scholarly journals GRAMMATICAL GENDER AND LINGUISTIC LOANING: FEMININE GENDER ASSIGNMENT IN ITALIAN ANGLICISMS

2019 ◽  
pp. 161-175
Author(s):  
Mila Samardžić
Keyword(s):  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Loan Words ◽  
Loan Word ◽  
Masculine Gender ◽  
Living Being

The paper deals with the problem of gender assignment of loan words from predominantly isolating languages (such as English) in languages with (partly) flexible morphology (such as Italian). The English as a donor language does not have grammatical gender, whereas in recipient language (Italian) it is obligatory. How to assign the gender to English loans in Italian if the loan word does not indicate a living being scilicet does not have the natural gender? The aim of this paper is to determine the rules for assigning feminine gender to English nouns in Italian because the nouns become feminine only on the basis of the rule (otherwise, in cases where no rule can be used, the noun would be, by default, of the masculine gender). The research is conducted on word corpus consisting of examples taken from Italian dictionaries and newspapers as well as from Google.

scholarly journals Investigating Gender Assignment Strategies in Mixed Purepecha–Spanish Nominal Constructions

Languages ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Bellamy ◽  
M. Parafita Couto ◽  
Hans Stadthagen-Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Comparable Data ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Translation Equivalent ◽  
Masculine Gender

Purepecha has no grammatical gender, whereas Spanish has a binary masculine–feminine system. In this paper we investigate how early sequential Purepecha–Spanish bilinguals assign gender to Purepecha nouns inserted into an otherwise Spanish utterance, using a director-matcher production task and an online forced-choice acceptability judgement task. The results of the production task indicate a strong preference for masculine gender, irrespective of the gender of the noun’s translation equivalent, the so-called “masculine default” option. Participants in the comprehension task were influenced by the orthography of the Purepecha noun in the -a ending condition, leading them to assign feminine gender agreement to nouns that are masculine in Spanish, but preferred the masculine default strategy again in the -i/-u ending condition. The absence of the “analogical criterion” in both tasks contrasts with the results of some previous studies, underlining the need for more comparable data in terms of task type. Our results also highlight how task type can influence the choices speakers make, in this context, in terms of the choice of grammatical gender agreement strategy. Task type should therefore be carefully controlled in future studies.

Nominal Gender in Coptic Egyptian

2021 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-49
Author(s):  
Sabrina Bendjaballah ◽  
Chris H. Reintges
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Stress Assignment ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Noun Class ◽  
Gender System ◽  
Masculine Gender

Summary The interdisciplinary research (philology, typology, morphology, phonology) presented here explores the role of gender in the meaning and morphology of Coptic nouns. Coptic has a predominantly grammatical gender system, albeit with a niche for semantically based gender assignment. The gender system marks a three-way semantic contrast between a [male] versus a [female] versus an [unspecified] gender value, even where the morphology draws only a two-way distinction between grammatical masculine and feminine gender. By integrating quantitative data and morphophonological analysis, we shall argue that masculine gender is morphologically unmarked. Although no discrete morpheme can be identified, feminine gender is always morphologically marked on nouns. Masculine and feminine nouns are distinguished in terms of their templatic structure, which interacts in complex ways with vowel distributions, stress assignment, and noun class.

The acquisition of sex-neutral uses of masculine forms in English and Spanish

1989 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia C. Gathercole
Keyword(s):  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Application Data ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Masculine Gender

ABSTRACTThis study examines the acquisition of sex-neutral uses of masculine terms by English- and Spanish-speaking children. English and Spanish differ in that sex-neutral uses of masculine terms are much more common in the latter, and in that English is a natural-gender language, while Spanish is a grammatical-gender language. For these reasons, it was hypothesized that Spanish-speaking children might discover the neutral, unmarked interpretations of masculine terms earlier than their English-speaking counterparts, who might have difficulty in moving away from an early sex-based interpretation of such forms to their sex-neutral application. Data from 256 children failed to confirm the hypothesis. Subjects from both language groups appeared to pay little attention to gender marking outside the noun, and they both paid less attention to masculine gender markers than to feminine gender markers outside the noun.

scholarly journals Grammatical Gender: Acquisition, Attrition, and Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-121
Author(s):  
Terje Lohndal ◽  
Marit Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
First Language ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Combined Data

This paper discusses grammatical gender in Norwegian by bringing together data from first language acquisition, Norwegian heritage language, and dialect change. In all these contexts, gender is often claimed to be a vulnerable category, arguably due to the relative non-transparency of gender assignment. Furthermore, the feminine gender is in the process of being lost in many Norwegian dialects, as feminine agreement forms (for example, the indefinite article) are merged with the masculine. The definite suffix, in contrast, is quite stable, as it is acquired early and does not undergo attrition/change. We argue that the combined data provide evidence that gender and declension class are separate phenomena, and we outline a possible formal analysis to account for the findings.*

scholarly journals Gender Assignment in Six North Scandinavian Languages: Patterns of Variation and Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 264-315
Author(s):  
Briana Van Epps ◽  
Gerd Carling ◽  
Yair Sapir
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Old Swedish ◽  
Gender System ◽  
Gender Change

This study addresses gender assignment in six North Scandinavian varieties with a three-gender system: Old Norse, Norwegian (Nynorsk), Old Swedish, Nysvenska, Jamtlandic, and Elfdalian. Focusing on gender variation and change, we investigate the role of various factors in gender change. Using the contemporary Swedish varieties Jamtlandic and Elfdalian as a basis, we compare gender assignment in other North Scandinavian languages, tracing the evolution back to Old Norse. The data consist of 1,300 concepts from all six languages coded for cognacy, gender, and morphological and semantic variation. Our statistical analysis shows that the most important factors in gender change are the Old Norse weak/strong inflection, Old Norse gender, animate/inanimate distinction, word frequency, and loan status. From Old Norse to modern languages, phonological assignment principles tend to weaken, due to the general loss of word-final endings. Feminine words are more susceptible to changing gender, and the tendency to lose the feminine is noticeable even in the varieties in our study upholding the three-gender system. Further, frequency is significantly correlated with unstable gender. In semantics, only the animate/inanimate distinction signifi-cantly predicts gender assignment and stability. In general, our study confirms the decay of the feminine gender in the Scandinavian branch of Germanic.

Assignment of grammatical gender by native speakers and foreign learners of French

1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. M. HOLMES ◽  
B. DEJEAN DE LA BÂTIE
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Explicit Instruction ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Real Word ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Written Production ◽  
On Line ◽  
Gender Attribution

This study compared the skill in gender attribution of foreign learners and native speakers of French. Accuracy and fluency of gender attribution by the foreign learners were assessed in spontaneous written production. Both groups performed on-line gender assignment to real nouns whose gender was regular or exceptional, given their ending, and to invented nouns with nonword stems and real-word endings. The pattern of results indicated that the native speakers' gender attributions were primarily based on rapidly evoked lexical associations, with gender-ending correspondences playing a significant but subsidiary role. The foreign learners were less able to summon lexical associations, relying heavily on ending-based rules. Overall, none of the foreign learners attained the same level of performance as any of the native speakers. We conclude that instruction in which students learn nouns in the context of distinctive lexical associates could profitably be supplemented by explicit instruction in gender-ending regularities.

 New replacement name for a homonym in Lepeophtheirus (Crustacea: Copepoda: Caligidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4852 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-144
Author(s):  
KEIICHI KAKUI ◽  
DAISUKE UYENO
Keyword(s):  
Species Group ◽  
International Commission ◽  
Zoological Nomenclature ◽  
International Code ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Platichthys Stellatus ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Masculine Gender

Markevich (1940) established Pseudolepeophtheirus Markevich, 1940 for Pseudolepeophtheirus longicauda Markevich, 1940 based on copepods collected from the pleuronectid fish Platichthys stellatus (Pallas, 1787). Dojiri & Ho (2013) synonymized the genus and the species with Lepeophtheirus Nordmann, 1832 and Lepeophtheirus parvicruris Fraser, 1920, respectively. Later, Homma et al. (2020) resurrected Markevich’s species as a member of Lepeophtheirus, i.e., as L. longicauda (Markevich, 1940). The last component of the names of both genera is ‘phtheirus’ (transliterated from the Greek φθειρ; Nordmann 1832: 30), a masculine noun, and thus under Article 30.1.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (hereinafter, Code; International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1999), both generic names are also masculine. The species-group name longicauda might be regarded as either a noun in apposition or as an adjective in the feminine gender, and Markevich (1940) did not specify his intention in this regard. Bearing in mind that ‘cauda’, meaning ‘tail’, actually is a feminine Latin noun and that Markevich did not change the final ‘-a’ to ‘-us’ to match the masculine gender of the genus, we deem that longicauda Markevich, 1940 is a noun in apposition, a position supported by Article 31.2.2 of the Code. 

scholarly journals Gender Resolution in Croatian, Slavic and Proto-Indo-European

Fluminensia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-29
Author(s):  
Ranko Matasović
Keyword(s):  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Historical Explanation ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Resolution Rule ◽  
The Common ◽  
Gender System ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Masculine Gender

This paper deals with the origin and development of the gender resolution rule according to which the predicate adjective agrees with the masculine antecedent when there is agreement with a conjunction of subjects at least one of which denotes a male person. Apart from Croatian, such a rule exists (or existed) in the other Slavic languages, as well as in Baltic languages, so it can safely be posited for Proto-Slavic and Proto-Balto-Slavic. We further show that most contemporary and ancient Indo-European languages had such a gender resolution rule. Where such a rule does not exist (as in Germanic languages), there is a plausible historical explanation. In Hittite, which preserves the most ancient gender system of Indo-European (with only common and neuter genders, and no feminine gender), the default agreement is with the common gender noun. Recent advances in our understanding of the development of gender in Indo-European allow us to show that the rule taking the masculine as the default gender has developed from the rule taking the common gender as default. This is because the morphemes showing gender agreement on adjectives and pronouns of the masculine gender have developed from Early Proto-Indo-European morphemes expressing the common gender.

PROFILE AND FACTORS ASSOCIATES TO MORBI-MORTALITY FOR EXTERNAL CAUSES OF ADOLESCENTS ATTENDED AT A HEALTH EMERGENCY SERVICE AT RECIFE FROM 2004 TO 2005

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Hilda Silva Carrilho Barbosa ◽  
Simone Maria Muniz da Silva Bezerra ◽  
Denice De Melo Lyra ◽  
Enelice Elias Acioli ◽  
Leila Souza Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Accidents ◽  
Emergency Service ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Industrial Accident ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Victims Of Violence ◽  
External Causes ◽  
Masculine Gender

RESUMOEstudo transversal, com o objetivo conhecer o perfil e os fatores associados à morbi-mortalidade por causas externas de adolescentes atendidos em um serviço de emergência em Recife, de janeiro de 2004 a dezembro de 2005. Foram utilizados na coleta de dados, 453 prontuários de vítimas de violência, por meio de um questionário. Quanto aos resultados, acidentes de trânsito foram as causas de violência mais encontrada, 45,4%. Destes, 54,7% por atropelamento, 26,7% de motocicleta e 18,7% por colisão de veículos; a segunda, foi agressão física por espancamento 22,8%, seguida por agressão de arma de fogo, 15,5%; do total, 91,42% ocorreram no gênero masculino e, 8,57% no gênero feminino, ao contrário dos 9,5% dos casos observados em tentativa de suicídio, com maior relevância no gênero feminino, 74,4%. As demais causas totalizaram 6,9%, entre agressão por arma branca, acidente de trabalho e agressão sexual. Como conclusão, houve um predomínio de morbi-mortalidade de indivíduos do gênero masculino 68,4%, e a faixa etária mais acometida pela violência foi dos 16 aos 19 anos 68,2%; e a morbidade mais freqüente foi o traumatismo crânio-encefálico (TCE).Palavras-chave: Perfil; Adolescentes; Violência; Causas Externas. ABSTRACTCross sectional study, aiming at knowing the profile and factors associate to morbi-mortality for external causes of adolescents attended at a health emergency service at Recife, from January 2004 to December 2005. Registers of 453 handbooks had been used for data collection, victims of violence, by means a questionnaire. Overall, the most of the cause violence found was traffic accidents, 45,4%. From this, 54,7% happened by the running over, 26,7% from motorcycles and 18,7% for vehicles collision. The second one was physical aggression for beating 22,8%, followed for aggression for firearm, 15,5%. Overall aggressions one, 91,42% had occurred with the masculine gender and 8,57% with the feminine one, on the contrary 9,5% of the suicide attempts cases observed, in that the feminine gender had a bigger relevance, 74,4%. Another causes totalized 6,9%, including aggression by cutting weapon, industrial accident and sexual aggression. As findings, it had a predominance of morbi-mortality of the masculine gender 68,4% and the age band more attacked for the violence was from 16 to 19 years old, 68,2%; and the most frequent morbidity was the trauma encephalic skull (TCE).Keywords: Profile; Adolescents; Violence; External Causes.RESUMENEstudio transversal, con el objetivo de identificar el perfil y los factores asociados a la morbi-mortalidad por causas externas de adolescentes atendidos en el servicio de emergencia en Recife, de enero del 2004 a diciembre del 2005. Para la recolección de datos fueron utilizados  453 registros de víctimas de la violencia a través de una encuesta. De los resultados surge que, la mayoría de las causas de violencia fueron los accidentes de tránsito (45,4%). De éstos, 54,7% fueron por atropellamiento, 26,7% de motocicletas y 18,7% para la colisión de vehículos. La segunda, fue la agresión física, con 22,8%, siguió por la agresión por arma de fuego, con 15,5%. Del total de agresiones por arma de fuego, 91.42% habían ocurrido en el género masculino y 8,57% en el género femenino, al contrario de 9,5% de los casos de tentativas de suicidio observados, con mayor relevancia en el género femenino 74,4%. Otras causas totalizaron 6,9%, entre agresión por arma blanca, accidente de trabajo y agresión sexual. Como conclusión hubo un predominio de morbimortalidad de individuos del género masculino 68,4% y siendo el grupo de 16 a los 19 años los más afectado por la violencia, 68.2%; y la morbilidad más frecuente fue traumatismo cráneo encefálico (TCE).  Palabras clave: Perfil; Adolescentes; Violencia; Causas Externas. 

scholarly journals Accessing grammatical gender in German: The impact of gender-marking regularities

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNETTE HOHLFELD
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Online Experiment ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
The Impact

The present study investigated whether German speakers compute grammatical gender on the basis of gender-marking regularities. To this purpose two experiments were run. In Experiment 1, participants had to assign the definite article to German nouns in an online task; in the second experiment, participants were confronted with German nouns as well as nonwords in an untimed gender assignment task. In the online experiment, which required the repetition of a visually presented noun with its corresponding definite article as fast as possible, reaction times show that the assignment of the definite determiner to a noun is not facilitated by gender-marking regularities. In an offline gender assignment task, however, participants profited from gender cues during gender assignment to nonwords.

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