Sie (pronoun)
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Neopronouns are a category of
neologistic A neologism from Ancient Greek, 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 ...
English third-person
personal pronouns 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 ...
beyond " he", "
she She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...
", " they", "
one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
", and " it". Neopronouns are preferred by some non-binary individuals who feel that neopronouns provide options to reflect their gender identity more accurately than conventional pronouns. Neopronouns may be words created to serve as pronouns, such as " ze/
hir Neopronouns are a category of neologistic English Third person (grammar), third-person personal pronouns beyond " he", "she", "they", "one", and " it". Neopronouns are preferred by some non-binary individuals who feel that neopronouns provide op ...
", or derived from existing words and turned into personal pronouns, such as " fae/ faer". Some neopronouns allude to they/them, such as " ey/ em", a form of Spivak pronoun. A survey by The Trevor Project in 2020 found that 4% of LGBT youth surveyed used neopronouns. The Gender Census, an online community survey, reported in 2021 that " xe/
xem Neopronouns are a category of neologistic English Third person (grammar), third-person personal pronouns beyond " he", "she", "they", "one", and " it". Neopronouns are preferred by some non-binary individuals who feel that neopronouns provide op ...
/ xir" were the most popular neopronouns among those surveyed, used by 8.5% of its 44,583 respondents (recruited via Tumblr, Twitter, and other social media platforms).


History

Singular they had emerged by the 14th century as a third-person pronoun, about a century after the plural ''they'',' and is first attested in the 14th-century poem William and the Werewolf. Newer pronouns were not coined until much later. 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. "
Thon Thon may refer to: Events *Walkathon, a fundraising event where participants walk a long distance *Telethon, a televised fundraising event Fiction and mythology * Thon ''(A Canticle for Leibowitz)'', an academic rank similar to a university ...
" was originally a Scots version of "yon" and means "that" or "that one". In 1858, it was introduced as a gender-neutral pronoun by the American composer Charles Crosby Converse. "Ze" as a gender-neutral English pronoun dates back to at least 1864. It was added to the ''
Merriam-Webster Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...
'' in 1934 and removed from it in 1961. 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, with "heer" being added to the
Funk & Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...
dictionary in 1913. The '' Sacramento Bee'' used the gender-neutral "hir" for 25 years from the 1920s to the 1940s. In 1970, Mary Orovan invented the pronoun "co/coself", which gained use in a
cooperative community A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratical ...
in Virginia called the Twin Oaks Community, where it was still in use as of 2011. In 1996,
Kate Bornstein Katherine Vandam Bornstein (born March 15, 1948) is an American author, playwright, performance artist, actor, and gender theorist. In 1986, Bornstein started identifiying as gender non-conforming and has stated "I don't call myself a woman, ''and ...
used the pronouns "ze/hir" to refer to a character in their novel ''Nearly Roadkill''. In a 2006 interview, transgender activist Leslie Feinberg included "ze/hir" as a
preferred pronoun Preferred gender pronouns or personal gender pronouns (often abbreviated as PGP) are the set of pronouns (in English, third-person pronouns) that an individual wants others to use in order to reflect that person's gender identity. In English, whe ...
(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." The '' Oxford English Dictionary'' added an entry for "ze" in 2018 and entries for "
hir Neopronouns are a category of neologistic English Third person (grammar), third-person personal pronouns beyond " he", "she", "they", "one", and " it". Neopronouns are preferred by some non-binary individuals who feel that neopronouns provide op ...
" and " zir" in 2019. The term "neopronoun" emerged in the 2010s.


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. 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 pull focus away from larger, more important issues, such as transphobic bullying, the murder of trans people, and
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
. People who are supportive of neopronouns state that they are helpful for
genderqueer 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 ...
individuals to find "something that was made for them" and for neurodivergent people, who may struggle with their gender identity. 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.


Noun-self pronouns

Noun-self pronouns are a type of neopronoun which involve a noun being used as a personal pronoun. Examples of noun-self pronouns include "vamp/vampself", "kitten/kittenself", and "doll/dollself". Noun-self pronouns trace their origins to the early 2010s on the website Tumblr.


See also

* Spivak pronoun * Gender neutrality in languages with gendered third-person pronouns * LGBT linguistics * Singular they * Non-binary gender * Preferred gender pronoun *
List of gender identities This is a list of gender identities. Gender identity can be understood to include how someone describes themselves, how they present, and how they feel. A * Abinary * Agender * Androgyne * Androgynous * Aporagender B * Bakla * Bigender ...


References

{{English gender-neutral pronouns Grammatical gender Modern English personal pronouns Transgender identities