked ''es'' dog today.
|/iz/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Ems
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''ems''.
|/ɛmz/
|-
|Reflexive
|Emself
|E has to drive ''emself'' to school.
|/ɛmsɛlf/
|}
There are several very similar sets of pronouns with the nominative form ''e'' which have been independently proposed over the last hundred years. The earliest known example may be created in 1890 by James Rogers of Crestview, Florida.<ref name=":1">http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/epicene.htm</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20070310130020/http://aetherlumina.com/gnp/listing.html</ref> It was made in response to the ''thon'' set, and was derived from the ''he'' and ''them'' pronoun sets. This version does not have a recorded predicative possessive or reflexive form.
In 1977, a version
[[File:Ae aer.png|thumb|The ae/aer pronoun user flag]]
=== Ae ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|Ae
|''Ae ''went to the store.
|/ei/
|-
|Accusative
|Aer
|I met ''aer ''today.
|/ɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Aer
|Ae walked ''aer ''dog today.
|/ɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Aers
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''aers''.
|/ɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>z/
|-
|Reflexive
|Aerself
|Ae has to drive ''aerself ''to school.
|/ɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>sɛlf/
|}
In his 1920 novel, ''A Voyage to Arcturus'', David Lindsay invented the ''ae'' pronoun set for an alien race, which were born from air and of a third sex. These pronouns are still somewhat well known on the internet.
[[File:Co cos.png|thumb|The co/cos pronoun user flag]]
=== Co ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|Co
|''Co'' went to the store.
|/ko/
|-
|Accusative
|Co
|I met ''co'' today.
|/ko/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Cos
|Co walked ''cos'' dog today.
|/koz/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Cos
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''cos''.
|/koz/
|-
|Reflexive
|Coself
|Co has to drive ''coself'' to school.
|/kosɛlf/
|}
Co was coined as a possible neutral pronoun by Mary Orovan in an eight-page pamphlet called ''Humanizing English'', which was first published in 1970. The pronoun "co" was derived from the Indo-European ''*ko''.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20211129021858/https://www.veteranfeministsofamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/humanizing-english.pdf Mary Orovan's Humanizing English pamphlet.]</ref><ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20211126165341/https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/06/gender-neutral-pronouns-arent-new/619092/ Atlantic article referencing co pronouns.]</ref> Today, co pronouns are still used in some communities, such as in the legal policies of Twin Oaks in Virginia, who first began using co as a neutral pronoun in 1972.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20211129023250/https://www.twinoakscommunity.org/frequently-asked-questions-faqs-85 Twin Oaks website referencing co pronouns.]</ref>
[[File:Ve vir.png|thumb|The vi/vir pronoun user flag]]
=== Ve ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|Ve/Vi
|''Ve/Vi'' went to the store.
|/vi/
|-
|Accusative
|Ver/Vir
|I met ''ver''/''vir'' today.
|/və<sup>ɹ</sup>/, /vi<sup>ɹ</sup>/ <sup>†</sup>
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Vis
|Ve walked ''vis'' dog today.
|/viz/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Vers/Virs
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''vers''/''virs''.
|/və<sup>ɹ</sup>z/, /vi<sup>ɹ</sup>z/ <sup>†</sup>
|-
|Reflexive
|Verself/Virself
|Ve has to drive ''verself''/''virself'' to school.
|/və<sup>ɹ</sup>sɛlf/, /vi<sup>ɹ</sup>sɛlf/ <sup>†</sup>
|}
<sup>†</sup>Both spellings can be pronounced either way.
The ''ve'' pronoun set was created sometime in the early 1970s. It is unclear who originally invented this pronoun set or when, and it is possible that more than one individual created it independently. The most well known usage of ''ve'' comes from Greg Egan, who used it in his books ''Distress (1995)'' and ''Diaspora (1998)''.<ref>http://www.urticator.net/essay/0/30.html</ref> Egan is sometimes credited with having created these pronouns, but this does not appear to be the case, and he has never claimed to have done so. An earlier example is in the novel ''The Bone People (1984)'' by Keri Hulme.<ref>https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1580481-gender-neutral-characters-and-pronouns</ref> The earliest known example of ''ve'' comes from the 1970 May issue of ''Everywoman''.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20070310130020/http://aetherlumina.com/gnp/listing.html</ref> This set is nearly-identical but is incomplete. It included ve/vir/vis, with no predicative possessive and reflexive recorded.
=== Xe ===
[[File:Xexem.jpg|thumb|220x220px|The xe/xem pronoun user flag.]]
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Xe
|''Xe ''went to the store.
|/zi/
|-
|Accusative
|Xem
|I met ''xem'' today.
|/zɛm/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Xyr
|Xe walked ''xyr'' dog today.
|/zi<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Xyrs
|If I need a phone, my friend will let me borrow ''xyrs''.
|/zi<sup>ɹ</sup>z/
|-
|Reflexive
|Xemself
|Xe has to drive ''xemself'' to school.
|/zɛmsɛlf/
|}
This pronoun set appears to have been first coined by Don Rickter in an issue of ''Unitarian Universalist'' published in May 1973. This coining is affirmed by Mario Pei, who gave Rickter credit in his 1978 book ''Weasel Words''.<ref>https://books.google.com/books/about/Weasel_words.html?id=j9RZAAAAMAAJ</ref> This set has a large amount of variations; alternate versions include:
* Nominative: Xhe, xey
* Accusative: Xer, xim, xym
* Pronominal possessive: Xir, xis, xer, or xeir
* Predicative possessive: Xirs, xis, xers, or xeirs
* Reflexive: Xirself,
[[File:Per pers.png|thumb|The per/pers pronoun user flag]]
===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|Per or Person
|''Per''/''person'' went to the store.
|/pə<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Accusative
|Per
|I met ''per'' today.
|/pə<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Per
|Per walked ''per'' dog today.
|/pə<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Pers
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''pers''.
|/pə<sup>ɹ</sup>z/
|-
|Reflexive
|Perself
|Per has to drive ''perself'' to school.
|/pə<sup>ɹ</sup>sɛlf/
|}
Known as "person pronouns", these are meant to be used for an individual of any gender. John Clark created person pronouns in a 1972 issue of the ''Newsletter of the American Anthropological Association''.<ref name=":1" /> These pronouns were notably used in the 1976 novel ''Woman on the Edge of Time'' by Marge Piercy.
=== Ey (Elverson pronouns) ===
[[File:Ey em.png|thumb|The ey/em pronoun user flag]]
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|Ey
|''Ey'' went to the store.
|/eɪ/
|-
|Accusative
|Em
|I met ''em'' today.
|/ɛm/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Eir
|Ey walked ''eir'' dog today.
|/ɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Eirs
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''eirs''.
|/ɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>z/
|-
|Reflexive
|Emself
|Ey has to drive ''emself'' to school.
|/ɛmsɛlf/
|}
The Elverson pronouns were created by Christine M. Elverson of Skokie, Illinois, to win a contest to create an alternative to the singular ''they'' in 1975. They were formed by dropping the first two letters from ''they'' and its inflections.
It is unclear what sort of lexical agreement these pronouns would take. The pronouns can only be used as singular pronouns, so they could presumably be conjugated the same way as other singular pronoun sets (ie: "Ey ''was'' eating.") However, since these pronouns were based on the ''they'' set, it may feel more natural for English speakers to say "Ey ''were'' eating." It is unclear which conjugation was intended, so either can be used. Most other neopronouns based on "e" or "ey" face the same problem.
[[File:Hu hum.png|thumb|The hu/hum pronoun user flag]]
=== Hu (humanist pronouns) ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|Hu
|''Hu'' went to the store.
|/hju/<sup>†</sup>
|-
|Accusative
|Hum
|I met ''hum'' today.
|/hjum/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Hus
|Hu walked ''hus'' dog today.
|/hjuz/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Hus
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''hus''.
|/hjuz/
|-
|Reflexive
|Huself
|Hu has to drive ''huself'' to school.
|/hjusɛlf/
|}
<sup>†</sup>Pronunciation is assumed to match that in 'human' both for the theme and to distinguish it from the word 'who.'
Also known as "humanist pronouns," this set was created by Sasha Newborn in 1982, in a college humanities text. They are obviously based on the word ''human''.<ref>http://www.hupronoun.org/</ref> They could be considered the first instance of [[Nounself Pronouns|nounself pronouns]].
=== E (Spivak pronouns) ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|E
|''E'' went to the store.
|/i/
|-
|Accusative
|Em
|I met ''em'' today.
|/ɛm/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Eir
|E walked ''eir'' dog today.
|/ɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Eirs
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''eirs''.
|/ɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>z/
|-
|Reflexive
|Emself
|E has to drive ''emself'' to school.
|/ɛmsɛlf/
|}
The "Spivak pronouns" were created in 1990 by Michael Spivak. They were used in his manual ''The Joy of TeX'' so that no one in his examples had a specified 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 made throughout the 1990s. In the 2019 Gender Census, 5.2% of participants indicated they were happy with Spivak pronouns being used to refer to them.<ref name=":0" /> Spivak is credited with creating this set of pronouns, 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.
=== Ze ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|Ze
|''Ze'' went to the store.
|/zi/
|-
|Accusative
|Zir
|I met ''zir'' today.
|/zə<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Zir
|Ze walked ''zir'' dog today.
|/zə<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Zirs
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''zirs''.
|/zə<sup>ɹ</sup>z/
|-
|Reflexive
|Zirself
|Ze has to drive ''zirself'' to school.
|/zə<sup>ɹ</sup>sɛlf/
|}
Similar to the ''xe'' pronoun set, there are several different versions of this pronoun set. ''Ze'' is also pronounced the same way as ''xe''. It was likely based on the German plural third-person pronoun ''sie''. The first known case of ''ze'' being used is in 1997, by Richard Creel, who proposed ze/zer/mer (reflexive form is not recorded).
Another version was possibly
[[File:Fae faer.png|thumb|The fae/faer pronoun user flag]]
=== Fae ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
!Pronunciation
|-
|Nominative
|Fae
|''Fae'' went to the store.
|/feɪ/
|-
|Accusative
|Faer
|I met ''faer'' today.
|/fɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Faer
|Fae walked ''faer'' dog today.
|/fɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>/
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Faers
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''faers''.
|/fɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>z/
|-
|Reflexive
|Faerself
|Fae has to drive ''faerself'' to school.
|/fɛ<sup>ɹ</sup>sɛlf/
|}
The ''fae'' pronouns are a set of neopronouns created by Tumblr user shadaras in 2013,<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20210228185937/https://heterosexualisnotadefault.tumblr.com/post/635251444970291201/pronouns-i-have-encountered-in-no-particular-order</ref> though it may have been created independently by someone else earlier. It is one of the most commonly used neopronoun sets, and can be used as either a non-themed or nounself pronoun set. It likely helped to popularise using nounself pronouns on the internet.
== Other ==
These pronouns may or may not strictly fall into the category of neopronouns, but do not fall within the standard usage of pronouns in English.
[[File:Itits.png|thumb|220x220px|The it/its pronoun user flag.]]
=== It ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
|-
|Nominative
|It
|''It'' went to the store.
|-
|Accusative
|It
|I met ''it'' today.
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|Its
|It walked ''its'' dog today.
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|Its
|If I need a phone, my friend will let me borrow ''its''.
|-
|Reflexive
|Itself
|It has to drive ''itself'' to school.
|}
[[File:It its pronouns.png|thumb|220x220px|An alternate it/its pronouns flag ]]''It'' is the pronoun for inanimate objects in English, though some individuals choose to use this as a non-gendered pronoun. Using ''it'' to refer to a non-binary individual is considered offensive unless one is specifically told to use that pronoun.
Some may consider ''it'' to be a neopronoun when used for individuals, while others do not. On the one hand, ''it'' is a recognized pronoun in English; however, it is typically only used for inanimate objects. Being used to refer to individuals is not conventionally part of ''it'''s usage.
[[File:One one's.png|thumb|The one/one's pronoun user flag]]
=== One ===
{| class="article-table"
!Case
!Pronoun
!Example
|-
|Nominative
|One
|''One'' went to the store.
|-
|Accusative
|One
|I met ''one'' today.
|-
|Pronominal Possessive
|One's
|One walked ''one's'' dog today.
|-
|Predicative Possessive
|One's
|If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow ''one's''.
|-
|Reflexive
|Oneself
|One has to drive ''oneself'' to school.
|}
''One'' is a gender-neutral pronoun for a generic individual in English. It is typically used in formal speech when talking about individuals in general or someone hypothetical. Some individuals use ''one'' as a singular alternative to ''they''.
=== Alternating Pronouns ===
Instead of using an alternative or gender
=== No Pronouns/Pronoun Dropping ===
Also called non-pronouns, null pronouns, or [[Nullpronoun|pronounless]]. Some
===Nounself Pronouns===
[[Nounself Pronouns|Nounself]] pronouns are type of neopronoun that are derived from an existing word. They are commonly, but not always, used by [[xenic]] individuals who may want to use a pronoun set that corresponds with their xenogender, or some other aspect of themself. For example, someone who is [[catgender]] may use nya/nyan pronouns.
=== Emojiself Pronouns ===
[[Emojiself Pronouns|Emojiself]] pronouns are a subcategory of nounself pronouns, which are pronouns that, instead of using letters, utilize emojis (eg. 💫/💫's/💫self). These pronouns are not intended to be pronounced out loud and are only intended for online communication. In spoken conversation one may or may not use pronouns that are based on the emoji (eg. 💀/💀s skull/skulls).
=== Nameself Pronouns ===
[[Namepronouns|Nameself]] pronouns are a type of neopronoun that derive from an individual's name, or a shortened/altered version of it. It can sometimes be considered a form of pronoun dropping. For example, someone named Samantha may use sam/sams pronouns.
=== Object Pronouns ===
[[Objectpronouns|Objectself]] are a type of neopronoun which refers itself to objects, these could be related to food, to furniture, to anything that is considered an ‘object’ which by definition would be a physical thing. For example a person may use choco/chocolate pronouns.
== Flags ==
The purple neopronoun flag was designed by DeviantArt user Geekycorn on April 25, 2020. The stripes, in order, represent agender neopronoun users, neopronoun-using men, neopronoun-using women, nonbinary/genderqueer/other neopronoun users, and multigender neopronoun users.
The green and orange neopronoun flag was designed by Tumblr user Ferns-Garden/Beanjamoose on or before July 1, 2019. The flag is used by the blog yourfave-uses-neopronouns.<ref>{{Archive|Site=web|URL=https://yourfave-uses-neopronouns.tumblr.com/post/185988230593/the-flag-and-meaning}}</ref> Green is for masculine-identifying neopronoun users, blue is for older pronoun sets and the history behind them, white is for non-binary identifying neopronoun users, yellow is for newer pronoun sets and the happiness that comes from them, and orange is for feminine-identifying neopronoun users.
The green and purple neopronoun flag was redesigned by Tumblr user Uncommongenders on June 5, 2018. The meaning is unknown.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20181216171544/https://uncommongenders.tumblr.com/post/174605594564/okay-so-i-wanted-to-make-hq-versions-of</ref><ref>{{Archive|Site=web|URL=https://uncommongenders.home.blog/2018/06/05/okay-so-i-wanted-to-make-hq-versions-of/}}</ref>
The xe/xem flag and the it/its flag were designed by Tumblr user love-all-around1223 on April 14 and April 15, 2018, respectively.<ref>{{Archive|Site=web|URL=https://love-all-around1223.tumblr.com/post/172939520081/are-there-flags-for-pronouns}}</ref><ref>{{Archive|Site=web|URL=https://love-all-around1223.tumblr.com/post/172959084791/are-there-flags-for-pronouns}}</ref> The alternate it/its neopronoun flag was made by DeviantArt user GeekyCorn.
The ae/aer, ey/em, co/cos, ve/vir and thon/thons flags were designed by mourningmogaicrew on Tumblr on June 17, 2021. <ref>{{Archive|Site=web|URL=https://mourningmogaicrew.tumblr.com/post/654242515400245248/specific-neopronoun-flags}}</ref> The per/pers, fae/faer, one/one's, hu/hum and e/em flags were designed by the same user on June 20, 2021. <ref>{{Archive|Site=web|URL=https://mourningmogaicrew.tumblr.com/post/654510105426083840/specific-neo-flags-part-2}}</ref>
==
<references />
[[Category:Terminology]]
[[Category:Pronouns]]
|