Posted on 06/24/2007 2:29:33 PM PDT by rhema
For at least 150 years, people have been trying to solve the pronoun dilemma.
That would be the dilemma that causes odd word formations out of fairness to both genders: "he or she," "him or her," or "s/he." Some avoid the gender question altogether by speaking in the plural, as in "If anyone asks, tell them what they need to know."
Some people have taken the more extreme approach of devising entirely new pronouns that specify no gender. "Ne," "hizer," "thon," "shem" and "herm" are just a few that came along and faded quickly. They're known as gender-neutral, or epicene, pronouns.
The latest such pronoun comes from DeAnn DeLuna, who teaches literature at Johns Hopkins University. Her creation, "hu," would replace he, she, him, her and his. Because it's just one word, unlike an entire set of pronouns, DeLuna says it's easier to use than other gender-neutral pronouns. And the word (pronounced "huh"), trips off the tongue easily.
Gender and pronouns have vexed language watchers for some time. At one point, the English language had no clear female pronoun, so it was a monumental shift when "she" emerged in the 12th century. In 2000, the American Dialect Society chose "she" as its Word of the Millennium.
The matter doesn't prey too heavily on most people's minds, but the debate hasn't gone away.
The most common solution, using "they" or "them," irks grammarians when the subject is singular. "One" is another pronoun substitute, and one that falls short. "When one opens one's book, one will read from it." That's kind of awkward. Beyond grammatical and aesthetic concerns are the sociopolitical. Folks in the transgender community have long charged that "he" or "she" forces them into categories they don't necessarily identify with.
DeLuna says "hu" has been well-received within the transgender community. And she has given her creation a jump-start of sorts: She recently edited a book of essays about the historian J.G.A. Pocock and insisted that the book's writers use the pronoun. "I had to be very tactful," she said, but added that all the contributors went along with it.
It's an uphill battle, DeLuna knows, but she holds out hopes that "hu" will enter everyday speech.
Good luck with that, says Dennis Baron, author of "Grammar and Gender."
"It's hard to say 'I got a great idea' and get other people to say 'let's do it,' " he said. "There's the 'you're not the boss of me' response. People want to be correct, but they don't want to be corrected."
Baron says more than 100 different alternative pronouns have been suggested since the mid-19th century. Some are combinations of male and female pronouns, like "heesh." Others borrow from other languages, such as "ta" from the Mandarin. None has taken hold.
"Of all the words in language, pronoun systems tend to be more conservative," said Baron, who teaches at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Change moves at a glacial pace, he says.
But progress has been made, DeLuna says. Until the 1960s, few people thought twice about using "he" as an all-inclusive pronoun. But to modern ears, using "he" across the board sounds more jarring than "they."
Gender-neutral pronouns have found limited success in academia. Among Connecticut Wesleyan students, for instance, the preferred alternative pronouns are "ze," "zim" and their possessive, "hir." But even within the progressive environs of that university, some professors have reservations about words that haven't made their way into most dictionaries.
Matthew Sharpe, who teaches English at Wesleyan, says he's politically sympathetic to the cause of gender-neutral pronouns. "Aesthetically, though, they rankle," he said in an e-mail. "But so does 'their,' which more and more people seem to use as the possessive form of the general pronoun. I don't think we've found a good solution to the problem yet."
DeLuna has learned people take their pronouns seriously. Even her friends have told her "hu" is a little too radical. That's fine with her - debate is good.
"I'm interested in people having fun with language," she said. "The idea is just to communicate."
Those folks have a mental disorder. We are being preached to about giving the mentally ill preference when we use the English language. That makes US insane as well.
PC should take it’s rightful place, well hidden behind that huge rock, where all lies hide, never to be bowed to or spoken again.
If you'd followed the anthropomorphic he with a reference to the King's English, you'd probably still be doing hard time.
Sure does....and it would sound ridiculous using it in prose, or any other normal communication.
Hu’s on first?
Wryly and elegantly stated!
Hu’s on first?
I'm perpetually thankful for the winsome and witty FReeper community.
You’ll let me know when this is settled.
As distinguished from the mutually exclusive category of academic communication.
I think it's irrevocably settled on this forum. Of course, we may all be targeted for language internment camps if the loony-left academics get their way.
Everyone:
In case I spontaneously break into Spanish this evening, may I use the familiar ‘tu’ form with you?
Silly
Why do we need a gender-neutral personal pronoun? We don’t have any gender-neutral people. Has the world gone completely mad?
Whoa!
I zinger in the argument. Obviously, if I still prefer "he" I am by definition not modern.
Pity. I may need to start looking into Ambien.
Alas, modern man. what is he to do?
Now, where are those socks I need to sort?
[cue Roger Daltrey and the fellas:]
“Hu are you? Hu, hu? Hu, hu?”
Well, welcome to our "un-modern" ears outcast group.
*sniff*
There you go; you found the ideal compromise.
I shan't elaborate in deference to the trolls who are in love with the abuse button, and the mods who empower them...
Grammatically emasculate huself for the good of the cause?
No, not the world. Only a few individuals of limited power and utility.
That would be mi hermano or mi hermana, no distinction.
However, voy con ella and voy con el" have obvious and definite genders...
A little learning is a dangerous thing.
Thanks for expanding my grammar horizons. I was thinking of hu strictly as a personal pronoun. You've discovered a use for it as an interrogative pronoun.
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