Gender Neutral Pronouns in Gaelic
Please note that this page is rather putative. It derives from
private discussions with the few Gaelic-speaking transgender people
known to the editors of the Faclair Beag. Given the size of the
community, it cannot be assumed that any of these forms are widely
known or used and this issue has influenced some of the forms below.
But it may serve as a proposal for those instances where the use of
gender-neutral forms may be desirable in Gaelic.
Pronouns
Use of plural pronouns
One option in general is the use of iad (instead of e/i)
and the associated inflected prepositions (dhaibh, leotha...)
when wishing to avoid gender-specific pronouns. This is
comparatively common, for example thoir dhaibh an dealbh seo
for give him/her this picture.
The neologism sè
Based on discussions to date, the idea of using forms derived from
the Old Irish neuter is not well-liked. One viable alternative is a
quasi-new form based on the way Old Irish e/é (influenced by
the i/í ~ hi/hí ~ si/sí paradigm) developed into the é
vs sé pairing in modern Irish. Since the form combines
elements of both forms (the masculine é and the feminine s-),
a form sè /ʃeː/ would appear to appeal to most
Gaelic-speaking transgender people spoken to to date. The proximity
to historic forms, Irish forms and indeed English he/she is
also seen as appealing from a practical point of view as it would
increase recognition without the need to lengthy explanations.
Prepositions
The -e less forms of the masculine third person to date seem
to most acceptable. In the case of -s final forms, the -s
final form would be used as the -s is historically not part
of the pronoun but a displaced emphatic s- and because
reduction of a form like leis to le would result
in sentences that many people would simply regard as ungrammatical,
rather than alternative usage. For the emphatic ending, the form -sa
seems to be favoured over -san or -se.
In summary, the proposed forms are as follows:
aig, emph. aig-sa
air, emph. air-sa
dha, emph. dha-sa
thuig, emph. thuig-sa
bhuaidh, emph. bhuaidh-sa
fodh, emph. fodh-sa
leis, emph. leis-sa
ris, emph.
ris-sa
dhe, emph.
dhe-sa
roimh, emph.
roimh-sa
troimh, emph.
troimh-sa
ann,
emph. anns-sa
uim,
emph. uim-sa
às, emph.
às-sa
Surnames
The most favoured option appear to be the un-lenited -(e)ach
forms of surnames i.e. Dòmhnallach, GillÌosach etc and in
case no such form exists, newly formed -(e)ach forms such as
Anndrasach, Donnchach etc.