Pronouns And Power

The view from other languages

Ardhanarishvara, the combined form of Shiva and Parvati, both male and female. அவர்

The pronoun debate is interesting because learning one other pronoun is nothing for most people. In the Tamil language there’s different pronouns for you, you (respectful), men, women, gender-neutral (respectful), and animals.

Then there’s dozens of terms of address. On any given day I can be called 20 different names (in multiple languages) and I somehow…