Gendered Language (was Re: Digest 2 Apr)
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, April 3, 2001, 22:45 |
Muke Tever wrote:
> Well, some languages encode the gender of the speaker, IIRC, which is kind
> of "odd" in itself.
Well, it's really just an extension of gender-related taboos and
expectations. In English, the average female speaker has a larger color
vocabulary than the average male speaker. I could imagine that being
extended to an actual taboo on certain color-terms being used by males.
A Japanese-style gender language is essentially that. Women can't use
"boku", men can't use "atashi", for example.
> Actually, I already had in mind that for one of my future planned conlangs
> (what starts out conculturally as an invented "children's language") that at
> least two age statuses [...stata? statorides? states?] would be
> morphologically involved.
That would be complicated. Would the child have to completely change
the way he talks when he reaches a certain age?
--
Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon
A nation without a language is a nation without a heart - Welsh proverb
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