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Conlang Gender (was Re: Writing Systems and Biscriptal Children

From:Patrick Dunn <tb0pwd1@...>
Date:Wednesday, December 1, 1999, 1:45
> nicole perrin wrote: > > So, obligatory conlang reference: those of you who do have gender in > > your language, is it masc/fem?
I have an animate/inanimate gender distinction -- it works pretty well, actually. It's much easier thinking in terms of animacy than in terms of sex, sometimes. Gender determines how the optional plural is formed -- the prefix en- for animate nouns, oa- for inanimate nouns. It also determines how the construct state is formed -- animate nouns change their final -o to -a for the construct state, while inanimate nouns add an -a to their final -e. sho = the man sha Oa-oe = the man of the island of Oa-oe. satape = the weapon satapea oso = the weapon of the mind. (this, incidently, is from my first bit of shakespeare translated into Hatasoe, a piece of Macbeth) Some words are irregular. Most body parts, for example, are animate, except the eye, which is "hivie", inanimate. Most constructed objects are inanimate, except for book, "uvoro", which is animate for no good reason other than my whim. All gerunds are considered animate. --Pat