Neopronouns are neologistic third-person personal pronouns beyond those that already exist in a language. In English, neopronouns replace the existing pronouns "he", "she", and "they".[1] Neopronouns are preferred by some non-binary individuals who feel that they provide options to reflect their gender identity more accurately than conventional pronouns.[2][3]
Neopronouns may be words created to serve as pronouns, such as "ze/hir", or derived from existing words and turned into personal pronouns, such as "fae/faer".[4] Some neopronouns allude to they/them, such as "ey/em", a form of Spivak pronoun.[5]
A survey by The Trevor Project in 2020 found that 4% of the LGBT youth surveyed used neopronouns.[6]
History
Singular they had emerged by the 14th century as a third-person pronoun, about a century after the plural they,[7] and is first attested in the 14th-century poem William and the Werewolf.[8] Neopronouns were not coined until the 18th century.[1]
One of the first instances of a neopronoun being used was in 1789, when William H. Marshall recorded the use of "ou" as a pronoun.[9]
"Thon" was originally a Scots version of "yon" and means "that" or "that one".[10][11] In 1858, it was introduced as a gender-neutral pronoun by the American composer Charles Crosby Converse.[1][12][13] It was added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1934 and removed from it in 1961.
"Ze" as a gender-neutral English pronoun dates back to at least 1864.[1][14]
In 1911, an insurance broker named Fred Pond invented the pronoun set "he'er, his'er and him'er", which the superintendent of the Chicago public-school system proposed for adoption by the school system in 1912, sparking a national debate in the US,[15] with "heer" being added to the Funk & Wagnalls dictionary in 1913.[16]
The Sacramento Bee used the gender-neutral "hir" for 25 years from the 1920s to the 1940s.[15][17]
In 1970, Mary Orovan invented the pronoun "co/coself", which gained use in a cooperative community in Virginia called the Twin Oaks Community, where it was still in use as of 2011.[15]
In 1996, Kate Bornstein used the pronouns "ze/hir" to refer to a character in their novel Nearly Roadkill.[15] In a 2006 interview, transgender activist Leslie Feinberg included "ze/hir" as a preferred pronoun (along with "she/her" and "he/him", depending on context), stating, "I like the gender neutral pronoun 'ze/hir' because it makes it impossible to hold on to gender/sex/sexuality assumptions about a person you're about to meet or you've just met."[18] The Oxford English Dictionary added an entry for "ze" in 2018[1][19] and entries for "hir" and "zir" in 2019.[1][20]
The term "neopronoun" emerged in the 2010s.[1]
Noun-self pronouns
Noun-self pronouns are a type of neopronoun that involve a noun being used as a personal pronoun.[21] Examples of noun-self pronouns include "vamp/vampself", "kitten/kittenself", and "doll/dollself".[4] Noun-self pronouns trace their origins to the early 2010s on the website Tumblr.[22]
Reception
There has been some conflict over neopronouns, with opposition to the idea in both the cisgender and transgender communities. Many people find them unfamiliar and confusing to use.[1][4] Some have said that use of neopronouns, especially noun-self pronouns, comes from a position of privilege, makes the LGBT+ community look like a joke, or that the attention placed on neopronouns pulls focus away from larger, more important issues, such as transphobic bullying, the murder of trans people, and suicide.[4][23] Noun-self pronouns have been viewed by some as unhelpful and unnecessary.[24]
People who are supportive of neopronouns state that they are helpful for genderqueer individuals to find "something that was made for them",[25] and for neurodivergent people who may struggle with their gender identity.[4] Some magazines and newspapers have published articles on neopronouns that are generally in support of them, detailing how to use them and be supportive of those who do.[21][26]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Elizabeth Yuko (June 29, 2021). "Beyond They/Them: What Are Neopronouns?". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2021-10-17. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
- ^ Samantha Castro. "In Defense of Neopronouns". Institute for Youth Policy. Archived from the original on 2021-10-17. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
- ^ Tracey Anne Duncan (May 13, 2021). "Neopronouns are the next step in the gender revolution". Mic. Archived from the original on 2021-10-17. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
- ^ a b c d e Ezra Marcus (April 8, 2021). "A Guide to Neopronouns". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-10-17. Retrieved 2021-10-17.
- ^ "How to be an ally to friends who've changed their pronouns". BBC Bitesize. Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
- ^ "Pronouns Usage Among LGBTQ Youth". The Trevor Project. 29 Jul 2020. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 19 Feb 2022.
- ^ "they". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ "A brief history of singular 'they'". Oxford English Dictionary. September 4, 2018. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
- ^ University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee LGBT Resource Center, “Pronouns – A How To Guide Archived 2022-08-16 at the Wayback Machine” (2011). LGBT Resource Center Instructional Materials.
- ^ The Chambers Dictionary (1998), Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.
- ^ Warrack, Alexander The Concise Scots Dialect Dictionary (2006), Waverley Books Ltd
- ^ "Neopronouns 101". Mermaids. 2021-11-10. Archived from the original on 2022-07-02. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ "We added a gender-neutral pronoun in 1934. Why have so few people heard of it?". www.merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
- ^ Baron, Dennis. "Nonbinary pronouns are older than you think". The Web of Language.
- ^ a b c d Michael Waters (June 4, 2021). "Where Gender-Neutral Pronouns Come From". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
- ^ Dennis Baron (July 25, 2020). "Heer, hiser, himer: Pronouns in the news, 1912 edition". University of Illinois. Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
- ^ Jodi Heckel (January 29, 2020). "Tracing the history of gender-neutral pronouns". Illinois News Bureau. Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
- ^ Tyroler, Jamie (July 28, 2006). "Transmissions – Interview with Leslie Feinberg". CampCK.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "New words list June 2018". Oxford English Dictionary. June 2018. Archived from the original on 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
- ^ "New Words in the OED: March 2019". Oxford English Dictionary. March 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
- ^ a b Wallace, Megan (2021-11-09). "Here's what you need to know about neopronouns". Cosmopolitan. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
- ^ Ezra Marcus (April 21, 2021). "What's playful, what's deeply meaningful and what's being mean? A guide to neopronouns". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2021-07-05. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
- ^ "Are Neopronouns Counterproductive?". The Hill News. 2021-11-12. Archived from the original on 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- ^ Wright, Colin (2022-02-04). "Opinion | When Asked 'What Are Your Pronouns,' Don't Answer". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2023-06-18. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
- ^ "How To Use Neopronouns, According To Experts & People Who Use Them". Bustle. 6 January 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- ^ "How to be an ally to friends who've changed their pronouns". BBC Bitesize. Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2022-04-16.