Transgender Awareness Week is coming up (November 13th to 19th). The goal of the week is to improve visibility and recognition of transgender people as well as the issues they face. To this day, still only 36% of people in the United States report knowing a transgender person personally. Trans Awareness Week seeks to remedy this. Additionally, the 20th of November is Transgender Day of Remembrance. TDOR\u2019s purpose is to honor and mourn all the people lost to anti-transgender violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The subject of the following article is pronouns. This subject holds great importance to transgender people, so I thought this op-ed style, opinion piece article would be a good fit with Transgender Awareness Week approaching.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I had a quarter every time I read the statement \u201cI don\u2019t have pronouns\u201d on social media I would have enough money to avoid paying taxes and lobby against welfare programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The irony of the statement is, of course, that the author of that post uses a pronoun right smack dab at the start of it: \u201cI<\/em><\/strong> don\u2019t have pronouns.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s silly to believe that a person can not have pronouns. Pronouns have been an integral part of literally every language since the origin of oral communication. Hell, even dolphins<\/strong><\/em> use pronouns.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pronouns in English, Spanish, and Catalan all originate from Latin pronouns, a language which has existed for over a thousand years. Any sort of claim that the idea of pronouns is a new fad or trend is completely unfounded. Some of the first person pronouns in Latin are ego<\/em>, me\u012b<\/em>, and m\u0113<\/em>. We can certainly see resemblances to our modern-day me, mi, yo, jo, I, <\/em>and mine<\/em> among those pronouns. Second person pronouns in Latin include t\u016b<\/em>, tu\u012b<\/em>, v\u014ds<\/em>, and t\u0113<\/em>. Again, there are\u00a0distinct similarities to you, tu, <\/em>and vosotros<\/em> .\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n A common argument made by \u201canti-pronoun\u201d people is that \u201cthey\u201d and \u201cthem\u201d cannot be used as singular pronouns. Not only is this statement just blatantly false, it also hurts me personally. These people are just trying to use linguistics \u2013 a subject very close to my heart \u2013 as a method to cover up their unfounded prejudice and hate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first documented use of \u201cthem\u201d as a singular androgynous pronoun in English is from the 14th century. Meaning, since the propagation of Modern English, people have been saying \u201cthem\u201d when they don\u2019t know a person\u2019s gender. People against the singular \u201cthem\u201d aren\u2019t trying to \u201cgo back\u201d to how the language used to be, instead they\u2019re actively attempting to make it harder to speak English \u2013 an honestly remarkable feat, considering how good English is at that already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nonbinary pronouns outside of English are a whole other can of worms. Spanish, for instance, is a gendered language without nonbinary pronouns. The gendered nature of the language isn\u2019t inherently harmful, and it\u2019s impossible to do that much restructuring; however there have been some efforts to create and proliferate nonbinary pronouns in Spanish. Elle<\/em> is the forerunner among the potential proposed pronouns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This brings us to the topic of neopronouns. Despite their name, neopronouns are also not a new concept, yon<\/em> was created as a nonbinary singular pronoun as early as 1858. Most of the 19th and 20th century neopronouns didn\u2019t catch on, but that doesn\u2019t mean that they don\u2019t exist. Additionally, the creation of one of the most commonly used neopronouns today, ze,<\/em> dates back to 1864. I hate to repeat myself so often, but again, pronouns are not a new thing, they have always been a fundamental piece of language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we all know that it isn\u2019t the linguistic concept of pronouns that these foolish people are against \u2013 they are against showing basic human dignity and empathy to other people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not at all difficult to respect a person\u2019s pronouns \u2013 we already do it implicitly. Often, people\u2019s pronouns are the ones traditionally associated with their gender expression, and sometimes they aren\u2019t. However that\u2019s not an excuse to invalidate that person\u2019s existence, especially during transgender awareness week. That\u2019s just embarrassing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being misgendered can range from being somewhat annoying to severely mentally distressing for many people. So since it\u2019s so easy to do, makes people so much more comfortable, and is a fundamental part of every language \u2013 please respect people\u2019s pronouns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n P.S. It\u2019s okay to get someone\u2019s pronouns wrong as long as you acknowledge the mistake, and try to remember next time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t worry! People are understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibliography:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe History of Thon, the Forgotten Gender-Neutral Pronoun.\u201d Merriam-Webster<\/em>, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com\/wordplay\/third-person-gender-neutral-pronoun-thon. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chambers Dictionary<\/em>. Chambers, 1998. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuko, Elizabeth. \u201cBeyond They\/Them: What Are Neopronouns?\u201d Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 29 June 2021, www.rollingstone.com\/culture\/culture-features\/neopronouns-they-them-pronoun-alternative-1190069\/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTransgender Awareness Week.\u201d GLAAD<\/em>, 2 Nov. 2023, glaad.org\/transweek\/#:~:text=Each%20year%20between%20November%2013,members%20of%20the%20community%20face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Preface: Transgender Awareness Week is coming up (November 13th to 19th). 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