Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns

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This is a list of third-person singular pronouns which are used in English. First the common, traditional pronouns are listed: he, she, it, one and the singular they; then, periphrastic or combined forms and attested gender-neutral pronouns are listed.

Nominative (subject) Accusative (object) Possessive adjective Possessive pronoun Reflexive
Traditional pronouns
masculine he laughs I kissed him his head hurts that is his he feeds himself
feminine she laughs I kissed her her head hurts that is hers she feeds herself
neuter it laughs I kissed it its head hurts that is its it feeds itself
"one" one laughs I kissed one one’s head hurts that is one’s one feeds oneself
singular "they" they laugh I kissed them their head hurts that is theirs they feed themself / themselves
Combined forms
"he or she" he or she laughs I kissed him or her his or her head hurts that is his or hers he or she feeds him or herself, him- or herself, himself or herself
"she or he" she or he laughs I kissed her or him her or his head hurts
"he/she" he/she laughs I kissed him/her his/her head hurts that is his/hers he/she feeds him/herself, himself/herself
"she/he" she/he laughs I kissed her/him her/his head hurts that is hers/his she/he feeds her/himself, herself/himself
"s/he", "(s)he" s/he, (s)he laughs
Neopronouns
"yo"[1] yo laughs I kissed yo
Elverson[2] ey laughs I kissed em eir head hurts that is eirs ey feeds emself
Spivak (original)[3] e laughs I kissed em eir head hurts that is eirs e feeds emself
Spivak variants ey laughs
e laughs
I kissed em eir head hurts that is eirs ey feeds emself
ey feeds eirself
e feeds emself
e feeds eirself
"s/he" and "hir"[4] s/he laughs I kissed hir hir head hurts that is hirs s/he feeds hirself
"sie" and "hir"[5] sie laughs I kissed hir hir head hurts that is hirs sie feeds hirself
"shi" and "hir" (furry variant of "sie"/"hir") shi laughs I kissed hir hir head hurts that is hirs shi feeds hirself
"ze" and "hir"[6] ze laughs I kissed hir hir head hurts that is hirs ze feeds hirself
"ze" and "zir"[7] ze laughs I kissed zir zir head hurts that is zirs ze feeds zirself
"ve" ve laughs I kissed ver vis head hurts that is vers ve feeds verself
"xe" xe laughs I kissed xem xyr head hurts
xir head hurts
that is xyrs
that is xirs
xe feeds xemself
xe feeds xirself
xe feeds xyrself
"hu" hu laughs I kissed hu hu head hurts hu feeds huself
"per"[8] per laughs I kissed per per / pers head hurts that is pers per feeds perself
"co"[9] co laughs I kissed co co’s / cos head hurts that is co’s / cos co feeds coself
"thon"[10][11] thon laughs I kissed thon thons head hurts that is thon’s thon feeds thonself
"heorshe" heorshe laughs I kissed himorher hisorher head hurts heorshe feeds himorherself
"fae"[12] fae laughs I kissed faer faer head hurts that is faers fae feeds faerself

References

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  1. ^ Spontaneously created at Baltimore schools, no background related to transgender, feminism, science fiction, or technical writing known, Stotko and Troyer 2007
  2. ^ Coined by Christine M. Elverson of Skokie, Illinois, to win a contest in 1975. Promoted as preferable to other major contenders (sie, zie and singular they) by John Williams’s Gender-neutral Pronoun FAQ (2004).
    • Black, Judie (1975 August 23) “Ey has a word for it”, in Chicago Tribune, section 1, page 12).
  3. ^ Popularized by LambdaMOO in 1991, based on the use of E, Ey, and Eir in The Joy of TeX (1983) by Michael Spivak.
  4. ^ Used in science fiction like Peter David’s Star Trek: New Frontier book series.
  5. ^ First recorded use on Usenet: Chip Hitchcock (1981 May 26) “receptors”, in fa.sf-lovers[1] (Usenet), retrieved 2007-01-01
  6. ^ Kate Bornstein (1997 December 18) My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely[2], London, New York: Routledge, →ISBN, →LCCN
  7. ^ Lynsey Calderwood (2002) Cracked: Recovering After Traumatic Brain Injury, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 155
  8. ^ MediaMOO's "person" gender, derived from Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time (1979), in which people of 2137 use "per" as their sole third-person pronoun.
  9. ^ Coined by feminist writer Mary Orovan in 1970; in common usage in intentional communities of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities.
    • Dennis Baron (2010 June 22 (last accessed)) “The Epicene Pronouns”, in Illinois University[3]
    • Jim Kingdon (2010 June 22 (last accessed)) “Gender-free Pronouns in English”, in Panix[4]
  10. ^ C. C. Converse (1884 July 23) “A New Pronoun”, in The Critic and Good Literature[5], number 31, New York, published 1884 August 2, page 55
  11. ^ C. Crozat Converse (1889 November) “That Desired Impersonal Pronoun”, in The Writer[6], volume 3, number 2, Boston, pages 247-248
  12. ^ Ehm Hjorth Miltersen, “Nounself pronouns: 3rd person personal pronouns as identity expression”, Journal of Language Works, Volume 1, Number 1 (2016)