Inclusive Language: Meaning, Principles, and Examples
Inclusive language communicates respectfully without unnecessary assumptions, stereotypes, exclusion, or inaccurate labels about identity and experience.
Inclusive language communicates respectfully without unnecessary assumptions, stereotypes, exclusion, or inaccurate labels about identity and experience.
Name and pronoun practice is the deliberate repetition of someone’s correct name and pronouns to build accurate and respectful language habits.
Pronoun sharing is the act of telling others which personal pronouns someone uses in introductions, forms, profiles, or private conversations.
Pronoun assumption is the act of guessing which pronouns someone uses from appearance, name, voice, or other cues without confirmation.
Pronoun correction is the act of replacing an incorrect pronoun with the pronoun a person uses through a brief, accurate, and respectful correction.
Singular they uses they, them, their, theirs, and themself or themselves to refer to one person in general or personal contexts.
A pronoun set is the group of personal pronouns used when referring to someone, such as she/her, he/him, they/them, or neopronouns.
A gender-neutral salutation is a greeting that avoids assuming the recipient’s gender, such as Dear Jordan Lee, Hello Taylor, or Dear Hiring Manager.
Cassgender describes a person who considers their gender unimportant, irrelevant, or not significant to their overall sense of identity.
Libragender describes a nonbinary identity that is mostly agender or genderless while retaining a smaller connection to another gender.