Gender Free Pronouns

Katherine Phelps
May 1998

For the purposes of Odysseus, She I wanted to use gender free pronouns when referring to the deities. These beings are undoubtedly sexual in nature, but specific gender or shape are completely optional. Interestingly, gender free pronouns are quite a hot topic on the Internet, since some people wish their gender to be anonymous as well when interacting with others.

Pronouns
SUBJECT OBJECT POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE POSSESSIVE PRONOUN REFLEXIVE NUMBER NOTES
FIRST PERSON

I

me

my

mine

myself

singular

  

we

us

our

ours

ourselves

plural

  
SECOND PERSON

you

you

your

yours

yourself

singular

  

you

you

your

yours

yourselves

plural

  
THIRD PERSON

she

her

her

hers

herself

singular

feminine

he

him

his

his

himself

singular

masculine

phe

per

pers

pers

perself

singular

gfp*

it

it

its

its

itself

singular

neuter

they

them

their

theirs

themselves

plural

  

*Gender Free Pronouns
SUBJECT OBJECT POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE POSSESSIVE PRONOUN REFLEXIVE NOTES

phe

per

pers

pers

perself

Based on the shortening of "person".

sie

hir

hir

hirs

hirself

Form most commonly used on the Net.

zie

zir

zir

zirs

zirself

Also, commonly used on the Net.

ey

em

eir

eirs

eirself

Recommended by the author of the GFP FAQ <http://www.lumina.net/OLD/gfp/>.

Sample Applications

Original

"Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world's end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East. He had gone there to accept his due of a hecatomb of sheep and oxen which were his by right each May, and was enjoying himself at his festival; but the other deities met in the house of Olympian Jove, and the progenitor of deities and people spoke first. At that moment the thoughts concerning him were of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon's son Orestes."

"So saying Athena bound on her glittering golden sandals, imperishable, with which she can fly like the wind over land or sea; she grasped the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy and strong, wherewith she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased her, and down she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus, whereon forthwith she was in Ithaca, at the gateway of Ulysses' house, having disguised herself as a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and she held a bronze spear in her hand. Hers were the first words Telemakhos heard that morn."

Phe/Per/Pers

"Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world's end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East. Phe had gone there to accept pers due of a hecatomb of sheep and oxen which were pers by right each May, and was enjoying perself at pers festival; but the other deities met in the house of Olympian Jove, and the progenitor of deities and people spoke first. At that moment the thoughts concerning per were of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon's son Orestes."

"So saying Athena bound on per glittering golden sandals, imperishable, with which phe can fly like the wind over land or sea; phe grasped the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy and strong, wherewith phe quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased per, and down phe darted from the topmost summits of Olympus, whereon forthwith phe was in Ithaca, at the gateway of Ulysses' house, having disguised perself as a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and phe held a bronze spear in per hand. Pers were the first words Telemakhos heard that morn."

Comments

This pronoun set seemed the most reasonable and soundly for my purposes with Odysseus, She. It is derived from a shortening of the word "person" and I have seen it used now and again, though without a complete declension set which I had to invent. The major difficulty with it is the fact that "per" already has an extant meaning. Nevertheless, the likelihood of both senses of the word being used within a sentence is very low, and comprehension within context is probable. Moreover, the use of the word "per" to mean "according to" is unlikely to appear within my story.

Sie/Hir/Hirs

"Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world's end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East. Sie had gone there to accept hir due of a hecatomb of sheep and oxen which were hirs by right each May, and was enjoying hirself at hir festival; but the other deities met in the house of Olympian Jove, and the progenitor of deities and people spoke first. At that moment the thoughts concerning hir were of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon's son Orestes."

"So saying Athena bound on hir glittering golden sandals, imperishable, with which sie can fly like the wind over land or sea; sie grasped the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy and strong, wherewith sie quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased hir, and down sie darted from the topmost summits of Olympus, whereon forthwith sie was in Ithaca, at the gateway of Ulysses' house, having disguised hirself as a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and sie held a bronze spear in hir hand. Hirs were the first words Telemakhos heard that morn."

Comments

"Sie" can be pronounced as "she", and "hir" sounds like "her". This completely falls down in spoken English as a viable alternative.

Zie/Zir/Zirs

"Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world's end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East. Zie had gone there to accept zir due of a hecatomb of sheep and oxen which were zirs by right each May, and was enjoying zirself at his festival; but the other deities met in the house of Olympian Jove, and the progenitor of deities and people spoke first. At that moment the thoughts concerning zir were of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon's son Orestes."

"So saying Athena bound on zir glittering golden sandals, imperishable, with which zie can fly like the wind over land or sea; zie grasped the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy and strong, wherewith zie quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased zir, and down zie darted from the topmost summits of Olympus, whereon forthwith zie was in Ithaca, at the gateway of Ulysses' house, having disguised zirself as a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and zie held a bronze spear in zir hand. Zirs were the first words Telemakhos heard that morn."

Comments

This is probably the best solution, since it seems well removed from any gender connotations. I had diffculty with its soundliness. "Z" is not a commonly used letter in our language and its sound does not frequently begin words. The result is that this pronoun set sounds foreign, even germanic, to the English speaking ear.

Ey/Em/Eir

"Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world's end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East. Ey had gone there to accept eir due of a hecatomb of sheep and oxen which were eirs by right each May, and was enjoying eirself at eir festival; but the other deities met in the house of Olympian Jove, and the progenitor of deities and people spoke first. At that moment the thoughts concerning em were of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon's son Orestes."

"So saying Athena bound on eir glittering golden sandals, imperishable, with which ey can fly like the wind over land or sea; ey grasped the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy and strong, wherewith ey quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased em, and down ey darted from the topmost summits of Olympus, whereon forthwith ey was in Ithaca, at the gateway of Ulysses' house, having disguised eirself as a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and ey held a bronze spear in eir hand. Eirs were the first words Telemakhos heard that morn."

Comments

This pronoun set comes from simply chopping "th" off of the beginnings of "they", "them" and "their". "Em" sounds close to "him" and is used frequently in the written form of spoken English for "them", such as: "Give it to 'em!" The overall effect of this set is far too exotic to be anything but jarring.

For even further analysis see the Gender-Free Pronoun FAQ.

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Copyright © 1998 Katherine Phelps