Do you mean are there some objects that just strike English-speakers as inherently male or female? Well, it's said that all dogs are male and all cats are female, until proven otherwise.
feminine gender?
Previous page Pages: 1 2
No, I don't mean THAT. I mean inanimate objects only. Let's say there are two "characters" in some folk song: an oak and a willow. In a language where each noun has a grammatical gender applied to it, an oak is a masculine gender and a willow is a feminine gender.So - we can easily personify them and - it's an unhappy love story here.
Since English doesn't have grammatical gender, what other means does it use if personification is needed (at least in fairy tales and children's stories?) Or love story like that simply will never happen?
Since English doesn't have grammatical gender, what other means does it use if personification is needed (at least in fairy tales and children's stories?) Or love story like that simply will never happen?
Willow is usually "Old Man Willow". Why I don't know; it's a graceful, feminine looking tree to me. Oak I don't know about, although we will say that someone or something is "as stout as an oak". But all in all, I don't think that we tend to assign rigid genders when personifying most inanimate objects. (Other than our tendency to make the masculine gender the default for an unknown sex, that is.) People are free to assign whatever gender they like to fit the story at hand.
Uriel is right regarding the trees.....willow trees are nice and graceful with frond like foliage and stand along the river banks in peaceful mode, casually watching the gentle flow of water below them ....they are feminine in style. I just discovered that it's wood from the willow that goes to make cricket bats! We shall overlook that one, shall we not?
Oak trees are large and sturdy, with thick trunks and voluminous branches spreading out in spectacular fashion providing shade and shelter from the elements (except the lightning flashes though!)...proud and majestic.....they are masculine in style. The wood from the oak goes to make the strong timbers in building.
There is a town in Kent, England, called Sevenoaks, so called because of the seven magnificently huge oak trees that lined one end of a park in the town centre. They had stood there for centuries, withstanding storm and tempests galore.....and wartime bomb blasts. Until one night in October 1987 when a tremendous hurricane swept over South East England and six of the oaks were felled in a trice. The town of Sevenoaks became Oneoak overnight.
Oak trees are large and sturdy, with thick trunks and voluminous branches spreading out in spectacular fashion providing shade and shelter from the elements (except the lightning flashes though!)...proud and majestic.....they are masculine in style. The wood from the oak goes to make the strong timbers in building.
There is a town in Kent, England, called Sevenoaks, so called because of the seven magnificently huge oak trees that lined one end of a park in the town centre. They had stood there for centuries, withstanding storm and tempests galore.....and wartime bomb blasts. Until one night in October 1987 when a tremendous hurricane swept over South East England and six of the oaks were felled in a trice. The town of Sevenoaks became Oneoak overnight.
Your right about the willow, I think where the "old man" comes from, is in that some types of willow get a fluffy white seed thingy (im no tree surgon), similar to what you get on clematus. That white stuff is often called Old Man's Beard.
I think modern storys etc, tend to pick and choose gender, but I would imagine much older tales always have the same genders for the same objects.
I think modern storys etc, tend to pick and choose gender, but I would imagine much older tales always have the same genders for the same objects.
Only point I'd like to add here is the obvious confusion between "sex" and "gender" as used in language.
For the record, there are only two sexes: male and female.
These should not be confused with the grammatical genders of masculine, feminine and neuter.
Thus an object ("table" in French, for example) can be feminine without being female.
And a person ("Fräulein" in German, for example) can be female without being feminine.
For the record, there are only two sexes: male and female.
These should not be confused with the grammatical genders of masculine, feminine and neuter.
Thus an object ("table" in French, for example) can be feminine without being female.
And a person ("Fräulein" in German, for example) can be female without being feminine.
2D6037CH :
I think I personally stressed my point here about a gender as a grammatical category, and my dear English-native-speakers-companions whom I just thanked aren't definitely confusing it with a sex category. Anyway I appreciate your additional explanation, because the concept of grammatical gender is really a very peculiar thing; i.e. for me it's the nost natural thing in the world, but I understand the possible confusion here.
But let me stress it again: although you are absolutely right saying "an object ... can be feminine without being female.", it still CAN be (and it IS) treated as a real FEMALE for varied artistic reasons and here is a sea of possibilities - humor, allegory, play on words, etc.
I think I personally stressed my point here about a gender as a grammatical category, and my dear English-native-speakers-companions whom I just thanked aren't definitely confusing it with a sex category. Anyway I appreciate your additional explanation, because the concept of grammatical gender is really a very peculiar thing; i.e. for me it's the nost natural thing in the world, but I understand the possible confusion here.
But let me stress it again: although you are absolutely right saying "an object ... can be feminine without being female.", it still CAN be (and it IS) treated as a real FEMALE for varied artistic reasons and here is a sea of possibilities - humor, allegory, play on words, etc.
In history textbooks in Hong Kong, countries are almost consistently referred to as "she", "her", etc.
I.e. "Germany underwent a period of vast military buildup before the war. HER armies were expanded, HER navy just second behind the British Royal Navy. On the eve of war, SHE was very confident in HER abilities."
(The example is of my creation, but pretty much reflects the textbooks' choice of gender.)
I.e. "Germany underwent a period of vast military buildup before the war. HER armies were expanded, HER navy just second behind the British Royal Navy. On the eve of war, SHE was very confident in HER abilities."
(The example is of my creation, but pretty much reflects the textbooks' choice of gender.)
Previous page Pages: 1 2