The Spivak pronouns are a proposed set of gender-neutral pronouns in English. Gender-neutral, gender-inclusive or epicene pronouns are Pronouns that neither reveal nor imply the Gender or sex of a person English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States They are not in widespread use, but have been employed in gender-neutral language by some people who dislike the more common alternatives "he/she" or singular they. Gender-neutral language, gender-inclusive language, or gender neutrality is language use that aims at minimizing assumptions regarding the Gender "Singular" they is a popular non-technical expression for uses of the Pronoun they (and its inflected forms when plurality is not
The (new) Spivak pronouns are formed from the pronoun "they" by dropping the "th".
There are two variants of the Spivak pronouns in use, as shown in the declension table below. In Linguistics, declension (or declination) is the occurrence of Inflection in Nouns Pronouns and Adjectives indicating
| Subject | Object | Possessive Adjective | Possessive Pronoun | Reflexive | |
| Male | He laughs | I hugged him | His heart warmed | That is his | He loves himself |
| Female | She laughs | I hugged her | Her heart warmed | That is hers | She loves herself |
| Singular they | They laugh | I hugged them | Their heart warmed | That is theirs | They love themselves |
| Spivak (new) | Ey laughs | I hugged em | Eir heart warmed | That is eirs | Ey loves emself |
| Spivak (original) | E laughs | I hugged em | Eir heart warmed | That is eirs | E loves eirself |
Contents |
Origin
The pronoun set was popularized as neologisms by Michael Spivak, a mathematician-educator who used it in a number of books. The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive What are traditionally and popularly called possessive adjectives &mdash in linguistic analyses possessive pronouns, possessive determiners or genitive pronouns A possessive pronoun is a Part of speech that attributes ownership to someone or something Male (♂ refers to the sex of an organism or part of an organism which produces small mobile Gametes called spermatozoa. Female (♀ is the Sex of an Organism, or a part of an organism which produces ova (egg cells "Singular" they is a popular non-technical expression for uses of the Pronoun they (and its inflected forms when plurality is not A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word" is a word that although devised relatively recently in a specific time period has been Michael David Spivak (*1940 in Queens, New York) is a Mathematician specializing in Differential geometry, an expositor of Mathematics A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of Mathematics. This is a list of educators. See also Education, List of education topics. Spivak writes:[1]
| “ | The original pronoun set was not created by me. I think I read about it in a newspaper clipping, perhaps from the Boston Globe, during the time I taught at Brandeis, and I believe it was credited to an anthropologist; later on, when I wanted to use it, I was unable to locate the source. In "The Joy of TeX", I wrote "Numerous approaches to this problem have been suggested, but one strikes me as particularly simple and sensible. " I assumed people would figure that I was using a construction I couldn't properly credit, and not consider me so immodest as to praise my own invention (though I guess that was a rather immodest assumption). Michael Spivak, May 21, 2006. Events 878 - Syracuse Italy is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. | ” |
Comparison with other gender-neutral pronouns or constructions
The two most common systems have specific disadvantages:
- "he/she", "him/her", "his/her", "his/hers", "himself/herself": These constructs are often perceived as awkward and hindering pronunciation.
- singular they: This is more pronounceable, but can be ambiguous. "Singular" they is a popular non-technical expression for uses of the Pronoun they (and its inflected forms when plurality is not It is also awkward to use plural verb forms for a singular person.
Compared with other gender-neutral pronouns, Spivak (new) is easier to learn since the system stems directly from the well-known forms of "they". Supporters also feel that this derivation makes them more natural than the sie/ze/zie/xe forms.
Where they are used
Spivak is one of the allowable genders on many MUDs and MOOs. In computer gaming, a MUD ( Multi-User Dungeon, Domain or Dimension) is a multi-player computer game that combines elements of MOO programming language Others might include some selection of: male, female, neuter, either, both, "splat" (asterisk), plural, egotistical, royal, and 2nd. Male (♂ refers to the sex of an organism or part of an organism which produces small mobile Gametes called spermatozoa. Female (♀ is the Sex of an Organism, or a part of an organism which produces ova (egg cells An asterisk ( *) (Latin asteriscum "little star" from Greek ἀστερίσκος) is a Typographical symbol or Glyph An asterisk ( *) (Latin asteriscum "little star" from Greek ἀστερίσκος) is a Typographical symbol or Glyph The selected gender determines how the game engine refers to a player.
On at least one MOO, LambdaMOO, they became standard practice for help texts ("The user may choose any description e likes"), referring to people of unknown gender ("Who was that guest yesterday, eir typing was terrible"), referring to people whose gender was known but without disclosing it ("Yes I've met Squiggle. MOO, and specific information E was nice. "), or of course characters declaring themselves to be of gender Spivak. In recent years (2000 onwards), this usage is declining.
Spivak is also the favoured choice of some people who have written about the subject, such as in Footnotes: Pronouns and in the Gender-Neutral Pronoun FAQ.
Nomic games, especially on the Internet, often use Spivak pronouns in their rulesets, as a way to refer to indefinite players. Nomic is a Game created in 1982 by Peter Suber in which the rules of the game include mechanisms for the players to change those rules usually beginning through
Criticism
The use of Spivak pronouns and other neologisms offered as alternative grammar or spelling is sometimes viewed as a linguistic pretension with political overtones, and its introduction may accordingly be received with the same degree of hostility associated with other such terms. (See also Womyn)
A more academic criticism stems from regarding Spivak pronouns as a prescriptive grammar, and an invention for the purpose of avoiding a proscribed "singular they" form. In Linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used "Singular" they is a popular non-technical expression for uses of the Pronoun they (and its inflected forms when plurality is not Supporters of the singular they form point out that the form has consistently been in use for centuries, and is thus hardly a recent corruption of proper speech. "Singular" they is a popular non-technical expression for uses of the Pronoun they (and its inflected forms when plurality is not
Publications employing Spivak pronouns
- Doom Patrols: A Theoretical Fiction About Postmodernism (Steven Shaviro)
- The Joy of TeX (Michael Spivak)
- The Paradox of Self-Amendment: A Study of Logic, Law, Omnipotence, and Change (Peter Suber)
See also
References
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