If you visit Broome in Western Australia, you might be lucky enough to see Mary G perform. Mary G is a popular Gija comedian. On her website, English is used to describe Mary G as she and Mary G’s alter ego, Mark Bin Bakar, as he. But if you listen to Broome locals speaking Kriol, Mary G is simply referred to by the gender-neutral Kriol pronoun im.
Gendered pronouns have become a contested part of language since we became more aware of the effects pronoun usage have on transgender and non-binary people. Different languages have different solutions. For example, it has become commonplace in English to extend the non-specific singular use of they to a specific use.
