Re: Gender neutral

Bob Cunningham wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:16:54 +0100, Chris Waigl
<cwaigl@xxxxxxx> said:

....
(e) Singular *they*
(f) Avoidance

[...]

As can be expected, the most interesting points are (a) and (e).

They may be the most interesting to some people, but the
most significant is (e), because it's the de facto accepted
usage. And it's not used only informally. It's common
usage in edited and printed matter.

....

Try to tell UC that. Seems like she or he hasn't accepted that the
language HAS changed.

...

The silly feminist insistence on avoiding words that *seem*
to imply maleness has worked too well. It's too late to
reinstate the traditional "he" and its family as gender
neutral..

I wonder if other languages have gender-neutral personal
pronouns. Does Personbrew have them? How about the
Personite dialects in Iraq?

Does the personagement of a typical modern corporation
strictly enforce the use of "personalhole cover" in place of
"manhole cover"? Do they use it in Personboygan?

...

Now you are being silly. And perhaps bitter? To use your own phrasing,
equally it could be said that the silly macho-males in the past
insisted that the language (and professions and discussions and
elections) be exclusive. Regarding the language I wouldn't
necessarily assume anyone had that intention myself, but would rather
think that it was deemed appropriate at the time. But now is now, it is
not appropriate *now* and this society is great in adapting the
language. We're just in the middle of some words changing and other
remnants lagging behind awkwardly.

...
I wonder if other languages have gender-neutral personal
pronouns.
...

Thai (language of Thailand) has "Khun" (pronounced as a short form
of 'koon') as a gender-neutral title for just about everyone in
polite society (there are exceptions), "khow" or "ta(r)n" as
a gender-neutral pronoun (as in he, she, they), "khong khow"
meaning 'belonging he/she/they" as in her, his, their. Nouns in
general do not have gender either and do not change forms (eg table,
sky, ship). Some nouns like 'mother', 'father', 'paternal
female-grandmother', etc have short words: "Mae", "Por",
"Ya". Animal-nouns are also gender-neutral so when you want to
specify their sex you add the word thus: female cat, male cat, female
bird, male bird. "It" is used for animals and things. Children are
not animals or things so 'it' does not apply there.

The 'exceptions' mentioned above apply more to special titles and
royalties (the latter of which have a whole unique set of vocabulary).

Solo Thesailor
http://sailingstoriesandtips.blogspot.com

.

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