changepronouns

Changepronouns is a computational tool designed to automatically adjust the pronoun usage in written text to reflect different gender identities or to achieve gender-neutral wording. It operates by identifying third‑person pronouns such as he, she, him, her, and replacing them with alternative forms or removing gendered pronouns altogether. Developed within the broader field of inclusive language processing, changepronouns is often used by editors, content creators, and software that supports personalized or inclusive communications.

The core algorithm relies on a regular‑expression based parser combined with a lexical database that maps pronouns to person, number, and gender attributes. When a target pronoun set is specified, the tool substitutes the original pronouns with the appropriate forms. For example, in a context in which a character's gender is unspecified, the user can request that all references be replaced with they/them or a custom gender‑neutral term. The system also allows formatting style adjustments, such as maintaining consistent capitalization or handling possessive forms.

Changepronouns is distributed as a command–line utility, a Python library, and also as a plugin for popular text editors. Its development is motivated by the growing awareness of gender diversity and the necessity to create text that respects individuals’ self‑identified pronouns. Usage metrics indicate that the tool has been adopted in academia, publishing, and software documentation projects where inclusive language is a priority. By abstracting pronoun substitution, changepronouns helps reduce bias and ensures that written communication aligns with contemporary norms of gender inclusivity.