Share
Pronouns, Anglish

Gender
Image from Steve Bowers

A number of new pronouns became current in Early and Middle Anglic and descended languages as new kinds of sophont being became common. He, she, it, and the plural forms were used just as they had been in Old Anglic and its ancestral English. However, some very general pronouns (e, em, eir, eirs, and eirself) were used for all sophont beings without regard to number, gender, or category, and another set (per, pers, and perself) was used to distinguish individual sentient beings without regard to gender or type. Sophont hermaphrodites had a unique set of pronouns (se, hir, hirs, hirself) as did nonsexual sophonts (je, jer, jers, jerself). Virtual sophont beings were sometimes also distinguished (ve, ver, veir, vers, verself) as were non-Terragen sentients (xe, xer, xeir, xers, xerself), especially if the other more specific pronoun sets could not be accurately applied.



non- specific pronoun non- gender- specific personal pronoun male and ferm female and merm hemoth (hermaph-
rodite)		 neut (nonsexual person) object
(non-
person)
subjective e / ey per he she se je it
objective em per him her hir jer it
possessive adjective eir pers his hers hirs jers its
possessive pronoun eirs pers his hers hirs jers its
reflexive emself or eirself perself himself herself hirself jerself itself

non- gender- specific virtual entity non- gender- specific alien entity plural (generic)
subjective ve xe they
objective ver xer them
possessive adjective veir xeir their
possessive pronoun vers xers theirs
reflexive verself xerself themselves
or theirselves
Pronouns
-------------------------

Common Aspects of Biological Sexes

The following table should only be used as a rule of thumb for identification and use of biological sex, primarily for hominid, or at least mammalian, clades.



Can naturally bear children? (ie, has female primary sexual
characteristics) 		Can naturally contribute genetic material to others' borne
offspring? (ie, has male primary sexual characteristics)		 Has female secondary sex characteristics? (eg, in humans,
enlarged breasts and lack of facial hair. Non-hominid clades often use
a different variety of features to make this differentiation: manes,
tusks, antlers, colours, etc.)
herm yes yes yes
herm yes yes no
female yes no yes
ferm yes no no
merm no yes yes
male no yes no
neut no no yes
neut no no no


Definitions

Biological Sex

Sex refers to a set of biological, or embodied attributes in presapient, modosophont and some transapient creatures. It is primarily associated with physical and physiological features including chromosomes, gene expression, hormone levels and function, and reproductive/sexual anatomy. Sexes are frequently categorized as "asexual", "female", "male", "hermaphrodite", or a variety of other types used for natural reproduction. Clades using more decentralized reproductive systems, especially non-biological clades using assembly-line processes, often use a more modular approach. In most developed sephirotic societies, the possibilities of morphological freedom allow sophonts to achieve any desired combination of features, which may or may not match their gender identity, or necessarily be used for reproduction, for a variety of reasons. Sophonts can also easily change their sex over short or long timespans to align with, or diverge from, their own gender identity or their culture's gender roles (if it maintains any) as well.

Sexual Orientation

Sexual Orientation is a pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of a different sex, gender, or species, the same sex, gender, or species, or a variety of sexes, genders, or species. These attractions may be categorized under the concepts of heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, (species)sexuality, pansexuality, omnisexuality, polysexuality or asexuality.

Gender

Gender refers to the social roles, behaviours, psychological expressions and identities generally associated with reproductive instincts or programming for sophonts who experience and use these concepts. It sometimes influences how sophonts perceive themselves and each other, how they act and interact, social and behavioral expectations they're assigned, and may affect the distribution of power and resources in some (usually primitive) societies. Gender identity is rarely confined to a binary (masculine/ feminine, etc) or even necessarily the six genders identified with the six standard Anglish pronouns (male, female, herm, merm, ferm, neut), nor is it static; it exists across a conceptual landscape and individuals can change their identities and expression over time, sometimes over years, sometimes day to day, sometimes moment to moment. There is considerable diversity in how individuals and groups understand, experience and express gender through the roles they take on, the expectations placed on them, relations with others and the complex ways that gender is institutionalized in society.

Many clades use complex gender systems that diverge from the six standard hu genders. For example, the Vedokiklek, a clade of insectoid provolves, utilize a gender system with no less than 17 genders and have a common language that has corresponding declined forms for each.

Many other clades and societies do not use gender-specific pronouns to divide individuals into categories. This phenomenon is common amongst nonbionts, vecs and aioids, groups who may find that categorization based solely on traits and stereotypes associated with those having certain sexual organs, instead of say, based on age or occupation, to be farcical. In the last five thousand years, a majority of Sephirotic and associated societies have also moved to this view toward all sophonts in general.
Other societies, especially those outside the Civilized Galaxy and dominated by bionts, have tended to continue using gender-based pronouns or even gender-based categorization, however.

Even when an individual can be classified under one of the six standard hu genders, the grammatical pronoun used may not necessarily correspond to the 'standard' gender they are classed under. If contrary to the category placed in according to the table, individual or cultural idiosyncratic preferences for gender-specific pronouns should be given priority over the standard usage. It is common advice that one should never correct the chosen grammatical gender based on the standard, since in many Terragen cultures this can be considered offensive to varying degrees. Most citizens use "public profiles" or "metadata" that anyone's DNIs can incorporate into understanding new people consciously or unconsciously, at a glance. Most introduction and identification protocols will indicate the correct gender, if one is used.


 
Related Articles
 
Appears in Topics
Languages & LinguisticsModosophontsSophonts
 
Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev, Daniel Eliot Boese, Mark Ryherd, Stephen Inniss and Steve Bowers
Initially published on 06 March 2001.

Some of the pronouns in this article are copies or adaptations of the Spivak pronouns.

Updated August 2020 by Arik
 
 
>