Sweden Introduce Gender Neutral Pronoun

The Swedes are adding a gender-neutral pronoun to their dictionary.

17:40 01 April 2015

 

Following years of debate and deliberation, the editor-in-chief of the Swedish Academy’s official dictionary, Sven-Goran Malmgren, has decided to add a gender-neutral pronoun “hen” to its new edition. 

 

In Swedish, “han” means he and “hon” means she. Now, “hen” will be used when the gender is unknown or when the writer thinks that the gender is irrelevant. 

 

Malmgren said: "It is a word which is in use and without a doubt fills a function."

 

Meanwhile, Professor John Mullan, the head of English at University College London, doesn’t think that “hen” will stick for a very long time. He said: "Artificial coinages are rarely successful. Language is also not very susceptible to campaigns." 

 

The pronoun “hen” was first used in the 1960s in Sweden as a feminist alternative to the default male pronoun. It did not stick for the first time but it was revived in 2000. Debate intensified in 2012, when a children’s author published Kivi och Monsterhund (Kivi and the Monster Dog) using only “hen.”