Can the epicene personal pronoun be used regardless of semantic gender of the word?
Examples:
My father told me that when they were a little boy, they would help their friends with homework.
The bitch attracted so many dogs in the neighborhood. Now, they are pregnant with puppies.
"Father" is masculine semantically. But the pronoun they is used instead of he. This has nothing to do with the father's gender identity. The speaker just uses they pronoun for an obviously male person.
Bitch is feminine semantically, referring to a female domestic canine. Dogs in that context are male domestic canines. Males cannot get pregnant, so obviously, "they" is used to refer to the bitch.
More Examples:
I am agender. My pronoun is they.
I am male. My pronoun is they.
I am female. My pronoun is they.
Elizabeth is my girlfriend and a great cook. They bake the best cookies.
See that man over there? They sell street food.
Another Example:
And so, they said...
Is your teacher male or female?
Male.
Go on.
And so, they said...
gender gender-neutral singular-they grammatical-gender
add a comment |
Examples:
My father told me that when they were a little boy, they would help their friends with homework.
The bitch attracted so many dogs in the neighborhood. Now, they are pregnant with puppies.
"Father" is masculine semantically. But the pronoun they is used instead of he. This has nothing to do with the father's gender identity. The speaker just uses they pronoun for an obviously male person.
Bitch is feminine semantically, referring to a female domestic canine. Dogs in that context are male domestic canines. Males cannot get pregnant, so obviously, "they" is used to refer to the bitch.
More Examples:
I am agender. My pronoun is they.
I am male. My pronoun is they.
I am female. My pronoun is they.
Elizabeth is my girlfriend and a great cook. They bake the best cookies.
See that man over there? They sell street food.
Another Example:
And so, they said...
Is your teacher male or female?
Male.
Go on.
And so, they said...
gender gender-neutral singular-they grammatical-gender
This is a question about "gender neutral" language, and it's still in its formative stages.
– Hot Licks
1 min ago
add a comment |
Examples:
My father told me that when they were a little boy, they would help their friends with homework.
The bitch attracted so many dogs in the neighborhood. Now, they are pregnant with puppies.
"Father" is masculine semantically. But the pronoun they is used instead of he. This has nothing to do with the father's gender identity. The speaker just uses they pronoun for an obviously male person.
Bitch is feminine semantically, referring to a female domestic canine. Dogs in that context are male domestic canines. Males cannot get pregnant, so obviously, "they" is used to refer to the bitch.
More Examples:
I am agender. My pronoun is they.
I am male. My pronoun is they.
I am female. My pronoun is they.
Elizabeth is my girlfriend and a great cook. They bake the best cookies.
See that man over there? They sell street food.
Another Example:
And so, they said...
Is your teacher male or female?
Male.
Go on.
And so, they said...
gender gender-neutral singular-they grammatical-gender
Examples:
My father told me that when they were a little boy, they would help their friends with homework.
The bitch attracted so many dogs in the neighborhood. Now, they are pregnant with puppies.
"Father" is masculine semantically. But the pronoun they is used instead of he. This has nothing to do with the father's gender identity. The speaker just uses they pronoun for an obviously male person.
Bitch is feminine semantically, referring to a female domestic canine. Dogs in that context are male domestic canines. Males cannot get pregnant, so obviously, "they" is used to refer to the bitch.
More Examples:
I am agender. My pronoun is they.
I am male. My pronoun is they.
I am female. My pronoun is they.
Elizabeth is my girlfriend and a great cook. They bake the best cookies.
See that man over there? They sell street food.
Another Example:
And so, they said...
Is your teacher male or female?
Male.
Go on.
And so, they said...
gender gender-neutral singular-they grammatical-gender
gender gender-neutral singular-they grammatical-gender
asked 11 mins ago
Double UDouble U
93851127
93851127
This is a question about "gender neutral" language, and it's still in its formative stages.
– Hot Licks
1 min ago
add a comment |
This is a question about "gender neutral" language, and it's still in its formative stages.
– Hot Licks
1 min ago
This is a question about "gender neutral" language, and it's still in its formative stages.
– Hot Licks
1 min ago
This is a question about "gender neutral" language, and it's still in its formative stages.
– Hot Licks
1 min ago
add a comment |
0
active
oldest
votes
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f481196%2fcan-the-epicene-personal-pronoun-be-used-regardless-of-semantic-gender-of-the-wo%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
0
active
oldest
votes
0
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f481196%2fcan-the-epicene-personal-pronoun-be-used-regardless-of-semantic-gender-of-the-wo%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
This is a question about "gender neutral" language, and it's still in its formative stages.
– Hot Licks
1 min ago