GENDER GENDER Gender in language sex in the

GENDER

GENDER • Gender in language = sex in the outside world • Living things are with identifiable sex (male or female), whereas inanimates are sexless. • Languages are of different orientations towards this category : some are with distinctive genders whereas others don’t have such gender recognition. CONTRASTIVE GRAMMAR. . . AHMED QADOURY ABED 10/22/2021 2

GENDER • English is of THREE genders : masculine , feminine , or neuter • Arabic is of TWO genders : masculine or feminine • The division in both languages is sometimes performed morphologically by adding suffixes hero – heroine ﻣﻌﻠﻤﺔ - ﻣﻌﻠﻢ CONTRASTIVE GRAMMAR. . . AHMED QADOURY ABED 10/22/2021 3

ENGLISH GENDER • Gender in English is realized by SUBSTITUTION, i. e, replacing a personal noun by a pronoun. This led many grammarians to deny that English nouns have gender. • No difficulty with suffixed –gender nouns • Nouns can be divided into ANIMATE and INANIMATE. • INANIMATES can easily be replaced by IT or WHICH. Car- it which CONTRASTIVE GRAMMAR. . . AHMED QADOURY ABED 10/22/2021 4

ANIMATES AND GENDER • FIVE kinds of nouns of personal nouns can be recognized: 1. MASCULINE GENDER can be replaced by HE or WHO 2. FEMININE GENDER can be replaced by SHE or WHO 3. DUAL GENDER where both masculine and feminine can be referred to : teacher 4. COMMON GENDER where both personal (masculine he or feminine she) and non-personal (it) nouns be treated : baby , child 5. COLLECTIVE GENDER where collective nouns can be recognized as personal or non-personal on the one hand , and singular or plural on the other: government , family, CONTRASTIVE GRAMMAR. . . AHMED QADOURY ABED 10/22/2021 5

GENDER OF NON-PERSONAL NOUNS • NON-PERSONAL NOUNS are of FOUR kinds: 1. MASCILINE HIGHER ANIMALS : dog 2. FEMININE HIGHER ANIMALS : cow 3. HIGHER ORGANISMS these are referring to ships, countries, and other inanimate things which can be involved EMOTIONALLY. Ships are replaced by SHE, cars and trains by HE or SHE depending on the speaker’s psychology. All can be replaced by IT or WHICH. 4. LOWER ANIMALS are replaced by IT or WHICH: fly , snake CONTRASTIVE GRAMMAR. . . AHMED QADOURY ABED 10/22/2021 6

● The correspondence between gender and sex is almost complete. Therefore , gender in Arabic is GRAMMATICAL, not affected by psychological factors ● For inanimate things FORMAL basis (whether the noun has certain morphological markers) can be traced. ● Masculine is the UNMARKED while feminine is MARKED. ● Three markers for feminine : ﺍ ، ﻯ ، ﺓ ● ﺻﺤﺮﺍﺀ ، ﺫﻛﺮﻯ ، ﻣﻌﻠﻤﺔ ● GENDER IN ARABIC SEMANTIC CONTENT HAS PRIORITY OVER FORM. (1)Personal nouns referring to males but with one of these three markers is called ﻣﺆﻨﺚ ﻣﺠﺎﺯﻱ as in ﻃﻠﺤﺔ , which sometimes pluralized as feminine ﻃﻠﺤﺎﺕ. (2) feminine nouns without these markers as in ﺯﻳﻨﺐ. CONTRASTIVE GRAMMAR. . . AHMED QADOURY ABED 2014 (3) some inanimates are treated as feminine as in ﺍﺭﺽ. 10/22/2021 7

● There is sometimes A CORRELATION BETWEEN GENDER AND NUMBER : ﻧﺤﻠﺔ feminine – ﻧﺤﻞ masculine ● Gender also involves ADJECTIVES WHICH AGREES WITH THE HEAD NOUN: ﺍﻟﺒﻨﺖ ﺍﻟﺬﻛﻴﺔ / ﺍﻟﻮﻟﺪ ﺍﻟﺬﻛﻲ ● Gender affects verb selection : ﺟﺎﺀﺕ ﺍﻟﺒﻨﺖ / ﺟﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﻮﻟﺪ which indicates a kind of AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE SUBJECT AND ITS VERB. ● ﺛﻢ ﺧﺮﺝ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﻝ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺎﺀ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺧﺎﺭﺝ ﺍﻟﻤﺪﻳﻨﺔ in this sentence a masculine verb is used for feminine subject because the subject is SEPARATED from its verb CONTRASTIVE GRAMMAR. . . AHMED QADOURY ABED 10/22/2021 8

MODERN ARABIC ● In modern Arabic irregular plurals of inanimates are treated as singular feminine for the sake of subject verb agreement: ● ﻇﻬﺮﺕ ﺍﻟﺠﺒﺎﻝ ﺍﻟﺮﻭﺍﺳﻲ ● ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﺠﺒﺎﻝ ﻋﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﻭﺧﻄﺮﺓ ● Occasionally , this is also true for : ﺟﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﺘﻜﺴﻴﺮ ● ﻗﺎﻟﺖ ﺍﻟﻴﻬﻮﺩ CONTRASTIVE GRAMMAR. . . AHMED QADOURY ABED 10/22/2021 9