Nonbinary pronouns in Norwegian
Oct. 7th, 2020 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I recently had a conversation with a Norwegian acquaintance about nonbinary pronouns in Norwegian language. Thought I'd drop some notes here so I won't forget the details.
The person I spoke with said that there isn't really a consensus on an equivalent to singular "they", but there are a few options:
De/dem - Same as plural de/dem, so literally the same as singular they/them in English.
Hen/hens - Borrowed from proposed nonbinary pronoun hen in Swedish. Those who've looked for information on gender-neutral pronouns in Scandinavian languages might recognize this one.
Hin - Much less frequently used than hen. One of the issues with hin is that it's a word that already exists in Norwegian - its use in nynorsk roughly translates to something like "the other one" - so that might be why it's used rarely.
So... Now I know the options, if I ever want to write something in Norwegian about a nonbinary person! I suppose. Though of course if I were referring to someone who has a preference for one or the other, obviously I'd go with whatever that is.
--Of course, I only spoke about it with one person, and Norwegian language being as it is, someone in a different part of the country might have given me a somewhat different answer. With that in mind, if anyone who knows anything about this subject sees this and has input, I'd be interested in hearing it.
The person I spoke with said that there isn't really a consensus on an equivalent to singular "they", but there are a few options:
De/dem - Same as plural de/dem, so literally the same as singular they/them in English.
Hen/hens - Borrowed from proposed nonbinary pronoun hen in Swedish. Those who've looked for information on gender-neutral pronouns in Scandinavian languages might recognize this one.
Hin - Much less frequently used than hen. One of the issues with hin is that it's a word that already exists in Norwegian - its use in nynorsk roughly translates to something like "the other one" - so that might be why it's used rarely.
So... Now I know the options, if I ever want to write something in Norwegian about a nonbinary person! I suppose. Though of course if I were referring to someone who has a preference for one or the other, obviously I'd go with whatever that is.
--Of course, I only spoke about it with one person, and Norwegian language being as it is, someone in a different part of the country might have given me a somewhat different answer. With that in mind, if anyone who knows anything about this subject sees this and has input, I'd be interested in hearing it.