The Evolution of Personal Pronouns

Let's open this posting with a recent press conference held with New Zealand's newly minted Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins where he is asked a question that is, apparently, almost impossible for him to answer:

So, according to Hipkins, you can define your own gender!

Now, let's move along.  Those tiny little words that we learned about in elementary school called pronouns have become a flashpoint during the current "woke" era.  A website called "Pronouns.org" weighs into the fray with its politically correct versions of pronouns as they now stand.

  

Let's start with a definition of a pronoun:

 

"A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns refer to either a noun that has already been mentioned or to a noun that does not need to be named specifically. 

 

The most common pronouns are the personal pronouns, which refer to the person or people speaking or writing (first person), the person or people being spoken to (second person), or other people or things (third person). Like nouns, personal pronouns can function as either the subject of a verb or the object of a verb or preposition: "She likes him, but he loves her."

There are also interrogative pronouns (what, which, who, whom and whose), possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours and theirs), relative pronouns (that, which, who, whom, what and whose), indefinite pronouns (everybody, either, none and something) and reflexive pronouns (add -self or -selves to a personal pronoun).

For this posting, we are going to focus on personal pronouns.  In modern English and in the pre-woke era, we learned that personal pronouns included the words "I," "you," "he," "she," "it," "we," "they," "them," "us," "him," "her," "his," "hers," "its," "theirs," "our," and "your."

  

Now, let's go to the Pronouns.org website and look at how they recommend that we use personal pronouns.  This website was first published on January 22, 2017 as MyPronouns.org and changed its name to Pronouns.org on June 3, 2022.  It claims the following:

 

"Pronouns.org is a practical resource dedicated to the empowering and inclusive use of personal pronouns in the English language. This website will help you understand why and how to use the pronouns someone goes by. In particular, we are focusing on pronouns used to refer to a singular human in the third person....

 

This website refers to “personal pronouns” because “gender pronouns” may not be accurate as some people are agender and their pronouns are not necessarily meant to express any gender. When we refer to "personal" pronouns, we don't mean that these pronouns are necessarily private information (generally they are not), we mean that they are pronouns referring to a unique and individual person.

 

This website does not use the terms “feminine pronouns” or “masculine pronouns” because pronouns have no universal gendering, although we acknowledge that many people go by certain pronouns in order to express or affirm their gender. Many people may also go by certain pronouns because they are safe or socially accepted, even though those pronouns' typical gender associations may not apply to that person. Some people go by “they” pronouns, which might be thought of as “gender neutral” pronouns, but could be used for a variety of reasons that may have nothing to do with the gender of the person who goes by them.

 

We do not refer to what pronouns a person "prefers" or "likes" because we believe in most cases people have pronouns that they "go by" and are the correct ones to use to refer to that person. We avoid the language of asking what pronouns someone "uses" because those who are less familiar with personal pronouns can get confused and think that they are being asked which pronouns are a part of their vocabulary and not which pronouns should be used to refer to them as an individual."

 

Here is how Pronouns.org recommends using personal pronouns:

"When a person shares their pronouns, they are naming the pronouns that they want to be referred to by in the singular third person (when referring to that person while talking to someone else). Singular pronouns in the first person (when referring to yourself) or second person (when referring to a person when talking to that same person) do not vary. For reference, however, we have included examples of singular first person and second person pronouns, as well third person pronouns.

Singular first person pronouns (that you should continue to use, as is):

 

“I am a writer and wrote that book myself. Those ideas are mine. Do you like both me and my ideas?”

 

Singular second person pronouns (that you should continue to use, as is):

 

“You are a writer and wrote that book yourself. Those ideas are yours. I like both you and your ideas.”

 

Singular third person pronouns (that you should use as appropriate based on the pronouns the person being referred to goes by).

 

Just because a person goes by a certain set or sets of pronouns is not indicative of that person’s gender. A person could be transgender or not transgender (also called “cisgender” - the vast majority of the population is cisgender) and might share the pronouns they go by. A person could be a man or a woman or both or neither and share any number of these sets of pronouns as the correct ones to use for them, but which set they go by is not necessarily indicative of their gender, even though for most people there is an association between the pronouns they go by and the gender they are.

 

Here are some examples:

 

She/Her: “She is a writer and wrote that book herself. Those ideas are hers. I like both her and her ideas.”

 

He/Him: “He is a writer and wrote that book himself. Those ideas are his. I like both him and his ideas.”

 

They/Them: “They are a writer and wrote that book themself. Those ideas are theirs. I like both them and their ideas.” 

Please note that although “they” pronouns here are singular and refer to an individual, the verbs are conjugated the same as with the plural “they” (e.g. “they are”). Also note that in this singular pronoun set many use “themself” rather than “themselves,” although both are typically acceptable.

 

Pronouns.org also has a page on "neopronouns" which refers to pronoun sets developed from the 20th century (or sometimes 19th century) to today.  These include the following:

 

1.) Ze/Hir: Although the pronoun "ze" tends to be thought of as gender neutral (and many people find pronouns to be an important affirmation of identity), a person who goes by "ze" could actually be a man, a woman, both, neither, or something else entirely.  The word“ze” is generally pronounced with a long “e” and that “hir” and its forms are usually pronounced like the English word “here.” Instead of ze/hir pronouns, some people go by "ze/zir" pronouns because of the more consistent pronunciation and spelling.

Here is are examples of how to use ze/hir/zir:

"Ze/hir example: “Ze is a writer and wrote that book hirself. Those ideas are hirs. I like both hir and hir ideas.”

Ze/zir example: “Ze is a writer and wrote that book zirself. Those ideas are zirs. I like both zir and zir ideas.”

The word “ze” is usually pronounced with a long “e” and that “hir” and its forms are usually pronounced like the English word “here.” Some people instead go by "ze/zir" pronouns because of the more consistent pronunciation and spelling.

 

2.) ey/em/eirs: non binary pronouns often used by transgender, genderqueer and gender non-conforming people (constructed by dropping the "th" from they, them and theirs as shown on this table:

There is no doubt that the world has become a gender landmine when it comes to personal pronouns.  The simple days of the "she/her/he/him" personal pronouns and just looking at a person's physical appearance to mentally assess their preferred pronoun would appear to be in the rearview mirror, particularly as institutions of higher learning adopt formal policies on the use of gender neutral and gender sensitive pronouns in this multi-gender world where, according to one world leader, you can define your own gender.

I'd like to close this posting with a quote from a recent Substack by Dr. Jessica Rose, a postdoctoral researcher in biochemistry and computational biology (among others) who defines a women like this:

"An adult female human being carrying two X chromosomes."

You can argue with that all that you want but you can't change biological reality no matter how much you mess with pronouns.