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The Category of Gender

As Roman Jakobson put it: Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey. hat is languages differ in which conceptual or formal properties must be reali!ed in sentential form. "or e#ample$ in %nglish the word &friend& does not indicate the se# of the friend$ while in 'talian$ the corresponding word is differentially inflected for a man (&amico&) or a woman (&amica&). Also in %nglish$ ad*ectives used as predicates (e.g.$ &tall& in & he boy is tall& and he girl is tall) do not agree in gender with the sub*ect of the sentence$ while they must in 'talian (e.g.$ &'l raga!!o e+ alto& or La raga!!a e+ alta). ,uch differences in obligatory e#pression may imply that speakers of different languages pay more or less attention to those dimensions of meaning. "or e#ample$ 'talian speakers may pay more attention to the se# of referents than %nglish speakers. -y e#tension$ 'talian speakers may tend to think of ob*ects in the world as more male. or female.like on the basis of the words+ grammatical gender. he present paper attempts to reali!e a short and brief presentation of gender category for nouns. aking into account that the problem has been debated and treated by many linguists$ we will try to make a synthesis$ providing some definitions and classifications in order to shed some light on the sub*ect. 'n /tto Jespersen+s vision the term gender can be understood as a grammatical class.division presenting some analogy to the distinction in the Aryan languages between masculine$ feminine and neuter$ whether the

division is based on the natural division into the two se#es or on that between animate or inanimate or on something else. 0hat is interesting is the fact that in the -antu languages of ,outh Africa$ every noun belongs to one of several classes$ each of these being characteri!ed by its own prefi#$ which is repeated in a more or less weakened form as a reminder in all subordinate words referring to the noun in 1uestion$ whether ad*uncts or verbs. ,ome of these classes imply the singular$ others the plural number$ but of living beings and other things. he number of the classes varies in different languages belonging to the group$ the ma#imum being si#teen$ but some of the classes are apt to be confounded and is not possible to indicate the ultimate reason for the division. 2oreover$ 3orbett defines gender like this: 4enders are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words. A language may have two or more such classes of genders. he classification fre1uently corresponds to a real.world distinction of se#$ at least in part$ but often too it does not (gender derives etymologically from Latin genus$ via /ld "rench gendre$ and originally meant 5kind5 or 5sort5). he word gender is not used for *ust a group of nouns but also for the whole category6 thus we may say that a particular language has$ say$ three genders$ masculine$ feminine and neuter$ and that the language has the category of gender. 'n what concerns Aryan languages$ in the earliest historically accessible forms distinguishes three genders: masculine$ feminine and neuter$ the last being to some e#tent considered a subdivision of masculine$ characteri!ed chiefly by making no distinction between the nominative and accusation.

he distribution of words into these three classes is partly rational and partly irrational. 't is rational in so far as many names of male beings are of the masculine gender$ many names of females being feminine and many names of se#less things neuter. he curios fact is that sometimes names of male beings can be found as feminine or neuters and names of things or ideas without a natural se# as either feminine or masculine. here is a possibility to assign reasons why some words have a certain gender. 7andel Jakob has pointed out that words meaning earth (4r. 8hthon$ 8hora6 Lat. erra6 ,lav. 9ienia6 4erm. %rde) are made feminine because the earth is thought of as a mother producing plants. 'n Ancient 4reek mythology$ there was a deity called 4aia or 4eea perceived today as the personification of the earth and also one of the primordial elements.the source of all the other gods. 8nowing this$ we can consider the ancient roots an e#tra.argument in what concerns the problem above discussed. 'n the ma*ority of cases$ the gender of words is handed down traditionally from generation to generation without any change6 but sometimes changes occur. feminine. hese are due to purely formal accidents. "or e#ample$ in "rench$ words ending in the feminine e tend to become hat+s why words like enigma$ :pigramme$ :pith;te are thought to be feminine instead of masculine. here is also a tendency to have the same gender in words of related meaning. As an e#ample$ fr. <t: from feminine becomes masculine on account of the other names of the seasons: hiver$ printemps$ automne6 la minuit under the influence of le midi becomes le minuit and so on. 4ender category cannot be discussed without mentioning its relation with se#. 'n other words$ the correspondence between male and masculine

on one hand$ and female and feminine on the other is strong enough to be very actively felt. he combinations which are sometimes necessary will always be felt as inharmonious and as containing a contradiction between the form of the article and the meaning of an ad*ective. o sustain this$ we will provide a funny illustration found in a paper: L+instituteur: 3omment donc= >ous ?tes incapable de faire l+analyse grammaticale de cette simple phrase: @L+allouette chante.A >ous ave! :crit dans votre devoir: allouette$ substantif masculine singulier. L+:l;ve: ,ans doute. %t *e maintiens energi1uement masculine:che! les allouettes$ il n+y a 1ue le mBle 1ui chante. here is therefore a natural tendency to bring about conformity between gender and se#. "or the largest part of the %nglish nouns$ gender represents a covert category because in order to establish it$ it+s important to take into account the classification (distinction) humanC non.human$ animateC inanimate. his opposition is e#pressed by the use of the pronouns he$ she$ it and also by the use of the relative pronouns: who$ which. As a general conclusion$ we may say that human nouns are masculine or feminine and non.human nouns are neutral. he distinction between animate.inanimate is displayed in the use of nouns designating entities with no evident se# like child$ baby$ infant. Aside from the main three types$ R. Duirk speaks about a so.called random gender. his class contains a small class of nouns referring to those denoting higher animals: cat$ monkey$ tiger etc. he animate pattern is used when emotional attachment is involved or when an animal is involved as if it were a human.

here is also a subdivision called 4ender neutral class. Eouns from this class refer either to a female or to a male. 'n such a case$ we speak about dual gender. (e.g.: artist$ speaker$ student etc). Also$ there are nouns which have no counter part for the male: shrew$ framp$ etc. his class is on the increase because in the society$ more /tto Jespersen identifies a type called by him conceptional neuter. his might be said to be the real or universal neuter in opposition to the specified or concrete neuter which we have when we refer to a previously mentioned word as it. he application of this particular neuter can be observed in sentences like 't snows.6 't rains.6 where it is difficult or impossible to define what it stands for. (Linguists see in the use of it a purely grammatical device$ called forth by the habit of always having an e#pressed sub*ect.). 'n the end$ we applied the theory on the first chapter from he Ficture of Gorian 4ray written by /scar 0ilde. /ur ma*or interest being nouns$ we provided more attention on this word class as we counted all the classes from the te#t. herefore we were able to observe that nouns prevail in contrast with verbs or ad*ectives for e#ample. 'f we had to put this on a graphic$ we could represent the situation as it follows: HI.HJK nouns$ LIK verbs and ad*ectives and MJ.LIK prepositions and others word classes. he results are 1uite normal if we take into account that this chapter is one of the most important of the novel because the characters are e#posing their conceptions about certain life habits like marriage but mostly about art. he register is a static one because nothing happens in fact. he twos *ust have a wonderful time together$ indulging themselves in the supreme lu#ury. more precisely the loss of time *ust for pure pleasure. comparing position tend to be held by both women and men.

notes about art. his re1uires more nouns and of course less verbs because there+s no need to e#press dynamism or thrilling. Also$ returning to the category of the present paper$ we observed that the ma*ority of the nouns are feminine or neuters and a low percentage is detained by masculine nouns. his is also 1uite rational because the scene is full of nature or vegetation elements and impressions about art. he presence of the masculine nouns is due to the fact that the dialog takes place between two men$ concerned about themselves and their lives$ activities$ habits etc. 'f we were to draw a conclusion$ we could say that for many decades$ linguists have asked themselves why$ and how$ gender systems have come into e#istence$ why and how these systems change over time$ and why$ in the end$ some languages lose their gender system again. "or various reasons$ a language is always on the move and there is no reason why gender system would suffer the same process. As a language develops$ its gender system can e#pand in terms of getting an e#tra gender$ and the morphosyntactic markers upon which the system depends might be renewed or reorgani!ed. 3onse1uently$ although at first sight the category of gender might look as an insignificant one$ it has an important role and place inside %nglish and its development.

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