Neopronouns: Difference between revisions

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'''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 gegndered. In English, "she/her" is most often used by women, "he/him" most often by men, and "they/them" by non-binary folk, though some folkel [[Pronoun Non-Conforming|deviate]] from this convention.

Some folkel 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|xenogenders]]), or because they feel more comfortable using neopronouns over any of the standard pronoun options.

There have been many instances of folkel creating new pronouns to refer to a singular gender-neutral individual over the past 200 years. Particularly, several neopronouns showed up in the mid-late 20th century. Many new neopronouns were created in the age of the internet, as the existence of non-binary folk became more widely known. While there is no way to list all possible neopronouns, this page attempts to list some of the most notable and most popular examples. Pronouns are listed in order of oldest to newest.

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%) folkel 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:It its pronouns.png|thumb|220x220px|It/Its Pronouns Flag by Geekycorn on DeviantArt]]''It'' is the pronoun for inanimate objects in English, though some folkel 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.

''One'' is a gender-neutral pronoun for a generic individual in English. It is typically used in formal speech when talking about folkel in general or someone hypothetical. Some folkel use ''one'' as a singular alternative to ''they''.

Instead of using an alternative or gender-neutral pronoun set, some folkel prefer an alternation between the binary-gendered sets. For example: "When ''he'' does not get a haircut, ''her'' hair grows long." Alternating pronouns are used in some legal documents to make them gender-inclusive.

Also called non-pronouns, null pronouns, or [[Nullpronoun|pronounless]]. Some folkel prefer not to be referred to by third-person pronouns of any kind. Instead of using pronouns, an individual may be referred to by name, an epithet, or the sentence can be rephrased to omit pronouns, typically by using the passive voice.