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Re: Origin of the word 'kivismi'

From:SuomenkieliMaa <suomenkieli@...>
Date:Monday, April 30, 2001, 14:40
--- 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 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/