BY LETTER
Pronouns, Anglish
 Image from Steve Bowers |
A number of new pronouns became current in Early and Middle Anglic and descended languages as new kinds of sentient 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 sentient 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. Sentient hermaphrodites had a unique set of pronouns (se, hir, hirs, hirself) as did nonsexual sentient beings (je, jer, jers, jerself). Virtual sentient 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 (asexual 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 | hir | 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 |
 Image from Bernd Helfert and Steve Bowers |
Common gender definitions
The following table should only be used as a rule of thumb foridentification and use of gender, 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 |
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.
Even when an individual can be classified under one of the six standard hu genders, the grammatical pronoun used does not necessarily correspond to the 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. Never assume or correct the chosen grammatical gender based on the standard, since in many terragen cultures this can be considered offensive to varying degrees. Most introduction and identification protocols should indicate the correct gender.
One example of this practice occurs with many sentient ships. Sentient ships are for the most part either neut or herm, but can in fact represent any of the six standard genders Despite this they are almost universally distinguished with female pronouns in Anglic languages. This is due to the fact that the ancient pre-interplanetary language of Modern English used feminine pronouns for nautical ships (even those named after men). This practice continued for vehicles exploring outer space. Modern English developed into proto-Anglic the ancestor to the Anglic language family, the most common language family it the terragen sphere.
Related Articles
- Anglic
- Anglish - Text by Stephen Inniss
Another term for Anglic. - Asexuality - Text by Michael Beck
Many subsapient organisms (a number of types of lower animals, plants, and microbes) are asexual and reproduce by rhizomes, by budding or fission. Several alien sapient species are asexual. Some terragen sapients likewise choose the option of asexual bodysculpting so as not having a sex at all. Asexuals feel that the whole sex thing is too complex and problematic, better to just the whole thing out of the way. Any bodymod can do this, they are referred to as "hir" and "shhe" when a specific (gender) pronoun is required. Asexuals can and do love platonicaly and feel joy at having children, but they don't feel lust. - Ferm
- Herm
- Merm
- Neut
- Pangender, Pangenderic - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A biont that incorporates at the same time the whole range of genders and sexual modes - male, female, herm, ferm, etc.
Appears in Topics
Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev, Daniel Eliot Boese, Mark Ryherd, Stephen Inniss and Steve Bowers
Initially published on 06 March 2001.
Initially published on 06 March 2001.
