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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 ...
samhana's user avatar
  • 141
2 votes
2 answers
647 views

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 ...
Mòòb Lajleeb's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
129 views

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 &...
MeltedStatementRecognizing's user avatar
17 votes
4 answers
5k views

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 ...
AML's user avatar
  • 281
1 vote
2 answers
781 views

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 ...
Franglishman24's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
122 views

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 ...
Franglishman24's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
89 views

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 ...
wodemingzi's user avatar
  • 1,087
0 votes
1 answer
818 views

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 ...
user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
475 views

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?
freefall's user avatar
  • 163
3 votes
1 answer
250 views

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!
khal's user avatar
  • 236
1 vote
1 answer
309 views

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 ...
Manjusri's user avatar
  • 2,779