Neopronouns

Neopronouns are any set of pronouns that are not officially recognized, meaning any pronouns that are not he/him/his, she/her/her's, they/them/their, or it/its/it's and is not based on a noun (noun pronouns). In English, people are usually called by a pronoun that implies their gender. For example, she is most often used by women, and he most often used by men, however that is not always the case, some non-binary people are okay with being referred to with she/her or he/him pronouns, and some binary women use he/him pronouns, and some binary men use she/her pronouns. The use of they as a singular gender-neutral pronoun has been documented as standard usage in English for many hundreds of years, and in modern times has been used frequently as a gender neutral pronoun to refer to non-binary people who do not want to be referred to be he or she. Surveys show that they/them is the most popular neutral pronoun set used by non-binary people, however some prefer to some other neutral pronoun, these are neopronouns.

Regional Nominative Pronouns

In some regional dialects of English throughout history had gender neutral pronouns at weren't used in standard English, such as a, ou, and yo. However all of they pronouns have only been recorded in their nominative form. As far as linguistics know they do not have other forms (possessive, reflexive, etc). Although it's easy to make up more forms for these pronouns this is not what linguists have recorded in use.

A (Nominative Only)

In 1789, William H. Marshall documented the use of ‘a’, used by the 14th century English writer John of Trevisa. Both the OED and Wright's English Dialect Dictionary confirm the use of ‘a’ in the place of he, she, it, they, and even I. This ‘a’ is a reduced form of the Anglo-Saxon he = ‘he’ and heo = ‘she’.” Some living British dialects still use the gender-neutral "a" pronoun.

Ou (Nominative Only)

Ou 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.

Yo (Nominative 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. The speakers 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 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."

List of Neopronouns

There have been many instances of people creating new pronouns to refer to a singular gender neutral person 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 people becomes more widely known. This page attempts to listen some of the more popular neopronouns. Pronouns are listed in order of oldest to newest.

Thon

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. It was based on a contraction of "that one. The "thon" pronoun was included in some dictionaries such as Webster's International Dictionary (1910), and 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%) people said that they were happy for people to use thon to refer to them.

Examples:

• Nominative: Thon (Thon went to the store.)
• Accusative: Thon (I met thon today.)
• Pronominal possessive: Thons (If thon does not get a haircut, thons hair grows long.)
• Predicative possessive: Thon's (If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow thon's.)
• Reflexive: Thonself (Thon has to drive thonself to school.)

E

There are several very similar sets of pronouns with the nominative form of "E," which have been independently proposed over the last hundred years. Created in 1890 by James Rogers of Crestview, Florida. In 1977, a version where all forms starts with capital letters was independently created by psychologist Donald G. MacKay of the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1989 it was independently created by Victor J. Stone, Professor of Law.

Examples:

• Nominative: E (E went to the store.)
• Accusative: Em (I met em today.)
• Pronominal possessive: Es (If e does not get a haircut, es hair grows long.
• Predicative possessive: (Not recorded.)
• Reflexive: (Not recorded.)

Co

Co was created by Mary Orovan in 1970. It is derived from the Indo-European *ko, as an inclusive alternative to "he or she." Today, "co" is still used in some communities, such as in the legal policies of Twin Oaks in Virginia, which provides information on the pronoun in its visitor guide web page.

Examples:

• Nominative: Co (Co went to the store.)
• Accusative: Co (I met co today.)
• Pronominal possessive: Cos or Co's (If co does not get a haircut, cos hair grows long. (Or co's hair grows long.))
• Predicative possessive: Co's (If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow co's.)
• Reflexive: Coself (Co has to drive coself to school.)

Per

Known as "person pronouns," these are meant to be used for a person of any gender. They are similar to "phe" pronouns, which are also based on the word "person". John Clark created per pronouns in a 1972 issue of the Newsletter of the American Anthropological Association.

Examples:

• Nominative: Per or Person (Per went to the store. Or, Person went to the store.)
• Accusative: Per (I met per today.)
• Pronominal possessive: Per (If per does not get a haircut, per hair grows long.)
• Predicative possessive: Pers (If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow pers.)
• Reflexive: Perself (Per has to drive perself to school.)

Xe

There are several similar sets of neopronouns that use "xe," "ze," "zhe," or "zie". Regardless of spelling, they are pronounced "zee". It was based on the pronoun German neuter pronoun "sie". The earliest documented version was created in 1972.

Examples:

• Nominative: Xe (Xe went to the store.)
• Accusative: Xir (I met xir today.)
• Pronominal possessive: Xir (If per does not get a haircut, xir hair grows long.)
• Predicative possessive: Xirs (If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow xirs.)
• Reflexive: Xirself (Xe has to drive xirself to school.)

Popular variations include: xe/hir/hir/hirs/hirself, xe/xyr (or xem)/xyr/xyrs/xyrself (or xemself), ze/hir/hir/hirs/hirself.

Ey (Elverson Pronouns)

The Elverson pronouns were created by Christine M. Elverson of Skokie, Illinois, to win a contest in 1975. They are very similar to the Spivak pronoun "E" with the only difference being a slight change of spelling for the nominative pronoun. It's likely the Spivak based his pronoun set off of this one.

Examples:

• Nominative: Ey (Ey went to the store.)
• Accusative: Em (I met em today.)
• Pronominal possessive: Eir (If e does not get a haircut, eir hair grows long.)
• Predicative possessive: Eirs (If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow eirs.)
• Reflexive: Emself (E has to drive emself to school.)

E (Spivak Pronouns)

Spivak pronouns (E/Em/Eir/Eirs/Emself),were created in 1990 by Michael Spivak. They were used in his manual, The Joy of TeX, so that no person in his examples had a specified gender. The pronouns became somewhat well-known on the Internet because they were built into a 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 were happy for people to use Spivak pronouns when being referred to. Spivak is credited with creating this set of pronouns, although his book does not claim that they are his own invention. It's not own if Spivak was inspired by the other "E" pronouns that have existed or by the similar Elverson pronouns.

Examples:

• Nominative: E (E went to the store.)
• Accusative: Em (I met em today.)
• Pronominal possessive: Eir (If e does not get a haircut, eir hair grows long.)
• Predicative possessive: Eirs (If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow eirs.)
• Reflexive: Emself (E has to drive emself to school.)

Fae

Fae is a fairy themed set of neopronouns created by Tumblr user shadaras in 2014, though it might have been created independently earlier. It is one of the earliest and most commonly used nounself pronoun set. It may have inspired many more nounself pronoun sets moving forward.

An similar fairy themed pronoun set exists that is fey/fey/feys/feys/feyself. This might have been created independently or it may be an alternate spelling of this system.

Examples:

• Nominative: Fae (Fae went to the store.)
• Accusative: Faer (I met faer today.)
• Pronominal possessive: Faer (If fae does not get a haircut, faer hair grows long.)
• Predicative possessive: Faers (If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow faers.)
• Reflexive: Faerself (Fae has to drive faerself to school.)

Other Non-Standard Pronouns

These pronouns are not necessarily neopronouns but do not fall within the standard usage of pronouns in English.

It

It is the pronoun for inanimate objects in English, though some non-binary choose to use this as a non-gendered pronoun. Using "it" to refer to a non-binary person is offensive and dehumanizing unless one is specifically told to use that pronoun.

Examples:

• Nominative: It (It went to the store.)
• Accusative: It (I met it today.)
• Pronominal possessive: Its (If it does not get a haircut, its hair grows long.)
• Predicative possessive: Its (If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow its.)
• Reflexive: Itself (It has to drive itself to school.)

Alternating Pronouns

Instead of using an alternative or gender neutral pronoun set, some people 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.

No Pronouns

Some non-binary people prefer not to be referred to by pronouns of any kind. Instead of using pronouns, a person can be referred to by name, an epithet, or the sentence can be rephrased, typically using the passive voice.

Nounself Pronouns

Nounself pronouns can be made by adapting any noun into a pronoun. The pronouns can be themed around concepts that have nothing to do with gender.