Re: Apical pronoun in english?
From: | Muke Tever <hotblack@...> |
Date: | Thursday, March 4, 2004, 6:56 |
E fésto Remi Villatel <maxilys@...>:
> Hi everybody,
>
> What kind of neologism would create a native english speaker?
>
> he + she = *hes [his]
> him + her = *hem [h@m]
> his + her = *hir [hir]
>
> <I am talking to hem. Hes is listening to me.>
>
> I refuse to call my Aliens "it"! So? Native english speakers, it's your
> job to create new words en English. What kind of word would you use if
> apical
> Aliens land just on the lawn of the UNHQ and refuse to be called either
> "he" or "she"? (Theorical hypothesis...) ;-)
I assume by "apical" you mean "epicene" ?
The easiest way, though not uncontroversial, is to use "they, them, their"
(which is what English-speakers often do when referring to a concrete
person of unknown gender, or a person in the abstract whose gender is
unimportant).
For persons with characteristics of both genders, it seems to be nearly an
online standard to use "shi, hir, hir" (which I suppose are pronounced
identically to the feminine pronouns).
For persons without gender characteristics, I'm not aware of anything in
common use (except maybe "they").
*Muke!
--
http://frath.net/ E jer savne zarjé mas ne
http://kohath.livejournal.com/ Se imné koone'f metha
http://kohath.deviantart.com/ Brissve mé kolé adâ.
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