BreakingNews·190920 - “they”現(xiàn)在也是一個(gè)單數(shù)代詞

The reference book company Merriam-Webster has added a new definition of the pronoun "they" to its famous Webster's Dictionary. It now lists the word "they" as referring to a "single person whose gender identity is non-binary". This will be welcome news for those who identify neither as male nor female - people with non-binary identities. Many institutions have already incorporated a gender-neutral option into their official forms. A growing number of local governments, schools and airlines have introduced the gender choice of "X" to accommodate people who do not consider themselves as male or female, and for gender fluid people who switch between different genders.

參考書(shū)公司Merriam Webster在其著名的韋氏詞典中增加了一個(gè)新的代詞“the s”的定義。它現(xiàn)在列出的“他們”一詞是指“性別認(rèn)同是非二元的單身人士”。對(duì)于那些既不認(rèn)同男性身份也不認(rèn)同女性身份的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這將是一個(gè)好消息。許多機(jī)構(gòu)已經(jīng)將性別中立的選擇納入其正式形式。越來(lái)越多的地方政府、學(xué)校和航空公司推出了“X”的性別選擇，以適應(yīng)那些不認(rèn)為自己是男性或女性的人，以及那些在不同性別之間轉(zhuǎn)換的具有性別流動(dòng)性的人。

Merriam-Webster stated that the use of "they" in place of "he" or "she" recognizes people who did not "conform to an expected gender expression, or who seemed to be neither male nor female". It added: "We've struggled to find the right language to describe these people, and in particular, the right pronouns." It points out that the word "they" has been used as a singular pronoun since the late 1300s. William Shakespeare used it in this way in the early 17th century. In 1898, the playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote in his play Antony and Cleopatra that: "No man goes to battle to be killed....But they do get killed." Merriam-Webster says that today, "nearly everyone uses the singular "they" in casual conversation".

《韋氏詞典》指出，用“他們”代替“他”或“她”是指那些“不符合預(yù)期的性別表達(dá)，或者看起來(lái)既不是男性也不是女性”的人。報(bào)告還說(shuō)：“我們一直在努力尋找合適的語(yǔ)言來(lái)描述這些人，特別是合適的代詞。”報(bào)告指出，“他們”一詞從13世紀(jì)末開(kāi)始就被用作單數(shù)代詞。威廉·莎士比亞在17世紀(jì)初就這樣使用它。1898年，劇作家蕭伯納(George Bernard Shaw)在他的戲劇《安東尼與克利奧帕特拉》(Antony and Cleopatra)中寫(xiě)道：“沒(méi)有人去戰(zhàn)斗是為了被殺……但他們確實(shí)會(huì)被殺。”韋氏詞典(Merriam Webster)說(shuō)，今天，“幾乎每個(gè)人都在隨意的交談中使用單數(shù)“他們”。