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| author | 1337 h4xx0r <1337.h4xx0r@localhost> | 2023-08-01 05:06:46 +0000 |
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| committer | 1337 h4xx0r <1337.h4xx0r@localhost> | 2023-08-01 05:06:46 +0000 |
| commit | d488de68085127f1da33962629b0b69e07da6b68 (patch) | |
| tree | 06ad14e72995f53f93e01f9e56e6038bc97bc449 /article/chinese-pronouns.html | |
| parent | 6b9c7a14803335f7ae40eb350424311d5b802eb4 (diff) | |
| download | www-d488de68085127f1da33962629b0b69e07da6b68.tar.gz | |
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diff --git a/article/chinese-pronouns.html b/article/chinese-pronouns.html index ecbd087..3cf094c 100644 --- a/article/chinese-pronouns.html +++ b/article/chinese-pronouns.html @@ -1,43 +1,43 @@ <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> <head> - <title>Reclaiming "他" as a gender-inclusive pronoun</title> + <title>Reclaiming `他' as a gender-inclusive pronoun</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/style.css" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" /> <meta charset="utf-8" /> </head> <body> - <h1>Reclaiming "他" as a gender-inclusive pronoun</h1> + <h1>Reclaiming `他' as a gender-inclusive pronoun</h1> <p>Article ID: 23</p> -<p>tl;dr: ``他'' uses the ``人'' (person) radical, and should cover all +<p>tl;dr: `他' uses the `人' (person) radical, and should cover all people, because not all people are male.</p> -<p>In contemporary English, the traditional plural pronoun ``they'' is +<p>In contemporary English, the traditional plural pronoun `they' is often used as a gender-inclusive singular pronoun, alongside the -feminine singular ``she'' and the masculine singular ``he''. However, there -is no equivalent in Chinese. ``他'' is considered a masculine pronouns in -contemporary Chinese, despite its ``人'' radical and its history of +feminine singular `she' and the masculine singular `he'. However, there +is no equivalent in Chinese. `他' is considered a masculine pronouns in +contemporary Chinese, despite its `人' radical and its history of traditionally being a gender-inclusive pronoun until the 1920s. This -article argues for the reclaiming of ``他'' as a gender-inclusive +article argues for the reclaiming of `他' as a gender-inclusive pronoun.</p> <p>Prior to the May Fourth Movement and the broader New Culture -Movement, ``他'' was a generic pronoun for all entities, including people +Movement, `他' was a generic pronoun for all entities, including people of any gender, and inanimate objects. In the movements’ efforts to -``modernize'' the Chinese language and culture, a separate feminine -pronoun ``她'' was created by the poet and linguist 刘半农, becoming an +`modernize' the Chinese language and culture, a separate feminine +pronoun `她' was created by the poet and linguist 刘半农, becoming an established linguistic norm after the Chinese Civil War. (A separate -``它'' was created for inanimate objects; however this has little +`它' was created for inanimate objects; however this has little relevance to the arguments in this article.)</p> -<p>A distinct feminine pronoun ``她'' along with ``他'' being a masculine +<p>A distinct feminine pronoun `她' along with `他' being a masculine pronoun poses three problems: (1) the annoyances caused by the lack of a inclusive placeholder pronoun, (2) the reinforcement of gender binary normatives and the lack of a neutral pronoun, and (3) the marginalization of the feminine from the concept of personhood.</p> <p>When referring to a placeholder of unknown gender in contemporary -English, singular they pronouns are often used, such as in ``someone left -their laptop here''. Such colloquial conversations are generally +English, singular they pronouns are often used, such as in `someone left +their laptop here'. Such colloquial conversations are generally unproblematic as all normative third-person pronouns in Mandarin sound -the same: tā. However, in written contexts, many use ``他/她'' resembling -``he/she''. Aside from how this reinforces gender binary and alienates +the same: tā. However, in written contexts, many use `他/她' resembling +`he/she'. Aside from how this reinforces gender binary and alienates women (see the next two paragraphs), it is visually unappealing (as half-width slashes look particularly distinct from full-width CJK ideographs and break typographical uniformity) and adds unnecessary @@ -47,33 +47,33 @@ as me until <a href="https://git.andrewyu.org/andrew/www.git/commit/note/pronouns.html?id=ce4cd5fd7b3fd19d8effd3e18f5c71dadfc5874e">this commit</a>) often prefer singular they pronouns. (I do not wish to turn this article into a detailed discussion of non-binary gender, please -read Leah Rowe’s article ``<a +read Leah Rowe’s article `<a href="https://vimuser.org/pronouns.html">Better respect for non-binary -people, in defense of human rights</a>'' if this concept seems -unfamiliar.) The status quo of ``她'' being solely a feminine pronoun and -``他'' being solely a masculine pronoun reinforces gender binary and +people, in defense of human rights</a>' if this concept seems +unfamiliar.) The status quo of `她' being solely a feminine pronoun and +`他' being solely a masculine pronoun reinforces gender binary and leaves no gender-neutral/inclusive pronoun for non-binary people who would prefer such pronouns.</p> -<p>The more fundamental issue with ``他'' as a masculine pronoun lies in -its character composition and etymology. ``他'' is a compound character -consisting of a ``人'' (person) radical and ``也'', while ``她'' consists of a -``女'' (female) radical and ``也''. Limiting ``他'' as a male pronoun assumes -the male gender as dominant in ``people'', and marginalizes other genders, -most prominently the female gender, as groups distinct from ``people''. -This aligns with the development of the ``她'' pronoun as a distinct -subset of what used to be covered by ``他''. I believe that a character’s +<p>The more fundamental issue with `他' as a masculine pronoun lies in +its character composition and etymology. `他' is a compound character +consisting of a `人' (person) radical and `也', while `她' consists of a +`女' (female) radical and `也'. Limiting `他' as a male pronoun assumes +the male gender as dominant in `people', and marginalizes other genders, +most prominently the female gender, as groups distinct from `people'. +This aligns with the development of the `她' pronoun as a distinct +subset of what used to be covered by `他'. I believe that a character’s composition should not be deceptive to its meaning, and therefore, the -``他'' with the ``人'' radical should describe any person, not just any male +`他' with the `人' radical should describe any person, not just any male person.</p> -<p>While I believe that ``他'' should be truly gender inclusive, its current +<p>While I believe that `他' should be truly gender inclusive, its current masculine standing does make it similar to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_languages_with_gendered_third-person_pronouns#Generic_he">Generic he</a> to some extent. I dislike generic he as it reflects bias towards men, but -an inclusive ``他'' does carry these risks. Therefore I propose that +an inclusive `他' does carry these risks. Therefore I propose that those who prefer a unique masculine pronoun may choose to use one -with a ``男'' (male) radical instead. While ``男也'' (read that as one character) has not been given a +with a `男' (male) radical instead. While `男也' (read that as one character) has not been given a Unicode code-point yet, I find this solution to be much more ideal than -stereotypical generalizations with ``他''.</p> +stereotypical generalizations with `他'.</p> <p> Please give me some of your thoughts. </p> |