Cited by 16Gender Studies in LanguageLinguistic Variation and MorphologyGender and Feminist Studies

The implementation of neo- and nonbinary pronouns: a review of current research and future challenges

Open access
Renström, Emma A.·2025·Frontiers in Psychology

Abstract

This review explores the current state of research on attitudes toward and the use of neo- and nonbinary pronouns, as well as their effects on gender conceptualization. Due to the limited scope of existing studies, this review focuses on Swedish and English. Additionally, I will examine resistance to gender-inclusive language and linguistic gender reforms, with a particular emphasis on nonbinary pronouns and the politicization of such reforms, which represents a significant barrier to the adoption of gender-inclusive language. More research is needed to explore attitudes toward, usage of, and the consequences of neo- and nonbinary pronouns across a wide range of languages. Moreover, it is crucial to investigate the politicized polarization surrounding these reforms to better understand when and why people (do not) use nonbinary pronouns and the broader implications of these pronouns for gender conceptualization in the future. This review is structured as follows: I will first describe the general function of pronouns and discuss the interplay between language, gender, and cognition in relation to pronouns. Then, I will examine the implementation of gender-inclusive pronouns in Swedish and English, the dual nature of many gender-inclusive pronouns, and how this duality influences attitudes and usage. I conclude by discussing future research venues that I see, mainly connected to better understanding the politicization of gender-inclusive language and how this politicization and polarization influences attitudes to and use of nonbinary pronouns and effects of nonbinary pronouns in gender conceptualization.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1507858

Cites

95 of 95 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In many languages, pronouns have traditionally only recognized women and men, but gender-inclusive pronouns introduce a third option.

    “In many languages, pronouns have traditionally only recognized women and men, but gender-inclusive pronouns introduce a third option (Renström, 2025).”
  • The use of gender-inclusive pronouns, such as hen in Swedish and singular they in English, corresponds to the de-gendering and multi-gendering strategies.

    “The use of gender-inclusive pronouns, such as hen in Swedish and singular they in English, corresponds to these two strategies (Renström, 2025; Renström & Klysing, 2024).”
  • Previous research suggests that the ideological underpinnings of resistance may differ depending on the strategy and that individuals who prefer a traditional, binary view of gender may be more concerned with the multi-gendering strategy of gender-inclusive pronouns.

    “Previous research suggests that the ideological underpinnings of resistance may differ depending on the strategy and that individuals who prefer a traditional, binary view of gender may be more concerned with the multi-gendering strategy of gender-inclusive pronouns (Renström, 2025; Renström & Klysing, 2024).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Kuhn E. A. (2021). Strategies that affect individuals’ gender-fair language use. Doctoral thesis. Trondheim: Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
  2. Whorf B. L. (1956). Language, thought, and reality: Selected writings. Cambridge, Cambridge, Mass: Technology Press of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Renström, E. A.
Affiliations
Kristianstad University (SE)
Corresponding author
Renström, Emma A.
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Published
2025-01-30
Volume
15
Pages
1507858-1507858
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4407002628
Cited by
14
References
95
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 9
FWCI
4.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Vetenskapsrådet (2023-00731)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Studies in Language
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Linguistic Variation and Morphology
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
Keywords
gender-inclusive language, pronoun usage, gender and language, Swedish language, English language

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review