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m (Ezgender moved page Pronouns to Pronoun)
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{{Cleanup|reason=Grammar section is directly taken from Wikipedia, could use some more sources about what defines a pronoun, and about the statistics of better mental health when people's pronouns are respected, misgendering section needs filled out}}{{OtherIdentity|also_called=Preferred pronoun}}{{Quote|We must remember that the English pronoun system is not fixed. Several centuries ago the objective plural you drove the nominative and objective singulars thou and thee and the nominative plural ye out of general use. It appears to have happened for social reasons, not linguistic reasons. They, their, them have been used continuously for six centuries, and have been disparaged in such use for about two centuries.|—Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, 1994}}In linguistics and grammar, a '''pronoun''' (abbreviated '''pro''') is a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. For transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people, choosing
{{Cleanup|reason=Needs rewritten/expanded in general to not just be from Wikipedia, the exipronouns section needs to be expanded, survey data about how many nonbinary people use he/she/they/it should also go in exipronouns section}}
 
   
In linguistics and grammar, a '''pronoun''' (abbreviated '''pro''') is a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase.
+
The adjective associated with "pronoun" is "'''pronominal'''". A pronominal is also a word or phrase that acts as a pronoun. For example, in ''That's not the one I need'', the phrase ''the one'' a pronominal.
   
{{OtherIdentity}}
 
   
Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not consider them to form a single class, in view of the variety of functions they perform cross-linguistically. An example of a pronoun is "you", which is both plural and singular. Subtypes include personal and possessive pronouns, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative and interrogative pronouns, and indefinite
 
   
== Theory ==
 
   
=== Pronoun versus pro-form ===
 
Pronoun is a category of words. A pro-form is a type of function word or expression that stands in for (expresses the same content as) another word, phrase, clause or sentence where the meaning is recoverable from the context. In English, pronouns mostly function as pro-forms, but there are pronouns that are not pro-forms and pro-forms that are not pronouns.<sup>[p. 239]</sup>
 
{| class="article-table"
 
|+Pronouns versus Pro-forms
 
!
 
!Example
 
!Pronoun
 
!Pro-form
 
|-
 
|1
 
|''It is a good idea''.
 
|✓
 
|✓
 
|-
 
|2
 
|''I know the people who work there.''
 
|✓
 
|✓
 
|-
 
|3
 
|''Who works there?''
 
|✓
 
|
 
|-
 
|4
 
|''It is raining''.
 
|✓
 
|
 
|-
 
|5
 
|''I asked her to help, and she did so right away.''
 
|
 
|✓
 
|-
 
|6
 
|''JJ and Petra helped, but the others didn't.''
 
|
 
|✓
 
|}
 
Examples [1 & 2] are pronouns and pro-forms. In [1], the pronoun ''it'' "stands in" for whatever was mentioned and is a good idea. In [2], the relative pronoun ''who'' stands in for "the people".
 
   
  +
== Grammar ==
Examples [3 & 4] are pronouns but not pro-forms. In [3], the interrogative pronoun ''who'' doesn't stand in for anything. Similarly, in [4], ''it'' is a dummy pronoun, one that doesn't stand in for anything. No other word can function there with the same meaning; we don't say "the sky is raining" or "the weather is raining".
 
 
Finally, in [5 & 6], there are pro-forms that are not pronouns. In [5], ''did so'' is a verb phrase, but it stands in for "help". Similarly, in [6], ''others'' is a common noun, not a pronoun, but ''the others'' stands in for this list of names of the other people involved (e.g., ''Sho, Alana, and Ali'').
 
 
=== Grammar ===
 
 
Pronouns ''(antōnymía)'' are listed as one of eight parts of speech in ''The Art of Grammar'', a treatise on Greek grammar attributed to Dionysius Thrax and dating from the 2nd century BC. The pronoun is described there as "a part of speech substitutable for a noun and marked for a person." Pronouns continued to be regarded as a part of speech in Latin grammar (the Latin term being ''pronomen'', from which the English name – through Middle French – ultimately derives), and thus in the European tradition generally.
 
Pronouns ''(antōnymía)'' are listed as one of eight parts of speech in ''The Art of Grammar'', a treatise on Greek grammar attributed to Dionysius Thrax and dating from the 2nd century BC. The pronoun is described there as "a part of speech substitutable for a noun and marked for a person." Pronouns continued to be regarded as a part of speech in Latin grammar (the Latin term being ''pronomen'', from which the English name – through Middle French – ultimately derives), and thus in the European tradition generally.
   
 
In more modern approaches, pronouns are less likely to be considered to be a single word class, because of the many different syntactic roles that they play, as represented by the various different types of pronouns listed in the previous sections.
 
In more modern approaches, pronouns are less likely to be considered to be a single word class, because of the many different syntactic roles that they play, as represented by the various different types of pronouns listed in the previous sections.
   
  +
== English Personal Pronouns ==
=== Linguistics ===
 
  +
English pronouns have a number of different syntactic contexts:
Examples of "our" as a determiner or a noun.
 
Linguists in particular have trouble classifying pronouns in a single category, and some do not agree that pronouns substitute nouns or noun categories. Certain types of pronouns are often identical or similar in form to determiners with related meaning; some English examples are given in the table.
 
{| class="article-table"
 
!
 
!Pronoun
 
!Determiner
 
|-
 
!Possessive
 
|''ours''
 
|''our'' freedom
 
|-
 
!Demonstrative
 
|''this''
 
|''this'' gentleman
 
|-
 
!Indefinite
 
|''some''
 
|''some'' frogs
 
|-
 
!Negative
 
|''none''
 
|''no'' information
 
|-
 
!Interrogative
 
|''which''
 
|''which'' option
 
|}
 
This observation has led some linguists, such as Paul Postal, to regard pronouns as determiners that have had their following noun or noun phrase deleted. (Such patterning can even be claimed for certain personal pronouns; for example, ''we'' and ''you'' might be analyzed as determiners in phrases like ''we Brits'' and ''you tennis players''.) Other linguists have taken a similar view, uniting pronouns and determiners into a single class, sometimes called "determiner-pronoun", or regarding determiners as a subclass of pronouns or vice versa. The distinction may be considered to be one of subcategorization or valency, rather like the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs – determiners take a noun phrase complement like transitive verbs do, while pronouns do not. This is consistent with the determiner phrase viewpoint, whereby a determiner, rather than the noun that follows it, is taken to be the head of the phrase. Cross-linguistically, it seems as though pronouns share 3 distinct categories: point of view, person, and number. The breadth of each subcategory however tends to differ among languages.
 
 
==== Binding theory and antecedents ====
 
The use of pronouns often involves anaphora, where the meaning of the pronoun is dependent on another referential element. The referent of the pronoun is often the same as that of a preceding (or sometimes following) noun phrase, called the antecedent of the pronoun. The grammatical behavior of certain types of pronouns, and in particular their possible relationship with their antecedents, has been the focus of studies in binding, notably in the Chomskyan government and binding theory. In this binding context, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns in English (such as ''himself'' and ''each other'') are referred to as anaphors (in a specialized restricted sense) rather than as pronominal elements. Under binding theory, specific principles apply to different sets of pronouns.
 
Example reflexive structure. Since "himself" is immediately dominated by "John", Principle A is satisfied.
 
In English, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns must adhere to '''Principle A:''' an anaphor (reflexive or reciprocal, such as "each other") must be bound in its governing category (roughly, the clause). Therefore, in syntactic structure it must be lower in structure (it must have an antecedent) and have a direct relationship with its referent. This is called a C-command relationship. For instance, we see that ''John cut himself'' is grammatical, but ''Himself cut John'' is not, despite having identical arguments, since ''himself'', the reflexive, must be lower in structure to John, its referent. Additionally, we see examples like ''John said that Mary cut himself'' are not grammatical because there is an intermediary noun, ''Mary'', that disallows the two referents from having a direct relationship.
 
Example pronoun structure. Since "him" is immediately dominated by "John", Principle B is violated.
 
On the other hand, personal pronouns (such as ''him'' or ''them'') must adhere to '''Principle B:''' a pronoun must be free (i.e., not bound) within its governing category (roughly, the clause). This means that although the pronouns can have a referent, they cannot have a direct relationship with the referent where the referent selects the pronoun. For instance, ''John said Mary cut him'' is grammatical because the two co-referents, ''John'' and ''him'' are separated structurally by ''Mary''. This is why a sentence like ''John cut him'' where ''him'' refers to ''John'' is ungrammatical.
 
 
===== Binding cross-linguistically =====
 
{| class="article-table"
 
|
 
|This section '''provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject'''. Please help improve the article by providing more context for the reader. <small>''(July 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)''</small>
 
|}
 
The type of binding that applies to subsets of pronouns varies cross-linguistically. For instance, in German linguistics, pronouns can be split into two distinct categories — personal pronouns and d-pronouns. Although personal pronouns act identically to English personal pronouns (i.e. follow Principle B), d-pronouns follow yet another principle, Principle C, and function similarly to nouns in that they cannot have a direct relationship to an antecedent.
 
 
===== Antecedents =====
 
The following sentences give examples of particular types of pronouns used with antecedents:
 
 
* Third-person personal pronouns:
 
** '''''That poor man''' looks as if '''he''' needs a new coat.'' (the noun phrase ''that poor man'' is the antecedent of ''he'')
 
** '''''Julia''' arrived yesterday. I met '''her''' at the station.'' (''Julia'' is the antecedent of ''her'')
 
** ''When '''they''' saw us, '''the lions''' began roaring'' (''the lions'' is the antecedent of ''they''; as it comes after the pronoun it may be called a ''postcedent'')
 
* Other personal pronouns in some circumstances:
 
** '''''Terry and I''' were hoping no one would find '''us'''.'' (''Terry and I'' is the antecedent of ''us'')
 
** '''''You and Alice''' can come if '''you''' like.'' (''you and Alice'' is the antecedent of the second – plural – ''you'')
 
* Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns:
 
** '''''Jack''' hurt '''himself'''.'' (''Jack'' is the antecedent of ''himself'')
 
** '''''We''' were teasing '''each other'''.'' (''we'' is the antecedent of ''each other'')
 
* Relative pronouns:
 
** '''''The woman who''' looked at you is my sister.'' (''the woman'' is the antecedent of ''who'')
 
 
Some other types, such as indefinite pronouns, are usually used without antecedents. Relative pronouns are used without antecedents in free relative clauses. Even third-person personal pronouns are sometimes used without antecedents ("unprecursed") – this applies to special uses such as dummy pronouns and generic ''they'', as well as cases where the referent is implied by the context.
 
 
== English pronouns ==
 
{| class="article-table"
 
|
 
|This section '''needs additional citations for verification'''. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. <small>''(May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)''</small>
 
|}
 
English pronouns have a number of different syntactic contexts (Subject, Object, Possessive, Reflexive) and many features:
 
 
* person (1st, 2nd, 3rd person);
 
* number (singular/plural);
 
* gender (masculine, feminine, neuter or inanimate, epicene)
 
   
 
{| class="article-table"
 
{| class="article-table"
|+Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
+
|+Common personal pronouns in standard Modern English
 
!Person
 
!Person
 
! colspan="2" |Number/Gender
 
! colspan="2" |Number/Gender
Line 198: Line 81:
 
|theirs
 
|theirs
 
|themself / themselves
 
|themself / themselves
|}
 
English also has other pronoun types, including demonstrative, relative, indefinite, and interrogative pronouns:
 
{| class="article-table"
 
!Demonstrative
 
!Relative
 
!Indefinite
 
!Interrogative
 
|-
 
|this
 
|who / whom / whose
 
|one / one's / oneself
 
|who / whom / whose
 
|-
 
|these
 
|what
 
|something / anything / nothing (things)
 
|what
 
|-
 
|that
 
|which
 
|someone / anyone / no one (people)
 
|which
 
|-
 
|those
 
|that
 
|somebody / anybody / nobody (people)
 
|
 
|-
 
|former / latter
 
|
 
|
 
|
 
 
|}
 
|}
   
=== Personal and possessive ===
+
== Personal and possessive ==
  +
Personal pronouns may be classified by person, number, gender and case. English has three persons (first, second and third) and two numbers (singular and plural). Most commonly recognized in the third person singular there are also distinct pronoun forms for male, female and neutral gender.
   
==== Personal ====
+
=== Exipronouns ===
Main article: [[Exipronoun]]
 
{| class="article-table"
 
|+English personal pronouns
 
! rowspan="2" |Person
 
! rowspan="2" |Number
 
! colspan="2" |Case
 
|-
 
!Subject
 
!Object
 
|-
 
| rowspan="2" |''First''
 
|''Singular''
 
|'''I'''
 
|'''me'''
 
|-
 
|''Plural''
 
|'''we'''
 
|'''us'''
 
|-
 
| rowspan="2" |''Second''
 
|''Singular''
 
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |'''you'''
 
|-
 
|''Plural''
 
|-
 
| rowspan="5" |''Third''
 
| rowspan="4" |''Singular''
 
|'''he'''
 
|'''him'''
 
|-
 
|'''she'''
 
|'''her'''
 
|-
 
| colspan="2" |'''it'''
 
|-
 
|'''they'''
 
|'''them'''
 
|-
 
|''Plural/Epicene''
 
|'''they'''
 
|'''them'''
 
|}
 
Personal pronouns may be classified by person, number, gender and case. English has three persons (first, second and third) and two numbers (singular and plural); in the third person singular there are also distinct pronoun forms for male, female and neuter gender. Principal forms are shown in the adjacent table.
 
   
  +
=== Neopronouns ===
English personal pronouns have two cases, ''subject'' and ''object''. Subject pronouns are used in subject position ('''''I''' like to eat chips, but '''she''' does not''). Object pronouns are used for the object of a verb or preposition (''John likes '''me''' but not '''her''''').
 
  +
''Main article: [[Neopronoun]]''
   
  +
'''Neopronouns''' are 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.
Other distinct forms found in some languages include:
 
   
  +
==== Nounself ====
* Second person informal and formal pronouns (the T-V distinction), like ''tu'' and ''vous'' in French. Formal second person pronouns can also signify plurality in many languages. There is no such distinction in standard modern English, though Elizabethan English marked the distinction with ''thou'' (singular informal) and ''you'' (plural or singular formal). Some dialects of English have developed informal plural second person pronouns, for instance, "y'all" (Southern American English) and ''you guys'' (American English).
 
  +
''Main article: [[Nounself]]''
* Inclusive and exclusive first person plural pronouns, which indicate whether or not the audience is included, that is, whether "we" means "you and I" or "they and I". There is no such distinction in English.
 
* Intensive (emphatic) pronouns, which re-emphasize a noun or pronoun that has already been mentioned. English uses the same forms as the reflexive pronouns; for example: ''I did it '''myself''''' (contrast reflexive use, ''I did it to myself'').
 
* Direct and indirect object pronouns, such as ''le'' and ''lui'' in French. English uses the same form for both; for example: ''Mary loves '''him''''' (direct object); ''Mary sent '''him''' a letter'' (indirect object).
 
* Prepositional pronouns, used after a preposition. English uses ordinary object pronouns here: ''Mary looked at '''him'''''.
 
* Disjunctive pronouns, used in isolation or in certain other special grammatical contexts, like ''moi'' in French. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: ''Who does this belong to? '''Me'''.''
 
* Strong and weak forms of certain pronouns, found in some languages such as Polish.
 
   
  +
'''Nounself pronouns''' are a subset of neopronouns that are more directly based on words, often nouns.
<br />
 
   
==== Neopronouns ====
+
=====History=====
  +
It is unclear where the word "nounself" itself was first coined, although it may be on Tumblr because of the amount of popularity that nounself sets gained, starting in 2015.
Main article: [[Neopronoun]]
 
  +
=====Thonself=====
<br />
 
  +
The earliest example of what could be called a nounself pronoun was proposed by by American lawyer Charles Crozat Converse in 1884. Converse took the words "this one" and "that one" and proposed ''thon'' as a gender-neutral pronoun set.{{Quote|thon. Pronoun of the 3rd person, common gender, meaning “that one, he she, or it”: a neoterism proposed by Charles Crozat Converse, and apparently complying with the neoteristic canons, since it supplies an antecedent blank, obeys a simple and obvious analogy, and is euphonious.|—Funk and Wagnalls, Supplement to A Standard Dictionary of the English Language, 1903|https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/third-person-gender-neutral-pronoun-thon}}For most of the 20th century, ''thon'' appeared in various publications of Funk and Wagnalls, and also spread to another dictionary, Merriam-Webster’s Second New International Dictionary (1934 edition). ''Thon'' was removed from abridged dictionary in the third edition.
  +
=====Humanist Pronouns=====
  +
Often called humanist pronouns, ''hu/hum/hus/hus/humself'' was used in several college humanities texts published by Bandanna Books and originated by editor Sasha Newborn in 1982.
  +
=====Faeself And Others=====
  +
One of the most commonly recognized nounself pronoun sets is ''fae/faer'', first seen online in 2013.<ref>https://heterosexualisnotadefault.tumblr.com/post/635251444970291201/pronouns-i-have-encountered-in-no-particular-order</ref>{{Quote|Okay, so!
   
  +
Why did I choose fae/vaer as my pronouns?
==== Nounself Pronouns ====
 
Main article: [[Nounself]]
 
<br />
 
   
  +
Because I am fae. I am described as such by people who don’t know me — fae and feline and not-exactly-human. I do identify as faen, and in some ways angel as well, and fae and angel are the goals of my presentation. My choice of fae as a pronoun reflects this.
==== Emojiself ====
 
Main article: [[Emojiself]]
 
   
  +
Using fae as a pronoun started out half a joke, a 1am offhand comment that fae would be one of the only things I could use as a pronoun and identify with. The next morning, it wasn’t so much a joke anymore, and by the end of the day my girlfriend and I had come up with how fae would work as a pronoun.
==== No Pronouns ====
 
[[Nonprominal]]
 
<br />
 
   
  +
To address the point about fae as binary or not — it depends on your source material.
==== Possessive ====
 
  +
My personal view on this is that fae and fae creatures as stand outside the binary. They probably have some form of gender, but it’s most definitely not our human binary. Angels, on the other hand, are genderless. They have no sex and they have no gender. Together, fae and angels are the two sides of androgyny that are possible, and kind of form a secondary arc around the male/female binary: that of gendered/genderless.
Main articles: Possessive and Possessive determiner
 
   
  +
…so in some ways, I’m using fae as a giant ‘fuck you’ to the gender binary and a refusal of much of the American culture surrounding gender. My gender is yes. Except when it’s no. Either way, it’s not male or female and using a pronoun that is very associated with creatures that stand outside humankind is, for me at least, a very good way to remind people of this constantly.|Eidolan}}
Possessive pronouns are used to indicate possession (in a broad sense). Some occur as independent noun phrases: ''mine'', ''yours'', ''hers'', ''ours'', ''theirs''. An example is: ''Those clothes are '''mine'''.'' Others act as a determiner and must accompany a noun: ''my'', ''your'', ''her'', ''our'', ''your'', ''their'', as in: ''I lost '''my''' wallet.'' (''His'' and ''its'' can fall into either category, although ''its'' is nearly always found in the second.) Those of the second type have traditionally also been described as possessive adjectives, and in more modern terminology as possessive determiners. The term "possessive pronoun" is sometimes restricted to the first type. Both types replace possessive noun phrases. As an example, '''''Their''' crusade to capture our attention'' could replace '''''The advertisers'<nowiki/>''' crusade to capture our attention.''
 
   
=== Reflexive and reciprocal ===
+
==== Emojiself ====
  +
''Main article: [[Emojiself]]''
Main articles: Reflexive pronoun and Reciprocal pronoun
 
 
Reflexive pronouns are used when a person or thing acts on itself, for example, ''John cut '''himself'''.'' In English they all end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'' and must refer to a noun phrase elsewhere in the same clause.
 
 
Reciprocal pronouns refer to a reciprocal relationship (''each other'', ''one another''). They must refer to a noun phrase in the same clause. An example in English is: ''They do not like '''each other'''.'' In some languages, the same forms can be used as both reflexive and reciprocal pronouns.
 
 
=== Demonstrative ===
 
Main article: Demonstrative pronoun
 
 
Demonstrative pronouns (in English, ''this'', ''that'' and their plurals ''these'', ''those'') often distinguish their targets by pointing or some other indication of position; for example, ''I'll take '''these'''.'' They may also be ''anaphoric'', depending on an earlier expression for context, for example, ''A kid actor would try to be all sweet, and who needs '''that'''?''
 
 
=== Indefinite ===
 
Main article: Indefinite pronoun
 
 
Indefinite pronouns, the largest group of pronouns, refer to one or more unspecified persons or things. One group in English includes compounds of ''some-'', ''any-'', ''every-'' and ''no-'' with ''-thing'', ''-one'' and ''-body'', for example: '''''Anyone''' can do that.'' Another group, including ''many'', ''more'', ''both'', and ''most'', can appear alone or followed by ''of''. In addition,
 
 
* Distributive pronouns are used to refer to members of a group separately rather than collectively. (''To '''each''' his own.'')
 
* Negative pronouns indicate the non-existence of people or things. ('''''Nobody''' thinks that.'')
 
* Impersonal pronouns normally refer to a person, but are not specific as to first, second or third person in the way that the personal pronouns are. ('''''One''' does not clean '''one's''' own windows.'')
 
 
=== Relative and interrogative ===
 
 
==== Relative ====
 
Main article: Relative pronoun
 
 
Relative pronouns in English include ''who'', ''whom'', ''whose'', ''what'', ''which'' and ''that''). They rely on an antecedent, and refer back to people or things previously mentioned: ''People '''who''' smoke should quit now.'' They are used in relative clauses. Relative pronouns can also be used as complementizers.
 
 
==== Interrogative ====
 
Main article: Interrogative word
 
 
Relative pronouns can be used in an interrogative setting as interrogative pronouns. Interrogative pronouns ask which person or thing is meant. In reference to a person, one may use ''who'' (subject), ''whom'' (object) or ''whose'' (possessive); for example, '''''Who''' did that?'' In colloquial speech, ''whom'' is generally replaced by ''who''. English non-personal interrogative pronouns (''which'' and ''what'') have only one form.
 
 
In English and many other languages (e.g. French and Czech), the sets of relative and interrogative pronouns are nearly identical. Compare English: '''''Who''' is that?'' (interrogative) and ''I know the woman '''who''' came'' (relative). In some other languages, interrogative pronouns and indefinite pronouns are frequently identical; for example, Standard Chinese 什么 ''shénme'' means "what?" as well as "something" or "anything".
 
 
=== Archaic forms ===
 
{| class="article-table"
 
|+Archaic personal pronouns
 
! rowspan="2" |Person
 
! rowspan="2" |Number
 
! colspan="2" |Case
 
|-
 
!Subject
 
!Object
 
|-
 
| rowspan="2" |''Second''
 
|''Singular''
 
|'''thou'''
 
|'''thee'''
 
|-
 
|''Plural''
 
|'''ye'''
 
|'''you'''
 
|}
 
Though the personal pronouns described above are the ''contemporary'' English pronouns, older forms of ''modern'' English (as used by Shakespeare, for example) use a slightly different set of personal pronouns as shown in the table. The difference is entirely in the second person. Though one would rarely find these older forms used in literature from recent centuries, they are nevertheless considered ''modern''.
 
 
=== Kinship ===
 
In English, kin terms like "mother," "uncle," "cousin" are a distinct word class from pronouns; however many Australian Aboriginal languages have more elaborated systems of encoding kinship in language including special kin forms of pronouns. In Murrinh-patha, for example, when selecting a nonsingular exclusive pronoun to refer to a group, the speaker will assess whether or not the members of the group belong to a common class of gender or kinship. If all of the members of the referent group are male, the MASCULINE form will be selected; if at least one is female, the FEMININE is selected, but if all the members are in a sibling-like kinship relation, a third SIBLING form is selected.  In Arabana-Wangkangurru, the speaker will use entirely different sets of pronouns depending on whether the speaker and the referent are or are not in a common moiety. See the following example:
 
 
Pulalakiya
 
 
<abbr>3du</abbr>.<abbr>kin</abbr>
 
 
panti-rda.
 
 
fight-<abbr>pres</abbr>
 
 
They two [who are in the classificatory relationship of father and son] are fighting. (The people involved were a man and his wife's sister's son.)
 
   
  +
'''Emojiself pronouns''' are a subset of neopronouns and nounself pronouns that replace the content of the pronoun entirely with an emoji.
See Australian Aboriginal kinship for more details.
 
   
=== Special uses ===
+
==== List of pronouns ====
  +
''See main article: [[Pronoun/List]]''
Some special uses of personal pronouns include:
 
   
  +
== Misgendering ==
* Generic ''you'', where second person pronouns are used in an indefinite sense: '''''You''' can't buy good old-fashioned bulbs these days.''
 
  +
''See main article: [[Misgendering]]''
* Generic ''they'': ''In China '''they''' drive on the right.''
 
* Gender non-specific uses, where a pronoun needs to be found to refer to a person whose gender is not specified. Solutions sometimes used in English include generic ''he'' and singular ''they''. The singular ''they'' has gained popularity in LGBTQ+ culture to refer to those that identify as non-binary or genderqueer and as a way to refer to a person gender-neutrally. Vernacular usage of "yo" as a gender neutral pronoun has also been recorded among school students in Baltimore.
 
* Dummy pronouns (expletive pronouns), used to satisfy a grammatical requirement for a noun or pronoun, but contributing nothing to its meaning: '''''It''' is raining.''
 
* Nosism
 
* Preferred gender pronoun selected to reflect gender identity
 
* Resumptive pronouns, "intrusive" personal pronouns found (for example) in some relative clauses where a gap (trace) might be expected: ''This is the girl that I don't know what '''she''' said.''
 
* Royal we, used to refer to a single person who is a monarch: '''''We''' are not amused.''
 
*
 
   
  +
Using the incorrect pronouns for someone when you are aware of their pronouns is misgendering. Misgendering is an act of erasure and transphobia.
pronouns.
 
   
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== Gallery ==
The use of pronouns often involves anaphora, where the meaning of the pronoun is dependent on an antecedent. For example, in the sentence ''That poor man looks as if he needs a new coat'', the antecedent of the pronoun ''he'' is dependent on ''that poor man''.
 
   
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== Sources ==
The adjective associated with "pronoun" is "'''pronominal'''". A pronominal is also a word or phrase that acts as a pronoun. For example, in ''That's not the one I wanted'', the phrase ''the one'' (containing the prop-word ''one'') is a pronominal.
 
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Revision as of 06:19, 5 June 2021

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Reason: Grammar section is directly taken from Wikipedia, could use some more sources about what defines a pronoun, and about the statistics of better mental health when people's pronouns are respected, misgendering section needs filled out

We must remember that the English pronoun system is not fixed. Several centuries ago the objective plural you drove the nominative and objective singulars thou and thee and the nominative plural ye out of general use. It appears to have happened for social reasons, not linguistic reasons. They, their, them have been used continuously for six centuries, and have been disparaged in such use for about two centuries.
— —Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, 1994

In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated pro) is a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. For transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people, choosing

The adjective associated with "pronoun" is "pronominal". A pronominal is also a word or phrase that acts as a pronoun. For example, in That's not the one I need, the phrase the one a pronominal.



Grammar

Pronouns (antōnymía) are listed as one of eight parts of speech in The Art of Grammar, a treatise on Greek grammar attributed to Dionysius Thrax and dating from the 2nd century BC. The pronoun is described there as "a part of speech substitutable for a noun and marked for a person." Pronouns continued to be regarded as a part of speech in Latin grammar (the Latin term being pronomen, from which the English name – through Middle French – ultimately derives), and thus in the European tradition generally.

In more modern approaches, pronouns are less likely to be considered to be a single word class, because of the many different syntactic roles that they play, as represented by the various different types of pronouns listed in the previous sections.

English Personal Pronouns

English pronouns have a number of different syntactic contexts:

Common personal pronouns in standard Modern English
Person Number/Gender Subject Object Dependent possessive (determiner) Independent possessive Reflexive
First Singular I me my mine myself
Plural we us our ours ourselves
Second Singular you your yours yourself
Plural yourselves
Third Masculine he him his himself
Feminine she her hers herself
Neuter/Inanimate it its itself
Plural/Epicene they them their theirs themself / themselves
Singular/Epicene they them their theirs themself / themselves

Personal and possessive

Personal pronouns may be classified by person, number, gender and case. English has three persons (first, second and third) and two numbers (singular and plural). Most commonly recognized in the third person singular there are also distinct pronoun forms for male, female and neutral gender.

Exipronouns

Neopronouns

Main article: Neopronoun

Neopronouns are 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.

Nounself

Main article: Nounself

Nounself pronouns are a subset of neopronouns that are more directly based on words, often nouns.

History

It is unclear where the word "nounself" itself was first coined, although it may be on Tumblr because of the amount of popularity that nounself sets gained, starting in 2015.

Thonself

The earliest example of what could be called a nounself pronoun was proposed by by American lawyer Charles Crozat Converse in 1884. Converse took the words "this one" and "that one" and proposed thon as a gender-neutral pronoun set.

thon. Pronoun of the 3rd person, common gender, meaning “that one, he she, or it”: a neoterism proposed by Charles Crozat Converse, and apparently complying with the neoteristic canons, since it supplies an antecedent blank, obeys a simple and obvious analogy, and is euphonious.
— —Funk and Wagnalls, Supplement to A Standard Dictionary of the English Language, 1903, https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/third-person-gender-neutral-pronoun-thon

For most of the 20th century, thon appeared in various publications of Funk and Wagnalls, and also spread to another dictionary, Merriam-Webster’s Second New International Dictionary (1934 edition). Thon was removed from abridged dictionary in the third edition.

Humanist Pronouns

Often called humanist pronouns, hu/hum/hus/hus/humself was used in several college humanities texts published by Bandanna Books and originated by editor Sasha Newborn in 1982.

Faeself And Others

One of the most commonly recognized nounself pronoun sets is fae/faer, first seen online in 2013.[1]

Okay, so!

Why did I choose fae/vaer as my pronouns?

Because I am fae. I am described as such by people who don’t know me — fae and feline and not-exactly-human. I do identify as faen, and in some ways angel as well, and fae and angel are the goals of my presentation. My choice of fae as a pronoun reflects this.

Using fae as a pronoun started out half a joke, a 1am offhand comment that fae would be one of the only things I could use as a pronoun and identify with. The next morning, it wasn’t so much a joke anymore, and by the end of the day my girlfriend and I had come up with how fae would work as a pronoun.

To address the point about fae as binary or not — it depends on your source material. My personal view on this is that fae and fae creatures as stand outside the binary. They probably have some form of gender, but it’s most definitely not our human binary. Angels, on the other hand, are genderless. They have no sex and they have no gender. Together, fae and angels are the two sides of androgyny that are possible, and kind of form a secondary arc around the male/female binary: that of gendered/genderless.

…so in some ways, I’m using fae as a giant ‘fuck you’ to the gender binary and a refusal of much of the American culture surrounding gender. My gender is yes. Except when it’s no. Either way, it’s not male or female and using a pronoun that is very associated with creatures that stand outside humankind is, for me at least, a very good way to remind people of this constantly.

— Eidolan


Emojiself

Main article: Emojiself

Emojiself pronouns are a subset of neopronouns and nounself pronouns that replace the content of the pronoun entirely with an emoji.

List of pronouns

See main article: Pronoun/List

Misgendering

See main article: Misgendering

Using the incorrect pronouns for someone when you are aware of their pronouns is misgendering. Misgendering is an act of erasure and transphobia.

Gallery

Sources