Full text loading...
-
Die/diens of hen/hun? Non-binaire voornaamwoorden in het Nederlands
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Nederlandse Taalkunde, Volume 29, Issue 2, Sep 2024, p. 255 - 267
-
- 01 Sep 2024
Abstract
This paper maps the usage of third person singular pronouns to refer to non-binary referents in Dutch, through a survey of largely inclusivity-oriented speakers of Dutch (N=702). Self-reported production data show that speakers often combine pronouns from two separate pronominal systems (i.e. the personal pronoun die with its possessive counterpart diens and the personal pronoun hen and its other variant and possessive counterpart hun) to cover a range of grammatical functions: with die predominantly used as a subject, hen and hun predominantly as an object and after a preposition, and both diens and hun as a possessive pronoun. When non-binary participants (N=169) were asked what their own pronouns were and which ones they were comfortable with, a similar flexibility was found regarding the combination of pronouns from the two different systems. The paper is the first to map the production of non-binary pronouns in Dutch.