All Questions
11 questions
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16 Genders of the Kivunjo Language?
Some of the Bantu languages have many grammatical genders. One of these, Kivunjo, is said to have 16. Would anyone let me know all of the 16 genders?
Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct quotes ...
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2
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647
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If the definiteness of a noun is dependent on the article that introduces it, can the gender of that noun also depend on that article?
If a chair can become the chair, can a noun's gender change depend on the article that introduces it? My understanding is that the classifier concentrates on the similar characteristics of the noun ...
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1
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How to do Practice Problem for Basque
Link to Problem(both Problems and Answers[but no explanations])
https://sites.google.com/site/paninilinguisticsolympiad/Resources/sample-problems-and-solutions
My question is about the problem titled &...
17
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4
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5k
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Why do we use the names we do for grammatical genders?
Imagine if every French speaker suddenly agreed that nouns were one of 'animate' and 'inanimate', or 'chocolate' and 'strawberry', or 'A' and 'B' instead of 'masculine' and 'feminine'. The language ...
1
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2
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781
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Does English have animate/inanimate distinction?
I know we have the "'S" genitive and the "X of Y" but I don't exactly understand the rules of using these even as a native English speaker and I'm unsure if English makes other ...
3
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122
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Do English words have a sort of de-facto inherrent gender (or gender stereotype) to them?
I apologize in advance if this question goes all over the place, I was just randomly thinking today about gender in the English language.
One thing in English that I find is overlooked is gender in ...
1
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2
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89
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Can the need for ambiguity lead to merge of grammatical person, or other semantic merge?
My mother tongue doesn't distinguish 3.SG.F and 3.SG.M in speech. In some cases I feel the redundancy of it and the need for ambiguity of the grammatical person when I speak a language which ...
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Are there any natural languages that actually have gender neutral 3rd person pronouns? [duplicate]
You see this a lot in the auxlang movement that having gendered pronouns is sexist.
But making conlangs of my own, I find its absence to be often annoying. No one seems to realize how useful it is to ...
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1
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475
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Does Swedish always had common and neuter genders?
Exactly as stated in the title. I wonder if it always been that way or it is some modern concept to enforce gender equality?
3
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1
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250
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What's a good source to say if a word is masculine or feminine in Sanskrit?
I trying to write a few verses and knowing the gender might change the meaning. A good source to Sanskrit grammar would also be accepted!
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Gender/tone sandhi in [classical] Tibetan grammar?
Tibetan alphabet is a kind of abugida where glyphs may combine into new different forms, taking different positions in their combinations according to their types (see H.B. Hannah, pp. 16- 45).
Each ...