2004
Volume 29, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 1384-5845
  • E-ISSN: 2352-1171

Abstract

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 with its possessive counterpart and the personal pronoun and its other variant and possessive counterpart ) to cover a range of grammatical functions: with predominantly used as a subject, and predominantly as an object and after a preposition, and both and 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.

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