Part of: Pronouns
Authors: Elijah King, Jay King
Abstract:
Previous literature identifies pronouns as one of the very few direct indices of gender, attributed to their presumed non-social nature (Ochs, 1993). This view suggests that pronoun use should align consistently with one’s gender identity, independent of social context, such as setting or interlocutor. However, as shown by the construction of a “true transexual” (Borba, 2019), the adoption of “closet pronouns” (Conrod, 2019) or shifting pronoun preferences during transition (Zimman, 2019), variability in gendered language choices, including pronouns, can extend beyond alignment with one’s gender identification. Pronoun variability can be even more intricate for non-binary individuals who do not always place themselves within the binary pronoun system.
The aim of this paper is to identify factors influencing the pronoun choices of non-binary individuals in various interactional settings and to elucidate why these factors shape such choices. To address this, the paper draws on reported pronoun use across different interactional settings, as well as participants’ evaluations of various pronoun-sharing practices. The data consists of responses to an online survey completed by 55 Swiss non-binary participants, as well as two follow-up focus groups. Survey responses and focus group discussions show that participants report the usage of varying pronouns, influenced by factors such as their perception of the interlocutor, current interactional priorities, conversation space, and languages at their disposal.
We argue that these factors shape pronoun choice because pronouns do not operate as stable, direct indexes of gender, but acquire meaning contextually through interaction. While often treated as inherently gender-indexing forms (Ochs, 1993), our data suggest that pronouns can also function through indirect indexicality. Drawing on the notion that linguistic forms do not carry fixed social meanings (Silverstein, 2003), and the relational view of identity (Bucholtz and Hall, 2005), we conceptualize pronoun use as a socially situated practice rather than a pure reflection of identity. This view is supported by participants’ accounts, which show that pronoun choices are shaped by assessments of the interactional situation, for example by avoiding coming out when it is deemed “not worth the effort”, or by not using non-binary pronouns in formal settings. In this sense, shifts in pronoun use are agentive, though constrained, responses to context.
Following Foucault’s (1991) concept of governmentality, we argue that these choices are shaped by internalized institutional norms. Pronouns thus index stances within fields of power structured by such norms, in which certain meanings become more or less available to speakers. Speakers therefore self-regulate their language use in anticipation of potential consequences, with variation in pronoun use emerging as a strategy for navigating regimes of normativity that render some interactional moves less legitimate. The data shows that even in spaces explicitly defined as supportive, pronoun use remains negotiated rather than fixed, with participants reporting hesitation to use non-binary pronouns in interactions involving power asymmetries (e.g., with a supervisor), despite the interlocutor’s explicit support for non-binary people. Therefore, our findings suggest that pronouns function less as direct markers of gender and more as resources through which speakers navigate social positioning in interaction.
References:
Borba, R. (2019). The interactional making of a “true transsexual”: Language and (dis)identification in trans-specific healthcare. International Journal of the Sociology of Language (256), 21–55. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2018-2011
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7(4–5), 585–614. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605054407
Conrod, K. (2019). Pronouns raising and emerging [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Washington.
Foucault, M. (1991). Governmentality. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault Effect (pp. 87–104). University Chicago Press.
Ochs, E. (1993). Indexing gender. In B. D. Miller (Ed.), Sex and gender hierarchies (pp. 146–169). Cambridge University Press.
Silverstein, M. (2003). Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language & Communication, 23(3–4), 193–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5309(03)00013-2
Zimman, L. (2019). Trans self-identification and the language of neoliberal selfhood: Agency, power, and the limits of monologic discourse. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, (256), 147-175. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2018-2016
