THEORY: Language for a Multi-Species Society: Sex-Based Genders Among Neuters, Hermaphrodites, and Sex-Changers.

Hello, everyone.
I hope my "Subject:" line doesn't draw too much spurious interest.
In a galactic society there might be a great many intelligent races which are not
organized biologically as the human race is.
At the very least, some of them might be organized as other terrestrial species are.
To discuss a "sex-based" gender we would first have to decide what a "sex" is.
The division of a species into "sexes" is not basic.
If a species reproduces sexually -- that is, each organism in the species has two parents --
then what is basic is, one parent may contribute more genetic material -- may
resemble the offspring more closely -- than the other; or, one parent may
invest more bodily substance or energy or other biological value into the act
of reproducing the offspring than the other.
If either of these is true, then the other is also probably true; and usually the
parent that most closely resembles the offspring -- that contributes the most
genetic material -- is the one that invests the most biologically into the
reproduction.
That parent may be called that offspring's "mother".
The other parent -- or other parents, in case there is ever a species in which
sexual reproduction involves each offspring having more than two parents -- may
be called that offspring's "father" (or "fathers").
What is basic, then, is "motherhood" and "fatherhood".
[Skip to next "-----" if you only want to see the parts]
[for which I have developed the relevance to grammar.]
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[Skip to next "-----" if you only want to see the grammar]
It so happens that many sexually-reproducing species are organized into
"total-outcrossing classes" -- that is, every specimen belongs to a class such
that no two members of the same class can mate (fertilely or productively) with
each other.
If it should happen that there are two classes, one of which can only be
"mothers" and the other of which can only be "fathers", then of course these
will be "total-outcrossing classes"; and if each potential father could in
potentiality fertilize each potential mother, we would have the situation in
which we call the potential mothers "female" and the potential fathers "male".
But not every species is like that.
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Kudzu, for instance, is organized into eight classes.
Each plant has three sexual organs -- a short one, a medium-length one, and a long one.
Each organ can be either an pistil or a stamen.
Suppose Kudzu flowers had to make contact with each other to reproduce.
Suppose fertilization could occur only if a short organ and a long organ of opposite
sex made contact, or if two medium-length organs of opposite sex made contact.
The eight classes are
1 Long Pistil, Medium Pistil, Short Pistil
2 Long Pistil, Medium Pistil, Short Stamen
3 Long Pistil, Medium Stamen, Short Pistil
4 Long Pistil, Medium Stamen, Short Stamen
5 Long Stamen, Medium Pistil, Short Pistil
6 Long Stamen, Medium Pistil, Short Stamen
7 Long Stamen, Medium Stamen, Short Pistil
8 Long Stamen, Medium Stamen, Short Stamen
Classes 1, 2, 3, and/or 4 could be fertilized by Classes 2, 4, 6, and/or 8;
Classes 1, 2, 5, and/or 6 could be fertilized by Classes 3, 4, 7, and/or 8; and
Classes 1, 3, 5, and/or 7 could be fertilized by Classes 5, 6, 7, and 8.
To say it again in a different order,
Classes 5, 6, 7, and/or 8 can fertilize Classes 1, 3, 5, and/or 7;
Classes 3, 4, 7, and/or 8 can fertilize Classes 1, 2, 5, and/or 6;
and Classes 2, 4, 6, and/or 8 can fertilize Classes 1, 2, 3, and/or 4.
Anything in class 2 and/or 4 could fertilize, and/or be fertilized by, anything in
class 2 and/or 4; likewise, anything in class 5 and/or 7 could fertilize,
and/or be fertilized by, anything in class 5 and/or 7.
Therefore, classes 2, 4, 5, and 7 are not total-outcrossing classes.
Only class 1 cannot fertilize anything; and only class 1 can be fertilized by
everything in every class other than its own.
Class 1 contains only potential mothers, not potential fathers; it is the only such class.
Only class 8 cannot be fertilized by anything; and only class 8 can fertilize
everything in every class other than its own.
Class 8 contains only potential fathers, not potential mothers; it is the only such class.
Only one of the eight classes (the one with three stamens) can only be a father,
never a mother -- and only one (the one with three pistils) can only be a
mother, never a father.

Class 1 cannot mate with Class 1
Class 2 cannot mate with Class 5
Class 3 cannot mate with Class 3
Class 4 cannot mate with Class 7
Class 5 cannot mate with Class 2
Class 6 cannot mate with Class 6
Class 7 cannot mate with Class 4
Class 8 cannot mate with Class 8.
Class 2 can mate with any of classes 2, 3, or 4 and either partner can become either
the mother or the father as the result.
Class 3 can mate with any of classes 2, 5, or 6 and either partner can become either
the mother or the father as the result.
Class 4 can mate with any of classes 2, 4, or 6 and either partner can become either
the mother or the father as the result.
Class 5 can mate with any of classes 3, 5, or 7 and either partner can become either
the mother or the father as the result.
Class 6 can mate with any of classes 3, 4, or 7 and either partner can become either
the mother or the father as the result.
Class 7 can mate with any of classes 5, 6, or 7 and either partner can become either
the mother or the father as the result.
If Class 2 mates with class 6 or 7 or 8, class 2 must become the mother of the resulting offspring.
If class 3 mates with class 4 or 7 or 8, class 3 must become the mother of the resulting offspring.
If Class 5 mates with class 4 or 6 or 8, Class 5 must become the mother of the resulting offspring.
If Class 4 mates with Class 1 or 3 or 5, Class 4 must become the father of the resulting offspring.
If Class 6 mates with class 1 or 2 or 5, Class 6 must become the father of the resulting offspring.
If Class 7 mates with Class 1 or 2 or 3, Class 7 must become the father of the resulting offspring.
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[Resumption of part with developed grammar-relevance]
In determining the (sex-based) gender of an organism, there are six questions
that need to be answered; I am assuming that each answer is ideally either
"yes" or "no".
1.  Is it, right now, capable of becoming a mother?
2.  Has it ever been, in the past, capable of becoming a mother?
3.  Will it ever be, in the future, capable of becoming a mother?
4.  Is it, right now, capable of becoming a father?
5.  Has it ever been, in the past, capable of becoming a father?
6.  Will it ever be, in the future, capable of becoming a father?
I assume a "yes" answer to question 1 implies a "yes" answer to questions 2 and
3; and a "yes" answer to question 4 implies a "yes" answer to questions 5 and
6.
However, if Question 1 is "no", then Questions 2 and 3 are independent of each other;
and if question 4 is "no", then questions 5 and 6 are independent of each
other; and questions 1,2,3 are independent of questions 4,5,6.
(Remember we could be dealing across species here.
Some species change sex as they mature ---
and some species change sex in response to trauma or to poor conditions.)
So, now, ignoring for the moment the "I'm not sure", "I don't want to pin myself
down", "There are more than one correct answer", etc. possibilities, the
following are the 25 possible completely-specified biologically-sex-based
genders for two-parent sexually-reproducing-only species;

1-Y 2-Y 3-Y 4-Y 5-Y 6-Y Currently fertile hermaphrodite, fertile both ways.

1-Y 2-Y 3-Y 4-N 5-Y 6-Y Currently fertile female, formerly fertile male, expected
to become fertile male.

1-Y 2-Y 3-Y 4-N 5-Y 6-N Currently fertile female, formerly fertile male, never to
become fertile male again.

1-Y 2-Y 3-Y 4-N 5-N 6-Y Currrently fertile female, never been fertile male, expect
to become fertile male.

1-Y 2-Y 3-Y 4-N 5-N 6-N Currently fertile female, never been fertile male, never
will become fertile male.

1-N 2-Y 3-Y 4-Y 5-Y 6-Y Currently fertile male, formerly fertile female, expect to
become fertile female.

1-N 2-Y 3-N 4-Y 5-Y 6-Y Currently fertile male, formerly fertile female, never
will become fertile female again.

1-N 2-N 3-Y 4-Y 5-Y 6-Y Currently fertile male, never been fertile female, expect
to become fertile female.

1-N 2-N 3-N 4-Y 5-Y 6-Y Currently fertile male, never been fertile female, never
will become fertile female.

1-N 2-N 3-Y 4-N 5-N 6-Y Reproductive career not yet begun, expected to have both
fertile male phase and fertile female phase (possibly but not necessarily at
same time)

1-N 2-Y 3-N 4-N 5-Y 6-N Reproductive career ended, had both fertile male and
fertile female phases (possibly but not necessarily at same time)

1-N 2-N 3-Y 4-N 5-N 6-N Reproductive career not yet begun, expected to be exclusively female.

1-N 2-N 3-N 4-N 5-N 6-Y Reproductive career not yet begun, expected to be exclusively male.

1-N 2-Y 3-N 4-N 5-N 6-N Reproductive career finished, was exclusively female.

1-N 2-N 3-N 4-N 5-Y 6-N Reproductive career finished, was exclusively male.

1-N 2-N 3-N 4-N 5-N 6-N Lifetime neuter.

1-N 2-Y 3-Y 4-N 5-Y 6-Y Not currently fertile, previously fertile in both
capacities, expected to become fertile in both capacities in the future.

1-N 2-Y 3-Y 4-N 5-Y 6-N Not currently fertile, previously fertile in both
capacities, expected to resume female reproductive potential, male reproductive
career over.
1-N 2-Y 3-Y 4-N 5-N 6-Y Not currently fertile, previously fertile in maternal
capacity only, male career not yet begun, expected to resume female career and
begin male career

1-N 2-Y 3-Y 4-N 5-N 6-N Not currently fertile, never had and never expected to
have any capacity to fertilize another, has had and is expected to resume
maternal potential

1-N 2-Y 3-N 4-N 5-Y 6-Y Not currently fertile, has had both maternal and paternal
capacity, female career now over, expected to resume male career
1-N 2-Y 3-N 4-N 5-N 6-Y Not currently fertile, has had female career--now over,
has never begun male career--expected to begin

1-N 2-N 3-Y 4-N 5-Y 6-Y Not currently fertile, has never had female career, is
expected to resume male career and begin female career.
1-N 2-N 3-Y 4-N 5-Y 6-N Not currently fertile, has had male career--now over, has
not begun female career--expected to begin

1-N 2-N 3-N 4-N 5-Y 6-Y Not currently fertile, has never had and will never have
female career, has had and is expected to resume male career.

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A human girl before puberty would be 1-N 2-N 3-Y 4-N 5-N 6-N,
and a human boy before puberty would be 1-N 2-N 3-N 4-N 5-N 6-Y.
A human woman after menopause would be 1-N 2-Y 3-N 4-N 5-N 6-N.
In a race of intelligent honeybees the workers would be 1-N 2-N 3-N 4-N 5-N 6-N.

The thing is, if we just stick to sex-based gender, but allow for all the
variation available on our own planet, even if we ignore the possibilities of
parthenogenesis, facultative (or otherwise) asexual reproduction, or the
(admittedly non-terrestrial-- at least, not naturally) possibility of more than
two parents, the number of genders -- 25 -- rivals the number of noun classes
in any natural language system I've heard of.

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And that's if we're talking about one sentient. What if we're talking about a
group? If they're mixed in gender, what gender do we use?
For that matter, what if we are not sure of the gender, or do not wish to specify it?
We should be able to say what we mean and no more.

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That's one of the reasons in my conlang I thought about backing off from a 25-gender
sex-based system to the following;

"living vs nonliving" A nominal is regarded as being in the "living" gender if it can
grow or multiply or spread. Otherwise it is regarded as being in the
"nonliving" gender.

"animate vs inanimate" A nominal is regarded as being in the "animate" gender if it can
move under its own power and control. Otherwise it is regarded as being in the
"inanimate" gender.

"sapient vs nonsapient" A nominal is regardes as being in the "sapient" gender if it
can utter and comprehend new sentences (and/)or learn (a) new language(s).
Otherwise it is regarded as being in the "nonsapient" gender.

This gives me an 8-gender system.

(Yes, I know, before developing computers and robots, and going to space and meeting
aliens, probably everything "animate" would be "living" and everything
"sapient" would be "animate", so the primitive words would be in only four of
the eight genders.
But I want to allow for all eight genders, because I want to allow non-biological
sapients to be citizens, even if not full citizens, of my future fictional
commonwealth.)

Nonliving inanimate nonsapient things, like rocks, abstractions, and the universe;

Nonliving inanimate sapient things, like highly-intelligent speech-enabled immobile computers;

Nonliving animate nonsapient things, like non-intelligent cybernetically-self-controlled
automobiles;

Nonliving animate sapient things, like intelligent, speech-enabled, mobile, self-directed robots;

Living inanimate nonsapient things, like plants;

Living inanimate sapient things, like ?? hard to think of an example (maybe an
intelligent animal whose adult phase was sessile?);

Living animate non-sapient things, like dogs, cats, cows, horses, etc.;

Living animate sapient things, like people.

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There should be morphemes to "coerce" or "cast" nominals into genders they are not normally in.

For instance, "fire" should normally be living (it can grow and spread!),
inanimate (built properly it can't move by itself), nonsapient;
but "wildfire" would be "animate fire"; fire that moved under its own power and control.

Contagious diseases would be living and animate.

A body of water that burst a dam would be animate; one that was contained by the
dam might be inanimate.

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All comments welcome.

Thanks for reading this, anyone who does.

Thanks for writing, anyone who responds.

Tom H.C. in MI





















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