Are there languages with more genders than masculine, feminine and neuter? For example one with gay and lesbian genders too.
gender lacking languages
I know. Is either "le blond" or "la blonde".
Guess I saw it on some other thread and thought it was funny... Sorry.
There is a forest in France named la Londe.
Think "Londe" derives from an Old Scandinavian (viking?) word, "Lundr", meaning a small wood or grove.
Guess I saw it on some other thread and thought it was funny... Sorry.
There is a forest in France named la Londe.
Think "Londe" derives from an Old Scandinavian (viking?) word, "Lundr", meaning a small wood or grove.
I've heard that one or a few of the Slavic languages have retained personality/animacy in one or more genders. I think it's Polish where you have Feminine, Neuter, and Masculine, but then animacy is retained in the Masculine so you have Personal Masculine, Animate Masculine, and Inanimate Masculine (i.e. for the sake of simplicity, it's five genders).
The Indo-European languages, for the most part, have two genders or three... However in some African and Australian languages you end up with anywhere from four to twenty.
Also, in English, in order to include everyone including those that don't fit into the "gender binary," someone came up with "he/she/ze." (which is completely ridiculous, in my opinion)
The Indo-European languages, for the most part, have two genders or three... However in some African and Australian languages you end up with anywhere from four to twenty.
Also, in English, in order to include everyone including those that don't fit into the "gender binary," someone came up with "he/she/ze." (which is completely ridiculous, in my opinion)
<<Also, in English, in order to include everyone including those that don't fit into the "gender binary," someone came up with "he/she/ze." (which is completely ridiculous, in my opinion) >>
I think singular "they" has a big head start here.
It's interesting, in that there actually are 4 sets 3rd person singular pronouns in English, depending on gender:
Masculine: he him his
Feminine: she her her
Neutral (nonhuman): it it its
Common (human): they them their
It must be that English really has 4 genders after all :)
I think singular "they" has a big head start here.
It's interesting, in that there actually are 4 sets 3rd person singular pronouns in English, depending on gender:
Masculine: he him his
Feminine: she her her
Neutral (nonhuman): it it its
Common (human): they them their
It must be that English really has 4 genders after all :)
<<Common (human): they them their
>>
"they them their" are not "Common" genders in English, nor are they used singularly (not correctly).
for this use, one must use the demonstrative "that (one)"
>>
"they them their" are not "Common" genders in English, nor are they used singularly (not correctly).
for this use, one must use the demonstrative "that (one)"
Many languages only have two genders, masculine and feminine. They don't have a neutral gender because they also associate masculine and feminine to inanimate things, countries and everything.
I'm thinking of Romance languages.
There are also languages which associate two genders for inanimate things (at least objects), but are neither masculine nor feminine; no one can explain what's the difference, you have to learn them by heart.
So, for instance, Swedish has 4 genders:
Masculine: han
Feminine: hon
Neutral 1: en
Neutral 2: ett
I'm thinking of Romance languages.
There are also languages which associate two genders for inanimate things (at least objects), but are neither masculine nor feminine; no one can explain what's the difference, you have to learn them by heart.
So, for instance, Swedish has 4 genders:
Masculine: han
Feminine: hon
Neutral 1: en
Neutral 2: ett
<<"they them their" are not "Common" genders in English, nor are they used singularly (not correctly). >>
Apparently, the singular "they, them, their, etc." has been used for several centuries in English. Prescriptive grammarians have been complaining about it for at least a couple of centuries, though.
Example:
"We ask that each attendee be in their seat before the session starts."
"We ask that each attendee be in his or her seat before the session starts."
Of course, some would suggest bypassing the problem : "We ask that all attendees be in their seats before the session starts."
Apparently, the singular "they, them, their, etc." has been used for several centuries in English. Prescriptive grammarians have been complaining about it for at least a couple of centuries, though.
Example:
"We ask that each attendee be in their seat before the session starts."
"We ask that each attendee be in his or her seat before the session starts."
Of course, some would suggest bypassing the problem : "We ask that all attendees be in their seats before the session starts."
"Are there languages with more genders than masculine, feminine and neuter? For example one with gay and lesbian genders too."
I'm pretty sure that sexuality is not a gender....:/
I'm pretty sure that sexuality is not a gender....:/
Chinese has no genders in that sense. Non-living things have no genders whatsoever, and even most animals, unless affectionately called, are described using the animal pronoun (in traditional chinese) or the thing pronoun (in simplified chinese).
Chinese of course has dozens of names for different males and females. While family roles are all clearly defined by gender, most professions don't carry a gender, unless specified. In most cases, only female professionals are emphasized - a female shop assistant, a female doctor, a female student, a female official, a female teacher, etc, marked like the German feminine suffix -in (which is a prefix in Chinese). And like German, the male gender is like the "default", though in most contexts the pronoun "he" is mentioned.
Since Chinese doesn't have genders (for us, that's nonsense because it's superfluous), males and females share the same speech (unlike Japanese/Spanish; for us, that's strange) and has no inflections whatsoever, the gender issue of most foreign languages sounds very peculiar for Chinese speakers. Among all, English sounds for us the most natural one, because its genders are so straightforward.
Chinese of course has dozens of names for different males and females. While family roles are all clearly defined by gender, most professions don't carry a gender, unless specified. In most cases, only female professionals are emphasized - a female shop assistant, a female doctor, a female student, a female official, a female teacher, etc, marked like the German feminine suffix -in (which is a prefix in Chinese). And like German, the male gender is like the "default", though in most contexts the pronoun "he" is mentioned.
Since Chinese doesn't have genders (for us, that's nonsense because it's superfluous), males and females share the same speech (unlike Japanese/Spanish; for us, that's strange) and has no inflections whatsoever, the gender issue of most foreign languages sounds very peculiar for Chinese speakers. Among all, English sounds for us the most natural one, because its genders are so straightforward.
What character do they use, Xie? The character for "moving thing"?
What's that look like in simplied Chinese? Thanks.
What's that look like in simplied Chinese? Thanks.
There are languages in Africa and the Pacific (the Bantu family comes to mind) that have many "genders." Though they probably don't have any for gays or lesbians (which would simply be male or female depending on their respective genders). They are pretty random groupings... People, cylinders, animals, large things and liquids, smal things, languages, etc. (See "Luganda language" on wikipedia).
>>What character do they use, Xie? The character for "moving thing"?
What's that look like in simplied Chinese? Thanks.
For animals (Chinese: 動物, lit. moving thing) in most cases, the pronoun is 牠 (TC) /它 (SC), the TC version includes a "cow" radical. People often call their pets using human pronouns.
For non-living things, 它 is used in both TC and SC.
You would also know human pronouns, too. We have he (and often used also as the indefinite pronoun, as in English "one" or German "man"), she, they (all males or at least one male + one female) and they (all females). Plural pronouns often contain an extra character 們, as in "they". Indeed, pronouns have evolved radically since the birth of vernacular Chinese. In literary Chinese, the female pronouns didn't exist.
What's that look like in simplied Chinese? Thanks.
For animals (Chinese: 動物, lit. moving thing) in most cases, the pronoun is 牠 (TC) /它 (SC), the TC version includes a "cow" radical. People often call their pets using human pronouns.
For non-living things, 它 is used in both TC and SC.
You would also know human pronouns, too. We have he (and often used also as the indefinite pronoun, as in English "one" or German "man"), she, they (all males or at least one male + one female) and they (all females). Plural pronouns often contain an extra character 們, as in "they". Indeed, pronouns have evolved radically since the birth of vernacular Chinese. In literary Chinese, the female pronouns didn't exist.
Supplement: I forgot to put that we also have two we's. In Cantonese, there is only one we 我們; in Mandarin, there are 我們 (excluding the listeners) and 咱們 (including). But some people only use 我們.
So, except the they for females, all other plural pronouns do not distinguish genders.
So, except the they for females, all other plural pronouns do not distinguish genders.
For Luganda, see here: http://www.buganda.com/language.htm