Internationalization

This standard primarily addresses English pronouns, but applications may need to handle others. The data model’s optional language/lang field (see Data Model) is the extension point.

Language-specific pronoun sets

Structured pronoun fields are emerging in other languages (e.g. newly coined German pronouns like xier or sier). The model can list these directly. Contributors from different locales are encouraged to define their language’s common sets and how they map to the data fields.

For example, a Spanish implementation might map “he/him” to él/lo/su/suyo/sí mismo (though Spanish normally uses just él or the name to avoid ambiguity). Some languages lack gendered third-person pronouns entirely (e.g. standard spoken Turkish or Chinese), where the field may be less relevant or may indicate formal/informal address instead.

Locale-aware display

A multilingual user might want pronouns per language. One approach (used by PronounDB) keys pronoun sets by locale. Deep multi-locale support is not specified here, but nothing in the model precludes it — most systems will ask for pronouns in the context of one primary language.

Extensibility

The standard is versioned and open to extension. A registry (a section of the spec repo) tracks known pronoun sets and special values across languages. New or emerging pronouns (e.g. Swedish hen) can be proposed for the reference lists and parsers, keeping the standard current with language evolution.

Examples in other languages

The spec may include non-English examples — e.g. a French interface offering il/lui vs elle vs iel (a French neopronoun), or a mixed-language environment displaying a language tag alongside a set.