In the US people who consider themselves non-binary (neither male nor female) sometimes use the word they for themselves in 3rd person singular. Is there an equivalent pronoun in German? Other languages?
Example sentences: Chris rode the bus into town. Then they went shopping. ("They" refers to Chris)
https://nonbinarytransgermany.tumblr.com/language
The only one I ever heard of and used was "er_sie" (he_she). I once met a non-binary person and he_she told me that he_she prefers to be referred to like this. I don't think that a new pronoun will be introduced in the near future in German. Most people never meet a non-binary person, wouldn't be willing to learn a new, artificial pronoun with all its declensions and don't think it matters which pronoun they use when the other person isn't around. I think most people would just opt for the pronoun that aligns with the biological sex of that person or just use "es" (it) as a pronoun. Or they avoid pronouns altogether by using the name or neutral words like "Person". I do use "they" as a gender-neutral pronoun in English though.
SHL is right, "Mädchen" (girl) is neutral because of the suffix -chen. The suffixes -chen and -lein are diminuitives that make words neuter: das Herrchen und das Frauchen (male and female dog owners), das Männchen/Männlein (little man, manikin), das Fräulein (miss), das Bübchen/Knäblein (boy).
I'd say that "das Kind" (child) is gender-neutral.
@Alex: "They" is a both plural and singular in English and refers to either a group of people or a person without putting emphasis on gender. So in this instance, Chris isn't saying the sentence, someone else is talking about them. The third person singular "they" is often used in conversation and writings that refer to a "someone" or a "person". For example, "anyone can be a chef if they want to."
I think neutral pronouns would be difficult to find in languages that are gendered, like Spanish. There are some movement to add more gender neutral words, but they are not mainstream and some people are against it. As an English speaker, I like having the gender neutral option and I wish other languages had more of it. Although the default to male in Spanish most likely stems from patriarchal history and culture (much like the previous english default of he), I've been told by some Spanish speakers that they don't view the "default to male" nouns as actually being masculine.
I never use „they“ as a singular pronoun and never have. And I never grew up hearing or reading it either. The default was always to the masculine „he“ and it was just generally understood that it referred to both men and women when coupled with „someone, no one, everyone, etc.“ I`ve always read and said, for example, „Everyone should know he has value in society.“ Never „everyone should know they have value in society.“ Everyone is singular, not plural, so it cannot be matched with a plural pronoun like they. I`ve heard that used in the last 20 or 30 years or so, but always considered it just bad grammar and sloppy. Due to the feminist movement, and some people`s objection to the default „his“, I`ve just had to fall back on the rather awkward „his or her“ construction. I don`t really mind it, because it´s not grammatically wrong, as „they“ would clearly be, but it shouldn`t be necessary.
He/she, him/her, are a bit more wordy but at least neither violates well-established, and really simple, rules, against matching singular nouns with plural pronouns.
I`ve never heard the sentence „Chris isn`t saying the sentence, someone else is talking about them.“ Someone matched with „them“? I find this sentence extremely confusing, so much so that I barely even understand it.
In German it's still ok, to use "er" (he) as a default. I didn't like it though, when I attended a women-only event and the organiser who was a woman was referring to everyone else in the room (all women) with "jeder, der" instead of "jede, die". If we as women aren't capable of (or not interested in) using feminine words for referring to ourselves it's too early to even think of introducing gender-neutral pronouns.
