Pronounless

The pronounless flag by IMOGA.

**Pronounless** is a term which describes people who do not use any personal third-person pronouns. It is a form of pronoun nonconformity. People who are pronounless may instead want to be referred to only by name, or with language that otherwise avoids the use of third-person pronouns. There are multiple ways that these pronouns may be avoided:

* Using names or initials instead of pronouns. For example, "they visited me" can become "Blythe visited me" when talking about a person named Blythe. However, this method of avoiding pronouns can become redundant, so it is important to incorporate other methods.
* Using passive voice. For example, "they visited me" can become "I was visited."
* Using indefinite phrases, or replacing pronouns with descriptive words. For example, "they visited me" can become "my friend visited me."
* Using circumlocution, or rephrasing the sentence. For example, "Blythe did that all by themself" can become "Blythe did that without any help."
* Pronoun dropping. For example, "I asked them about it" can become "I asked about it."

## Etymology

Pronounless comes from the word "pronoun" and the suffix *-less*, meaning "without".

Nonpronominal, or nonpronomial, is a combination of the prefix *non-*, meaning "not", and "pronominal," meaning "relating to or serving as a pronoun".

Unpronominal is a combination of the prefix *un-*, meaning "not", and "pronominal".

Voidpronominal, is a combination of "void," meaning "containing nothing; empty", and "pronominal".

Impronominal is a combination of the prefix *im-*, meaning "not", and "pronominal".

Nullpronominal is a combination of "null," meaning "nothing; a value of zero", and "pronominal".

## Flag

The pronounless flag was designed by Tumblr user IMOGA (imoga-pride) on December 23, 2018. They took inspiration from the apothipronominal flag by Tumblr user wavership, as well as the pronoun flags by Tumblr user love-all-around-1223. They didn't specify any meanings behind the stripes. However, it may be assumed that the greyscale represents emptiness, or lack of something, due to the lack of color. In this instance, it can be interpreted as representing a lack of pronouns.

## References

1. ↑ Vargas, Dy J (they/them) (2020-07-29). “Use My Name Instead:” When Personal Pronouns Are Inadequate. Medium.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Avoiding gendered forms / no pronouns / null pronouns / pronounless / nullpronominal / nameself. Pronouns.page.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Eden (no pronouns) (2020-08-03). "Hi so as you know..." (Untitled Twitter post). Twitter. Archived from the original on December 14, 2021.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 IMOGA (they/it) (2018-12-23). Nonpronominal Flag. Tumblr.
5. ↑ Pronoun Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
6. ↑ -less Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
7. ↑ Non- Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Pronominal Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
9. ↑ Un- Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
10. ↑ Void Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
11. ↑ Im- Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
12. ↑ In- Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
13. ↑ Null Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.