Poem: "Personal Inclusive Pronouns"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the November 5, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from ng_moonmoth, jtthomas, redsixwing, erulisse, and peoriapeoriawhereart. It also fills the "Caregiver" square in my 10-31-19 card for the People-watching Bingo fest, and the "Introspection" square in my 11-1-19 card for the transbingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by ng_moonmoth. It belongs to the Iron Horses thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.


"Personal Inclusive Pronouns"

[Monday, September 8, 2014]

Ever since Kenzie discovered
that learning tribal languages
could earn a lot of points
toward membership, he
soaked up everything
that he possibly could.

He wasn't even picky
about which language.

He fumbled along in
Plains Cree with Blair and
the slightly different dialect
her parents sometimes used.

"I'm not very good at this,"
Kenzie mourned.

"Don't worry, you'll
get a feel for it soon,"
Blair promised Kenzie.

He sat at Sounding Shell's feet
while she sang songs in Oji-Cree.

"I croak like a crow," Kenzie said,
after listening to himself sing.

"That's all right," said Sounding Shell.
"Soon you'll sing like a meadowlark."

He wanted to believe her.

Whenever he could, Kenzie
spent time with Many Tongues,
who spoke Plains Cree, Chippewa,
Oji-Cree, and a bunch of others too.

"They're so different from English,"
Kenzie said to Many Tongues. "How
do you keep them all straight?"

Many Tongues just laughed.
"Yes, Algonquian languages are
different from Indo-European ones,
but they're also different from
other language families here in
Turtle Island. Each one sounds
distinct, like a voice in a chorus."

Sometimes when his head
got too full, Kenzie would go out
into the woods for a little introspection.

He thought about how the pronouns
divided into animate and inanimate
instead of masculine, feminine, neuter.

He quite liked having a pronoun, wii,
that didn't specify gender presentation,
although he hadn't decided whether
he wanted a different set in English.

The personal inclusive pronouns
bothered him, though, because
they had a version that meant
"we too but not you" as well
as "you and me too."

Being white meant that
Kenzie heard neshtaniiyaan
a lot more than cheshtachiiyaanuu,
which made him feel left out.

Over time, though, he realized that
if he was speaking a tribal language --
any tribal language -- and someone made
plans, then they were much more likely
to include him in whatever they did.

That made Kenzie more determined
than ever to learn as much as he could,
even if the grammar bent his brain a bit.

Then one day he went to visit Many Tongues
and found new people already there.

The older man grinned as he
introduced a woman and her baby.
"Kenzie, these are my sister Soo
and her daughter Nuttah. They
have just moved in with me."

"Hi," Kenzie said, then slumped.
"Does this mean you don't want me
to come help with the house anymore?"

His housekeeping vocabulary
had gotten pretty darn good
in all of the languages.

"No," said Many Tongues.
"I am not going to dump
the support network I have
just because I got more." He
shook his head. "We have
a baby. We're not going
to run out of work to do!"

That was certainly true,
Kenzie realized as Nuttah
barfed on her mother's blouse.

"Here, Soo, give her to me and
I'll clean her up while you go change,"
Kenzie said, holding out his hands.

Soo happily plopped Nuttah in
his grasp and hurried away.

Kenzie set Nuttah on the island
beside the kitchen sink, keeping
one hand on her as he rummaged
in the top drawer for a dishtowel.

It only took a few moments
to get her more-or-less clean.

"There you go, little cousin,"
Kenzie said, and Nuttah stopped
frowning over the towel to babble
at him in something that didn't
sound much like English.

"What's she saying?
What language is that?"
Kenzie asked Many Tongues.

"She's not saying anything yet,
she's just babbling. Soo has been
talking to her in Plains Cree, though,"
said Many Tongues. "Want to help?
You could read her a story."

"Yeah, I can make it through
Little Bear's Day on my own,"
Kenzie said, and Many Tongues
fetched a copy of the book.

Then Kenzie took Nuttah and
sat on the squashy tan couch.

Kenzie was still reading, and
Nuttah was babbling along with
great enthusiasm, when Soo
came back from the bathroom.

"Many Tongues says that Nuttah
isn't really talking yet, but she
sure is trying," Kenzie said.

Soo sat down beside him and
transferred Nuttah to her own lap
so Kenzie could handle the book better.

"Don't worry, we will teach her how
to talk," Soo said in Plains Cree.

And Kenzie heard her include him too.

* * *

Notes:

The notes for this poem run long, so they appear separately.

Comments

Sigh

[dialecticdreamer]

It still hits me right in the feels. I have felt like an outsider, profoundly so, for most of this year. "We too but not you" is CRUSHING, especially when it is chronic.

Re: Sigh

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> It still hits me right in the feels.<<

*hugs* We(all-of-us-here) still love you.

>> I have felt like an outsider, profoundly so, for most of this year. <<

That sucks. :(

>> "We too but not you" is CRUSHING, especially when it is chronic. <<

I agree.

At least it's not Centaur. The dirtiest word in their language, over in Hallelaine, is a singular pronoun "it" with the connotations "that unnatural thing over there all alone by itself." Sort of like if "fucker" was a pronoun in English. 0_o

Issues of inclusion and exclusion are rampant in tribal politics today, both here and in T-America, although they're somewhat better off. A majority of that is colonial damage, compounded by institutionalized racism. It is a disturbing fact that some Indians are colluding with the U.S. government to make it seem like there are fewer Indians by erasing people from the tribal rolls. While it gains a few Indians more money at the expense of others, the ultimate goal of the government remains genocide.

Which means some people are excluding Kenzie out of habit or thoughtlessness, but others are picking on him deliberately because he's white. It's not unrelated to people snubbing Big Chipmunk for having red hair.

This kind of behavior is widespread in communities of color. It's understandable, given their history. But that makes it very difficult to find and retain allies.

Re: Sigh

[dialecticdreamer]

One thing I learned in the kindergarten schoolyard: if you're visibly disabled or different, NO ONE wants you in their group. Heck, because I was mainstreamed, the kids in the special ed classes wouldn't speak to me except to call me names.

Just extrapolate that to larger groups and that's American society in general.

Re: Sigh

[siliconshaman]

Hmm... I wonder how much of America's dysfunctionality as a society, starts with high school.

Re: Sigh

[dialecticdreamer]

Kindergarten.

Preschool, now.

Kids are expected to go through three years of preschool THEN kindergarten now. They're hit hard with gender expectations, skin tone expectations, and more. By the time kids are in first grade, it's horribly stratified.

Re: Sigh

[ysabetwordsmith]

At this point it starts when the sonogram reveals a penis, or not. :/

Re: Sigh

[siliconshaman]

*sigh*

yeah, I get that. Britain might have one dominant language, but the accents can sure get you left out.

Some days, it's not so bad though... you look at the people around you and wonder if you even want to be the same species.

Re: Sigh

[dialecticdreamer]

I decided long ago that I might be the same species, but I don't have to be like them at ALL. I can be my own version of a decent human being.

Re: Sigh

[siliconshaman]

Yup.

It's like how I feel about my family. We might share a percentage of genome, but that's doesn't mean I have to be like them.

Re: Sigh

[ysabetwordsmith]

I like your version about a million times better. After all, I'm here conversing with you, not out at a club or whatever the hell "normal" people do.

Re: Sigh

[ysabetwordsmith]

*shake head* "All of us are humankind, but not all human race."

Re: Sigh

[dialecticdreamer]

Sadly, sadly true.

Re: Sigh

[we_are_spc]

...

Elvendrums!

... I mean, Trausio is a huge fan of theirs...and will probably droun in their praises and geek the fuck out over them with you. I...only know that the line you speak comes from their song 'Awakening'. I am...getting things from out of memories, but I am not sure I want to wax poetic of a group I am not sure fits me much.

There is, I have heard though, magic of the truest sort in their music. I wonder what that feels like to someone who iselven in turn, or fae such as yourself.

*Errol*

Re: Sigh

[thnidu]

Well, FWIW I've never considered you an outsider, but one of the circle of folks I think of as gathered around Ysabetwordsmith's campfire and telling stories, while I sit mostly in the second concentric circle listening and occasionally nit-picking. Heck, you're an e-friend.

Re: Sigh

[dialecticdreamer]

Thanks. I've quit making much of a distinction between online friends and those in hugspace. And I consider you a friend as well.

Re: Sigh

[ysabetwordsmith]

Over the past couple of decades, as meatspace society fragments, I have become increasingly interested in how cyberspace is replacing some of that lost functionality. I am especially intrigued by the ways in which people leverage services to provide assistance they would normally give in person.

Pick a bouquet of flowers from your yard and take it to a friend. --> Send flowers.

Bring over a load of boxes and help a friend move. --> Buy boxes or other moving equipment to be delivered at their place. Nothing says "I love you, fellow booknerd" like their very own hand truck.

Take a friend out to dinner and a movie. --> Offer a broad-spectrum gift card.

Help new parents with housework or childcare --> Send a gift card for a cleaning or babysitting service.

[gingicat]

Aw.

[readera]

👏👏💗💗💖💖

*breath*

[redsixwing]

Oh, SHINY. Personal inclusive pronouns aren't something I've explored past what's available in Spanish. (I/you-single/you-plural/we/them-over-there). This is new and thus Very Exciting.

>> "Does this mean you don't want me to come help with the house anymore?" <<

Oh, ow. Kenzie so clearly expects to lose something important to him. I'm glad Many Tongues didn't want him to leave.

"We but not you" ...aches, the same sort of a way.

I am lucky enough to have a few people who want to include me in things, and who I want to include in things too. I'm glad Kenzie is getting there.

Re: *breath*

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Oh, SHINY. Personal inclusive pronouns aren't something I've explored past what's available in Spanish. (I/you-single/you-plural/we/them-over-there). This is new and thus Very Exciting. <<

:D Pronouns are like verb tenses, there are many more possible kinds than most people realize. I think the Centaur language had about 17, and that was before filling in the full grid of all the inflections.

>> "Does this mean you don't want me to come help with the house anymore?"

Oh, ow. Kenzie so clearly expects to lose something important to him. I'm glad Many Tongues didn't want him to leave.<<

Kenzie is still thinking in white terms, which are substitutive. Many Tongues is thinking in red terms, which are agglutinative.

>> "We but not you" ...aches, the same sort of a way. <<

Yyyyeah. It's like the passive voice in English -- useful, but easy to abuse. Passive voice becomes passive exonerative. Personal inclusive comes with personal exclusive. 0_o

>>I am lucky enough to have a few people who want to include me in things, and who I want to include in things too.<<

Yay!

>> I'm glad Kenzie is getting there.<<

Me too. He's had a rough road, but he's in a good place now. Even if not everyone accepts him as gracefully as the Starblankets, they'll come around ... although in some cases it may involve several rounds of "You quit that right now! That boy's working hard. Show some gratitude." Without or without punctuating it with the business end of a wooden spoon.

Re: *breath*

[redsixwing]

>>I think the Centaur language had about 17, and that was before filling in the full grid of all the inflections.<<

That would be fun to hear more about. :D

>>Kenzie is still thinking in white terms, which are substitutive. Many Tongues is thinking in red terms, which are agglutinative.<<

Penny: dropped.

>>useful, but easy to abuse.<<

Well said. That's what I was reaching for.
I would expect, like Kenzie, to more often than not be on the sharp end of that one.

>>That boy's working hard. Show some gratitude." Without or without punctuating it with the business end of a wooden spoon.<<

Pffffft! Now that will be interesting. I hope he gets his feet under him a bit more before he's exposed to too much of it.

[erulisse]

Fun fact: I don't know for sure about other dialects but in the James Bay area dialect of Cree, forks and spoons are inanimate while knives are animate. This completely baffled my linguist parents but I, at age five, grokked it intuitively.

[zeeth_kyrah]

Sounds like the idea of weapon animism: that tools for hunting and killing have personalities or spirits of some kind. You'll find it all over in various cults-of-the-sword and warrior societies.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I have definitely noticed a tendency that weapons want to be used. Some tools do too, but in different ways that don't feel the same at all.

Re: Yes ...

[zeeth_kyrah]

Yes, essentially, you use a fork or spoon, but you have a relationship with your knife.