speaking of pronouns

[alexseanchai]

How confused do you think you'd be by a story where, instead of gendered third-person singular pronouns (for this purpose, 'ze', 'ey', singular 'they', et al are gendered), the third singular pronouns are something like na/nan, sa/san, ta/tan, translating roughly to this-one, that-one, that-one-over-there? All gender-neutral, and which one refers to whom changes depending on the speaker.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

And no one would require you to read it! I'm curious, though, why would it be a turn-off?

[malkingrey]

Mostly, the fact that I'm lazy. Having to learn and keep track of a whole new set of pronouns in order to read and fully understand a particular story would make the whole thing closer to work than pleasure, at least for me.

For some people, on the other hand, the figuring-out-the-puzzle aspects of the story are what it's all about.

[alexseanchai]

Would my using 'this-one' and 'that-one' instead of making up shit improve your reading experience?

[malkingrey]

Yes, definitely.

(Another thing that would make a difference for me would be whether the new pronouns were used in the dialogue only, or in the narration as well. Also, a shorter work can sustain more stylistic and linguistic experimentation than a longer one.)

[alexseanchai]

*nodnod* Thanks!