Re: Origin of the word 'kivismi'

--- Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> Daniel44 <Daniel44@...> writes:
> > As for soika/soike, the ending 'soika' is common
> and though it literally
> > translates as man, no sexist offence should be
> taken from it.
>
> Intension is not what counts.  In German `man'
> (impersonal pronoun,
> something like `one', oftern translated as `you')
> has no gender, but
> because it is derived from `Mann', it is assumed to
> be sexist by many
> women.  So is `Mensch' (human), because it comes
> from
> `Mann+<umlaut>+sch'.
>
> Because it is unnecessary to do this in an auxlang,
> it should be
> avoided, I think.  E.g. have one form that's
> underspecified and two
> additional ones that specify male and female.
>
> **Henrik
I agree with Henrik on the above point - after all,
aux/conlangs are our own creations.  Many of us may be
creating these languages for the minute intention of
one day having the tongue used for a phlethora of
purposes (world peace, etc).  Anyhow, why not make the
language "P.C." (politically correct) while you can!

Hey Daniel, (jokingly) perhaps you can incorporate
more of that u/y here too - eg, have the general noun
end in u (soika-man, soika-woman, soiku-human, when
referring to either a certain man or woman), and have
the noun end in y whenever gender is unknown
(soiky-human, in general sense).  Then I guess it
would be, "soiku" in the sentence "she is a human
(being), not alien" but "soiky" in the sentence "the
human race must be careful so as to not eliminate
itself"...

Matt


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