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neopronouns have existed since the 1850s.
they are not a "trender" thing, they've been around for a very long time.
here's a thread on neopronouns throughout history.
they are not a "trender" thing, they've been around for a very long time.
here's a thread on neopronouns throughout history.
Neopronouns 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. +
In English, and many other Indo-European languages, third-person pronouns can be gendered.
One of the earliest known instances of neopronouns were the thon/thons pronoun set, created by American composer Charles Crozat Converse in 1858. It was based on a contraction of "that one".
And, yes, they were created with the intention of being gender-neutral.
And, yes, they were created with the intention of being gender-neutral.
The thon/thons pronoun set was later included in some dictionaries; like Webster's International Dictionary from 1910, Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary from 1913, and Webster's Second International from 1959.
Next up, e/em/ems. There were multiple proposals for pronouns like e/ems, but the earliest example was from 1890 by James Rogers of Crestview, Florida. It was made in direct response to the thon/thons set, and was derived from the he/him and they/them pronoun sets.
Co/co/cos pronouns were created by Mary Orovan in 1970. It is derived from the Indo-European 'ko', as a gender-neutral alternative to he or she. +
Co/cos pronouns are still used in communities today. Co/cos is recognized and used in the legal policies of Twin Oaks in Virginia, which provides information on the pronoun in its visitor guide web page: https://www.twinoakscommunity.org/twinoaks-visits-60/visit-tour-intro.
It is not known for sure who created the ve/ver + vi/vir pronouns, but the earliest usage of ve/ver is from the 1970s by Greg Egan, who used it in his books Distress (1995) and Diaspora (1998): http://www.urticator.net/essay/0/30.html
Ve/ver was also used by Keri Hulme in her novel The Bone People (1984).
The earliest known example of ve/vir comes from the 1970 May issue of Everywoman.
The earliest known example of ve/vir comes from the 1970 May issue of Everywoman.
Xe/xem is most commonly said to be created by Don Rickter in 1973, first being used in an issue of Unitarian Universalist. The coining was confirmed by Mario Pei, who gave Rickter credit for them in his 1978 book Weasel Words.
Also known as "person pronouns", per/pers/perself are meant to be used for someone of any gender. John Clark created per/pers pronouns in his 1972 issue of the Newsletter of the American Anthropological Association. +
Person pronouns were notably used in the 1976 novel Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy.
sources:
There is no source for John Clark's coining; websites have all been taken down or can no longer be found, so that claim is not entirely reliable. However, there is a source for Marge Piercy's usage of person pronouns- https://www.google.com/books/edition/Woman_on_the_Edge_of_Time/e6HZCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
There is no source for John Clark's coining; websites have all been taken down or can no longer be found, so that claim is not entirely reliable. However, there is a source for Marge Piercy's usage of person pronouns- https://www.google.com/books/edition/Woman_on_the_Edge_of_Time/e6HZCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
Ey/em, also known as Elverson pronouns, were created by Christine M. Elverson to win a contest in which the goal was to create an alternative to singular they/them pronouns in 1975.
Hu/hum/hus, also known as Humanist pronouns, were created by Sasha Newborn in 1982 in a college humanities text. They were based on the word 'human', making them the first known instance of nounself pronouns in history.
source: http://www.hupronoun.org/
The first known instance of ze/zir (and its many variations) being used is in 1997 by Richard Creel, who proposed ze/zer/mer pronouns.
sources:
- https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/organized-by-pronoun/
- https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1823&context=honors
- https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com/links/organized-by-pronoun/
- https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1823&context=honors
End of thread.
Please note- this is a very, VERY general and simplified overview of neopronouns throughout history. It is so much more complex than just this thread. I've taken notes from different sites & articles, and confirmed my research from reliable sources.
Please note- this is a very, VERY general and simplified overview of neopronouns throughout history. It is so much more complex than just this thread. I've taken notes from different sites & articles, and confirmed my research from reliable sources.
I'll be muting the thread shortly to avoid getting my notifications clogged by it, but you can send any questions/corrections/extra sources through DMs or an anonymous message on my CuriousCat! https://curiouscat.qa/clefdrakiz
Thank you for reading through this all! Have a nice day/night, wherever you are!
