![Hen - The Swedish pronoun](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Hen_-_The_Swedish_pronoun.svg)
() is a
gender-neutral personal pronoun in
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
intended as an alternative to the gender-specific ("she") and ("he"). It can be used when the gender of a person is not known or when it is not desirable to specify them as either a "she" or "he". The word was first proposed in 1966, and again in 1994, with reference to the
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
, a
personal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they''). Personal pronouns may also take dif ...
that is gender-neutral, since Finnish does not have
grammatical gender
In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...
s. However, it did not receive widespread recognition until around 2010, when it began to be used in some books, magazines and newspapers, and provoked media debates and controversy over
feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
,
gender neutrality, and
parenting
Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a ...
. In July 2014, it was announced that would be included in ''
Svenska Akademiens ordlista
''Svenska Akademiens ordlista'' (, "Word list of the Swedish Academy"), abbreviated SAOL, is a spelling dictionary published every few years by the Swedish Academy. It is a single volume that is considered the final arbiter of Swedish spelling. ...
'', the official
spelling dictionary of the
Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...
. In April 2015, the gender neutral pronoun hen and 13,000 other new words were added in a new official dictionary of the Swedish language. Today, some believe the word has lost some of its feminist-activist connotation in Sweden as it is used in the media, court rulings and books.
Initially, it was treated as a
neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
and faced opposition by some, including the major newspaper ''
Dagens Nyheter
''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record.
History and profile
''Da ...
'' that banned it in 2012, but later started using the pronoun. The
Swedish Language Council has not issued any proscriptions against the use of , but recommends the inflected forms ("her(s)/his") as the possessive form and the object form ("her/him") over , which also occurs. has two basic usages: as a way to avoid a stated preference to either gender; or as a way of referring to individuals who are
agender
Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...
,
genderqueer or non-binary, or those who reject the notion of binary gender on ideological grounds.
Linguistic background
The
Swedish language
Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic countr ...
has a set of
personal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they''). Personal pronouns may also take dif ...
s which is more or less identical in form to that of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. The common pronouns used for human beings are either ("he") or ("she"). While
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
and
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
historically had the same set of three
grammatical gender
In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...
s as modern
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, with masculine, feminine and neuter, the three-gender system fell out of use from the dialects out of which the respective
standard language
A standard language (also standard variety, standard dialect, and standard) is a language variety that has undergone substantial codification of grammar and usage, although occasionally the term refers to the entirety of a language that includes ...
s were developing sometime in the late Middle Ages. The system contracted so that words of masculine and feminine gender folded into a ''common gender'' while the neuter gender remained. In Swedish and Danish, there are two words that would translate to the English pronoun "it": for common gender words and for neuter gender words. Both are gender-neutral in the sense of not referring to male or female, but they are not used to refer to human beings except in specific circumstances.
History of usage
Attempts to introduce as a gender-neutral pronoun date back to 1966 when linguist Rolf Dunås suggested it in the regional newspaper ''
Upsala Nya Tidning
''Upsala Nya Tidning'' or ''UNT'' (meaning ''Upsala New Newspaper'' in English) is a regional daily newspaper published in Uppsala (archaically spelled Upsala), Sweden.
History and profile
''Upsala Nya Tidning'' was established in 1890. The dist ...
''. In 1994, it was again proposed by linguist
Hans Karlgren
Hans may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Hans (name), a masculine given name
* Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician
** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans
** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...
in the national newspaper ''
Svenska Dagbladet
''Svenska Dagbladet'' (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden.
History and profile
The first issue of ''Svenska Dagbladet'' appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the ...
'' as a practical alternative to more complicated literary alternatives, noting its similarity to
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
. In 2007, the feminist cultural magazine ''Ful'' became the first periodical to adopt a consistent usage of .
[Margret Atladottir,]
När könet är okänt
, ''Nöjesguiden
''Nöjesguiden'' (Swedish for "the entertainment guide") is a Nordic free-of-charge young adult monthly magazine, available in the major cities in Sweden, which was established in 1982.
It is also published with similar format In Finland under th ...
'', 29 February 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2014. By 2009, ''
Nationalencyklopedin
''Nationalencyklopedin'' (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia, initiated by a favourable loan from the Government of Sweden of 17 million Swedish kronor in 19 ...
'', the modern standard Swedish encyclopedia, had created an article about describing it as a "suggested gender-neutral personal pronoun instead of and ".
In January 2012, the children's book ("Kivi and Monster Dog") by Jesper Lundqvist was published. The book consistently used instead of or and sparked a lively media debate. In the February 2012 issue of ''
Nöjesguiden
''Nöjesguiden'' (Swedish for "the entertainment guide") is a Nordic free-of-charge young adult monthly magazine, available in the major cities in Sweden, which was established in 1982.
It is also published with similar format In Finland under th ...
'', a Stockholm-based arts and entertainment monthly, was used consistently in all texts with the exception of direct quotes. By late 2012, the word had generated so much publicity that ''
Hufvudstadsbladet
''Hufvudstadsbladet'' (abbr. ''Hbl'') is the highest-circulation Swedish-language newspaper in Finland. Its headquarters is located in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name of the newspaper translates approximately into "Journal of the Capi ...
'', Finland's largest Swedish-language newspaper by circulation, declared that "hen is here to stay".
In November 2012, Swedish linguist Per Ledin made a survey of the use of in a
corpus
Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to:
Linguistics
* Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts
* Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files
* Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics
Music
* ...
of Swedish
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
s. His conclusion was that use among bloggers had been rising steadily from 2009 to 2012 and that it should be considered as an established word. However, accounted for just 0.001% of total usage of personal pronouns.
The airline
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
employed the term in an ad campaign in 2012 as a tongue-in-cheek provocation with the slogan "The businessHEN's airline". By late 2012, began to see use in official documents in some government agencies. The
Court of Appeal for Lower Norrland applied the term in a ruling on
official misconduct
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...
by a police officer.
appeared in an official political context for the first time in February 2013 when
Swedish Minister for Gender Equality Maria Arnholm used it in a debate in the
Riksdag
The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...
, the Swedish parliament. In commenting on the debate afterwards, Arnholm described the word as "a practical way of simplifying" and "a smart way of developing language". By 2013,
Boden Municipality
Boden Municipality ( Swedish: ''Bodens kommun'') is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Boden.
In 1919 the evolving garrison town of Boden was detached from Överluleå and instituted as a city municipa ...
had adopted manuals of style to be used by their employees in an official context where was recommended "to avoid repetition of he/she in texts where sex is unclear or where we wish to include both sexes".
By early 2014, had become an established term both in traditional media and among bloggers. The language periodical ''Språktidningen'' concluded that the instances of usage had gone from one instance for every 13,000 uses of to just under 1 in 300. In late July 2014, the
Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...
announced that in April 2015, would be included in ''
Svenska Akademiens ordlista
''Svenska Akademiens ordlista'' (, "Word list of the Swedish Academy"), abbreviated SAOL, is a spelling dictionary published every few years by the Swedish Academy. It is a single volume that is considered the final arbiter of Swedish spelling. ...
'', the most authoritative
spelling dictionary on the Swedish language. Its entry will cover two definitions: as a reference to individuals belonging to a specified sex or
third gender
Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usually ...
, or where the sex is not known. In May 2015, was introduced in legal text (the driver's license law), in the self-ruling area
Åland
Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...
, a part of
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
which is officially Swedish-speaking.
Recommendations
While the
Swedish Language Council, the primary regulatory body of the Swedish language, suggests as one of several gender-neutral constructions, the word is not necessarily recommended above the alternatives. Rather, the Council advises the reader to use whichever construction is more contextually apt, considering the target audience. Alternatives to include , equivalent to English ''it''; rewriting as plural, which is ungendered in Swedish much like in English; repeating the noun instead of using a pronoun or using ("he or she"). The council also recommends against using the object form ("her/him") with the reasoning that it is too similar to ("him"), which undermines the gender-neutral intention of the word, and that the
case system
A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nom ...
on which the form is based is a remnant that is no longer used in Swedish; is instead recommended as both the subject and object form (as in ; "I saw him/her") while is the recommended possessive form (i.e. "her(s)/his").
After the use of by the Minister for Gender Equality, and following a meeting of the
Speaker of the Riksdag (English: "Mr Speaker")
, residence =
, seat = Parliament House
, nominator = Riksdag
, appointer = The Alderman
, termlength = Four years (''de facto'')
, inaugural = Henry Allard
, formation ...
together with party representatives, the Parliament made an official announcement that should not be used in official government documents, but that individual members of parliament are free to use it in spoken debates and written motions. A handful of other authorities, such as the Equality Ombudsman and the National Financial Management Authority, use the pronoun routinely.
Debate
From an early stage, has generated controversy and reactions in media. In 2010, the early use of the word prompted reactions of ridicule and skepticism. Columnist Lisa Magnusson taunted it as a "mega-feminist piece of poultry", In early 2012, a series of interviews and articles about the use of in ''
Dagens Nyheter
''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record.
History and profile
''Da ...
'', one of Sweden's leading newspapers, generated widespread debate. Referring to young children as was considered especially controversial, sparking critical reactions from the general public, officials within public daycare and media pundits.
In September 2012, issued a ban on the use of in its articles on the advice of chief editor
Gunilla Herlitz. As a reaction to this, journalist and programmer
Oivvio Polite created the website dhen.se, a site that mirrored the content of the paper's online edition, but with all instances of and replaced with . An employee at ''Dagens Nyheter'' reacted by filing a complaint to the police against dhen.se for violating Swedish
copyright law
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
, but later retracted his accusation when the newspaper's management proved unwilling to pursue legal action.
The most controversial aspect of the use of has been vis-à-vis young children, especially in public schools.
Egalia
Egalia is a preschool located in Södermalm, a borough of the Sweden, Swedish capital of Stockholm. As is the case with every Swedish pre-school, Egalia is funded with municipal money. The school is funded and directed by Lotta Rajalin. The school ...
, a
preschool
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...
in
Södermalm
Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm.
Overview
The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wa ...
, an upper middle-class borough in central
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, had been at the forefront of gender-neutral
pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
, and quickly adopted the use of . This policy sparked debate and controversy in Sweden and received widespread attention in international media in 2011–2012.
[Soffel, Jenny.]
'Gender-neutral' pre-school accused of mind control
, ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''. 3 July 2011.
See also
*
Spivak pronoun
The Spivak pronouns are a set of gender-neutral pronouns in English promulgated on the virtual community ''LambdaMOO'' based on pronouns used in a book by American mathematician Michael Spivak. Though not in widespread use, they have been employed ...
*
Gender-neutral language
Gender-neutral language or gender-inclusive language is language that avoids bias towards a particular sex or gender. In English, this includes use of nouns that are not gender-specific to refer to roles or professions, formation of phrases in a c ...
*
Gender-neutral pronoun
A third-person pronoun is a pronoun that refers to an entity other than the speaker or listener. Some languages with gender-specific pronouns have them as part of a grammatical gender system, a system of agreement where most or all nouns have a va ...
**
Pronoun game
"Playing the pronoun game" is the act of concealing sexual orientation in conversation by not using a gender-specific pronoun for a partner or a lover, which would reveal the sexual orientation of the person speaking. Someone may employ the prono ...
*
Feminist language planning
Feminist language reform or feminist language planning refers to the effort, often of political and grassroots movements, to change how language is used to gender people, activities and ideas on an individual and societal level. This initiative ...
*
Lavender linguistics
LGBT linguistics is the study of language as used by members of LGBT communities. Related or synonymous terms include lavender linguistics, advanced by William Leap in the 1990s, which "encompass sa wide range of everyday language practices" in ...
Notes
References
* Pettersson, Gertrud (1996) ''Svenska språket under sjuhundra år: en historia om svenskan och dess utforskande.''
Studentlitteratur, Lund. , {{OCLC, 36130929
1960s neologisms
Gender-neutral pronouns
Language policy in Sweden
Swedish language