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Re: Genders (was Re: Láadan and woman's speak_

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Thursday, May 25, 2000, 23:55
Robert Hailman wrote:
> Right, but since there is a factor of chance involved, since we don't > know exactly what inspires a language to develop gender, or lose it, > what are the odds a language would lose one gender system and gain > another?
Very high, but why do you keep insisting on having lost one earlier? Given enough time, I would suspect that the evolution of a gender system is virtually inevitable.
> It's always possible, but what I want to know is whether it's likely or > not. I've never doubted whether such a system could form, I'm just > saying that it's improbable and if a language had a gender system like > that, I'd be more inclined to think it was consiously added by > someone...
Well, it's impossible to know - there's never been a society in such a state! But I've seen the most bizarre gender systems, things like "long, narrow objects", or "non-flesh food". Besides, I think what's really implausible is a conscious engineering of a natural language like that, or an artificial language being adopted as a mother tongue, especially if a common language already existed. It would be more reasonable to suppose that those genders evolved naturally then that someone put them in there. -- "If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!" - Ralph Waldo Emerson "Glassín wafilái pigasyúv táv pifyániivav nadusakyáavav sussyáiyatantu wawailáv ku suslawayástantu ku usfunufilpyasváditanva wafpatilikániv wafluwáiv suttakíi wakinakatáli tiDikáufli!" - nLáf mÁldu nÍmasun ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor