Re: My languages

wayne chevrier wrote:
> five genders:
> divine: gods, groves, springs, weather, priests, chiefs, smiths(and their
> tools), herbs, ceremonies, certain animals, ritual objects, etc.
> dangerous: adult human males(except in insults), weapons, carnivores,
> dangerous bits of landscape, wild boars, etc.
> domestic: all humans not already mentioned, tools, houses, fleas, etc.
> edible: plants and animals eaten for food(except herbs and sacrificed
> animals)
> other: everything else
Oh, that's cool!  Any reason why smiths are considered Divine?  I like
how men are "dangerous".  Kind of the reverse of that Australian
language whose name escapes me that has "Women, fire, and dangerous
things" :-)

So, if something could fall into more than one of these, I take it that
the first on the list is applied?

Uatakassi's genders, for those who haven't seen them:
1. Sentient Female (sentient is defined as "language-using", and thus
excludes infants and the mute)
2. Sentient Male
3. Sentient Epicene
4. Animals associated with people (domestic animals, infants, mutes,
pests, etc.)
5. Other animal
6. Other animate (some plants, fire, language, emotions, some body parts
[body parts not in 6 have the same gender as their possessor], etc.)
7. Inanimate

The distinction between 6 and 7 is a bit arbitrary.  Anything associated
with animals is gender 6 (for example: egg, feather, meat, etc.),
anything associated with language is gender 6 (language, word, speech,
etc.)

Some assignments are arbitrary, for example, "inhabited place" is gender
6, but "colony" is gender 7.  Impurity is gender 6, but purity is 7!
"Metal" is gender 6, but "copper" and "iron" (the only two metals whose
names I know) are gender 7.  "Tree" and "grass" are gender 6, but "fern"
is gender 7.  "Love" and "hate" are gender 6, but "friendship" is gender
7.  "Honor" as an abstract concept is gender 7, but referring to a
specific honor [e.g., "Being chosen to represent the group is a great
honor"] is gender 6 (they use related, but distinct, roots, _pi-nimma_
and _ua-nimi_ respectively), "inhabited place" is gender 6, but
"uninhabited place" is gender 7, "light" as an abstract is gender 7, but
"light" as a concrete nouns is gender 6 (again, related but distinct
roots, _pi-zikaffa_ vs. _ua-zika_), most time words are gender 6, but
"event" is gender 7.  "Silence" is gender 6, but "noise" is gender 7.
"Power" is gender 6, "strength" is gender 7.

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