Gender in Grammar and Cognition: I: Approaches to Gender. II: Manifestations of Gender 9783110802603, 9783110162417

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Gender in Grammar and Cognition

W G DE

Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 124

Editor

Werner Winter

Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York

Gender in Grammar and Cognition I Approaches to Gender II Manifestations of Gender

edited by

Barbara Unterbeck (Part I) and Matti Rissanen, Terttu Nevalainen and Mirja Saari (Part II)

Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York

2000

Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague) is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.

© Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Data

Gender in grammar and cognition / edited by Barbara Unterbeck ... [et al.]. p. cm. - (Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs ; 124) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 3-11-016241-5 (alk. paper) 1. Grammar, Comparative and general Gender. I. Unterbeck, Barbara, 1951- II. Series. P240.7.G46 2000 415—dc21 99-055221

Die Deutsche Bibliothek —

CIP-Einheitsaufnahme

Gender in grammar and cognition / ed. by Barbara Unterbeck ... - Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1999 (Trends in linguistics : Studies and monographs ; 124) ISBN 3-11-016241-5

© Copyright 1999 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printing: WB-Druck GmbH & Co., Rieden/Allgäu Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer, Berlin. Printed in Germany.

Contents

Preface

ix

Barbara Unterbeck Gender: New light on an old category An introduction

xv

Part 1: Approaches to gender Dagmar Bittner Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

1

Kurt Braunmüller Gender in North Germanic: A diasystematic and functional approach

25

Greville G. Corbett and Norman M. Fraser Default genders

55

Osten Dahl Animacy and the notion of semantic gender

99

Ursula Doleschal Gender assignment revisited

117

Kari Fraurud Proper names and gender in Swedish

167

Martin Haase Reorganization of a gender system: The Central Italian neuters

221

Elisabeth Leiss Gender in Old High German

237

vi

Contents

Elisabeth Löbel Classifiers versus genders and noun classes: A case study in Vietnamese

259

Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

321

Natascha Müller Gender and number in acquisition.

351

Barbara Unterbeck Verbal classification and number: A case study in Navajo ( Athapaskan/Na-Dene)

401

Petra Maria Vogel Nominal abstracts and gender in Modern German: A "quantitative" approach towards the function of gender

461

Doris Weber On the function of gender.

495

Heide Wegener German gender in children's second language acquisition

511

Part 2: Manifestations of gender Erik Andersson How many gender categories are there in Swedish?

545

Anne Curzan Gender categories in early English grammars: Their message to the modern grammarian

561

Osten Dahl Elementary gender distinctions

577

Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila Grammatical gender and its development in Classical Arabic

595

Contents

vii

Juhani Härmä Gender in French: A diachronic perspective

609

Raymond Hickey On the phonology of gender in Modern German

621

Arvi Hurskainen Noun classification in African languages

665

Juha Janhunen Grammatical gender from east to west

689

Dieter Kastovsky Inflectional classes, morphological restructuring, and the dissolution of Old English grammatical gender

709

Barbara Kryk-Kastovsky Norm versus use: On gender in Polish

729

Helena Lehecková Use and misuse of gender in Czech

749

Ahti Nikunlassi On gender assignment in Russian

771

Caroline Sandström The changing system of grammatical gender in the Swedish dialects of Nyland, Finland

793

Name index Language index Subject index

807 815 819

Preface Any book in its way documents work in progress. But the present one does so in a very particular sense. Research in gender and in the wider sense in nominal classification is a time-honored subject of linguistics. Aspects of this research history show up in the present book which itself stands in a row with several comprehensive and more recent publications in the field of nominal classification. In Germany it was the Cologne research group Unityp (19731992) who took up the topic and did intensive research in different systems of nominal classification on a comparative basis and related to an independent tertium comparationis. Conferences were held, proceedings and many working papers (akup - Arbeiten des Kölner Universalien-Projekts) were published. Main works of this research were collectively published in the first three books of the Language Univerals Series (LUS l/I-III) dealing with classificatory systems whithin the so-called Dimension of Apprehension, i.e., with linguistic means to represent an object (Seiler—Stachowiak (eds.) 1982, Seiler—Lehmann (eds.) 1982 and Seiler 1986; for a review of the UNITYP-project see Premper 1992). In October 1983 a symposium in Eugene, Oregon, took up the subject and resulted in the proceedings Noun classes and categorization encompassing both the description of different types of nominal classification and approaches to understand the cognitive side of the categorization they are connected to (Craig (ed.) 1986). The early nineties brought the topic to the Netherlands were in Mai 1993 in Nijmegen another workshop was held: Back to Basic Issues in Nominal Classification. Again a broad view was taken and the workshop both contributed to the further description of different systems and made an attempt to filter out the common denominato r s ) of different classificatory systems. Depending on the point of view several candidates qualify as a basic issue, e.g., the cognitivesemantic aspect, the morpho-syntactic aspect, and above all the evernagging question of what the function of nominal classification might be. Furthermore the question was discussed whether the Unityp approach of arranging the different classificatory techniques on a continuum was a suitable framework and whether it would fit to integrate all the systems discussed. Gunter Senft is the editor of the

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Barbara Unterbeck and Matti Rissanen

book about this workshop which is in press at Cambridge University Press under the title Systems of nominal classification. The inspiring atmosphere of the Nijmegen workshop led to a follow-up event in Berlin in May 1994: Changing the focus Barbara Unterbeck organized a workshop under the title Approaches to gender, deliberately concentrating on one particular system without loosing sight of the problem as a whole. The papers read by the following contributors at this workshop became the first stock of Part I of the present volume: Dagmar Bittner, Kurt Braunmüller, Greville G. Corbett and Norman M. Frazer, Osten Dahl, Ursula Doleschal, Kari Fraurud, Elisabeth Löbel, Natascha Müller, Barbara Unterbeck, Petra Maria Vogel, Doris Weber.

The tandem-contributions of Klaus-Michael Kopeke and David Zubin and the paper of Wolfgang Ullrich Wurzel were not handed in for publication. Due to the stimulating discussions of this workshop and the common interest in the subject we decided to make the workshop a book. Books take their time to be compiled and to have double advantage of this time it was used to both collect the papers and to give a last chance to continue the discussion right after the workshop: as the papers were arriving, they were copied for each participant and mailed for a last round of discussion and refining for publication. At the same time efforts were made to acquire additional papers to complete the spectrum of topics and languages treated. Thanks are due to the following colleagues to have supplied manuscripts for the growing gender project: Martin Haase, Elisabeth Leiss, Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs, Heide Wegener.

This set of papers, as well as some late ones of the Berlin workshop, could not be shared with all contributors by circulating further copies. Another enrichment to the discussion of the role of gender in various languages and language groups was provided by the International Symposium on Grammatical Gender which was organized at the initiative of professors Mirja Saari, Terttu Nevalainen and Matti Rissanen and held in Helsinki in May 1996 with the result that contributions by:

Preface

xi

Erik Andersson, Anne Curzan, Osten Dahl, Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, Juhani Hännä, Raymond Hickey, Arvi Hurskainen, Juha Janhunen, Diester Kastovsky, Barbara Kryk-Kastovsky, Helena Lehecková, Ahti Nikunlassi, Caroline Sandström

were offered to Mouton de Gruyter to be published as a volume. While the Berlin workshop was already being prepared for publication by Barbara Unterbeck the publisher proposed to combine the Helsinki project with the running Berlin project in one book under the umbrella of the series Trends in Linguistics - Studies and Monographs. After preparations in Finland the pile of these manuscripts was sent to Barbara Unterbeck and a truly intensive cooperation started with Matti Rissanen in fall 1997. Our joint efforts have finally resulted in the present book Gender in grammar and cognition. Due to the different histories of the two parts we agreed upon a Part I and Part II within one volume. Thus Part I Approaches to gender represents the extended Berlin workshop of 1994 and Part II Manifestations of gender represents the Helsinki symposium of 1996. As every coin has two sides also this expansion of the project had them. On the one hand it meant a prolonged process of compilation for the book, but on the other hand it has finally put all contributions into the wider context of a more comprehensive treatment of the common topic. And this advantage was the driving force of all our joint efforts. A great variety of languages and language groups are dealt with in this book as can be seen from Table 1 (p. IV). Several papers are not focussed on an individual language or a certain language group or language area; these authors illustrate their issues with material from different languages and language groups: Greville G. Corbett and Norman M. Frazer, Osten Dahl, and Doris Weber in Part I, and a second contribution by Osten Dahl in Part II. Clearly the focus of our book is on gender, and for a comparative perspective two systems of nominal classification, which are fundamentally different from gender in their semantics and in their morpho-syntax, are included: numeral classification as represented in Vietnamese and verbal classification as represented in Navajo. North Asian data not usually included in the gender discussion but of great relevance to it are available as well. We will see that these typological contributions find themselves in one row with gender when it comes to the crucial question of what function might unite them all.

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The contributors of the book have used their respective languages to combine the description of the systems with the following topics (see Table 2 on page V). Language (group)

Parti

Partii

Old English

Dieter Kastovsky

Early English grammars

Anne Curzan

Swedish

Kari Fraurud

Erik Andersson Caroline Sandström

North Germanic

Kurt Braunmüller

Old High German

Elisabeth Leiss

Modern German

Dagmar Bittner Petra Maria Vogel Heide Wegener

Modem German/French

Natascha Müller

French

Raymond Hickey

Juhani Härmä

Italian

Martin Haase

Russian

Ursula Doleschal

Ah ti Nikunlassi

Polish

Barbara Kryk-Kastovsky

Czech

Helena Lehecková

Eurasian

Juha Janhunen

Arabic

Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila

African Languages

Arvi Hurskainen

Teop (Bougainville, Papua-Neuguinea)

Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

Vietnamese

Elisabeth Löbel

Navajo

Barbara Unterbeck

Preface

Topic

Parti

acquisition of gender

Natascha Müller (LI) Heide Wegener (L2)

origin of gender

Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

xiii

Partii

change/renewal of gender Kurt Braunmüller Martin Haase systems animacy and elementary gender distinctions

Osten Dahl

determining gender

Osten Dahl Erik Andersson

gender assignment

Ursula Doleschal Kari Fraurud

Ah ti Nikunlassi Raymond Hickey

relationship of gender and inflection

Dagmar Bittner Greville G. Corbett and Norman M. Frazer

Dieter Kastovsky

search for the function - of gender

Elisabeth Leiss Petra Maria Vogel Doris Weber

- of other systems

Elisabeth Löbel Barbara Unterbeck

norm vs. use

Barbara Kryk-Kastovsky Helena Lehecková

diachronic views

Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila J uh ani Härmä Caroline Sandström

areal surveys

Arvi Hurskainen Juha Janhunen

research history

Anne Curzan

xiv

Barbara Unterbeck and Matti Rissanen

We would like to express our sincerest thanks to Professor Werner Winter for his unfailing help and generous advise, and to Dr. Anke Beck and Ms. Katja Huder of Mouton de Gruyter for their highly competent and valuable support in the process of publication.

Königs Wusterhausen and Helsinki, August 1999

Barbara Unterbeck

Matti Rissanen

Gender: New light on an old category An introduction Barbara Unterbeck

1. Research in nominal classification and terminology We are used to think of gender as basically a one-to-one mechanism of correlating a noun and its respective gender. At least in many gender languages most of the nouns are of this type and this majority represents the general picture. If there is variability, these nouns are treated separately as special groups. Even if this "disturbing" material is abundant we insist on the fixed nature of gender and look for ways to explain the exceptions as deviations from a general rule. But the one-to-one part of the lexicon plus the cases of variation, whatever nature, are only secondary to a criterion that unifies almost all cases in almost all gender languages: agreement. This first-hand feature seems the most reliable one and is taken as the general feature of the currently most widely accepted definition of gender: Genders are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words (Hockett 1958: 231).

Gender and noun class systems (in the traditional sense), at least most of them, clearly fall under this definition. But there are also cases of numeral classification where "associated words" (in the plural) reflect the nominal class in that a classifier occurs with more than one associated word, e.g., with the numeral and an adjective (cf. Hundius—Kölver 1983: 173-177). Although this is not the typical situation in numeral classifier languages it brings up the question whether the plural form "associated words" might also include these cases. And a second question occurs: does it also include cases where there is only a single associated word, which would be the typical situation in numeral classifier languages? This second question does not only hold for languages with numeral classification, also gender languages may be in this situation: pronominal gender systems like English (Corbett 1991: 5, 169-170)—not being the typical case of

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Unterbeck

gender languages—are a case in point since here, too, a noun class is reflected only in a single element, viz. the behaviour of the pronoun, and even this occurs only in certain contexts. In order to also definitely cover a single reflecting element a definition is needed that is wide enough to include this "agreement in the wider sense" (Corbett 1991: 295; cf. 106-115). Inspired by works of the Unityp group, and in particular by a paper of Serzisko (1981), Wurzel in a discussion of different systems of nominal classification proposes the following definition: Eine Klassifizierung von Substantiven liegt dann vor, wenn die Substantive einer Sprache in eine begrenzte Anzahl von Klassen eingeteilt sind, wobei sich die Klassenzugehörigkeit zumindest in bestimmten Kontexten formal am Wort und/oder über das Wort hinaus auswirkt (Wurzel 1986: 77). [Classification of nouns means the division of the nouns of a language into a limited number of classes with class membership formally taking effect on the nouns itself and/or beyond the nouns in at least certain contexts ; transi. B.U.].

Hockett's gender definition is based on the "associated words", i.e., even the gender markers on the nouns are less important than the agreement phenomena. Wurzel's definition of nominal classification in general includes the noun itself as a place where classification may take effect. This definition covers both the class marking that takes place on the noun (or anywhere else) and the agreement phenomena. Thus in the Wurzel way gender and noun class as well as pronominal gender and numeral classification are covered. Likewise verbal classification falls under this definition: noun classes in these languages are reflected in verb stems, i.e., classes are established by the cooperation of certain nouns with certain verbs, a two-partite relationship like the one between a noun and a numeral classifier. This definition is useful because it can help to work with a double strategy: keeping an eye on the common traits of different systems while focussing on gender. The important point is that basically any system of nominal classification rests upon the cooperation of two sides: side one is the noun itself, side two is the expression of the class. Class expression may be on the noun itself, but it may also be on one or more other elements, or on both the noun and on other elements. One of the most interesting questions is how the elements of class expression are organized and how they cooperate. A distinction is here made of two

Gender: New light on an old

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levels: the first level is the class expression itself, may it be on the noun or somewhere else, the second level is agreement. For reasons that become clear below, the term "perspective marker" or "perspectivizer" is used here for the first level, i.e., for the single partner element of the noun that expresses class membership. In gender systems this is the gender marker, in noun class it means the class marker, in numeral classification the classifier, in verbal classification the verb stem cooperating with the noun to jointly express a content which is not carried by the noun alone. In the Unityp sense the cooperation between noun and the "perspectivizer" means the apprehension of the object, i.e., the linguistic expression of an extralinguistic entity, the "thing" that is spoken about. This content, then, is what agreement markers refer to. Therefore only the second level is a reflecting level and constitutes agreement. Referring to Hockett's definition agreement markers are therefore called "reflectors". The reflectors refer to the content jointly expressed by the noun and the perspectivizer (resp. only by the noun if there is no perspective marker). This terminology serves a double aim: to improve the instruments to compare the different systems and at the same time to focus on the special traits of gender, the main interest of the present volume. In Corbett's sense side 1 and the first level of side 2 correspond to the controller, the second level of side 2 corresponds to the target(s): Table 1. Unifying terminology for nominal classification side 1

side 2 first level

second level

base element

indication of class

agreement

noun (or -stem, -root)

perspective marker (perspectivizer)

reflector(s)

on noun or somewhere else, e.g.:

e.g., on:

- gender marker - noun class marker - numeral classifier - verbal classifier (verb stem)

- attributive - predicate - numeral - relative pronoun - personal pronoun - genitive connector

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This terminology can also be compared to the terms of overt and covert gender (cf. Corbett 1991: 62-63). If gender is evident from its form we speak of overt gender, if gender is not visible on the noun itself, we speak of covert gender. Many languages present a mixture of overt and covert gender, for instance Russian (cf. Doleschal and Nikunlassi in this vol.). English would be a language with covert gender (cf. Kastovsky and Curzan in this vol.). Overt gender would correspond to perspectivizers on nouns, covert gender would only show reflector(s) corresponding with the noun in some respect.

2. Noun classes, numeral classification, and verbal classification: [ +count-mass] [+shape] According to Wurzel the minimal formal effect of classification is class marking on the noun itself without agreeing elements. This is what Juha Janhunen (Part II) describes for Tungusic where two different suffixes (perspective markers) establish classes of "unspecified masses or uncountable materials, on the one hand, and single members of groups of countable objects, on the other" (p. 698 in this vol.). These groups of "countable objects" are not to be mis-taken as plurals: in addition to this distinction of mass vs. singulative there are separate means (also suffixes) to express plurality. This distinction "according to the parameter of countability" (Janhunen p. 704 in this vol.) is pervasive in the Tungusic languages. If we compare it with gender we cannot but admit that the semantics of this system is crystal-clear. Benzing (the source of the Tungusic data) calls it a system of "nominal aspects" (Benzing 1955: 57, 68): Wir erhalten so ein System von nominalen Aspektformen, die in manchem eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit mit den Klassensystemen afrikanischer Sprachen zeigen (Benzing 1955: 68). [Thus we get a system of nominal aspect forms which in some respect resemble the class systems of African languages (transi. B.U.)]

Traditionally African noun class systems are not put in the light of a count-mass distinction and the semantics of the modern systems clearly lacks the transparency of the Tungusic crystal. But there is a proposal to think of a count-mass distinction made by Denny— Creider (1986; cf. also Creider 1975): they analyse Proto-Bantu (PB) data from this point of view and detect "a semantic system where

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each prefix was associated with a particular characteristic meaning" (Denny—Creider 1986: 217). They initially separate count nouns from mass nouns and further divide the count part into two subgroups: one is called "kind" (human, animate, artifacts), the other "configuration" (solid figure vs. outline figure). The configurations —with appropriate modifications—are also found in the mass part of the system. In the end of their paper the authors modestly ask for consideration of their results in further research: Hence, we would inject a note of caution to those who would simply assume that the classificatory system of PB has no salience for present day Bantu languages. This may indeed be the case, but it is important not to prejudge the issue.... In any event we feel that there is sufficient likelihood that portions of this semantic system are still operative in present day Bantu languages to warrant its investigation (Denny—Creider 1986: 230).

To find such a semantic system in Swahili is the aim of ContiniMorava (1994) as Arvi Hurskainen (Part II) reports in his survey of African noun class systems (Hurskainen p. 676 in this vol.). ContiniMorava checked the nouns of a whole dictionary with the result that in this modern Bantu language classes follow the criteria of shape, size, and affect. Looking at Hurskainen's summary of her data (cf. figure 6 in Hurskainen p. 677 in this vol.) against the background of Denny—Creider (1986) and with the experience of analysing systems like numeral and verbal classification the data can be re-arranged in the following way: there are three non-shape classes, and there are three basic shapes which are spread over four shape classes in different patterns (shapes are abbreviated as 1-d, 2-d, 3-d for one-/ two-/three-dimensional). In the shape part masses occur: liquids in 11, aggregates in 6. It is easy to connect the whole picture to the count-mass dichotomy (table 2 is based on figure 6 in Hurskainen's paper, additional data were added by Katrin Bromber, p.c., note that only the key morphemes of each class are given):

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Table 2. Count-mass, non-shape and shape in Swahili noun classes count and mass non-shape

class 1/2:

class 7/8:

class 9/10:.

m-/wa-

ki-

n-/n-

human

any small object

/ VI-

miscelleaneous, incl. animals, loan words, few intangibles

class 7 also for diminuation plural: shape

simple

simple

simple

class 3/4:

class 5/6:

class 11/(0, 10,6):

m- / mi-

ji- / ma-

u- / (0-, n-, ma-)

1-d rigid/large, exceptional animals

3-d large 2-d

2-d surface 1-d flexible

intangibles

intangibles

most abstractions

class 5 also for augmentation plural:

±human collectives collections matched pairs matched pairs

if plurals are possible they are simple plurals

plural also for

singular also for

aggregates, liquids

essences, thick liquids

We can further borrow know-how and terminology from numeral classifier systems and will arrive without trouble at the distinction of primary shapes and secondary parameters (Adams—Conklin 1973). Primary shapes are the three dimensions, which may be accompanied by secondary parameters. Typically (though not exclusively) in numeral classification shapes are derived from parts of plants. Swahili shape classes also show close connection to parts of plants: 1-d has plants, especially trees, in it, and "active body parts", i.e., mainly the 1-d parts like arms and legs. Class 5/6 has fruit and leaves, i.e., 3-d and 2-d parts of plants, and objects of 3-d and 2-d shape. Swahili secondary parameters are: size (large in class 3/4 and 5/6), solid or hollow (3-d objects in class 5/6), curved outlines (2-d objects in class 5/6), flexibility (1-d objects in class 11). These

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secondary parameters are typical also of numeral classification. In Swahili, a secondary parameter even occurs independent of shape: class 7/8 denotes any small object, so size in the form of smallness is the main (though not exclusive) criterion for class membership. Due to the extensions of small size to lower status and incompleteness also handicapped people are covered by this class. At least according to the survey of Adams—Conklin (1973) independent secondary parameters do not occur as classifiers in numeral classification, so here we might have a clear difference. Another point is that the shape classes are no semantically "clean" classes but mixed ones which also contain nouns denoting "abstractions" (cf. class 11 in Hurskainen's figure 6). Borrowing terminology from verbal classification the term "intangibles" is added in the shape classes 3/4 and 5/6 for certain nouns also not denoting discrete objects: natural and supranatural phenomena in 3/4, revered/feared things in 5/6. Intangible extensions are almost exclusively observed in shape classes (cf. data given in table 6, Hurskainen). In non-shape classes intangibles are rare (e.g., in 9/10 the nouns denoting 'heaven', 'star' and 'land', Katrin Bromber, p.c.). Class 9/10 resembles a residual class, which in numeral classifier languages is often called a general class (being represented by a general classifier). There is discussion about the behaviour of loan words: they choose 5/6 and 9/10 and authors differ about the preferences (cf. Hurskainen p. 676 in this vol). As seen from the present shape approach, it becomes clear why they enter these two classes: they are the least specific ones. As for shape (class 5/6), 3-d is the least specific shape since geometrically 3-d includes 1-d and 2-d. The other shape classes are a specific 1-d class and shared l-d/2-d classes. As for non-shape, class 1/2 [+human] is also very specific (and historically related to the 1-d class). Although smallness (class 7/8) is not specific as such, many loan words can not be associated with smallness, political terms in particular are abstract terms independent of concrete size notions and are not suitable for diminutive associations. So the class 9/10 is left which is a residual class anyway (and which is historically related to 3-d, cf. below). The Swahili class meanings coincide widely with the PB class meanings and this shows the relevance of the historic findings for the modern languages as suggested by Denny—Creider. Class 9/10 was kind of a residual class already in PB: most animals, all kinds of containers, place nouns, certain tools, and a few others are in this

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class. Denny—Creider (1986: 219) subsume this variety under the two features 9/10 "animal" (with 10 being a simple plural) and 9 "non-extended" (with 10 being a collective plural, not covering all "non-extended" nouns) and list some problematic cases (1986: 235). In the present shape terminology "non-extended" would mean a 3-d class. 3-d might be the bridge between 5/6 and 9/10 with the difference lying in two different ways of perspectivizing 3-d objects: PB 5/6 denotes the aspect of solid objects as wholes, PB 9/10 looks at a 3-d object focussing the cover (outline figure, p. 219), the thing that surrounds a 3-d interior, hence the container meaning. Back to the modern Bantu language Swahili we see in table 2 that the classes have double numbers: 1/2, 3/4, etc. These are the traditional way to indicate a singular and a plural belonging together: in the human class 1 is the singular 2 is the plural. The semantics of the plurals is different: in non-shape classes it is a simple plural, in the shape classes it usually is a collective plural (except for certain groups of nouns in 11). We will come back to this important difference which is usually paid only little or no attention to. It is a factor "disturbing" the neat twin-paradigms of singular and plural classes. Class 6 is often given the sub-class 6a which has no singular partner: here the "collective plural marker" of the 3-d objects in 5, ma-, is used as a mass-denoting prefix for dry aggregates and liquids, i.e., if ma- is denoting a mass, it is called 6a (note that 6 is only for liquids in PB). The Swahili case tells us that despite of the fact that African noun classes—due to their rich agreement systems—are traditionally treated in the closest context to gender they have a lot in common with other systems seemingly less closely related to them. The new approaches to African noun classes are another step towards a better understanding of the phenomenon of nominal classification in its different surface forms. The African data may not only become clearer in the light of numeral classification, but also the African way of employing classification can be inspiring to ask new questions about numeral classification: the extensions of the 3-d shape class in Swahili include the semantic component of affect: 3-d large extends to "impressive, ungainly". The question of affectual connotations might also be asked for numeral classification where "stylistic effects" of classifiers are described occasionally. In sum, the investigation of noun classes can be enriched by the comparison with other systems and the exchange of results will enrich our study of all

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systems, as also Denny—Creider have found out in their contribution: The indirect evidence we will present consists of a discussion of noun classifier sets found in other languages throughout the world. We show that these sets are structured in terms of meaning distinctions which are very much like those of the PB system. In other words, the PB system should not be regarded as a linguistic oddity (Denny—Creider 1986: 218).

But this comparability and the common traits do not refer to the semantic side only. It should be added that another wide-spread pattern, most probably a pattern also "found in other languages throughout the world", is found as a basic trait of nominal classification. This other pattern has, however, attracted much less attention in the research of nominal classification: it results from the question of how the plurals, collectives, masses, and abstractions are related to the "better organized" parts of the classificatory systems. This pattern is the count-mass distinction and it is intricately intertwinded with the semantic and structural patterns of nominal classification. Therefore, there is more to detect than the count part of classification, and there is more to compare than just the semantics of the classes within the subgroup of count nouns. Denny—Creider demonstrate the integrated count-mass system of Proto-Bantu noun classes in a convincing way. But when it comes to the "world-wide" comparison (e.g., with numeral classification as exemplified by Burmese and Ojibway in their paper), they offer only half of what they have found about Proto-Bantu and take refuge to the count part. Taking a wider perspective on nominal classification is a chance to look for a count-mass distinction within the classificatory systems also beyond PB. It is as present in modern Bantu languages as in PB and we will check other systems to find it. In her contribution to this volume Elisabeth Löbel (Part I) investigates Vietnamese, one of the most typical numeral classifier languages. It has long been observed that count and measure constructions in these languages are so similar that a distinction is often difficult to find. There are differences, as Löbel shows and others have shown for other languages, but the similarities are as obvious here as the overlap of count and mass in Swahili: in Swahili both count and mass perspectivizers are part of a uniform formal system, they all are prefixes (suffixes in Tungus), and one and the same perspectivizer may even serve the different purposes of both count

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and mass. In numeral classifier languages the perspectivizers' place is not a morphological one but in syntax: the same syntactic slot serves both count and mass. As for the count part, it has long been known that numeral classification serves "to make nouns countable", to individualize nouns, but as with gender, classification would also here only hold for the majority of the cases, not for all. A coherent pattern to explain all occurrences and—very important—non-occurrences of classifiers was missing. Löbel offers a new approach that shifts the focus of investigation to the syntactic patterns and defines the classifier as a syntactic function: The classifier constitutes a syntactic function for particularizing nouns denoting structured concepts and/or categorizing objects conceptualized as being structured (cf. Löbel p. 315 in this vol.).

The puzzling non-occurrence of classifiers has to do with exactly this particularizing function: proper names, titles, functional nouns like mother or father, regularly occur without the classifier since they are inherently individualized, or, in Löbel's terms, they are particularized (i.e., they are in the singular) already and do not need the classifier in this function: if reference is unique, there is nothing to particularize (cf. Löbel p. 304 in tis vol.). To particularize a noun means to express singularity on the nonparticularized noun which basically is transnumerai or unspecified with respect to number. "The opposition between 'denoting a single entity' and 'being transnumeral' is called [±particularized]" (Löbel p. 269 in this vol.). Note that in Swahili class prefixes are also absent in case of kinship terms (Katrin Bromber, p.c.). Except for proper names, titles and functional concepts, nouns being inherently singular are only the core set of classifiers and measure nouns. All the rest is grammatically [-particularized] and the shift to [+particularized] is a matter of using a perspectivizer in a certain syntactic slot. That there are different classes of perspective markers, e.g., shape and non-shape classes (cf. Löbel p. 299 in this vol.), does not rule out their common function of particularization, i.e., the same grammatical function is carried by many lexically different elements. In this respect a comparison can be drawn to the plural classes of inflectional languages like German: the same function—to pluralize nouns—is carried by a range of different elements.

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Noun class systems typically use affixes on nouns as perspectivizers, (e.g., prefixes in the case of Bantu), numeral classification uses a certain noun slot: the perspective marker is bound to a certain syntactical position within the NP. As against this, verbal classification uses verb stems which might be the least expectable seat for a perspectivizer for a noun, although reflectors (agreement markers) are very common on verbs. As shown in Barbara Unterbeck's contribution on Navajo (Part I), also verbal classification shares the basic trait of the two systems introduced so far: like noun classes and numeral classification it is clearly based on a count-mass distinction. Shape classes dominate the count side, shape partly reaches into the mass side and the mass side in its turn partly coincides with the plural (cf. Swahili). As in noun class systems and numeral classification verb forms based on the classificatory stems contribute to compose the linguistic representations of objects, the classificatory stems are perspectivizers in the best sense: adding the perspective under which a certain nominal concept expressed in the noun is seen (cf. Latin spedare 'to see')We started with Tungus. Similar to Tungus there are also no Swahili classes to differentiate nouns denoting humans according to sex. The missing sex differentiation also holds for numeral classification: most typically (if not exclusively) it does not differentiate for sex. If in rare cases sex does occur as a criterion, it is only secondary or ternary and accompanies criteria like social status or kinship (Adams—Conklin 1973: 3-4). Thus, in addition to the common feature of [+count-mass] the three systems share another feature: they have no perspectivizers to differentiate sex. Terminologically noun classes and gender are often collapsed in the term gender. Following a proposal made by Hurskainen (p. 665 in this vol.) the term gender is reserved for such noun marking systems where sexual gender is transparent, although not necessarily all-encompassing. ... It is important to make a distinction between gender systems and noun class systems since there are languages which apply both of these systems simultaneously.

These cases are rather rare, at least in Africa, and they emerge with restructuring processes of noun class systems. As Heine further points out, these "mixed structures are confined to pronominal

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agreement, i.e., do not show nominal gender markers (Heine 1982: 192). In the papers by Osten Dahl in Part I and Part Π animacy and sex differentiation play a central role. As for gender systems in the sense defined by Hurskainen and adopted for this preface, Dahl (Part II) proposes "elementary gender distinctions" based on animacy and sex differentiation. These elementary gender distinctions are thought to be the "minimal building blocks that gender systems are made of" (p. 577 in this vol.). But "multi-gender systems, e.g., the Bantu and Australian languages ... do not seem to let themselves be reduced to elementary gender distinctions" (p. 591). As this book demonstrates, noun classes ("multi-gender systems") as well as numeral classification and verbal classification follow a basically different type of elementary class distinctions (to borrow Dahl's term in a slightly modified way): they very much rely on shape, i.e., on the basic features of 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensionality which are combined with a variety of secondary and ternary features. Animacy is implied in these systems, but not in the prominent way which it is given in gender systems. It rather is one subcategory in the count part of an integrated count-mass system. For Proto-Bantu it has even been shown that the elementary class distinctions (i.e., shape) are valid for both the count and the mass part. For other systems there is a deficit of knowledge since they have not yet been described as integrated systems, but favouring the count part. Against the background of these three systems the interesting question arises whether a count-mass distinction is also the basic integrating feature of gender systems and if so, how the elementary gender distinctions established by Dahl for exactly these systems might be related to it. After this background review of different systems of nominal classification we now turn to gender systems proper, i.e., systems showing sex differentiation within nominal classification.

3. Gender: [+count-mass]

[+sex]

Gender is the topic of Corbett (1991). This is the first sentence of this book: Gender is the most puzzling of the grammatical categories (Corbett 1991:1).

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Corbett follows Hockett in founding his thinking about gender on the feature of agreement. This causes an important question: If the main criterion of gender is agreement, and if gender is the most puzzling grammatical category, is agreement the most puzzling thing? Agreement may indeed be a puzzle and this is demonstrated throughout Corbett's book. Several papers in the present volume contribute to further investigate this intricate phenomenon: Gender agreement is very closely connected to gender assignment. Gender assignment is the topic of Raymond Hickey's paper (Part II) on gender in Modern German. Hickey puts the pointed question "how predictable is gender from a phonological point of view?" (Hickey p. 626 in this vol. ). His answer is that phonology alone does not account for German gender assignment and that "both phonological and lexical principles are at work". Also Kari Fraurud (Part I) investigates assignment principles. She takes a limited part of the Swedish nominal lexicon, viz. proper names. Swedish proper names are particularly interesting since they "do not carry gender in the way proper nouns do" (Fraurud p. 171 in this vol.). Gender assignment to Swedish proper names follows "three productive principles involving ontological and semantic properties of the referent of the name and its default description as well as morpho-lexical properties of the name itself" (p. 171). In case of principle competition it is those referring to the ontological properties of the named entity that turn out to have the highest priority (p. 208), i.e., the assignment is highly semantical and much less formal. This means that the speaker has a choice and can add a gender according to the perspective under which he perceives the named entity. The paper of Ursula Doleschal (Part I) presents a schema-based approach which tries to encompass all available information about a noun and to explain how this pool of information serves as the starting point to assign a certain gender to a certain noun. She exemplifies her idea on Russian. Ahti Nikunlassi (Part II) discusses Doleschal's idea of schema-based gender assignment and contributes to improve the new instrument in some points. Advantages of the modell are its ability to determine "prototypical representatives of a gender, or to say that some nouns are more masculine, more feminine or more neuter than others" (Nikunlassi p. 779) and the flexibility of

xxviii Barbara Unterbeck

the model which can cope with context factors deciding over the choice of a gender. Gender agreement is also very closely connected to declensional paradigms. Two of the papers are dedicated to the role of gender in the complex (synchronical) inflectional patterns of gender languages. Greville G. Corbett and Norbert M. Frazer (Part I) work within the approach of Network Morphology and show the dependence of gender on declensional paradigms. The default theory of Corbett— Frazer is based entirely on language-internal data. As against this, Dagmar Bittner (Part I) works in the framework of Natural Morphology (Preference Theory framework) and demonstrates for Modern German that it is gender that directs the inflectional behaviour of nouns. She presents an "atomic formula of German nominal inflection" which is based on gender as a starting point (p. 16, table 13) and gives a functional explanation for her findings, i.e., extralinguistic factors are an essential part of the theory. According to Lehecková (Part II) Modern Czech also needs the information of gender for the proper choice of a paradigm (p. 755). Gender agreement can be an indicator of the "correct" or "incorrect" use of gender, as shown in the papers by Barbara KrykKastovsky for Polish (Part Π) and Helena Lehecková for Czech (Part Π). As Kryk-Kastovsky remarks, normative grammars do not capture the rich variation of the language and in particular miss the variable and creative use of Polish gender. Anne Curzan's paper (Part II) about early English grammars shows that the main question that has remained after English has lost grammatical gender is pronominal agreeement and this has been discussed with a component of norm vs. use ever since. The papers of Erik Andersson (Part II) and of Caroline Sandström (Part II) about gender in Swedish are both dedicated to the question of how to determine the genders in this language. Andersson takes a synchronic view of the standard language and Sandström composes a picture of gender in the Swedish dialects of Nyland. This spectrum is a synchronic one but due to the different types of systems she discovers it can also offer insights into a possible diachronic scenario. Diachronic variation of agreement phenomena (including pronominal agreement) is the subject of Juhani Härmä's paper on gender in French (Part II). He concentrates on how the sexual distinction is expressed by gender or neutralized and what this means to the

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cohesion of texts. As for the relationship of gender and number he observes that they are so closely connected that they "are often impossible to dissociate" (Härmä p. 610), but that "it is clearly easier to break gender agreement and gender assignment rules than those concerned with number, and this is indeed what has been done throughout the history of French" (Härmä p. 610). But, one might add, if a language persistently disobeyes rules the old question arises, whether the language or the linguists' rules are right and this again is a question of norm vs. use. Obviously it is easier to find the rules for number and they are more appropriate to the language and its use than the rules for gender, this most puzzling category. As an Indo-European language English also used to have the inflectional bundle including gender and number. Dieter Kastovsky (Part II) analyses how this bundle is untied step by step. While case and gender are lost gradually, number gains ground, becomes ever more dominant and finally has the status of a robust base category. The affinity of gender and case as the two "loosers" of the complex process of restructuring nominal morphology might become even more interesting in the light of pronominal gender theories (cf. below Wegener and Weber). Many aspects of the complex correlation of gender assignment and gender agreement are evidenced in language acquisition, be it in the acquisition of LI or L2. It is interesting that LI and L2 obviously cope with gender in a remarkably different way. Natascha Müller (Part I) has observed the bilingual LI acquisition of French and German. In both languages the two categories of gender and number are detected simultaneously by the children with the indefinite articles playing a key role in the detection process. In this process "semantic and formal developments are parallel" (p. 391), no cases of overgeneralization occur with respect to natural gender (p. 381). In L2, as studied by Heide Wegener (Part I), the acquisition process clearly shows three steps: number > case > gender. The key to detect gender in L2 is different from LI: "The children find the key to the discovery of the gender category in the semantic difference between nouns naming male and those naming female persons" (Wegener p. 531). Natural gender is overgeneralized due to the priority given to this semantic rule (p. 532). But before natural gender is detected the L2 children have already detected the roles of subject and object and "plainly changed [the gender markers] into

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case markers" (p. 537). This step should deserve special attention in future research since it hints to another crucial function of gender: encoding the sentence-semantic roles of agent and patient (cf. Tichy 1993 and Weber in this vol. p. 498). All these papers show the difficulties that are intricately correlated to gender and agreement. Coming back to the question whether agreement is the most puzzling thing in gender, we have to take into consideration that although agreement poses many questions, agreement is not a privilege of gender. Agreement and gender are a pair of phenomena, and there are good reasons not to equate agreement with gender: other nominal categories also have it, most typically number and case. These categories may occur with or without agreement and it is commonplace that the possession or non-possession of reflectors would not affect their grammatical function. Would this also hold for gender? What is left when gender is abstracted of agreement? This question is asked by Doris Weber (Part I; cf. p. 496): Table 3. Nominal categories and their functions Number

=

semantic

+

agreement creating

Case

=

functional

+

agreement creating

Gender

=

X

+

agreement creating

As important as agreement is in many, or perhaps even in most cases, one should acknowledge that gender and agreement are not necessarily linked as Greenberg has pointed out (1978: 50). Doubts about agreement as the main criterion of gender were again raised in a paper by Elisabeth Leiss on gender and sexus discussing the sexualization of grammar (1994). Leiss refers to ideas of Brugmann (1889, 1897) and W. P. Lehmann (1958) and relies on the empirical universal No. 36 of Greenberg as another argument to direct thoughts on gender away from shere agreement. She makes the implicit diachrony of No. 36 explicit: Ist in einer Sprache die Kategorie Genus vorhanden, so ist immer auch die Kategorie Numerus vorhanden (Universalie Nr. 36 in Greenberg 1963: 95). Die Umkehrung gilt dagegen nicht notwendigerweise. Die Regel besagt somit, daß das Vorhandensein der Kategorie Numerus die Kateorie Genus (einseitig) impliziert. Genus setzt also die Kategorie Numerus voraus. Sie braucht sozusagen die Kategorie Numerus, um sich herauszubilden. Das

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deutet tatsächlich auf eine inhaltliche Verwandtschaft zwischen den grammatischen Bedeutungen der Kategorien Genus und Numerus hin. Unklar ist immer noch, um welche grammatischen Inhalte es sich dabei handelt (Leiss 1994: 288). [If a language has the category of gender, it always has the category of number (Universal No. 36 in Greenberg 1963: 95). But the reverse does not necessarily hold. The rule therefore says that the existence of the category of number implies the category of gender. Thus gender presupposes the category of number. Gender needs the category of number, so to speak, in order to develop. This indeed hints to an affinity in contents between the grammatical meanings of the categories of gender and number. But it is still unclear what are these grammtical meanings (transi. B.U.)].

In his Indo-European studies, Brugmann had observed a morphological bridge between gender and number in that the feminine originally employed the same marker as collectives and abstractions did. Brugmann's conclusion of this coincidence was not to "feminize" collections and abstractions but to question the sexual content of the "feminine": collectives and abstractions are not originally "feminine", the component denoting female sex was only secondarily taken over by the relevant ending. Leiss has re-formulated Brugmann's result in terms of perspectivization: the function of gender is to supply different perspectives to represent a multitude of entities (Leiss 1994: 293). This means that if number expresses a multitude and gender expresses different perspectives on multitudes, the two successive categories might be connected by the feature of quantification. However, Brugmann had found a quantificational implication of gender only for the feminine, the same idea was not related to the two remaining genders of masculine and neuter. Although his idea has remained rather alien to the thinking about gender in Indo-European languages and is only now being digged out, it is the most usual thing in the tradition of Arabic grammars where the connection of feminine, collectives and abstracts is part of the regular description of gender: they are all expressed by the feminine suffix -at-. In his contribution about gender in Arabic Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila (Part II) remarks that this multifunctional usage makes "the conventional label 'feminine' problematic" (p. 600 in this vol.). The two-gender system of Arabic leaves all nouns not lexically feminine or not carrying the perspectivizer -at- to the masculine. The masculines are mainly count nouns, individuatives. Nouns are thus

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simply ±feminine. The "feminine" also subsumes the (collective) broken plurals, thus again proving its close relation to quantification. Also the use as an intensifying suffix (Harneen-Anttila p. 601) has a quantificational rationale: intensification means an increase in a certain property. At the same time, the same element -at- serves to denote singulatives, seemingly opposite to its basic collective notion (use as a "unit noun", cf. Hämeen-Anttila p. 601). Depending on the meaning of the base noun the affix -at- adds a new quantitative perspective: Table 4. The affix -at- in Arabic (cf. Fischer 1987: 49, 52) masc.

fem.

masc.

fem.

dam'un 'tears'

dam'atun 'tear'

muslimun 'muslim'

muslimatun 'muslims (coll.)'

From the point of view of the Unityp approach the double use of a marker for both collectives and singulatives is very typical of the technique of collection, where the principles of generalization and individualization occur in the form of association (from individual to collection) and dissociation (from collection to individual) (cf. Seiler 1986: 41-59). Walter summarizes the functions of the Arabic gender marker -at- and comes to the conclusion, daß eine der wesentlichen Funktionen des Elements -at die eines "Umkategorisierers" ist: es individualisiert generalisierte und es generalisiert individualisierte Elemente, je nach Status des jeweiligen Elements, an das es antritt" (Walter 1982: 221). [that it is one of the main functions of the element -at to act as a "re-categorizer": it individualizes generalized elements and it generalizes individualized elements, depending on the status of the element it is added to. Transi. B.U.].

As against this spectrum of functions the use of -at- as a suffix for sexual differentiation looks like a special use. The question that has to be answered is how the quantitative collective/singulative notion is related to the notion of female sex. This is an open question and it is—also beyond Arabic—one of the crucial questions of the gender discussion. An answer to this question would explain how the general count-mass distinction of nominal classification has been expanded to the double feature of [+count-mass] [+sex].

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With this Arabic background in mind we switch to gender in Europe. Typically, Indo-European languages have a three-gender system. But in some languages, as in Scandinavia, the three-gender system has developed into a two-gender system. Kurt Braunmüller (Part I) shows the steps of this process which is most progressed in some Western Danish dialects. They have even left the stage of the uter vs. neuter distinction and have entered a plain semantic distinction of count vs. mass. Reference of gender to count-and-mass semantics is also shown by Haase (Part I) with Italian data. In the Central Italian dialects mass nouns (or more correctly: nouns denoting non-pluralizable entities) have established their special class, a neo-neuter, as a branch of the masculine (or non-feminine) side of the two-gender system of modern Italian. In opposition to the mass sense of the neo-neuter the masculine denotes a countable entity, so a noun may choose between masculine and neuter in the sense of count and mass: lu pane m. 'piece of bread', lo pane n. 'bread' (Haase p. 226). The articles reflect the two different perspectives. Thus the semantics of at least a part of the gender system of the Central Italian dialects is quite clear and coherent. Otherwise the system probably shares the situation of the Standard Average European languages: it seems difficult or nearly impossible to find a semantic rationale in the way gender is distributed over the nominal lexicon. Of course there are some subgroups that behave alike, and a rather general exception are animate nouns which widely follow a correlation of masculine and feminine gender with biological gender. However, language history tells us that beyond animates there were more regular correlations between nouns and the genders they could make use of to denote different entities. Inspired by the results of W. P. Lehmann's research (1958) Elisabeth Leiss in her contribution to the present volume (Part I) analyses Old High German data and establishes categorial meanings of the three genders: Table 5. Categorial meanings of gender according to Leiss (in this vol.) masculine:

count noun

singulative

feminine:

collective noun

non-distributive plural

neuter:

mass noun

no access to the category of number

This means that unlike New High German many nouns in Old High German could regularly choose a gender to express a different con-

xxxiv Barbara Unterbeck

tent according to this categorial pattern. However, dictionaries are rather blurring instead of illuminating these different usages and for a complete picture the source material has to be checked anew. ITiese categorial meanings were established on the basis of German data, Old High German data. But we can see that the Central Italian dialects behave very much in accordance with this pattern in creating a neuter for masses in addition to the existing two genders masculine and feminine. Masculine is said to be related to count nouns (cf. above) and it would be interesting to check the feminine. As for the Arabic feminine, it is very much in accordance with this pattern in clearly representing collection. Surprisingly enough even New High German (Modern German) offers correlations to this pattern. Petra Maria Vogel (Part I) has studied a particular field of the German nominal lexicon: abstract nouns. Due to their wide variation they can be arranged on a continuum. The interesting result consists in the fact that three central points can be assumed on this continuum, paralleled by the three gender groups: whereas masculine abstracts tend to extreme individuality, neuter abstracts tend to extreme continuativity. Feminine abstracts are located in the middle, with affinities to both of the poles (cf. Vogel p. 481). The variagated subgroup of feminine abstracts even repeats a parallel three-partite mini-continuum within the feminine abstracts (cf. p. 479). Doris Weber (Part I) was mentioned above for having asked for the X in the equations of grammatical categories showing agreement. This X can be replaced by the function of gender: perspectivization (nominal aspect). Table 6. The functions of nominal grammatical categories

Number

-

semantic

+

agreement creating

Case

=

functional

+

agreement creating

Gender

=

perspectivization (nominal aspect)

+

agreement creating

The perspectives have a quantifieational content and she can spell out the ties between number as the underlying category and gender as the category being built "on the shoulder" of number:

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... gender has the function of qualitatively more precisely defining a quantity. Gender offers the opportunity to refine the crude perspective of number—singular versus plural—into distributive versus collective plural. It is this aspect of quantity that links gender so closely to number (Weber in this vol. p. 506).

To illustrate the interaction of the two categories a German example is taken. In German, gender is a matter of the singular and it shows three classes: masculine, feminine, neuter. Inflectional plural classes (approximately ten depending on the criteria they are based on) are all subsumed under the feminine. E.g., the noun (der) Mann masc. 'the man' becomes 'die Männer' '(the) men' in the plural with both the masculine gender and the "feminine" plural being reflected in the articles der resp. die. If it is true that gender imposes a new level of quantification, a new perspective on a multitude of entities, there should be a "collective gender", as it is found in the Arabic -at-. At this point the traditional description of gender in Indo-European languages stops. What is clearly regarded as gender in Arabic— due to the morphological transparency—is regarded as a separate field of grammar here: as word formation. Although collective and abstract elements of word formation have the highest rate of clear relationships to genders they are traditionally not combined with gender in a unified description. If we add to the example of der Mann - die Männer the collective noun die Mannschaft 'the team' we run into contradiction with traditional grammar writing which ignores the feminine and puts the suffix -schaft into a chapter entirely different from gender. Weber proposes to subsume word formation under gender. A review of the complete inventory of Modern German nominal word formation in Weber (1999) brings to light that the overwhelming majority of suffixes follows the three categorial meanings established by Leiss. On the basis of this result a switch in the terminology is therefore proposed here: derivation should be increasingly studied as masculine derivation, feminine derivation, and neuter derivation, in order to find out more about the details and developments. In the German example Mannschaft the derivative ending -schaft would thus be a feminine-collective perspectivizer and neatly follows the categorial notion of its gender. Here we can again call on the split terminology of perspective markers vs. reflectors: the position of the perspective markers can be refilled with new material which co-operates with the persisting system of reflectors.

XXXvi Barbara Unterbeck

Keeping suffixes denoting persons aside, the bulk of German word formation (perspective markers) is feminine and neuter. According to Weber's statistics (based on Fleischer—Barz 1992) it is 4 for the masculine, 22 for the feminine, and 17 for the neuter, which are of different productivity, of course. Even if it is still a bit unusual to think along such lines, we should dare to go one step further and compare this situation to a system like numeral classification. Löbel (Part I) uses the distinction of [±particularized] to describe the function of the numeral classification with classifiers as the key element to produce a [+particularized] reading of an NP. Weber, coming from an entirely different direction, arrives at the same distinction. Based on Demetracopoulou-Lee (1942) she describes the function of gender in the terms of [±particularization] with the count part representing the [+particularized] side and the mass part representing the [-particularized] side (encompassing collective nouns, abstract nouns, and terms for materials in the sense of singularia tantum, cf. Weber p. 507, fn. 3). These sides and terms are correlated by the following set of features (cf. Weber in this vol. p. 502, table 2): Table 7. Feature oppositions in nouns [+ particularizing] [+ countable] [+ individualized] [+ external perspective] [ - additive] [ - divisible] = count nouns

[ - particularizing! [ - countable] [ - individualized] [ - external perspective] [+ additive] [+ divisible] - mass nouns

Thus in Weber's approach the absolute majority of perspectivizers in a gender system like German are the key elements to achieve a [-particularized] content of a noun. The opposite roles of the systems of nominal classification might well be founded on the status of the noun in the respective languages. Whereas the noun in a numeral classifier language is said to be transnumeral, i.e., [-particularized], the unmarked part of the nominal lexicon of a gender language like German is rather [-(-particularized] (cf. Leiss 1992: 45-54). Both types need balancing and have their specific means to establish the relevant nominal counterparts. Matching the situation of the nominal lexicon also the verbal léxica are

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organised to encode the respective basic features and the relevant counterparts. Thus the perspectivizations supplement each other. Learning the intricate and ramified system of German word formation (gender-derivation) is as difficult for native speakers of a numeral classifier language like Vietnamese as it is difficult for native speakers of German to learn the numeral classifiers of Vietnamese. The difficulty for both sides is the understanding of the semantic system underlying the use of the perspectivizers. There are in both cases rules that work 100% and for big classes, rules that work "in principle", and a bunch of tiny classes and exceptions (many of which can be explained historically). In both cases we may establish core systems and peripheries, in both cases the systems eventually allow for almost any noun to be employed that fits semantically. There are in both systems nouns that may select only one perspectivizer and there are nouns that may choose different ones. Numeral classification has long been described as a gender-like system of a one-to-one correlation of noun and classifier. Erbaugh ironically remarks: Both Chinese self-report and teaching grammars describe classifier use as obligatory and invariant; it certainly is simpler to describe and teach invariant relations (Erbaugh 1986:404).

As against this traditional view she offers the results of her work: The more interesting reality is that Chinese noun classes have always been fuzzy sets, mutually overlapping, with quite variable reference. Moreover, the nature of both the physical world and human perception are such that the most powerful features inevitably overlap (Erbaugh 1986: 400).

This means that many Chinese nouns have choices to connect with classifiers, many of which are semantically meaningful (i.e., they contribute to differentiate objects to be denoted), but there are also cases where several different classifiers can be chosen "without any evident meaning or stylistic contrast" (Erbaugh 1986: 400). The possibility to choose a gender or—as in Chinese—a classifier has been deliberately been focussed on throughout this section. It was inspired by the wonderfully perplexing question asked in the paper by Elisabeth Leiss (Part I): " Is gender a grammatical category at all? (Leiss p. 237 in this vol.)

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We are used to enumerate the nominal categories gender, case, and number without hesitation. But we are not aware of the fact that gender differs from case and number in what is the most essential feature of a grammatical category: gender does not offer choices, it does not "permit selection from a paradigm" (Leiss p. 238 in this vol.). Number offers singular, plural, occasionally a dual. Case has many options in paradigms of different complexity. What does gender offer? Meanwhile we know that gender is a system of nominal aspect, it offers perspectivization. Many details will still have to be found out. But along the lines of this type of gender thinking so many new questions will arise that gender will increasingly make sense. It is such a robust system and capable of repeated self-renewals that functional explanations will replace the myth of an overall semantic arbitrariness. The most painful deficit of the new approach to gender is the missing link to biological gender. What we do not know yet is the bridge between the count-mass part of perspectivization and the sex differentiation within the animate nouns (cf. Leiss 1994: 298). It remains a task for the future to find out how the system has acquired classes related to biological gender. Probably it will be exactly this place where the pronominal theories come in and can contribute to find explanations. The African languages showing both noun classes and gender in the form of pronominal agreement according to sex do call for pronominal theories to be applied. But there may be other bridges. Tungusic seems to choose a different way. It was grouped as a noun class system, i.e., a [+countmass][-sex] system since it does not differentiate sex grammatically, not even in pronouns, only lexically. Against this background it is very interesting that a suffix denoting 'permanent companionship', *+mgi 'wer ständig sich bei etwas befindet oder zu etwas gehört' ('the one who is permanently being near something or permanently belonging to something') (Benzing 1955: 65) has shifted to denote female persons when added to the name of a clan or a people as shown in table 8 (data from Benzing 1955: 65, 76; transi. B.U.; the letter f j = ¡1 = ng).

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Table 8. The Tungusic (Evenki) suffix *+mgi shifting to [+fem] Evenki

awankLmnî

'Tungusic woman'

lûca.mnî Evenki (dial.)

bullati.mhfi

'Russian (female)' (< 'the one belonging to the Russian') 'women from the clan of the Bulla til'

Even (dial.)

dulga-mftä

'woman of the Dolgan Clan'

The suffix *+mgi if added to nouns other than clan names, may denote the inhabitant of a place, e.g., in Even sü.m^a '(fellow-)tenant, family member' (< jw 'house'). The +gi in *+mgi is a versatile affix that occurs in many functions mainly in verbal grammar but it also has several functions in nominal grammar: +g is an old collective suffix; +gi is denoting place 'in the region of...', 'the side'; it is a socalled 'potential plural'; +g//+fo'-elements occur as part of several locative and directive suffixes, etc. (cf. Benzing 1955: 79, 68, 60-62). From this spectrum of functions, to the core of which belongs an ancient collective, the specialized usage to denote a "feminine" has emerged: in connection with names of clans and peoples. The resulting form is a singulative [+fem], derived in a dissociation process from the collective. Quite parallel to *+mgi the inhabitant of a place in several Tungusic languages may also be denoted by the suffix *+n.kän as in *lämu.n.kän 'those who live near the sea'. *+n.kan also occurs as part of names of clans like in Udehe Kima.Çka . This very form also denotes a male member of a clan as in Even (dial.) dulga-nkän 'man of the Dolgan Clan' (cf. Benzing 1955: 64, 76). Sexual differentiation may thus be starting from collective notions: different collective markers specialize on the different sexes. As compared to the spectrum of functions and meanings of the suffix *+mgi/+g/+gi the suffix *+n.kän has a somewhat smaller spectrum of meanings. But we may add the fact that *-n occurs as Idnd of an "abstract marker" (if on verbs as kind of participle of imperfective action) as in Tungusic (Evenki) *tolki-n 'dreaming, the dreaming (as a process)', in Even also tolki.n '(the) dream' (Benzing 1955: 58). Abstract notions typically occur very close to collective notions and are thus to be included on the mass side. And the connection of membership/collective, and abstract seems to add a feminine component in the Tungusic form kimä.gin 'a woman from the Kimâ Clan' (cf. Benzing 1955: 76).

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But also the second part of *+n.kan can be interpreted from a quantificational point of view: all Tungusic languages share the nominal "aspect ending" (Benzing p. 58) *+kan denoting the diminutive. Diminuation, like augmentation, are quantifying processes: they encode the increase or decrease in size of the entity denoted by the noun. Thus we can close the circle that Benzing had in mind with the resemblance of Tungusic nominal aspect and African noun classes: diminutives are an unquestioned part of nominal classification in Bantu languages, this morphological bridge is no accident and nicely fits into the count-mass semantics of nominal classification in Tungusic as well as in Bantu. And, by the way, in German: diminutives are neuter, the mass gender per se. Now we have one paper left to introduce: Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs (Part I) have analysed nominal classification in Teop, a language spoken in Bougainville, Papua-Neuguinea. This is a pioneering paper since there are no grammars available yet of any of the languages of the Nehan-North Bougainville group. Teop has two classes which show full polarity: Gender I and gender Π. Gender I is subdivided into gender I-E and I-A. The gender marker is an independent article preposed to the noun. Adjectives show agreement with the head noun in gender and number. The small amount of classes would suggest to call it a gender system. But we have introduced above a distinction of noun classes and gender based on sex: the feature [+sex] is reserved for gender. In Teop, animacy is distributed over two classes: the tiny class I-E is for kinship terms, for nouns denoting socially important people, and for nouns denoting pets. In gender I-A are all the nouns denoting ordinary people irrespective of sex. Animals in this class are defined by having legs: vertebrates and invertebrats with legs. Invertebrates without legs are in gender Π. Table 9.a. Noun classes [+animate] in Teop class I-E

class I-A

class II

kinship terms human beings other than socially important people those of I-E pets

vertebrates and invertebrats with legs

invertebrates without legs

Gender: New light on an old category

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Clearly Teop does not differentiate sex in its classes so we would look for correspondence with other than gender systems. Since it is clearly neither numeral nor verbal classification, we are left with noun classes. Similar to numeral and verbal classification, noun classes were said to be based on shape. And indeed, if one looks at the lists of tangible objects in Teop through the "shape glasses", two core groups of nouns emerge: gender I-A is related to 3-d and "contains the bulk of the lexicon, it is the unmarked gender" (MoselSpriggs p. 336). Gender II is related to 1-d and 2-d. Table 9.b. Noun classes [-animate] in Teop class I-A: 3-d

class II: 1-d, 2-d

tangibles:

fruit, nuts containers

plants and their parts except fruit: 1-d: coconut palm, banana tree > sticklike objects made from wood 2-d: mats, clothing

masses:

food iliquid

dry aggregates (sand, salt, rubbish)

intangibles:

landmarks wind, rain two abstract nouns: love, happiness

feasts, dancing fire, light many abstract nouns: question, story, problem, truth ...

Although the classes are clearly multifunctional and encompass several semantic subgroups (from count to mass) Mosel—Spriggs write that "gender is highly predictable in Teop" (p. 334). Probably the 3-d class, containing "the bulk of the lexicon", is kind of a "general class", as the 3-d classes often are. And in many cases (numeral classification, verbal classification, noun classes) the 3-d class is based on (or synchronically at least contains) fruit as 3-d parts of plants. Trees and leaves, the typical 1-d and 2-d parts of plants, often serve as the basis for (or synchronically at least contain) 1-d and 2-d objects. The two authors have not made their statement about the predictability of Teop class assignment with reference to shape-based classes and therefore further nouns should be tested to find out about the role of shape in Teop classification and the possible secondary parameters accompanying the basic shapes. There are certain diagnostic nouns that could be used to test the dimensions: All

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Barbara Unterbeck

objects given are 1-d objects (tools) made from wood. How about a 1-d flexible object like a rope? The 2-d objects given are mainly -stiff/compact (they are as typical as in other systems: mats, clothing). But how about a 2-d +stiff/compact object like a plank or a black-board, or a 2-d -t-stiff/ compact object not made from wood like a number plate of a car? Is a sheet of paper 2-d flexible? The 3-d objects given are fruits. In which class go 3-d objects made of wood like a chair or a table? Which class is chosen by books? To further determine the system, number should be asked for: what kind of number system comes with classification? It is a straightforward system of singular and plural and the plurals are not collective. Furthermore, there is another number system, a lexically independent plural marker maa. The difference between the two systems is not ±collectivity but seems to lie in the amount of objects expressed: the independent plural marker maa "refers to a theoretically countable number of individual people or objects", the plural of the noun classes "does not necessarily imply countability" (Mosel— Spriggs p. 331). In other words, maa expresses a limited number; the class plural is unlimited. Collectivity is expressed with syntactically independent collective nouns (group, bunch, basket, cf. p. 332). Finally, a comparative remark about the connection of animacy and shape in Teop and Bantu should be slipped in here. Note that nouns denoting people are correlated with 3-d in Teop class I-A. This may look unusual since often [+human] goes together with 1-d, cf. for instance the historical connection between class 1/2 and 3/4 in Swahili. In Teop, not only "ordinary" people are in I-A (socially important people have the separate class I-E), but also the bulk of nouns denoting animals is in I-A and thus correlated to 3-d. Animals in 3-d is also a rare phenomenon in numeral classification. Adams has found it in the Waic language group (Austroasiatic) (Adams 1986: 249). But we also find it in Proto-Bantu (cf. Denny—Creider 1986) where the 3-d class is employed for both [+human] and animals. As in Teop, the distinction within [+human] is along social status: powerful persons, such as chief and medicine man, are in class 9/10, ordinary people are in class 1/2. What is different in PB as against Teop is that animals are in 9/10, i.e., in the class of the chiefs, not in the class of the ordinary people. And a third category of persons occurs in a third class: handicapped persons, e.g., a lame, deaf, and blind persons, occur in class 7/8.

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Only 1/2 is a pure class [+human] comparable to I-E in Teop. The other two are mixed classes [±animate]: 9/10 is definitely related to 3-d, and one might cautiously hypothesize that 7/8 could have been related to l-d/2-d. We would thus have two classes, which are cognitively parallel in that on the one side 3-d geometrically contains both 1-d and 2-d, and on the other side 1-d and 2-d add up to 3-d. It would thus be the distinction as such that was encoded in the opposing classes, both in Teop and in part of the Bantu system. Both systems (though their status is different in that the one is a reconstructed proto-language, the other a modern spoken language) have one additional class [+human], be it high or ordinary. All these three classes have simple plurals. Perhaps it would be of interest to add the fact that the three classes with the simple number system are the leftover classes when Swahili pidginization cracks down the noun class system (Katrin Bromber, p.c.). A comparison of Teop and the three Proto-Bantu classes with simple plurals would look like this: Table 10. Animacy in Teop and Proto-Bantu [+human]

3-d

1-d, 2-d

Teop I-E:

Teop I-A:

Teop II:

+human high

+human ordinary animals with legs

animals without legs

PB 1/2:

PB 9/10:

PB 7/8:

+human ordinary

+human high

+human handicapped

animals

despised animals

Focussing only on the shape classes one can see that animates are distributed over the two shape classes similarly: in both languages 3-d is the "higher" or "positive" class, l-d/2-d is the "lower" or "negative" class. Backed by the collective wisdom of the present book I would say that Teop has a noun class system, a tiny one, with the very rare feature of full polarity. Not only polarity, but it also has a very interesting and rare etymology: it seems to have developed out of a deictic system. If this is true, and if the shape hypothesis is true, then

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this switch from deixis to shape is cognitively at least as fascinating as the switch of the collective and abstract markers to the feminine. At the end of this introduction I can only repeat what we have said at the beginning of the preface: this book documents work in progress in the best sense of the word. The gender project has constantly been growing and has eventually taken in 28 papers. Hopefully they will contribute to further discussion on the interesting topic of nominal classification, fruitfully and in good co-operation, focussing on individual systems without loosing sight of the topic as a whole.

References Adams, Keren L.—Nancy Conklin 1973 Towards a theory of natural classification. In: Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS 9). 1-10. Chicago, Illionois. Benzing, Johannes 1955 Die tungusischen Sprachen. Versuch einer vergleichenden Grammatik. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Abhandlungen der geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 11. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner. Brugmann, Karl 1889 "Das Nominalgeschlecht in den indogermanischen Sprachen." In: Internationale Zeitschrift für allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, vol. 4, 100-109. 1897 The nature and origin of the noun genders in the Indo-European languages: A lecture delivered on the occasion of the sesquicentennial celebration of the Princeton University. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Contini-Morava, Ellen 1994 Noun classification in Swahili. Publications of the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia. Research Reports, 2nd Series.Corbett, Greville G. 1991 Gender. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge [etc.]: Cambridge University Press. Craig, Colette G. (ed.) 1986 Noun Classes and categorization: Proceedings of a symposium on categorization and noun classification. Eugene. Oregon. October 1983. (Typological Studies in Language. 7.) Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Creider, Chet A. 1975 "The semantic system of noun classes in proto-Bantu". Anthropological linguistics 17: 127-138.

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Demetracopoulou-Lee, D. 1942 "Noun Categories in Wintu. The Generic and the Particular." In: Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen, vol. 67,197-210. Denny, J. Peter—Chet A. Creider 1986 "The semantics of noun classification in Proto-Bantu". In: Craig (ed.). 1986. 217-239. Erbaugh, Mary S. 1986 "Taking stock: The development of Chinese noun classifiers historically and in young children". In: Craig (ed.). 1986. 399-436. Fischer, Wolfdietrich 1987 Grammatik des Klassischen Arabisch. Wiesbaden (2. überarb. Auflage). Fleischer, Wolfgang—Irmhild Barz 1992 Wortbildung der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Tübingen. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963 "Some Universals of Grammar with particular Reference to the Order of Meaningful Elements." In: Greenberg, Joseph H. (ed.), Universals of Human Language, Cambridge, 58-85. 1978 "How does a language acquire gender markers?", in: Greenberg, Joseph H. et al. (eds.), 47-82. Greenberg, Joseph H. et al. (eds.) 1978 Universals of human language, Volume III: Word structure. Stanford (Calif.): Stanford University Press. Heine, Bernd 1982 "African noun class systems". In: Seiler, Hansjakob—Christian Lehmann (eds.). 189-216. Hockett, Charles F. 1958 A course in modern linguistics. New York: Macmillan. Hundius, Harald—Ulrike Kölver 1983 "Syntax and semantics of numeral classifiers in Thai". Studies in Language. 7.2.165-214. Lehmann, Winfred P. 1958 "On Earlier Stages of the Indo-European Nominal Inflection", Language 34, 179-202 Leiss, Elisabeth 1992 Die Verbalkategorien des Deutschen. Ein Beitrag zur Theorie der sprachlichen Kategorisierung. S tudia Linguistica Germanica. 31. Berlin—New York: Walter de Gruyter. 1994 "Genus und Sexus. Kritische Anmerkungen zur Sexualisierung von Grammatik". Linguistische Berichte, vol. 152. 281-300. Pollard, Carl—Ivan A. Sag 1993 Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Stanford: CSLI Publications. Premper, Waldfried 1992 "Das Kölner Universalienprojekt: Geschichte und Daten". Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft, und Kommunikationsforschung. 45. 2. 97-100.

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Seiler, Hansjakob 1986 Language, Object, and Order. The Universal Dimension of Apprehension (Language Universale Series, vol. l/III). Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Seiler, Hansjakob—Christian Lehmann (eds.) 1982 Apprehension. Das sprachliche Erfassen von Gegenständen. Teil 1: Bereich und Ordnung der Phänomene. (Language Universals Series, vol. 1/1). Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Seiler, Hansjakob—Franz Josef Stachowiak (eds.) 1982 Apprehension. Das sprachliche Erfassen von Gegenständen. Teil II: Die Techniken und ihr Zusammenhang in Einzelsprachen. (Language Universale Series, vol. l/II). Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Senft, Gunter (in press) Systems of nominal classification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Serzisko, Fritz "Gender, noun class and numeral classification: a scale of classifi1981 catory techniques". Arbeiten des Kölner Universalienprojektes. Hrsg. von Hansjakob Seiler, Universität Köln, Institut für Sprachwissenschaft (akup). Nr. 40. Serzisko, Fritz "Gender, noun class and numeral classification: a scale of 1982 classificatory techniques". In: Dirven, René—Günter Radden (eds.). Issues in the theory of universal grammar. (Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik 196). Tübingen: Narr. 95-123. Tichy, Eva 1993 "Kollektiva, Genus femininum und relative Chronologie im Indogermanischen", Historische Sprachforschung. 106.1-19. Walter, Heribert 1982 "Genus- und Nominalklassensysteme und die Dimension der Apprehension". In: Seiler—Lehmann (eds.) 1982. 217-228. Weber, Doris 1999 Genus. Zur Funktion einer Nominalkategorie exemplarisch dargestellt am Deutschen. Diss. Universität Bamberg. Wurzel, Wolfgang Ullrich 1986 "Die wiederholte Klassifikation von Substantiven. Zur Entstehung von Deklinationsklassen". Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft, und Kommunikationsforschung 39,76-96.

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns Dagmar Bittner

1. Introduction: What is the grammatical function of gender? I should confess here at the outset that this contribution contains relatively little about gender per se, that is, about gender as a system of nominal classification. But although no attempt is made to pursue this topic, let it be remarked that at present there is probably no one who can say what gender as a grammatical category really is. It is unclear what grammatical function is associated with the division of nouns into two, three, or more classes. 1 All investigations to date that have dealt with grammatical phenomena related to gender, such as agreement and pronominalization, have only been able to show how the distinctions encountered correlate with gender. They could not answer the question of which grammatical relations and/or functions would not be expressible if the nouns were not separated into different classes. The present contribution is intended to point out a further domain in which gender classification may be relevant: the domain of nominal inflection. As Corbett (1991 and this volume) has already shown for a number of languages, the nominal inflection of a language is often linked to the gender classification of the nouns. Corbett assumes that in many languages the gender of a noun is derived from its inflectional behavior. That is, membership in a specific inflectional class motivates the choice of gender. This would mean that in German the assignment of feminine gender is motivated by the -en plural or, even more plainly, by the lack of a case suffix in the genitive/accusative/dative singular. At least for German, however, it can be countered that in language acquisition the gender of nouns is

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Dagmar Bittner

learned and controlled before their inflectional properties are (cf. also Müller, this volume). The present article contains a study of the association between the two systems from the point of view opposite to that of Corbett. It attempts to demonstrate that the inflectional behavior of German nouns is determined primarily by their gender. The kinds of correlations and their occurrence are not of an accidental nature, but rather can be attributed to general organizational principles of inflectional systems. This proposal subsumes the hypothesis that the correlations to be encountered can be better motivated and are more structured. In other words, this reversed direction of association, whereby inflectional behavior is dependent on gender, can be given a functional explanation within a preference theory framework. However, the correlation of gender and nominal inflection does not permit us to (directly) determine the grammatical function of the category gender, either. This obtains both for the use of gender to motivate inflectional behavior and for the relations assumed by Corbett between gender and semantic, phonological, and morphological factors. Even after his extensive typological analyses, Corbett can only discuss various reflections on the grammatical function of gender (Corbett 1991: 320-323).

2. Theoretical background The following ideas on the nominal inflection of German and their connection to gender classification take as their starting point the assumptions of the naturalness theoretic framework. Naturalness, or preference, theory is a functional theory dealing with general cognitive principles of grammatical structure building. Whereas models like the item-and-process model (see below) primarily constitute structural models of grammar, preference theory is primarily a metagrammatical explanatory concept. It attempts to answer the question of what conditions of human cognition make grammatical structures the way they are. Beside the explanation of grammar, this includes to a certain extent the goal of predicting structural change. Compare Mayerthaler (1981); Wurzel (1984); Vennemann (1983, 1990); and Dressler et al. (1987), among others. In this theoretical framework, it is assumed that the inflectional behavior of nouns is not arbitrary but motivated. That is, lexical pro-

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

3

perties of nouns are responsible for their morphological behavior and the inflectional class of a word can be derived from its lexical properties. It is further assumed that the inflectional system as a whole has a motivated inner structure. The different types of inflectional behavior do not coexist arbitrarily; rather, there are definable relationships that result from the size of the inflectional classes, their stability and productivity, and the kinds of lexical features with which they are associated. Thus, it is expected that inflectional systems have a motivated systematic organization. For the description of quasi-hierarchical structures, such as those assumed here, the rule model of an item-and-process grammar (IP model) is highly appropriate. In this framework, morphological rules have the character of default rules. That is, rules with overlapping domains of application interact on the basis of their specificity or generality. It is assumed that more specific rules take precedence over more general ones, following the elsewhere principle (cf. Kiparsky 1982). More general rules are thus blocked in positions that have already been realized by the application of more specific rules. This allows inclusional relations between individual groups within the inflectional system. 2

3. The facts of German nominal inflection As is well known, German nominal inflection is a relatively complex fusing inflectional system with more than twelve paradigm types, which are distinguished most especially by competing morphological markers for the genitive singular and the plural. That there are connections between the different paradigm types can be seen in, among other things, the numerous nouns that vacillate in their inflectional behavior. For instance, one finds vacillations in the way the plural is symbolized, as shown in table 1 : Table 1. Variations in German plural symbolization markers -er vs. -e

singular der Stock 'the stick' der Rest 'the rest'

variation in plural symbolization die Stöck-er

vs.

die StOck-e

die Rest-er

vs.

die Rest-e

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Dagmar Bittner

Table 1 (continued) markers -s vs. -e

singular der Park 'the park'

variation in plural symbolization die Park-s vs. die Park-e

-en vs. -e

der Pfau 'the peacock'

die Pfau-e

vs.

die Pfau-en

-"e vs. -en

die Gruft 'the tomb'

die Griift-e

vs.

die Gruft-en

die Schlucht 'the gorge, ravine'

die Schliicht-e

vs.

die Schlucht-en

die Creme 'the creme'

die Creme-s

vs.

die Creme-n

die Mamsell 'the housekeeper'

die Mamsell-s

vs.

die Mamsell-en

das Konto 'the account'

die Kont-en

vs.

die Konto-s

der Embryo 'the embryo'

die Embryo-nen

vs.

die Embryo-s

der Lehrer 'the teacher'

die Lehrer

vs.

die Lehrer-s

der Stiefel 'the boot'

die Stiefel

vs.

die Stiefel-s

-s vs. -en

-en vs. -s

-03 vs. -s

In case marking there occur variations in the symbolization of dative/ accusative singular: Table 2. Variations in the symbolization of dative/accusative singular markers -en vs. -0

singular der Bär 'the bear'

variation in case symbolization dem/den Bär-en vs. dem/den Bär

der Mensch 'the human being, person'

dem/den Mensch-en

vs.

dem/den Mensch

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

5

Similarly in the genitive singular: Table 3. Variations in the symbolization of the genitive singular markers - s vs. - 0

-en vs. -s

singular der Montag 'the Monday1

variation in the symbolization of gen. sg. des Montag-s vs. des Montag

das neue Berlin 'the new Berlin'

des neuen Berlin-s

vs.

des neuen Berlin

der Duden 'the Duden'

des Dudens

vs.

des Duden

der Greif 'the griffin'

des Greif-en

vs.

des Greifs

der Pfau 'the peacock'

des Pfau-s

vs.

des Pfau-en

If one analyzes these alternations, one encounters the first hints of special relationships between different forms of inflectional behavior. If one adds a historical perspective, there appear quite clear tendencies for one pattern to gain the upper hand. The plural variations, for example, tend to always move toward the -en form in the feminine and toward the -e or -s form in the masculine and neuter. In case inflection, a general trend toward loss of inflectional marking can be made out. In the feminine singular the transition has already been completed; vacillations between different flexives (inflectional affixes) appear only in the genitive singular of the so-called weak masculine, where the -s morpheme is on the rise. As this demonstrates, the description of evolutionary tendencies, which here have been treated only briefly, already brings to light a correlation between inflectional behavior and gender. However, we want to take a more systematic approach and lay out the structural relations in a comprehensive approach. It just so happens that very many investigations attempting determine the regularities of inflection have concentrated on German nouns. It may be said that the regularities of inflectional behavior in German nouns have for the most part been known since the 1970s at the latest (see Bettelhäuser 1976; Mugdan 1977; Augst 1975, 1979)4

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Bittner

4. Problems with the traditional analyses For the naturalness theoretic assumption that the inflectional system has a motivated systematic structure, these older analyses contain two flaws: 1.

All these works make a distinction between singular vs. plural inflection on the one hand and case vs. number inflection on the other. The singular inflection, if it is considered at all, is dispensed with very quickly.

The relations in the singular inflection are relatively clear—and for that reason evidently appear uninteresting for the theory: Gender is plainly the dominant criterion for the choice of inflectional behavior. Feminine nouns bear no morphological marker; masculine and neuter nouns usually have -(e)s in the genitive singular and no marker in the dative/ accusative singular. A special group of mostly animate masculines have -(e)n in the genitive/dative/accusative singular. These patterns are shown in table 4: Table 4. Singular inflection of German nouns in relation to gender Gender

Genitive Singular

Dative/Accusative Singular

Feminine

-0

-0

Masculine/Neuter

-(e)s

-0

week Masculine

-(e)n -ns

-( e)n -(e)n

In plural inflection, the phonological structure of the end of the word is taken to represent the primary criterion for inflectional behavior. By this way of thinking, singular and plural inflection would be two separate and entirely independent domains within the inflectional system. The second problem results from the assumption that the end of the word is the deciding criterion for the choice of plural marker. 2. Contrary to the aims of an IP model, although most of the works cited take just such a theoretical basis, one must assume a relatively large number of equal-ranked rules. How-

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

1

ever, the largeness of the groups covered by the various rules differs widely. Thus, the rule Words with final schwa have -n plural ([/_s#] 3 [-n/Pl.]) encompasses the numerous feminines ending in schwa, the likewise numerous masculines ending in schwa, and the neuters ending in schwa. At the same time, the rule Words ending in the derivational suffix -tum have -er plural with umlaut of the stem vowel ([/_tum#/] 3 [-"er/Pl.]) applies to only about fifteen nouns. Table 5.

Some plural rules based on word end and their scope

[/_3#] 3 [-n/Pl.]

several hundred (Fem., Mase., Neut.)5

[/_tum#/] 3 [-"er/Pl.]

about 15 (Masc., Neut.)

[{/_nis#/,/_za:l#/}] 3 [-e/PL]

about 100 (Fern., Neut.)

Despite this quantitative disparity, the basic approaches taken in the studies offer no possibility of establishing a rank order for the individual regularities since there are no qualitative differences or inclusional relationships. If all the rules rely upon the end of the word as their input context, they cannot be arranged into a hierarchy but must be taken as equals. Thus, the traditional analyses give rise to the following picture (somewhat overstated) of the inflectional system: German nominal inflection is divided into two distinct, independent domains, singular inflection and plural inflection. Each domain is governed by a set of equally ranked rules. For singular inflection, gender is the essential criterion in selecting a morphological marker, whereas for plural inflection, it is the phonological structure of the end of the word that is decisive. This outcome leaves no room for the postulation of a unified, hierarchically organized inflectional system. 4.1. The unfulfilled demands of an IP-analysis However, from the point of view of the IP-model the traditional analyses contain several problematic aspects which give us hope of a better solution. We will briefly discuss three of these aspects:

8

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1. For a number of the regularities in the plural, it is necessary to refer to gender in order to generate diverging inflectional behavior in words ending the same way. Thus, the rule Words ending in -el, -er, -en, or -lein have a - 0 plural applies only to masculine and neuter nouns, and not to feminine nouns like Mauer 'wall' and Gabel 'fork'. Feminine nouns ending in this way have -(e)n in the plural. Similarly, Words ending in a consonant or diphthong take -e in the plural if masculine or neuter, -(e)n if feminine: Table 6. The scope of rules based on word end in dependence on gender

il II il JJ

rr IJ η LI

/_el#/ /_er#/ /_en#/ /_lein#/

π Lì

/_K#/ /_V#/

u ÍJ

π Lì

/_K#/ /_V#/

u ÍJ

3

=>

3

[-0/P1.]

only in the masculine and neuter, e.g., Koffer 'suitcase' Kissen 'cushion' Segel 'sail' Häuslein 'little house, hut'

[-e/Pl.]

only in the masculine and neuter, e.g., Tag 'day' Tor 'gate' Hund 'dog'

[-e(n)/Pl.]

only in the feminine, e.g., Frau 'woman' Burg 'castle' Schlucht 'gorge, ravine'

The second problematic point is the following: 2.

Even the two rules that are continually held up as entirely independent of gender are subject to gender specific restrictions.

Neuter nouns with the prefix /ge_/ do not obey the plural rule for nouns ending in /a/. In addition, the rule Words ending in afilli vowel have -s in the plural does not apply to feminines whose final vowel is stressed; instead, these exhibit an -(e)n plural:

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

9

Table 7. Gender dependent scope of the two main rules based on word end [/_3#/]

3

[-n/PL]

does not apply to neuters with prefix ge> 0 Pl., e.g., Gebirge 'mountanin range' Gehäuse "box, casing'

[/_full vowel#/]

=>

[-s/PL]

does not apply to feminines with stressed final vowel > -en Pl., e.g., Allee 'avenue' Theorie 'theory'

And this is the last of the three problems under consideration of the traditional IP-analysis: 3.

A large number of rules yield the same plural marker: That is, rules with different input structures give rise to the same output structure.

An example would be the input criteria of the various rules that, in combination with the gender feature [+Fem], assign ~(e)n in the plural (cf. Mugdan 1977): - final consonant or diphthong - final schwa - final -er, -el - final stressed full vowel The question whether there might not exist a more general criterion for the use of a plural in -(e)n is now almost rhetorical in nature.

5. The "search" for a comprehensive criterion for inflectional behavior Research has shown that - about 80% of monosyllabic feminines, - all feminines ending in schwa, - all derived feminines (with the exception of the approximately 25 feminine nouns formed with -nis or -sal), and

10

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- all feminines ending in -el or -er (with the exception of Mutter 'mother' and Tochter 'daughter') take -(e)n in the plural. This survey practically demands that gender be taken seriously; the property [+Fem] must be considered as a potential comprehensive criterion for plural in -(e)n. True, one may counter that masculine and neuter nouns ending in hi, as well as a fairly large group of masculines and neuters ending in a consonant {Prinz 'prince', Soldat 'soldier', Komponist 'composer', Herz 'heart') also take -(e)n in the plural. However, whereas -(e)n plurals clearly dominate in the feminine, they are proportionately much weaker in the masculine and neuter, where the -e plural obviously dominates. On the basis of these data, Augst (1979: 224) formulated the following rules for the "central plural system" of German: 1. Masculines and neuters take -e in the plural, feminines -en. 2. The word endings /el/, /er/, /en/, and /lein/ take a 0 plural in the masculine and neuter. 3. Nouns in /a/ take -(e)n in the plural even if masculine. If one compares this view of the plural system with the situation in the singular, described at the beginning of this paper, one finds clear parallels: - In both cases, inflectional behavior is tied first and foremost to gender. - Feminines on the one hand and masculines and neuters on the other hand display largely unified inflection in both singular and plural. - As in the singular, masculines in hi are set apart as a specific domain in the plural.6 The fact that all feminines possess a unified singular paradigm distinct from that of masculines and neuters is linked to the fact that the vast majority of feminines share the same plural paradigm. Likewise, those masculines and neuters that take an -e plural are the exact same ones that take -(e)s in the genitive singular. If one ignores umlaut as a formal criterion for distinguishing inflectional paradigms, 7 the great majority of nouns belong to one or the other of the following two paradigm types:

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

11

Table 8. The two main paradigms of German noun inflection

NOM.Sg. GEN.Sg. DAT.Sg. ACC.Sg. NOM.GEN.ACC.PL DAT.P1.

Masculine/Neuter

Feminine

Wolf Schaf -(e)s

Tanne Burg

'wolf 'sheep'

'fir-tree' 'castle'

-0 -0 -0 -(e)n -(e)n

•0 -0 -e -e-n

These paradigm types are not only quantitatively the largest, but also the most productive; that is, new words and words leaving other paradigm types usually take up the inflectional pattern of one of these two paradigm types. They may be viewed more or less as the default cases of nominal inflection: the default case of feminine inflection (Tanne 'fir', Burg 'castle', Musik 'music') and the default case of nonfeminine inflection (Berg 'mountain', Schaf 'sheep', Wolf 'wolf).

6. Gender as the primary criterion for inflectional behavior The appearance of suffixes in the genitive singular and in the plural is driven by gender, specifically, by the feature [+Fem.] or [-Fem.]. The rule for feminine nouns reads thus: Table 9. The default inflection rule of German feminines

[+Fem.]

=

[

1

If this rule is taken as a default, then for the entire set of feminine nouns -(e)n is the expected plural marker and no symbolization of the genitive singular is expected on the word, unless there are rules that refer to more specific features than gender. Such more specific rules do only exist for the plural formation of certain groups of feminines. As mentioned above, feminines with the derivational suffix /nis/ or /sal/, such as Kenntnis 'knowledge', Drangsal 'affliction', take -e in

12

Dagmar Bittner

the plural; and feminines ending in an unstressed full vowel, such as Polka 'polka', Kobra 'cobra', take -s: Table 10. Specific rules blocking the default inflection rule of feminines

a)

Γ L

+/_nis#/ +/_sal#/

1 J

b)

[+/_unstressed full vowel #/]

3

3

[-e / PL.] [-s / Pl.]

These more specific rules block assignment of the plural marker by the more general rule in table 9 for the set of feminines as a whole. Altogether, the three rules mentioned presumably cover about 90% of all feminine nouns. The plural formation of the remaining feminines either are determined by even more specific rules or are directly listed as morphological entries in the lexicon. 8

7. The organization of inflection of feminines and of nonfeminines The inflectional situation respecting feminine nouns as described above is graphically represented in figure 1. This representation shows that from a perspective based on gender it is possible to uphold hierarchical relations among the various inflectional types. Between the more general (because more comprehensive) property of gender and the more specific word ending properties there exist inclusional relations, so the regularities and the groups of nouns they represent can be related to one another. In the following figures 1 and 2, top-down arrows indicate inflectional behavior fully motivated by the extra-morphological criteria mentioned, bottom-up arrows indicate inflectional behavior not fully motivated by the mentioned criteria—these nouns are the so-called "exceptions".

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

13

[+Fem.] [/_unstressed full vowel#/]

[/_unstressed full vowel#/]'

[/_nis#/] [/_sal#/]

[/_nis#/] [/_sal#/] umlautable kinship term /_ei#/

umlautable kinship term /_eτ#/

N.P1. G.Sg. e.g.

-(e)n -0

\\

-"e

-0

Biene Lust

I

-"0 -0 Mutter

-s -0

Bar

-e -0 Kenntnis

-s

-0

Diva

-(e)n -0

Liga

Figure 1. Nonmorphological motivation of the inflectional behaviour of feminines

Gender constitutes the primary factor in determining inflectional behavior for masculines and neuters, as well. In both genders the majority of nouns take -(e)s in the genitive singular and -e in the plural (cf. table 8). The trend toward spread of the -e plural, as discussed at the beginning of this paper, underscores the dominance of this paradigm type; compare here also cases like Atlas 'atlas', whose original plural Atlanten is tending to be replaced by Atlasse, and Diskus 'discus', whose original plural Disken gives way to Diskusse. Since masculine and neuter nouns—with the exception of the weak masculines, such as Hase 'hare', Löwe 'lion', and Student 'student'—also agree in their other inflectional behavior, the feature [-Fem] can be assumed to represent a relevant gender property for inflectional morphology. The overarching default rule for nonfeminines may be expressed thus: Table 11. The default inflection rule of non-feminines

[-Fern.]

3

Γ -(e)s / G.Sg. L -e / PI.

14

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Parallel to figure 1 I graphically represent the correlations of lexical and morphological properties in nonfeminine nouns in figure 2 (next page). Here I have omitted several groups of nonfeminines with nonnative derivational suffixes, such as /-at/, /-ant/, and /-or/; however, it would be no trouble to add them to the tree. The domain of nonfeminine nouns is, as seen in figure 2, more differentiated than its feminine counterpart. The largest divergent group —and that which deviates most widely from the dominant pattern—is that of the weak masculines, which take -en in the genitive, dative, and accusative singular, as well as in the plural. Since it can be demonstrated that the weak masculines likewise tend to switch to -s in the genitive singular and to -e in the plural (cf. also the reduction of inanimate masculines within this class since Middle High German), they can be viewed as a specific subgroup of the nonfeminines.9 It is possible to isolate further groups that follow more specific rules: The masculines and neuters in /el/, /er/, /en/, and /lein/ exhibit no plural symbolization on the word ( 0 plural); nor do the neuters with the prefix /ge-/. The masculines and neuters ending in a full vowel take -s in the plural. Those with the derivational suffix /-tum/, on the other hand, form their plural with -er and umlaut. These groups can all be accounted for by specific rules (cf. table 12) that block the dominant rule listed above in table 11 : Table 12.

a)

Specific rules blocking the default rule of non-feminines Γί IJ 11 LI

/_el#/ /_er#/ /_en#/ /_lein#/J

Ì1 u π

ZD

[-0/PL]

JJ

b)

Γ +Neut. L +/ge_3#/

c)

[+ / _ full vowel#/]

Ί J

ZD

[-0/P1.]

ZD

[-s/PI]

Segel 'sail' Hammer 'hammer' Kissen 'cushion' Häuslein 'little house,

Gelage 'drinking-bout' Gebinde 'bunch'

Kino 'cinema' Lama 'llama'

Uhu 'eagle-owl' d)

[+/-tum#/]

ZD

[-"er/Pl.]

Reichtum 'wealth' Irrtum 'error'

hut'

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

15

16

Dagmar Bittner

8. The general structural pattern of German nominal inflection Whereas the older analyses, which take the properties of the word end as primary criteria for plural inflection in German nouns, are forced to refer to gender as well, in an analysis that starts with gender as the central criterion, reference to a long series of word end properties (consonant, diphthong, schwa, etc.) is superfluous. Moreover, such an analysis need not assume a separate set of rules for singular inflection. The individual rules and the rule system in general are thus much less complex than previously thought. But at the same time—and I believe this is the decisive advantage of the genderbased approach—a general implicative structure becomes evident, which is responsible for the organization of the entire inflectional system. This basic pattern, which is concretely realized by the implications given in table 9 and in table 11, is given in table 13: Table 13. The basic structural pattern

[Gender]

^

[

p^8'

]

This is, so to speak, the atomic formula of German nominal inflection. It belongs to the set of system-defining structural properties of this inflectional system (cf. Wurzel 1984; Bittner 1994). To this structural pattern linking morphological properties to lexical properties are added the structural patterns for the intraparadigmatic structure, in other words, for the further organization of the paradigms: Table 14. The intraparadigmatic structural patterns a)

[G.Sg.]

3

[D.A.Sg.]

b)

[Pl.]

3

[D.Pl.]

and

The pattern under (a) in table 14 finds concrete realization in the following implications:

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

Table 15.

17

The genitive singular morpheme implies the dative and accusative singular morpheme

a)

b)

Π -(e)s I / G.Sg. LI --0 Í J -(e)n I .1 ~ns f

Ί J

/ G.Sg.

1

J

[-0/D.A.Sg.]

[-(e)n / D.A.Sg.]

And the pattern under (b) in table 14 is concretely realized by the following implications: Table 16. The plural morpheme implies the dative plural morpheme

ί -e

1

\

-er

}

A -0

J

Ί /Pl.

I

J

[ - n / D . P l . ]10

The gender-based structural pattern and the hierarchical relations of the inflectional types, demonstrated by the default regularities, conforms to the unified, systematic organization of inflectional systems expected under a naturalness theoretic approach. There is no division into singular and plural inflection, only a separation into feminine and nonfeminine domains that serves to motivate the distinctions in the inflectional behavior of the nouns. The inflection of both domains is organized on the same basic structural pattern.

9. The naturalness theoretic "explanation" for the structural relations discovered The hypothesis presented here is supported by the fact that the organization of the inflectional system from the point of view of gender does not function only technically; within the framework of natural morphology, an independent theoretical explanation can be found for the linking of inflectional behavior to gender classification.

18

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Morphological structure building is semiotically based. Morphological structures are semiotically optimal if they conform to principles of uniformity and transparency (Mayerthaler 1981). Thus, the same additive marker must be always used for symbolization of a certain category, and used for that purpose alone; and no changes may occur in the word stem. This is very simple and obvious in inflectional systems without competing morphological markers, that is, with only one morphological class (cf. Turkish): each noun or each verb obeys this one morphological paradigm, this unique set of morphological markers. All words belonging to the same word class inflect alike. In such cases, morphological behavior is bound directly to word class membership. From a purely semiotic point of view, this is the ideal form of inflectional-morphological organization. Inflectional systems with competing markers and several inflection types are superfluous in at least two ways. They are (again from a semiotic point of view) unnecessarily complex and require the establishment of distributional criteria for the different markers. That is, the grammatical system is burdened with an extra rule component. From the history of language we know that complex inflectional systems—that is, inflectional systems with competing morphological markers and classes—are not built up to fulfill a goal, but rather are more or less a by-product of nonmorphological, usually phonological, processes. According to the reconstructions, then, the largely unified Indo-European nominal inflectional system was destroyed in Germanic by the fixation of word accent in the first root syllable. The weakening of the final syllable led step by step to a phonological reduction of the originally fully vocalic inflectional morphem contained in the final syllable. Distinctions that arose in this manner give rise to compensatory processes to consolidate the inflectional system. These morphological changes, which themselves occur by degrees, have the goal of optimizing the functionality of the morphological structures and to reduce the extra complexity in the grammatical system. In other words, there is a tendency to push morphological systems back toward the ideal form of inflectional-morphological organization by the principles of uniformity and transparency. So it is not a mere matter of coupling individual morphological forms to arbitrary lexical properties; instead, the system approaches the strongest and most systematic possible combination of the distinctions created. Independently given nonmorphological classifications, such as gender classification or semantic and syntactic classifications based on criteria like ±modal, ±concrete, ±animate (or in the most con-

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

19

venient case, word classes), offer the possibility of binding inflectional behavior to a limited number of lexical properties and restrict the additional morphological complexity in the lexicon. For German nouns, this independently given nonmorphological classification is that of gender. But with the unification of masculine and neuter this process has already taken a step beyond the available gender classification—one step further in the direction of the ideal type of inflectional-morphological organization derived from the principle of morpho-semantic transparency. The linking of nominal inflectional behavior to gender is already found immediately after the disintegration of the largely unified Indo-European inflection caused by the decay of final syllables. Comparison of the pre-Germanic and Germanic systems shows changes that are not phonological in origin but represent assimilation of inflectional forms on the basis of shared gender (cf. Kern—Zutt 1977): The pre-Germanic masculine and feminine i-stem nouns (e.g., ghostis 'guest', graptis 'strength'), which inflected alike, had distinct genitive/dative forms in Germanic, because the masculine i-stems assimilated to the masculine o-stems (e.g., dagaz 'day'). The same occurred with the stem nouns. Throughout the entire process of nominal inflectional development from pre-Germanic to New High German (NHG), there has been no fusion of morphological classes across the [+Fem] / [-Fem] gender boundary. Although this would have been quite possible; certain of the basic lexical forms have shared phonological properties at the end of the word, and there would have been sufficient nonmorphological motivation for the same inflectional behavior. The history of language also shows that assimilatory processes do not stop when any arbitrary nonmorphological motivation is realized. Thus we observe a class-change tendency from Middle High German (MHG) to the present for inanimate masculine endings in h i , such as MHG garte NHD Garten 'garden', MHG flade NHG Fladen 'flat cake', MHG balke NHG Balken 'beam' and present-day Friede 'peace', Gedanke 'thought'. They leave the class of weak masculines for that of strong masculines with -(e)s in the genitive singular and -e in the plural by spreading the -n in the oblique cases to the nominative. Yet the inflectional behavior of these masculines was/is motivated nonmorphologically by the property "word final h / " . Another case are the monosyllabic neuters with an umlautable stem vowel. It would also have been conceivable to favor the -er plural with umlaut for these neuters, in other words, to motivate the

20

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c h o i c e of -"er plural marking by the nonmorphological criteria [+Neut.], [+monosyllabic], and [+ umlautable stem vowel]. But out of the approximately 7 0 neuter nouns of this type, currently only about 4 0 (still) have this plural. Neuters like As 'ace1, Lob 'praise', Brot 'bread', Boot 'boat', and Pfund 'pound', which today take -e in the plural, vacillated between -"er and -e plural already in MHG. So the theoretically thinkable rule mentioned above has never become a stabile rule for the neuters. It is thus obvious that tendencies to systematize in inflectional systems g o b e y o n d the s i m p l e ability to participate in an implicational relationship. Even if, concretely and directly, they always used to work locally, they are subject to the general organizational principles of inflectional systems (cf. Bittner 1993, 1994). The linking of German nominal inflectional classes to gender classes is the currently available compromise between the semiotically optimal structure and the inherited formal structure of the inflectional system.

Notes 1.

2.

3. 4.

Perhaps, indeed, gender is not associated with any grammatical function and I am asking the wrong question. Nonetheless, if there is no grammatical reason for the existence of gender, there ought to be a reason of some other kind, perhaps a universal cognitive condition on the classification of objects. Such a reason, however, likewise has yet to be explicitly stated. The IP model is an extremely categorial rule model. Its object is to sharply define the groups with a minimum of rules. Consequently, certain border areas cannot be described, and the inflectional forms that cannot be captured by the rules must be registered as "exceptions". However, I do not wish to support the conclusions drawn by others (e.g., Wiese 1988; Clahsen— Rothweiler—Woest 1990) regarding the organization of inflectional knowledge on different levels of grammar and corresponding qualitative differences between inflectional forms. The sharp delineations inherent to the IP model are simply convenient for my present purpose of describing the fundamental properties of the inflectional system and the relation of the inflectional classes to gender classes. The symbol 0 means that the word contains no morphological marking. I do not assume a so-called null morpheme. Inflectional morphology in general and German noun inflection in particular have in recent years been intensely scrutinized from apparently very different points of view. In addition to the 1970s studies already mentioned, the following may be enumerated: Steche 1927; Kloeke 1982; Wurzel 1984, 1987, 1994; Carstairs 1986, 1987; Harnisch 1987; Kopeke 1988, 1993; Bittner 1991, 1993, 1994. Common to most of the recent works is the attempt to describe the organization of the system as a whole, or at least fairly large portions of it. The goal is no longer to compile the most

Gender classification and the inflectional system of German nouns

5. 6. 7.

8.

9. 10.

21

exhaustive list possible of the individual regularities and their "exceptions", but rather to investigate how the individual regularities are related to one another, how the different inflectional patterns, including the "exceptions", are affected by the others within the system as a whole, and which principles of morphological structure building are responsible. An important starting point is the obvious fact that the individual forms of morphological behavior sometimes vary considerably in their productivity, as seen in their applicability to new words and in their transferability to words which originally belonged to other inflectional patterns. An exception to this regularity is the neuter nouns with the prefix /ge_/, such as Gebirge 'mountain range' (see below). Augst considered only native nouns. However, the nonnative final-stressed, animate masculines (Poet "poet', Kommandant 'commander') behave exactly like masculines in hi in the plural as well. The distribution of umlaut is phonologically determined only in -er plurals, not in -e and 0 plurals. Strictly speaking, in the latter cases it represents a separate (additional) plural marker defining independent paradigm types. On the regularities of umlaut distribution in monosyllabic masculines, see Kopeke 1994. At this point one runs into the problem for categorial rule models of where to draw the line between rules and lexically stored "exceptions", cf. the case of Mutter 'mother' and Tochter 'daughter', two single nouns showing a morphological behavior fully motivated by extra-morphological criteria. How many lexical items are required before a rule can be assumed: three, five, ten? Can rules be assumed only for productive groups, or are there also inactive or nonproductive rules (cf. Becker 1990:116-117)? For a detailed description of the weak masculines, see Bittner 1991 and Kopeke (1993). Since beside -n no other dative plural flexi ve exists, it is possible that the lack of -n in the dative plural with the -s and -(e)n plurals is phonologically determined. I assume the same for the flexive -(e)s in the genitive singular. This would obviate the rule under (9b). As could be seen I assume similar phonological restrictions for the flexive -(e)s in the genitive singular.

References Augst, Gerhard 1975 Untersuchungen zum Morpheminventar der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. 1979 "Neuere Forschungen zur Substantivflexion", Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik 7: 220-232. Becker, Thomas 1990 Analogie und morphologische Theorie. München: Fink.

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Bettelhäuser, Hans-Jörg 1976 Studien zur Substantivflexion der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Heidelberg: Winter. Bittner, Dagmar 1991 Von starken Feminina und schwachen Maskulina. Die neuhochdeutsche Substantivflexion - Eine Systemanalyse im Rahmen der natürlichen Morphologie. [Dissertation, University of Jena]. 1993 "Die außermorphologische Struktur von Flexionssystemen oder Was ist eigentlich Paradigmenökonomie?", in: Livia Tonelli— Wolfgang U. Dressier (eds.), Natural Morphology. Perspectives for the nineties. Padua: Unipress s.a.s. 75-88. 1994 "Die Bedeutung der Genusklassifikation für die Organisation der deutschen Substantivflexion", in: Klaus-Michael Kopeke (ed.), Funktionale Untersuchungen zur deutschen Nominal- und Verbalmorphologie. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. 65-80. Carstairs, Andrew 1986 "Macroclasses and paradigm economy in German nouns", Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung, 39. 1: 3-11. 1987 Allomorphy in inflexion. London/New York/Sydney: Croom Helm. Clahsen, Harald—Monika Rothweiler—Andreas Woest 1990 "Lexikalische Ebenen und morphologische Entwicklung: Eine Untersuchung zum Erwerb des deutschen Pluralsystems im Rahmen der lexikalischen Morphologie", in: Monika Rothweiler (ed.): Spracherwerb und Grammatik. Linguistische Untersuchungen zum Erwerb von Syntax und Morphologie. Linguistische Berichte, Sonderheft 3,105-126. Corbett, Greville G. 1991 Gender. Cambridge: University Press. Corbett, Greville G.—Norman M. Fraser [this vol.] Default Genders. Dressier, Wolfgang U.—Willi Mayerthaler—Oswald Panagl—Wolfgang U. Wurzel 1987 Leitmotifs in Natural Morphology. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Harnisch, Rüdiger 1987 Natürliche generative Morphologie und Phonologie des Dialekts von Ludwigstadt. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Kem, Peter—Herta Zutt 1977 Geschichte des deutschen Flexionsystems. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Kiparsky, Paul 1982 Lexical Morphology and Phonology, [ms. M.I.T.] Kloeke, Willem Ubbo Siewen van Lessen 1982 Deutsche Phonologie und Morphologie. Merkmale und Markiertheit. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Kopeke, Klaus-Michael 1988 "Schemas in German Plural Formation", Lingua 74: 303-335. 1993 Schemata bei der Pluralbildung im Deutschen. Versuch einer kognitiven Morphologie. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag (Studien zur deutschen Grammatik 47).

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Kopeke, Klaus-Michael 1994 "Zur Rolle von Schemata bei der Pluralbildung monosyllabischer Maskulina", in : Klaus-Michael Kopeke (ed.), Funktionale Untersuchungen zur deutschen Nominal- und Verbalmorphologie. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. 81-96. Mayerthaler, Willi 1981 Morphologische Natürlichkeit. Wiesbaden: Athenaion. Müller, Natascha [in this vol.] Gender and number in acquisition. Mugdan, Joachim 1977 Flexionsmorphologie und Psycholinguistik. Untersuchungen zu sprachlichen Regeln und ihrer Beherrschung durch Aphatiker, Kinder und Ausländer am Beispiel der deutschen Substantiv-deklination. Tübingen: Narr. Steche. Theodor 1927 Die neuhochdeutsche Wortbiegung. Breslau: Ferdinand Hirt. Vennemann, Theo 1983 "Überlegungen zu einer Theorie der linguistischen Präferenzen", Klagenfurter Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 9: 262-292. 1990 "Language change as language improvement", in: V. Orioles (ed.) Modelli Esplicativi Della Diacronica Linguistica. Pisa: Gardini. 11-35. Wiese, Richard 1988 Silbische und lexikalische Phonologie. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Wurzel, Wolfgang Ullrich 1984 Flexionsmorphologie und Natürlichkeit. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag (studia grammatica XXI). 1987 "Paradigmenstrukturbedingungen: Aufbau und Veränderung von Flexionsparadigmen", Linguistische Studien (Reihe A) 156: 135155. 1994 "Gibt es im Deutschen noch eine einheitliche Substantivflexion? oder: Auf welche Weise ist die deutsche Substantivflexion möglichst angemessen zu erfassen?", in: Klaus-Michael Kopeke (ed.), Funktionale Untersuchungen zur deutschen Nominal- und Verbalmorphologie. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. 29-44.

Gender in North Germanic: A diasystematic and functional approach* Kurt Braunmüller

1. Gender systems in Scandinavian languages The Nordic or Scandinavian languages 1 and their dialects show a broad range of different gender systems and subsystems. 1.1. Three-gender system We find languages with the typical Indo-European gender classification in masculines, feminines, and neuters. This system correlates with the most archaic and isolated (insular) Nordic languages, Icelandic and Faroese. It is also to be found in nearly all Scandinavian dialects; the majority of Jutish (western Danish) dialects, however, form the only exceptions (cf. map 23 in Br0ndum-Nielsen 1927 [two-/zero-gender systems] and (3) below). This observation is by no means surprising, since this three-gender system is represented in nearly all older Indo-European languages and in most of their dialects. This system can, however, also be found in a rather new standard language, in New Norwegian (nynorsk). New Norwegian, or at that time called landsmaal,2 was created by Ivar Aasen in the middle of the 19th century on the basis of a selection of (mostly western and some southern) Norwegian dialects. It was supposed to become a new and more genuine Norwegian standard language in opposition to the riksmaal (riksmâl) dominant up to that time, later (after 1929) called bokmâl. Its English translation, Dano-Norwegian, coined by Einar Haugen (cf. Haugen 1976), takes account of its Danish origin, the formerly common (written) standard language of the Danish kingdom, of which Norway was a part until 1814. The planning of a

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Kurt Braunmüller

new standard language with such an archaic gender system was only possible on the basis of the widely known and spoken local dialects in this country. Seen from this point of view, New Norwegian represents just a new, unified Norwegian (written) dialect and thus cannot be considered a true exception to the linguistic situation described above.

1.2. Two-gender system The two-gender system is far more typical for the Scandinavian languages of today. Due to some phonological developments (e.g., the simplification of /n:/ > /n/ in final position), due to analogical adjustments and already existing inflectional similarities in the paradigms of masculines and feminines 3 , these two categories coalesced and became a so-called "genus commune" or uter (Swed. utrum, Dan. fœllesk0n, Norw. felleskj0nri). The other category, neuter, remained unchanged. This two-gender system is the basic system of standard Danish and Swedish, and in principle of Dano-Norwegian, too.

1.3. Hybrid-gender system Unfortunately, Dano-Norwegian does not exactly fit this general description. Since the language reforms of 1917 and especially of 1938, it developed into a very complicated hybrid system. In most respects, Dano-Norwegian can be characterized as belonging to the two-gender system described above. Language planning in terms of integrating many dialectal words and words, not even known from Danish, as well as permanent contacts with the other standard language, New Norwegian, caused a partial reintroduction of the threegender system. Roughly speaking, it can be said that if a noun refers to a female person or animal, the three-gender system with its distinction between masculines and feminines has to be used, cf. (la) and (lb):

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic

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27

(1) Dano-Norwegian: female / feminine a.

ei jente 'a girl'

-

ei kone 'a woman' b.

ei ku 'a cow' ei h0ne 'a hen'

— -

jenta 'the girl' kona 'the woman' kua 'the cow' h0na 'the hen'

(2) Dano-Norwegian: feminine by dialectal impact [ei + Ν [-def, +sing.], N-a [+def, +sing.]] bok 'book'

sol

tid 'time'

It should also be used in connection with a couple of more or less frequent words such as those mentioned in (2), the feminine gender of which is commonly well known by native Norwegians with a good command of their local dialects. The number of these non-semantically motivated feminines has been vacillating considerably since language planning has taken care of the two standard languages in Norway. These various reforms and sometimes deeply penetrating restructurings of linguistic (sub-)systems have, however, not always been followed by all Norwegians. An influential group, visually represented by the biggest and most influential daily newspaper in Norway, Aftenposten, refuses to use Dano-Norwegian with its hybridgender system and adheres to the former (Danish) two-gender system. This conservative variety of Norwegian is still called riksmâl4

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1.4. Count - mass system The fourth and last gender system can not be found in any Scandinavian standard language but only in some western Danish dialects. These West Jutish dialects show only a semantically motivated gender distinction but no gender marking on the grammatical level at all: Normally, all nouns take the same determiner in a noun phrase, the indefinite article en 'a' or the definite article œ 'the'. Thus, there is actually no formal difference in "uter/neuter" or in "masculine / feminine / neuter" on the grammatical level, as it is the case in the other Jutish dialects (cf. 3a and 3b). This is the reason, why traditional Danish dialectology used to treat these West Jutish dialects more or less parallel to modern English as a language with only one (recte: no)5 gender marker. (3)

a. West Jutish: no difference in gender en man 'a man'

en hus 'a house'

b. South Jutish: uter vs. neuter en man [uter] 'a man'

et hus [neuter] 'a house'

However, this analysis fits only the grammatical level (gender assignment and agreement) but not the referential level, including pronominalization. There, a semantic principle comes into play which distinguishes between nouns referring to countable items, cooccurring with the default determiner en 'a' or œ 'the' (cf. 4a), on the one hand and to non-countable items, i.e., substances (4b) or abstract concepts (4c), marked by det 'that', on the other (cf. Ringgaard 1971: 30f. and section 4.2.3.2.). This special (semantic) gender marker det 'that' can either occur as a determiner or as a pronoun.

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic

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(4) West Jutish a. pronominalized by den 'it' œ man 'the man'

œ hus 'the house'

b. pronominalized by det 'it' det mcelk 'that milk'

det jord 'that soil'

c. pronominalized by det 'it' det skrigen 'that shouting'

1.5. Summary The different types of gender systems in North Germanic can finally be summarized in the following diagram (Figure 1). It should be observed that the hybrid Dano-Norwegian gender system actually comprises two variants, a socalled "moderate" and a more "radical" one. The radical version of Dano-Norwegian lies quite close to New Norwegian and shows far more dialectally based feminines 6 (of inanimate nouns) in comparison with the more conservative version, "moderate" Dano-Norwegian.

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Kurt Braunmüller

Indo-European

Germanie

OLD NORSE 3-gender system

3-gender system masc.-fem.-neut. (most dialects; Icelandic, Faroese; New Norwegian)

2-gender system uter - neuter

-> no grammatical gender

(Danish, Swedish, Norweg. riksmâl)

(West Jutish dialects)

0

radical moderate (Dano-Norwegian) Figure 1. Gender systems in North Germanic

2. Gender and pronominalization: Two basic principles There are two basic principles according to which pronominalization operates in Scandinavian languages: (a) the grammatical principle, (b) the semantic principle. "Grammatical principle" means here that only (overt or inherent) morphological features 7 are involved, whereas the semantic principle says that this kind of pronominalization is based on natural gender, i.e., on sex, or on other semantic distinctions, e.g., "animate / nonanimate" or "partitive / non-partitive".

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2.1. The grammatical principle The grammatical principle is to be found in all languages with a three-gender system, i.e., in Icelandic, Faroese and New Norwegian (cf. section 1.1.). In these languages, mainly 8 this principle of grammatical reference is in use when pronominalization rules apply, no matter whether the noun to be referred to can be classified as "animate" (and then further as "male" or "female") or "inanimate" (Figure 2): [+ animate] mañur 'man' kona 'woman' barn 'child'

[- animate] bátur - hann 'boat' 'it' Mn stofa 'room' 'it' borö paö 'table' 'it'

hann 'he' hún 'she' ραδ 'it'

-

-

Figure 2. Pronominalization in Icelandic This principle says that the gender of the nouns or noun phrases to be pronominalized has to be carried by the respective third person pronouns without taking semantic information into consideration. This mechanical way of copying gender features according to agreement rules (cf. section 3.) is very well known from many other European languages, e.g., from German (5): (5)

a. German der Tisch 'the table'

-

er 'it'

die Küche 'the kitchen'

-

sie 'it'

das Mädchen 'the girl'

-

es 'she'

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Kurt Braunmüller

b. Icelandic pau eru systkini they [neuter pl.] are brother and sister 'they are brother and sister' Only plural pronouns, representing a mixed group of referential objects with different gender features, demand special pronominalization rules. In Icelandic and Faroese, the third person neuter pronouns (pau and tey 'they', respectively) have to be used in these cases.9 New Norwegian, however, has not (re)established a gender differentiation in the plural (dei 'they' is the only form).

2.2. The semantic principle A semantic principle forms the basis for pronominalization in those Scandinavian languages which show a two-gender or a hybridgender system (cf. 1.2. - 1.3.). 2.2.1. The first rule of pronominalization operates on the distinction between "human" or "animate" on the one hand and "inanimate" on the other. In the case of inanimate objects, such as 'table' or 'chair', the grammatical principle mentioned above applies again (6). (6) Scandinavian bord 'table

— -

det it'

stol 'chair

— den - it'

Human beings and (some) higher animals are, however, subject to a (further) semantic pronominalization rule, the assignment of sex. In this respect, Swedish, Danish, and Dano-Norwegian very closely resemble the English pronominalization system: (7) Swedish mannen — 'the man -

han he'

kvinnan — 'the woman -

hon she'

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic

33

and functional approach

Sometimes it may not always be clear whether, e.g., a (normal, not a riding) horse or a cow has to be considered as a kind of thing (to be pronominalized according to (6)) or rather as an animal with a deeper relationship to man (pronominalization such as in (7)). This semantic system can be diagrammed as follows: Semantic principle

inanimate

(back to the grammatical principle)

overtly marked relating to sex by class

mask./fem./neut,

unmarked

by word formation

male

female

mand

kvinde

danser

danserinde

barn/ lœrer

(han)

(hun)

(han)

(hun)

(han/ hun)

'man'

'woman'

'dancer1

'fem. dancer1

'child/ teacher'

male

female

both

Figure 3. Gender in Scandinavian (Danish)

Unmarked nouns referring to humans (such as Dan. barn 'child' or lœrer 'teacher') or certain animals can also be considered as "substantiva communia" (cf. 8): (8) Latin parens 'father / mother'

canis 'male / female dog'

This kind of semantic unmarkedness (here: unspecified in respect of sex), should, however, not be mixed up with cases like ((9), esp.

34

Kurt Braunmüller

(9b)), where one reading comprises a more global / generic meaning and the other a more restricted / specific one: (9)

a. b.

day (cf. Germ. Tag) '24 hours' 10

vs.

cat (cf. Germ. Katze) 'cat' vs.

'day [not night]' 'female cat'

2.2.2. In the case of 'child' (Scand. barn, normally pronominalized by the corresponding neuter pronoun det [Icel. paö, Far. ta5] 'it'11), it depends of course on the child's sex, if a gender-marked personal pronoun (han(n) 'he' or hon/hun 'she') is to be chosen. This same rule, which has to disambiguate referential objects without a clear semantic distinction in respect of sex, applies to professional occupations, too: Swed. lärare 'teacher', läkare 'physician', professor or even Dan. k0bmartd 'shopkeeper'^ can be pronominalized either by han 'he' or hon/hun 'she'. Swed. lärarinna / Dan. lœrerinde 'female teacher' is (officially) no longer in use and sounds nowadays quite depreciating (cf. also Braunmüller 1991: 41-43). 13 2.2.3. Only a few words do not conform to this semantic system. Swed. en människa (uter / 'genus commune') or Dan./Dano-Norweg. et menneske (neuter) 'person' are pronominalized according to former gender assignments. Whereas människa in Swedish always has to be referred to by the female (!) form hon 'she',14 menneske in Danish can either be pronominalized grammatically by using the neuter form det 'it' or occasionally by han or hun 'he / she', if you should have a more concrete idea about the person you are taking about. The same rule applies also for Swed. klokka 'time, hour', which has to be pronominalized by hon 'she' (and not by den 'it', according to the semantic principle under discussion; cf. Figure 3). Dan. postbud 'mailman (!)' is neuter in gender, but pronominalized either by han 'he' or hun 'she', depending on the respective person's sex. It should be observed that in all these cases, agreement rules still operate according to grammatical principles: Swed. en fin människa [uter]/Dan./Dano-Norweg. et fint menneske [neuter] 'a nobel person' and Dan. et langsomt postbud 'a slow postman [male / female]'.

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic and functional approach

35

3. Gender and agreement 3.1. General agreement rules There can be no doubt that one of the main functions of gender is to mark agreement between nouns and adjectives, both in attributive and predicative position. In some languages, e.g., Latin, agreement relations often result in morphologically identical patterns (10a), but this is not mandatory (10b): (10) Latin a.

pue Ila pulchra 'beautiful girl' bellum gallicum 'Gaulish War'

b.

poeta doctus 'learned poet' [masc.] man us dextra 'right hand' [fem.] genus commune 'uter' [neut.]

This formal identity has, however, nothing to do with gender itself but just results from parallelisms between formally corresponding inflectional classes. They represent in this type of language a complex sign for three grammatical features (case, number, and gender) where gender is only one of them. Further, this formal principle of grammatical agreement also applies for all Nordic languages. The following examples have been taken from (modern) Icelandic because this language still shows the greatest inflectional variation of all modern Nordic languages:

36

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Braunmüller

(a) [sing, mase.] ríkur maöur '(a) rich man'

maöurinn er ríkur 'the man is rich'

(b) [sing, fem.] rík0 kona '(a) rich woman'

konan er rík0 'the woman is rich'

(c) [sing, neut.] ríkt barn '(a)" rich child'

barniö er ríkt 'the child is rich'

(a') [plur. masc.] rikir menn rich men'

mennirnir eru rikir 'the men are rich'

(b') [plur. fem.] ríkar konur 'rich women'

konurna eru ríkar 'the women are rich'

(c') [plur. neut.] rík0 börn 'rich children'

börnin eru rik0 'the children are rich'

Figure 4 a: Agreement in Icelandic

In mainland Scandinavian languages (Danish, Swedish, Dano- and New Norwegian) only neuter singular forms and plurals (without any differentiation in gender) are marked (cf. Figure 4b with examples from Danish):

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic

and fiinctional approach

37

(a") [plural] rigg, mœnd 'rich men'

mœndene er rige 'the men are rich1

(c") [sing, neut.] et rigt barn a rich child'

barnet er rigt 'the child is rich'

Figure 4 b: Agreement in Danish

3.2. Agreement and "sentence equivalency" There are, however, some interesting exceptions to these general agreement rules. In Danish, infinitives acquire the feature "neuter", if they function as sentence equivalents (1 l).i5 (11) Danish At ryge er usundt. '[lit.] To smoke is unhealty.'16 But there are cases, where two grammatical rules may come into conflict with each other. Both versions, (12a) and (12b), are grammatically correct, but in different ways: (12) Danish a. b.

Tobaksrygning er usund. Tobaksrygning er usundt. '[lit.] Tobacco smoking is unhealthy.'

In version (12a), you simply follow mechanically the ordinary agreement rules [(here: predicative) adjectives in agreement with uter singular nouns never get an inflectional -t\. In (12b), however, you interpret the compound tobaksrygning as a kind of infinitival construction ('to smoke tobacco') which results then in an adjective neu-

38

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Brauraniiller

ter form (now with a final -t, according to the syntactic rule mentioned above; cf. (11)). In the Danish standard language of today, the formally correct use of gender (without a i-suffix) is, however, not that expression which generally is preferred. In other words, the grammatical function "sentence equivalency" (12b; 11) (which entails "neuter") overrides any other agreement rules.

3.3. Agreement and specific vs. generic readings Another interesting issue in connection with gender and agreement was heavily debated in Sweden some decades ago (cf. 13), namely: (13) Swedish Är färsk sill god eller gott? 'Is fresh herring [uter] "god" ['good', uter] or "gott" ['good', neuter]?'" Can this uncertainty in using gender be seen as another indication for the decline of the Swedish language or should not this phenomenon better be regarded as something quite different? Gun Widmark argues in favor of a semantic differentiation by making use of different gender forms: When sill [uter] is used as a kind of generic term, a mass noun with the feature [-specific], or as a term with non-delimited reference (so Källström 1994: 196), then it is supposed to become a neuter. The same would happen, if the noun under discussion represents an abstract referent, such as (14); (cf. Widmark 1971: 81).« (14) Swedish Politik är roligt. 'Politics [uter] is amusing [neuter].' But if we are talking about a specific kind of sill 'herring' and not about herring as such, we should use the original gender 'uter' and proceed according to the normal grammatical agreement rules of modern Swedish:

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic and functional approach

39

(15) Swedish Nyfângad sill är särskilt god. 'Recently caught herring [uter] is especially good [uter].' Neuter is, however, absolutely excluded from such a semantic differentiation, when the definite noun/noun phrase the predicative adjective refers to stands in the plural (cf. (16a) vs. the absolutely ungrammatical sentence (16b)). Only indefinite nouns/noun phrases agree with a neuter predicative (16c). But then they get a non-specific, generic interpretation. (16) Swedish a.

Ärterna är goda. The peas are good [plural].'

b.

*Ärterna är gott. 'The peas are good [neuter sing.].'

c.

Ärter är gott. 'Peas are good [neuter sing.]'

3.4. Summary Both exceptions to the general agreement rules with respect to gender in Danish and Swedish make it obvious that gender is going to take over new (grammatical or semantic) functions. But such a remarkable development could only happen because agreement and the grammatical category gender no longer occur as integral parts of a complex inflectional system with many distinct case markers (as it still is the case in Icelandic, and partly in Faroese, too), but only as a suffix which neither seems to be very distinct nor absolutely necessary. That is why gender can be used under those conditions for other purposes (if it has not yet disappeared as a grammatical category), e.g., in order to refer to whole clauses (11, 12b) or as a semantically based category in order to distinguish between a [+specific] or [-specific/+ generic] reading of a noun / noun phrase.

40

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4. A diasystematic description of gender in Scandinavian languages 4.0. General observations Three general observations can be made when analysing gender systems in (mainland) Scandinavian languages: (a) The distribution of gender in standard languages can diverge considerably from the use in their dialects. It may even be the case that a standard language shows a basically different gender system as compared with the systems of its dialects. (b) In a lot of instances, the distribution and application of gender is based on semantic principles. Gender structures as well as gender assignment rules in pronominalization show, however, exceptions due to influence either from dialects, from language history, or even from language planning (especially in Norway). (c) The appearance of gender systems in Scandinavian which are (at least partly) based on semantic principles gives way to further restructurings. Mainland Scandinavian languages (cf. 3.2. / 3.3.) and dialects of Jutland especially show the way in which languages with reduced gender systems may develop: If gender loses more and more of its grammatical and referential functions, it may be used to represent other (in most cases: semantic) features. This restructuring needs, however, not necessarily lead to the development of systems like the English one, which distinguishes between "male" and "female" on the one hand and "inanimate" or "neuter" on the other. These observations suggest that only a diasystematic approach to gender in North Germanic can result in really complete and typologically valid linguistic descriptions of the languages under discussion. If only the (written) standard languages were taken into consideration, our description would not be able to account for casual speech or for the various mixtures between standard and dialectal forms.

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic

and functional approach

41

4.1. Vacillation in gender 4.1.1. In languages which more or less show the old Indo-European gender system, as, e.g., Icelandic or Faroese, the use of gender is restricted to the grammatical (or formal) level. There is normally no vacillation between the use of gender in the standard language and in its dialectal varieties. In languages with a defective and all the more a rudimentary inflectional system, as, e.g., German and Danish (as well as the other mainland Scandinavian languages), respectively, the use of gender may vacillate^ not only in loan or foreign words (17a and 18a), but also in native words (17b and 18b). (17) German (non-standard use underlined): a.

das /der Radio 'the radio' der/das Tunnel20 'the tunnel'

b.

der/das Teller 'the plate' die / der21 Butter 'the butter'

[in southern dialects]

der /das Bund 'bundle, bunch'

[in northern dialects]

(18) Danish: a.

en / et circus 'a circus' en/et indeks 'an index' (en/et) gummi 'rubber'

[no clear preference]

42

Kurt

b.

Braunmüller

eri/et kop 'a cup'

[southern Jutish]

et / en_ hus 'a house1

[West Jutish]

Only in those languages which either have lost a great deal of their case markers or show many merged inflectional suffixes can gender additionally be used to keep homonyms22 apart (cf. (19) and (20)): (19) German a.

der See [plural: Seen] 'the lake'

b.

der Gehalt vs. [plural: Gehalte] 'the content'

vs.

die See [no plural] 'the sea' das Gehalt [plural: Gehälter] 'the salary'

(20) Danish a.

jalousi [uter] [no plural] 'jealousy'

vs.

et jalousi [neuter] [plural: jalousier] 'jalousie, (Venetian) blind(s)'

b.

vor [uter] [no plural] 'spring (time)'

vs.

et vâr [neuter] [plural: vor ene]23 'ticking; slip'

But yet it seems to be quite unusual that gender (and not other grammatical means) is used in these languages to convey relevant semantic information. The only example for a special semantic differentiation by gender I came across is the German masculine noun Mensch 'person'. In southern German dialects it may also be used as a neuter and thus acquires a new meaning: 'bad female person' (das Mensch). In fully inflectional languages like Latin, nouns which show (more or less) different meanings according to their marking with gender are rare:

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic

andfiinctional

approach

43

(21) Latin dies [mase. / fem.] a. 'day-light [mase.]' b. 'period of time [fem.]' (dies dominica 'the Lord's day', sc. 'Sunday') 4.1.2. Icelandic and Faroese 24 can, at least in principle, be seen as parallel to German and its three-gender system (cf. sections 2.1. and 3.1.). But there are no vacillations in gender of the kind described above. One (internal grammatical) reason for this is the fact that gender in a highly inflectional language, such as Icelandic, forms an integral part of its numerous inflectional classes (cf. the dozens of paradigms listed in Thomson 1987) and can therefore not be separated from other morphological features such as case or number which are part of the same inflectional paradigm, too. New Norwegian, however, differs in some other ways from these linguistic structures. Although it has taken over the function of a (roofing) standard language, it does not happen that the use of gender in the written form diverges from one of its dialectal varieties: the gender structures of the respective dialect will always determine the use of gender in the written standard language. In other words, the norms of the oral / dialectal varieties prevail. 4.1.3. The other Scandinavian languages show many contrasts or even sometimes conflicts between the standard language and its dialects. In Dano-Norwegian these conflicts can often be solved by integrating a certain number of feminine nouns (descending from dialects) into the standard language. In Danish or Swedish, however, unconditioned25 vacillation in gender of native words nearly always indicates that the speaker has a certain dialect as his / her first language (cf. 18b). 4.2. Towards a typological explanation 4.2.1. As shown above, there may occur deviations from the grammatical (cf. Figure 1 in 1.5.) or semantic principles (cf. Figure 3 in 2.2.1.) governing the different gender systems under discussion. It has further been mentioned (cf. 1.3.) that some of these exceptions

44

Kurt Braunmüller

can be explained by using data from language history or language planning (especially in the case of Dano-Norwegian). Some other deviations can be traced back to dialectal influence (cf. 4.1.) or are due to conflicts between competing syntactic rules (cf. 3.2. and 3.3.). In order to get a consistent synchronic description of the use of gender in Scandinavian languages, it is, however, first necessary to describe the typological principles these gender systems are based on. 4.2.2. One of these typological principles seems to be that only grammatical rules operate in languages with a three-gender system. The use of gender is thus restricted to the morphological and syntactic level, a fact which can be observed from the arbitrariness of gender assignment, e.g., for inanimate objects (cf. (22)) as well as (sometimes) even from an incompatibility between sex and gender (cf. Germ, das Mädchen 'the girl': ;,ex: [female] vs. gender: [neuter]). (22) Icelandic a. [masc.] bill 'car'

banani 'banana'

b. [fem.] bók 'book'

smasja 'microscope'

This principle is further reflected in the process of copying "gender" as a grammatical feature in pronominalization and in agreement transformations (cf. 2.1. and 3.1.). 4.2.3.0. In languages with a two-gender or a hybrid-gender system, several principles may compete: on the one hand, the grammatical principle and its formal means of gender assignment and gender agreement, and a semantic principle (pronominalization according to semantic features, e.g., animate / inanimate or human / non-human) on the other. 4.2.3.1. Danish shows a diasystem with two genders in the standard language rigsmál and with a scale in gender from three to (gram-

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic

and functional approach

45

matical) zero in its dialects (cf. the map in Nielsen 1959: 45 or the [colored] map 23 in Br0ndum-Nielsen 1927). There are at least the following instances of gender reassignment in standard Danish which are not due to dialectal interference but semantic differentiation: (a) gender and meaning shift in connection with mass nouns (23), (b) gender shift of mass nouns from uter to neuter in cooccurrence with the determinative pronoun det 'that' (24) or in connection with restrictive relative clauses (25), (c) gender shift from neuter to uter in connection with nouns which are supposed to refer to substances or quantities (26). (23) Danish a.

[a glass or bottle of en φΐ en sodavand 'a beer' 'a lemonade'

b.

(as mass nouns 26 ; cf. Diderichsen 1976: 42) 0llet sodavandet 'beer' 'lemonade'

vs.

(24) Danish a.

Har du drukket af det vin, der stâr [dér/her]? 'Did you drink of that wine which stands [there / here]?'

b.

Den fattige fik det gröd, der var levnet. 'The poor [man] got that porridge which was left.' 27 (cf. Mikkelsen 1911/[1975]: § 27 II, 2);

(25) Danish Vil du straks t0rre det mœlk op! 'Mop up that milk immediately, will you!' (cf. Dansk Sprognaevn 1986: 550)

46

Kurt Braunmüller

(26) Danish Det var en god og kraftig lœrred. 'This was a good and robust linen.' (cf. Dansk Sprognaevn 1986: 550) 4.2.3.2. A look at Jutish (West Danish) dialects shows even more deviations from the two-gender system and its pronominalization rules described above (cf. 1.2., 1.4. and 2.2.). Gender reassignment or neutralization in gender can be used in order to convey some special semantic information: (a) in southern Jutish dialects, neuter has become the gender for young animals, cf. (27); (b) mass nouns or collective nouns take neuter in gender marking, 28 even in those dialects in the very north and east of Jutland which kept the original Nordic / Indo-European three-gender system (cf. (28) and esp. 1.4. on West Jutish dialects); (c) collective nouns which represent more or less liquid objects are only used in plural which means that gender becomes neutralized, cf. (29). (27) Southern Jutish dialects et kalv 'a calv'

(and not en kalv, as in standard Danish)

(28) North and east Jutish dialects neuter (but uter in standard Danish): is 'ice'

mœlk 'milk'

ost 'cheese'

rug 'rye'

(29) Southern Jutish dialects a. [collective nouns; cf. b.] suppe fl0de 'soupe' 'cream'

kâl 'cabbage [as a dish]'

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic and functional approach

b. [with plural agreement] manne /fler' supp' 'much / more soup'

47

(southern Jutish, cf. Nielsen 1959: 45-47).

In other words, Jutish dialects have established a new, additional semantic distinction in gender, the opposition between "partitive" (cf. (28) and (29)) and "nonpartitive" (all other countable nouns). 4.2.3.3. These observations lead us to the following conclusions: Languages with a two-gender system are based primarily on semantic principles. The fundamental distinction in gender is the classification in "human / animate" vs. "inanimate". Only for nouns referring to inanimate objects does grammatical gender have to be used (cf. 2.2.). If there is any need for further distinctions, gender will be reinterpreted according to semantic categories, as is the case, e.g., in the dialects of Jutland.29 4.2.3.4. Languages with a hybrid-gender system, such as DanoNorwegian, follow both semantic and grammatical principles. Any further (semantic) restructurings are, however, prevented by reintroducing the former grammatical principle in gender assignment. But this partial reanalysis of a gender system does not result in a stable situation: It is by no means clear which group of (old or dialectal) feminine words has to be marked overtly as feminines and which may remain unmarked as a part of the large group of "genus commune"-words.

5. Conclusion 5.1 The discussion of the various gender systems in Scandinavian languages has shown: (a) Languages with a three-gender system can retain quite stable structures in gender assignment. They can also have clear-cut rules for grammatical agreement and pronominalization, but only if gender functions as an integral part of their inflectional classes.

48

Kurt Braunmüller

(b) Languages with a two-gender system tend to develop more semantic distinctions, if there should be any need to do so. In this case, grammatical gender is only used to differentiate between semantic subsystems. (c) Languages with a hybrid-gender system have an unstable status in gender assignment. It will always remain rather unclear to what extent language planning actually succeeded in reestablishing the former three-gender system. (d) Languages without any grammatical gender marking may acquire formal means by using former gender systems in order to distinguish between certain semantic categories which have become more relevant in the course of time than grammatical gender assignment. 5.2 There seems to be a tendency that every deviation from purely grammatical principles in gender assignment gives way to more or less far-reaching (semantic) restructurings. That is why the situation in Jutish dialects and some phenomena in standard Danish and Swedish reflect a rather typical direction of typological drift in gender reassignment: If the functional load of grammatical gender markers diminishes, gender can be abolished or used for other purposes. It can also be reinterpreted as a semantic feature in order to express other grammatical categories or functions, e.g., "generic" vs. "specific" or "partitive" and "nonpartitive". Wurzel has summarized this typological development in this way: daß im Laufe der Sprachgeschichte die Substantive immer wieder aufs neue nach semanüschen Kriterien klassifiziert wurden. Sind erst einmal grammatische Substantivklassen entstanden, tendieren sie offenbar unaufhaltsam zur Desemantisierung [...]. Erreichen Klassifizierungssysteme ein bestimmtes Maß an Desemantisierung, speziell im Bereich der Bezeichnungen für Personen und Lebewesen, dann ergibt sich die Tendenz zur Neuklassifizierung der Substantive auf strikt semantischer Grundlage (Wurzel 1986: 94).

5.3. The (partial) contrasts between gender structures in the standard languages of (mainland) Scandinavia and in their dialects result in linguistic heterogenity and may even be the cause of uncertainties and conflicts in the use of gender. Thus, vacillation in gender can either cause a progressive drift with respect to reorganizing the gender system of a (standard) language, or it may play the role of a rather conservative element in

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic and functional approach

49

language cultivation. Either way, only a diasystematic approach can give a valid account of gender and its different functions in Scandinavian languages. Notes * I would like to thank Ursula Doleschal and Petra M. Vogel for their comments on an earlier version of this paper. 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6. 7.

The terms "Nordic" and "Scandinavian" are considered here as synonyms. "Nordic" is often used by Scandinavians when languages of the Northern European hemisphere are involved, i.e., non-Germanic languages such as Finnish, Sámi, or Greenlandic are not excluded by definition. "Scandinavian" means in most cases in principle the same: both terms are not restricted to Germanic languages without any further information by context. That is why "North Germanic" has been preferred in the title of this paper in order to prevent misunderstandings in the frame of general linguistics and language typology. So, "North Germanic" is not restricted here to a special branch of the oldest dialects within the Germanic language family. The term landsmaal is quite ambiguous. It can either be interpreted as "rural language" or as "language of the (whole) country" - with tremendous consequences for Norwegian language policy. Riksmâl means the standard (written) language of the (Dano-)Norwegian state, whereas bokmâl simply stands for "written language; [lit.] book language". See, e.g., Bergman (1972: 43-53) for a sketch of the Old Swedish inflectional system and its paradigms: The definite nominative singular forms of nouns (cf. fiskr-in 'fish-DET' and bök-in 'book-DET') and the nominative singular forms of some pronouns (e.g., nökor [masc., fem.] 'some(one)') show no longer distinctions in respect of gender. The corresponding forms would be: m. j ente jetzten. ' a / t h e girl' êïiku kusR ' a / t h e cow'. There is no morphological difference to (potentially) masculine nouns such as, e.g., en man mannen 'a / the man' and en bil bilen 'a / the car' (cf. Icel. bill, Far. bilur, both masculine). Actually, traditional Danish dialectology (cf. Nielsen 1959: 45 [map]) treats these dialects as dialects with one gender marker. According to a principle in structural linguistics, it is, however, impossible to have only a single grammatical category, whithout an opposition in another category on the same level. The gender of the other inanimate nouns does, however, not become masculine, but still remains uter. Overtly marked nouns show certain inflectional or derivational suffixes, such as Latin or Italian -us/-o vs. -a (Lat.filius 'son' vs. filia 'daughter'; Ital. ragazzo 'boy' vs. ragazza 'girl') or the German feminines ending on -ung

50

8.

9. 10. 11.

Kurt Braunmüller

(Heizung, 'heating), -ei {Bäckerei 'baker's shop') or -in (Tänzerin 'female dancer", cf. also the grammatically parallel forms in Scandinavian: Swed. dansarinna. Dan. danse rinde. Norweg. danse rinne). One of these few exceptions form the names of ships and aeroplanes, e.g., in German (die Kronprins Harald, die_ Achille Lauro etc., and die. Otto Lilienthal, respectively). This special kind of reference has, however, nothing to do with the gender system itself, since the same rule applies also for English and can be extended there to engines or cars in general (cf. Could you fill her [sc. the car, the motor cycle] up, please?). - Concerning a general theory of assigning gender to Swedish proper names cf. Fraurud (this volume). But cf., e.g., the corresponding rule in Latin, where the masculine plural pronominal forms ii or ei 'they' are supposed to represent mixed groups. But cf. Swed. dygn or Dan. d0gn, which represent exactly this meaning (vs. Scand. dag 'day [not night]'). Even den, the "genus commune"-form, may be found in older Danish texts (cf. "Hvordan er det med Barnet? ... Jeg er dog dens Bedstemor." (Carl Ewald). 'What about the child? ... I am his/her grandmother, you know.'; Mikkelsen 1911/[1975]: § 85, note 1, underlinings are mine). This possibility existed also for place names (here: names of islands) when pronominally referred to: [Dan.] '"Hvor stor er Amager?' 'Den er én kvadratmil.'" 'How large is A.? It has the size of one square mile.' (Mikkelsen 1911: § 85, note 2).

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

19.

20.

Cf. Engl, salesman, which reflects the same word-formation pattern. The corresponding forms in German, however, should acquire just the opposite function: prestigious forms for women: Lehrerin 'female teacher' (vs. Lehrer '[only] male teacher'). Cf. esp. Doleschal 1992 andLeiss 1994. This kind of pronominalization is due to historical reasons: människa belonged formerly to a class of feminine nouns, which can still be seen from the final -a, an originally feminine suffix. Cf. Corbett (1991: 204-212) treating neutral agreement and infinitive phrases from a more general point of view. This and the following examples are taken from Erik Hansen's more or less normative book containing a collection of cases of doubt concerning the correct use of the Danish language of today (Hansen 1993: 133-135). Cf. the famous article by Gun Widmark, which appeared in Spräkvärd for the first time (see Widmark 1971; reprinted). The same differentiation is also to be found in the other mainland Scandinavian (standard) languages, e.g., in Danish: Ramillete er godt. 'camomile tea is good' as well as in West Jutish dialects which only mark mass nouns and other non-countable items by neuter (cf. 1.4.). Erik Hansen (1995) tries to establish rules for gender asssignment in modern Danish by means of a normative algorithm. The main rule of this algorithm says however: If you come across a new word, always follow an already established use of gender assignment [even if it may be deviant from the other / subsequent formal criteria] (cf. Hansen 1995: 28). Foreign nouns with potentially two equivalent gender markings like der/das Primat 'the primacy' are rare. Often, the distribution of gender depends on

Gender in North Germanie: A diasystematic and functional approach

21. 22. 23. 24.

25. 26. 27. 28.

29.

51

whether this word is used in the standard language or occurs as an expression in languages for special purpose, such as das Zölibat 'the celibacy' [standard] vs. dsL Zölibat [as a technical term]; cf. also Weber (Ms.). This is a good example for what may be called "gender fossilization": the divergent gender of Butter can be explained by taking account of the former dialectal (Swabian) word for "butter', Anke, which is masculine. It is not important in this connection whether these nouns are etymologically related, as this is the case in the examples given here. These examples are taken from Retskrivningsordbogen (1986: § 20, p. 549), see: Dansk Sprognaevn (1986) in the list of references. Most (Nordic) linguists agree that there are no real dialects (in the sense of geographically distributed linguistic varieties) to be found in Icelandic. Modern Faroese, on the contrary, can be regarded as a kind of cover term for different local dialects, the written standard language of which is formed by the dialect of the capital Tórshavn. On conditioned vacillation in gender see 4.2.3. The "genus commune"-article en cannot be explained as an elliptical construction. The hypothesis would only work for en flaske 01 'a bottle of beer' but not for et glas φΐ 'a glass of beer'. Normally both vin 'wine' and gr0d 'porridge' are uter in gender. Cf. Haase (in this vol.), who points out that the dialects of Central Italy show a (semantically based) noun class that is commonly referred to as "neuter" or "neoneuter", containing uncountable (mass) nouns. The structural parallel to the situation in some Jutish dialects is obvious. This does, however, not mean that (southern and eastern) Jutish dialects which follow the principles of a two-gender system show more overt markings in gender. Just the opposite is the case: agreement rules do no longer apply to adjectives in predicative position (cf. nej, hva' del hus er storj '[lit.] oh, what this house is big!1).

References Braunmüller, Kurt 1991 Die skandinavischen Sprachen im Überblick. (UTB 1635). Tübingen: Francke. Br0ndum-Nielsen, Joh[anne]s 1927 Dialekter og dialektforskning. [Dialects and dialectological research]. K0benhavn: Schultz forlag. Corbett, Greville G. 1991 Gender. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press. Dansk Sprogncevn 1986 Retskrivningsordbogen. [Dictionary of orthography], Copenhagen: Gyldendal. Diderichsen, Paul 1976 Elementoer Dansk Grammatik. [Elementary Danish grammar], K0benhavn: Gyldendal (3rd editon, 7th printing).

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Doleschal, Ursula 1992 Movierung im Deutschen. Eine Studie zur Bildung und Verwendung weiblicher Personenbezeichnungen. Unterschleißheim: Lincom Europa. Fraurud, Kari [in this vol.] "Proper names and gender in Swedish". Haase, Martin [in this vol.] "Reorganization of a gender system: the central Italian neuters". Hansen, Erik 1993 Rigtigt dansk. [Correct Danish], K0benhavn: Reitzel (2nd edition). 1995 "Genus i nye fremmedord" [Gender in new foreign words]. Sprâk i Norden. Sprog i Norden [Languages in the Nordic countries], Oslo: Novus, 25-31. Haugen, Einar 1976 The Scandinavian languages. An introduction to their history. London: Faber & Faber [cf. also the revised German edition: Die skandinavischen Sprachen. Eine Einführung in ihre Geschichte. Hamburg: Buske 1984], Källström, Roger 1994 "Language universale, linguistic typology and Nordic agreement". Proceedings of The XlVth Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics and The VIHth Conference of Nordic and General Linguistics, August 16-21 1993 in Gothenburg, vol. 1: General Session (Jens Allwood, Bo Ralph et al. eds.). Göteborg: University, Dept. of Linguistics, 187-201. Leiss, Elisabeth 1994 "Genus und Sexus. Kritische Anmerkungen zur Sexualisierung von Grammatik". Linguistische Berichte 152, 281-300. Mikkelsen, Kr[istian] 1911 Dansk Ordföjningslaere. Med sproghistoriske Tillceg. Hândbog for Viderekomne og Lasrere [Danish syntax with historical appendices. Manual for advances learners and teachers]. K0benhavn: Lehmann & Stages Forlag. [1975] [Reprinted K0benhavn: Reitzel], Nielsen, Niels Âge 1959 De jyske dialekter [The Jutish dialects], K0benhavn: Gyldendal. Ringgaard, K[ristian] 1971 Danske dialekter. En kortfatted oversigt [Danish dialects. A short overview]. Àrhus: Akademisk boghandel. (2nd edition). Thomson, Colin D. 1987 íslensk Beygingafrœôi. Isländische Formenlehre. Icelandic Inflections. Hamburg: Buske. Weber, Tilo Gender variation in German and the mechanisms of gender assignment (Ms.).

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Widmark, Gun 1971 "Är färsk sill god eller gott?" [Is fresh herring good?]. Studier i dagens svenska. En antologi. [Studies in today's Swedish. A collection of papers] (Bertil Moide, ed.). Stockholm: Läromedelsförlaget, 79-86. Wurzel, Wolfgang UlMch 1986 "Die wiederholte Klassifikation von Substantiven. Zur Entstehung von Deklinationsklassen". Zeitschriftßr Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft, und Kommunikationsforschung 39, 76-96.

Default genders Greville G. Corbett and Norman M. Fraser1

1. Introduction The notion of default has been invoked on several occasions in the linguistic literature with reference to gender. It has been used in varying ways, sometimes quite loosely, with the result that a potentially valuable notion may become debased. In this paper we introduce the notion of default (section 2) and move on to discuss default inheritance (section 3); then we proceed to look at a single language, Russian, and show how different defaults for gender can be identified, depending on the level examined (section 4). We shall see that the defaults are of different types, which we investigate further in section 5. Following this we consider gender defaults informally in a range of languages (section 6), and show how different types of default may or may not coincide in different languages (section 7). In the course of the paper we take a good deal from work done within the framework of Network Morphology (Corbett and Fraser 1993).

2. The notion of default References to defaults in the context of gender are fairly common in the literature. For instance, Corbett (1979: 16) mentioned defaults when discussing Russian agreement in number and gender, and this usage was followed by Dziwirek (1990) in her account of Polish. Hayward's (1989) paper on East Ometo languages has "default gender" in the title, and Gazdar (1992: 51) writes:

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Greville G. Corbett and Norman M. Fraser

... the lexicon is riddled with interdependencies. It is not uncommon, for example, for the default syntactic gender of a lexeme to be a complex function of the sex of the referent and the phonology of the final syllable.

Hedlund (1992, see especially pp. 95-111) and Doleschal (1993: 3536, 52) both use the term "default". A careful reading of these various sources reveals that the term is used with reference to gender (including gender agreement) in different senses, sometimes by the same author. Straightforward defaults are not problematic; the difficulties arise when defaults are interdependent, that is, when a default for a particular feature depends on the value of some other feature. Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar (Gazdar, Klein, Pullum and Sag 1985) tackled this problem explicitly and in considerable detail. Zwicky (1986: 307) refers to the "enormous success of GPSG" in promoting the default approach to syntax, and considers the implications in morphology as well as syntax in a later paper (Zwicky 1989). Naturally the notion of default is connected to markedness (Gazdar, Klein, Pullum, and Sag 1985: 29-31, Zwicky 1986: 306-307). However, gender has proved problematic for traditional markedness accounts. An early paper on the topic is that of Schane (1970), who discusses French and shows how the masculine may be considered unmarked according to different criteria. But since French has only two genders, this is not remarkable, and the patterns tend to break down when more complex systems are considered (see Corbett 1991: 290-291 for further discussion). And Greenberg (1966: 38-40) considers the question of the markedness of gender "less clear" than with other items. 2 Both unmarked and default cases are in some sense "normal" (though we shall need to revise this view for some instances of defaults discussed below); markedness theorists typically look for language-independent criteria to establish unmarked values, while defaults are worked out on a language-internal basis. Given this, tackling gender in a framework with interacting defaults looks promising. But as Gazdar himself points out (1987: 43), the solutions within GPSG to the problems of combinations of features were difficult. He went on to import from Artificial Intelligence the notion of default inheritance, and together with Evans, built the lexical-knowledge representation language DATR around this notion (Evans and Gazdar 1989a; b; 1995).

Default genders

57

3. Default inheritance The basic idea of default inheritance is very simple: for any entity which can be analysed as an instance of some general type or class, it is sufficient to encode only exceptional features in respect of that entity, since the regular features can be inferred by virtue of its ontologica! type. This idea will be familiar to anyone used to devices such as lexical redundancy rules which are used to "fill in" predictable information in lexical entries in accounts which view the lexicon as a repository for exceptional information (Jackendoff 1975). However, default inheritance supports a richer, more structured understanding of defaults than traditional lexical redundancy rules, since the types which entities instantiate can themselves be said to instantiate more general types, and so on. Any taxonomic classification can be viewed as a default inheritance system. For example, consider the taxonomic hierarchy in Figure 1. The lines in this taxonomy indicate instantiation. So, eagles, robins and penguins are birds; Edwina is an eagle, Rupert is a robin, and Percy is a penguin. BIRD has feathers can fly

BIRD

ROBIN

PENGUIN cannot fly

Edwina

Rupert

percy

Figure 1. A simple default inheritance structure

Given an instantiation hierarchy of this kind, default inheritance allows all attributes of a given node in the hierarchy (such as BIRD) to be inherited by a node which instantiates it (such as EAGLE), except in cases where the lower node already has a value for the attribute in question and thus overrides the default value. In our example, a BIRD has feathers and can fly. These facts are inherited

58

Greville G. Corbett and Norman M. Fraser

by EAGLE and ROBIN and, indirectly, by Edwina and Rupert. The attribute of having feathers is also inherited by PENGUIN and thus by Percy. However, specific information about the flying abilities of PENGUINs blocks inheritance of the more general information about BIRDs. Thus, despite the fact that Percy is a BIRD, he cannot fly. Default inheritance allows generalizations to be expressed once, at a high level, and then automatically to apply to everything which inherits from there. Using this approach, it is simple to encode information, be it regular, subregular or completely exceptional. It has the added advantage of indicating exceptions explicitly as such, as in the case of PENGUIN in Figure 1. Penguins are exceptional by virtue of being flightless, while they are normal (or regular) in other ways, such as laying eggs. Appropriately, it is their flightlessness which is specified in relation to the PENGUIN node. The relevance of such notions to linguistics should now be obvious; we are used to exceptions, but we do not normally find total exceptions. Typically exceptions are a matter of degree, from those which have a single unusual feature to those which have several such features. It is now widely acknowledged that the ability to separate substance from form in linguistic theories offers at least two benefits: first, it focuses attention on the substantive content of theories rather than on their notation; second, it facilitates cross-theoretical comparisons (Shieber 1987). Our approach to morphology, which we call Network Morphology, takes default inheritance as a central notion (Corbett and Fraser 1993, Brown and Hippisley 1994, Fraser and Corbett 1995). It could, in principle, be formalized in a number of different notations. For this purpose, we have chosen to use the DATR knowledge-representation language 3 , which was developed by Evans and Gazdar as a declarative formalism for describing inheritance networks (Evans and Gazdar 1989a,b). The information in Figure 1 would be expressed in DATR as follows: (1)

BIRD: chas == y e s fly> == y e s .

EAGLE : ==

BIRD.

ROBIN: ==

BIRD.

Default genders

PENGUIN: == BIRD < c a n f l y > ==

59

no.

Edwina: == EAGLE. Rupert : == ROBIN. Percy : == PENGUIN.

The labels preceding colons are "nodes"; the angle bracket expressions to the left of the "==" symbol are "paths"; the words to the right of non-empty paths are "values". Thus, the value of the < c a n f l y > path at the PENGUIN node is 'no'. It should be immediately apparent how this kind of formalism might be useful in expressing linguistic generalizations. Consider the data on Russian inflectional paradigms shown in Table 1 : Table 1. Major noun paradigms of Russian zakon 'law'

komnata 'room'

kost' 'bone'

ν 'ino 'wine'

zakon zakon zakona zakonu zakonom

kost' kost' kost'i kost'i kost'ju kost 'i

ν 'ino

zakone

komnata komnatu komnati komnate komnatoj komnate

zakoni zakoni zakonov zakonam zakonam 'i zakonax

komnati komnati komnat komnatam komnatam'i komnatax

kost 'i kost'i kost'ej kost'am

ν 'ina ν 'ina ν'in ν 'inam ν 'inam 'i ν 'inox

SINGULAR nom(inative) acc(usative) gen(itive) dat(ive) instrumental) loc(ative) PLURAL nom acc gen dat inst loc

I

II

kost 'am 'i ko st'αχ ΠΙ

ν 'ino ν 'ina ν 'inu ν 'inom ν 'ine

IV

Notes: (i) Forms are given in phonemic transcription.^ Palatalization (or "softening') is indicated by '. (ii) There is no overt ending in the nominative/accusative singular in classes I and III, nor in the genitive plural of classes II and IV.

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Figure 2 shows the inheritance structure for Russian nomináis which we presented in our earlier work (Corbett and Fraser 1993: 126). N_I, N_I I , N_111 and N_I V are declensional classes. (Notice that we posited the existence of a node N_0 from which N _ l and N_IV both inherit, thereby finding an harmonious resolution for the long-standing debate over whether Russian has three or four noundeclensional classes.) The following (incomplete) fragment is taken from our earlier Network Morphology analysis. NOMINAL

zakon

v'ino

komnata

kost'

Figure 2. A default inheritance structure for Russian nomináis (2)

NOUN : == "" _ e == "" _ i . N_III: == NOUN == "".

Kost ' : == N _ I I I < s t e m > == k o s t ' .

The first sentence at NOUN should be read as saying that the locative singular consists of the stem followed by an -e ending. A path enclosed in double quotes in a DATR sentence is used to retrieve the specified value (in this case, ) for the item (in this case, a lexical item) inheriting from it. If we wanted to find the nominative

Default genders

61

plural of kost', we would inherit the sentence == "" _ i . Before going any further we would have to find out what the of kost'is. Since the answer is stated in (2) to be kost', the nominative plural must be kost'i. If we wanted to know the locative singular of kost', we would never inherit the definition of locative singular at the NOUN node because it is overridden at N _ I I I , from which kost' inherits first, thereby blocking the more general ending. The definition of locative singular at N _ I I I establishes an asymmetric identity between the locative singular form of an N _ I I I noun and its dative singular == "")It is worth noting some salient features of this approach. First it is declarative; we do not give underlying forms, and then transform them into other forms. We make a set of (partly conflicting) statements, and by embedding them in a network we specify the relations which hold between them. Since the approach is declarative we do not have ordering of rules. Second, defaults may be seen as hierarchically related: we make default statements about nomináis, about nouns, about the N_0 class, and so on. Third, since computer interpreters are available for the DATR language, it is possible to check that an inheritance network expressed in DATR captures the intended generalizations. All our Network Morphology analyses have been checked in this fashion. More detailed introductions to default inheritance can be found in Gazdar (1987), and Daelemans, De Smedt and Gazdar (1992). Briscoe, de Paiva and Copestake (1993) and Calder (1994) are good places to look for recent formally explicit research in linguistic defaults. Introductions to DATR can be found in Gazdar (1990; forthcoming).

4. Defaults in a single language We now return to our central topic, namely gender. Russian has three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter. We could enter a value for gender in the lexical entry of each noun. However, this would miss generalizations at two levels: first, the gender of Russian nouns does not appear to be random, and second, more generally, we have argued that languages never have to specify gender for the majority of

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nouns. We have claimed that the gender of the overwhelming majority of nouns can always be predicted, either from semantic information which must, in any case, be stored in the lexical entry, or from semantic information supplemented by formal information, which may be morphological or phonological (Corbett 1991: 68). 4.1. Defaults for gender assignment In Russian, the gender assignment rules refer to semantic and to morphological information: Semantic assignment rules for gender 1. Sex-differentiable nouns denoting males (humans and higher animals) are masculine: for example, student '(male) student'; 2. Sex-differentiable nouns denoting females are feminine: for example, ucitel'nica '(female) teacher' Nouns which are sex-differentiable are those denoting beings whose sex matters to humans (that is, other humans and domesticated animals) and where the difference is striking (as in the case of lions). Very few exceptions are left by these rules, but there are many nouns which are not covered by them. Those remaining are distributed over the three genders and their distribution is accounted for by the morphological assignment rules. The major morphological assignment rules are as follows: Morphological assignment rules for gender 1. nouns of declensional class I are masculine; 2. nouns of declensional classes Π and ΙΠ are feminine; 3. nouns of declensional class IV are neuter. As we shall consider in more detail later, there is some overlap between the two sets of rules: nouns which denote males are often in declensional class I. We might try to do away with the semantic assignment rules. However, the two sets of rules can make conflicting assignments, and when they do it is the semantic rules which dominate. The crucial case is muzicina 'man' (and similar nouns), which ought to be masculine according to its semantics (male), but

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63

feminine according to its morphology (declensional class Π). In fact, it belongs in the masculine gender.5 There are also nouns which do not decline, and to which the above morphological assignment rules do not apply. However, their lack of declension is itself a matter of morphology, and this interacts with the semantic feature of animacy to allow gender assignment. We treat indeclinable nouns as having their own declensional class (V); nouns of this class may be subject to the normal semantic assignment rules. Failing this, they are masculine if animate and neuter if not.6 In our Network Morphology account (the detail of which can be found in Fraser and Corbett 1995), every noun inherits from the NOUN node. Since the following path equation is specified at NOUN, every noun inherits it unless it is overridden by a more specific equation declared in the lexical entry:

(3) NOUN: == GENDER:< "" > In order to find a value for the path , the path is evaluated (i.e., the sex of the noun's denotatum is retrieved) and then a path consisting of only the sex is evaluated at the node GENDER (shown below):

(4) GENDER: == mase == fem cundifferentiated> == "". The interpretation of this fragment of DATR is straightforward in the case of sex-differentiated nouns. If the denotatum of the noun is male then the gender is masculine, and if female then the gender is feminine.7 In these two instances there is a simple default, which holds of nouns in general. However, if the sex is undifferentiated, it is necessary to consider additional criteria concerning form, and this is done by evaluating the path . Formal gender is defined for each of the five main declensional classes. Thus, for example, the following equation is located at the node for declensional class Π nouns, N_II: (5)

N_II : == fem

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Greville G. Corbett and Norman M. Fraser

This is used in the evaluation of the path (the function of the initial mor will be spelt out below). This is a lower level default, which holds just for class II nouns. The effect of these defaults is that a class II noun denoting a male (such as muzcina 'man') will have masculine gender; a class II noun denoting a female (such as ucitelnica 'female teacher') will have feminine gender; and a class II noun denoting a non-sex-differentiated denotatum (such as komnata 'room') will have feminine gender, the default gender for class II nouns. As we noted above, there is an additional complication with declensional class V, where animacy must also be taken into consideration. Some equations from the node N_V, from which all class V nouns inherit, are given below. (6)

N_V : == < "" > == mase == neut

In order to assign a formal gender for a given class V noun it is necessary to evaluate the path for that noun and use it to select masculine gender if the noun denotes an animate and neuter gender if it denotes an inanimate. Our analysis so far accounts for the gender of the vast majority of Russian nouns. It is an advance on Corbett (1982) in that it is formally explicit, and since it is encoded in DATR we can see that the right predictions are indeed made. 4.2. Defaults for inflectional class To illustrate our theme of defaults we will look briefly at the question of declensional class. So far we have assumed that the declensional class of each noun will be specified in its lexical entry. This seems to be missing a generalization, since there are common, though by no means exceptionless, correspondences between meaning, gender, and declensional class. Indeed, some earlier analyses attempt to predict declensional class from other information which was specified (for discussion see Corbett 1982, Fraser and Corbett 1995). For many nouns, it is the case that declensional class is pre-

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dictable from semantic or formal information. The semantic correspondences are as follows: Semantic assignment rules for declensional class 1. Sex-differentiable nouns denoting males (humans and higher animals) are of declensional class I: for example, student '(male) student1; 2. Sex-differentiable nouns denoting females are of declensional class II: for example, ucitel'nica '(female) teacher' There are substantial numbers of nouns whose declensional class must be specified to override rule one. These are nouns like muzcina 'man', which denote males but which decline according to declensional class Π. (Lazova 1974: 942-943 puts the figure at 273, but the number involved is actually larger because there are many hypocoristics of this type, like Sasa 'Sasha' which do not appear in dictionaries like Lazova's.) There are fewer instances of overrides to rule 2, but we find a small number of nouns like svekrov ' 'mother-in-law' in declensional class ΠΙ. Formal assignment rule for declensional class 1. Nouns whose stem ends in a vowel are of declensional class V. The effect of this rule is to make nouns whose stem ends in a vowel indeclinable (class V are the indeclinables). Our rule follows Worth (1966), though as he points out the idea goes back much further. A noun like taksi 'taxi' is entered as such in the lexicon and this guarantees its indeclinability. These generalizations can be formalized fairly easily. Consider the following DATR fragment, which is positioned at the NOUN node: (7)

NOUN: == "" == DECLENSION: < "" "" >

The first equation indicates that in order to find a value (or values) for the path (and its extensions), it is necessary to evaluate the < d e c l e n s i o n a l _ c l a s s > path. The second equation is somewhat more complex: a value can be retrieved for the < d e c l e n s i o n a l _ c l a s s > path by evaluating a path consisting of the value of

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the path followed by the value of the path . Paths beginning make available information about the inflectional root (i.e., the stem) of a word. The path is used to store information concerning the final segment of the inflectional root, specifically whether it is a consonant or a vowel. We may assume that this information would, in reality, be supplied by a phonological component, though for convenience we simulate this crudely by means of the following equation recorded at the NOUN node.8 (8)

NOUN: == consonant

This generalization holds for all Russian nouns, except certain indeclinable nouns of relatively recent foreign origin. In the case of these exceptions the default generalization is overridden in the lexical entries. We have already noted how values for the path are supplied either in the lexical entries or by means of a default assignment of undifferentiated sex. Thus, where declensional class is predictable, it is found by evaluating a path at the DECLENSION node. This path consists of information on the final segment of the inflectional root of the word followed by the sex of the word's denotatum. The DECLENSION node is given below: (9)

DECLENSION: == N_I: cconsonant female> == N_II: cvowel $sex> =~ N _ V : < > .

The first two paths encode the semantic assignment rules for declensional class. The first element of each path is consonant so these paths potentially apply to the bulk of Russian nouns. The second elements of the paths narrow down on two subsets of these. The first path assigns core nouns (typical native nouns) denoting males to class N _ l ; the second assigns core nouns denoting females to class N_II. The third path picks out those nouns whose inflectional root ends with a vowel and assigns them to class N_V, the class for indeclinables. In DATR, every symbol which begins with a dollar sign ($) is a variable. The variable $ sex is defined to range over all possible values for the path, namely male, female

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and u n d i f f e r e n t i a t e d . One group of nouns is not covered by the equations at this node, namely those whose stem ends in a consonant and which have non-sex-differentiated denotata. Such nouns must typically specify declensional class in their lexical entries. However, as we shall see shortly (in the discussion leading to (10)), a substantial proportion of them can be assigned to a declensional class by the setting of a default. It is worth contrasting declensional class assignment with gender assignment. A clear difference is the outcome when semantic and formal rules make different predictions. For gender assignment, quite generally, it is the semantic rule which takes precedence. As we noted earlier, with nouns like muzcina 'man', which ought to be masculine according to its semantics (male), but feminine according to its morphology (declensional class II), it is the semantic rule which "wins" and the noun is masculine. When we find a similar clash in declensional class assignment, in Russian at least,9 the formal factor dominates. Thus where attase 'attaché' denotes a male and so "should" be in declensional class I, it nevertheless ends in a vowel and so "should" be in declensional class V. It is actually in declensional class V. Conversely, as far as gender is concerned, where it denotes a male and so "should" be masculine, it is nevertheless in class V and so "should" be neuter; as already noted, semantic factors take precedence in gender assignment and so it is masculine. A second difference between gender assignment and declensionalclass assignment, is that the gender assignment rules make a prediction for every noun (which has to be overridden in an extremely small number of instances), while the declensional-class assignment rules leave large numbers of nouns with no prediction. A non-sexdifferentiable noun with a stem ending in a soft consonant could decline according to class I, II, III or IV. 10 However, assignment to the four classes is by no means equally likely. Consider data on the numbers of nouns in each class, to the nearest fifty (derived from Lazova 1974, especially pp. 942-943), given in Table 2 (next page). These raw statistics give a rough picture of what is going on. The figures do not take account of the effect of derivational morphology; for instance, over 4,300 of the nouns in class III have the suffix -ost' which forms abstract nouns from adjectives (star-yj 'old', star-ost' 'old age'). If the suffix is labelled as belonging to class III, then the number of distinct members of the class is substantially reduced. Similarly nominalizations in -anie/-enie (like razrusenie 'destruc-

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tion', derived from razrusit' 'destroy') inflate the figure for IV (see Schupbach 1984 for discussion). Table 2. Number of nouns in the different declensional classes Class Example No of nouns

I

II

III

IV

V

zakon

komnata

kost'

vino

taksi

'law'

'room'

'bone'

'wine'

'taxi'

20,850

16,050

5,150

11,050

450 1 1

Table 2 shows that I and Π have substantially more members than the other three. We can therefore set a default which will put nouns in the majority declensional class I. Clearly this will be overridden in many instances, but equally it will simplify a very substantial number of lexical entries. This is a considerable simplification, and one which can be justified in three interrelated ways. First, there is the numerical preponderance of class I. Second, it is the declensional class which takes the majority of borrowings. There is no need to appeal to any markedness considerations to explain this, it is simply that class I has no ending in the citation form, the nominative singular, so that foreign words ending in a consonant are typically borrowed into this class. The third argument is most important for our purposes. If the declensional class is I, and masculine is the gender associated by default with this class, then we make masculine the default gender for nouns, without specifying it directly. Sources vary as to the numerical preponderance of the genders. All agree that the neuter is easily the weakest; Lazova (1974: 942-943) has only marginally more masculines than feminines, while Mucnik (1971: 196-197) calculates that the masculine has 46% to the feminine 41% (on a sample of 33,952 nouns) and Zaliznjak's dictionary has 46% masculine and 38% feminine (sample 47,030: see Ilola and Mustajoki 1989: 9); the masculine is growing fastest, from the assignment of borrowings (see the sources reported in Corbett 1991: 78). The only change required in our DATR theory to include all of these interacting defaults is given below, as a revision to the fragment shown above as (9).

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69

(10) DEF_DECL: == N_I: DECLENSION: == DEF_DECL «consonant female> == N_II: == N_V:.

Here, the variable $ p h o n o l o g i c a l _ t y p e ranges over c o n s o n a n t and v o w e l , and $ s e x ranges over m a l e , f e m a l e and u n d i f f e r e n t i a t e d , as before. In all cases other than the two explicitly described in the paths at the DECLENSION node, the maximally general path specified at the DEF_DECL node is inherited and, thereby, class I becomes the default declensional class for nouns.

4.3. A higher-level default We argued above that if class I is the default declensional class, and masculine is the gender associated by default with this class, then we make masculine the default gender. While this result fits with the intuitions of some investigators, it seems unsatisfactory to others. If masculine is the default gender for Russian, then we would expect it to appear, for instance, in examples like the following: (11)

By I-o was-NEUT.SG 'It was cold.1

xolodn-o COld-NEUT.SG

Here there is no overt subject, but the verb and adjective must still take a particular agreement form and they take not the masculine but the neuter. The resolution of this apparent paradox is that we are claiming only that the masculine is the default gender for nouns. Taking a broa der view, we would claim that there is a default for gender at a higher level than the nodes relating directly to nouns. This higher default is necessary for items other than nomináis which may head syntactic constituents with which gender agreement is required. The situation arises if, say, an infinitive phrase stands in subject position (and there is a past tense verb), or there is an interjection or other quoted material. Here we normally find the neuter.

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Thus in an analysis of the full lexicon, at a high level, perhaps at the level of WORD, the default gender is the neuter; at the lower level—that of nouns—it is the masculine. Of course, the lower default is much the more important: gender is a central category for Russian nouns, while for the various items (such as infinitives) covered by the higher default, it is of much less importance. This hierarchy of defaults would thus allow us to capture the intuition that in one sense the masculine is the default gender, while in another it is the neuter. Slavists will recognise, however, that to say that the top level default is the neuter is an oversimplification. Before returning to see why this is so, we should first consider more carefully the nature of defaults, as applied to linguistic phenomena.

5. Types of default Consider the following situation. Mary and John both work for a firm in Clacton. Mary is the personnel manager and has her office in Clacton. Occasionally, when there are problems or training courses she spends the day at head office in Truro. By default, then, Mary works in the office at Clacton. John is a salesman. He normally spends Mondays in the south of England, Tuesdays in Wales, and Wednesdays and Thursdays in the north. If, however, clients cannot see him, or his car is unserviceable, or there is a department meeting, he goes to the office in Clacton. Fridays he usually spends exhausted in bed, but during school holidays he goes to the office. By default, then, John also works in the office in Clacton. Intuitively the two cases are rather different. Mary is "normally" at the office, John is not. And yet at a higher level of abstraction it is true to say that the office is the default workplace for both. It is these two types of default, both reasonable uses of the term, which have led to the differences in usage in the literature, both generally and specifically in relation to gender. In our analysis of the gender system of Arapesh (Fraser and Corbett (forthcoming) based on Aronoff (1992, 1994: 97-103) and like him following Fortune (1942)) we distinguish these two types of default which, though conceptually related, are nonetheless formally

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distinct. In the first type, the default accounts for the cases when "everything goes right" (as in Mary working in the office). We shall call instances of this type "normal case defaults". In the second use of the term, a default is something which applies when the normal system breaks down, when "something goes wrong" (as in John working in the office). We shall call instances of this type "exceptional case defaults". There is a common conceptual core running through both usages of the term "default": the default is the last thing you get to. However, a normal case default is retrieved after failing to find any more specific value; an exceptional case default is retrieved after finding too much information - information which blocks normal retrieval and causes a backstop value to be accessed instead. One form of default is concerned with typicality, the other with exceptionality. It is therefore particularly important that conceptual and terminological confusion be avoided by proper definition of terms. 12 One of the payoffs of working in a formally explicit framework such as Network Morphology is that it lays bare the differences between these otherwise confusable notions. In instances where normal case defaults apply, lexical entries are characterized by their brevity. Because a word is fairly typical, many of its parts can be left underspecified, to be filled in by default inheritance. On the other hand, there is an inverse correlation between radically underspecified lexical entries and exceptional case defaults. An exceptional case default is unlikely to apply unless the lexical entry includes some idiosyncratic information. With all this in mind, let us return to example (11), repeated here for convenience : (11)

Byl-o

xolodn-o

was-NEUT.SG 'It was cold.'

cold-NEUT.SG

There are various circumstances where similar forms are required: when there is no agreement controller as in (11), when the controller is a clause or infinitive phrase and so on. It is reasonable therefore to invoke a default here. The circumstances are, roughly speaking, all those where agreement is not controlled by a prototypical noun phrase (one headed by a noun or pronoun). This can be seen as things

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going wrong (agreement is normally controlled by a prototypical noun phrase), and so we have an exceptional case default. Consider now the forms used. In the case of the verb it is straightforwardly a neuter singular form. But the adjective is more complex. Russian adjectives have two forms available for predicate use, the long form and the short form. The short form is being lost is most uses; however, in examples like (11), the short form is required. Thus it is not sufficient to say that these forms are neuters. For these and further reasons discussed at greater length elsewhere (Corbett 1980) we need to distinguish "neutral" agreement forms, as required for agreement with non-prototypical controllers, from other agreement forms. 13 In Russian, by default, these neutral forms are the same as the neuter. A clear case of the "neutral form" having special properties is found in Romanian, where it varies according to the particular agreement target (data from Donka Farkas, see Corbett 1991: 213-214). (12)

e

evident

cä

a

venit,

is

clear.MASC.SG

that

has

come

§i asta

o

and

this.FEM.SG

§tie knows

toatä all

it.FEM.SG

lumea the.world

'It is clear that s/he came and everyone knows this.' Here we have a clause as subject (some might prefer to say there is no subject); the predicative adjective, which has to mark agreement, is masculine (the feminine evidenta, "is unacceptable). Asta 'this' can stand for 'that s/he came' or 'it is clear that s/he came'. What concerns us is that it must be feminine (the masculine a, "sta is unacceptable). Thus the form used for neutral agreement in Romanian varies according to the type of target involved. The next example includes attributive modifiers: (13)

Un

bum

puternic

aJMASC.SG.

"boom"

strong.MASC.SG

Default genders

a

fast

auzit

has

been

heard.MASC.SG

73

Ά loud boom was heard.' Here un 'a' is masculine, like the agreeing predicate. We now try the relative pronoun: (14)

a

admis

has admitted

cä

a

venit,

ceea ce

that

has

come

which.FEM.SG

nu

e

surprinzätor

not

is

surprising.MASC.SG

'S/he admitted that s/he came, which is not surprising.' Ceea ce is a complex relative, the first part of which shows feminine gender agreement. We thus have masculine agreement for attributive modifiers and the predicate, and feminine for the relative pronoun and the demonstrative (which replaces the personal pronoun here). However, though ceea ce is feminine, its predicate surprinzätor is masculine (*surprinzätoare feminine). This shows that ceea ce is a remarkable neutral form: though morphologically feminine, it must carry a feature to distinguish it from ordinary feminines. The reason for this is the fact that its antecedent is a clause, and the evidence for the special feature is that ceea ce controls masculine predicate agreement (as clauses do). Let us try the demonstrative in a similar environment: (15)

asta

e

uluitor

this.FEM is amazing.MASC 'this is amazing'

Here asta refers to a situation not a specific object. While it is morphologically feminine, its predicate is masculine. Thus asta too is a special neutral form, since it controls a different agreement from the asta which can stand for a noun of feminine gender.

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6. Possible examples of defaults Given that the notion of default appears valuable, we now sketch informally the areas of gender where this notion might apply.

6.1. Gender assignment Perhaps the most straightforward examples of defaults are found in gender assignment systems of the semantic type. A clear instance is found in Diyari, an Australian language which had about a dozen speakers at the last report, living near Lake Eyre in the north of the state of South Australia. One gender is for "all animates whose reference is distinctly female, for example, women, girls, bitches, doe kangaroos etc."; the other is for "all others, that is, male animates, non-female animates, non-sexed animates and all inanimates" (Austin 1981: 60). By default in Diyari nouns are masculine. The converse system, in which nouns denoting males are singled out as masculine and all others are feminine, occurs in Kala Lagaw Ya, the language of the western Torres Straits Islands (Bani 1987). Here by default nouns are feminine. (Note, however, that the moon is also masculine, as is generally the case in the languages of Australia.) These are obvious cases of normal case defaults.

6.2. Gender agreement Here we shall discuss three broad types of problem, which are all caused by agreement controllers other than straightforward noun phrases. The problems arise because if a particular target type can mark agreement in gender then in many languages it must. The first type of problem is that there are constructions in which the target has to agree in gender with a controller which is not specified for gender. The obvious examples here are those of the type we have already discussed, namely the "neutral" agreement which results from agreement with non-prototypical noun phrases. The second type of problem involves cases where the choice of gender agreement in the normal way would force greater specificity than is possible (or perhaps desirable) for the speaker. A speaker may wish

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75

to refer to a child but be unable to select gender agreement based on sex. Finally there are complex noun phrases which are overspecified for gender.

6.2.1. Non-prototypical

controllers

As noted earlier, if an agreement target can agree then typically it must agree, even if the agreement controller lacks the appropriate features. We termed this enforced agreement "neutral agreement". The idea of "neutral agreement" can be seen as a development of Jespersen"s "conceptional neuter" (1924: 241-243); the wider term is preferred since the phenomenon is found in gender systems other than the Indo-European type, to which Jespersen restricted himself. The range of non-prototypical controllers varies from language to language. It may include clauses, infinitive phrases, nominalizations, interjections, and other quoted phrases, noun phrases in particular cases (for example, subject noun phrases in an oblique case), dummy elements, and certain null elements (see Klajn 1984-85: 351) for examples of non-prototypical controllers from various Indo-European languages). Languages may solve the problem of agreement with nonprototypical controllers by pressing one of the regular gender/number forms into service. The form may be termed the "neutral agreement form" or the "default agreement form". The first problem which arises is the motivation for the selection of a particular form. In some languages a semantic account is plausible; thus in Russian, almost all nouns denoting humans are in the masculine and feminine genders, while inanimates are distributed across all three genders. The use of the neuter for default agreement could be understood as the selection of the gender which is most appropriate in semantic terms (thereby avoiding the semantic clash of neutral with human, which would arise with the other genders). Similar arguments can be given for languages as diverse as the Algonquian language Menominee, the Omotic language Zayse, the Niger-Kordofanian language Fula, the Mon-Khmer language Khasi, the North East Caucasian languages Archi and Khinalug and the Australian language Ungarinjin (see Corbett 1991: 206-207) The fact that a semantic explanation works for examples which are so diverse genetically might make us expect it to apply without

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exception. Nevertheless there are languages for which the semantic criterion fails. In some we find that a different criterion is at work, but we leave others as perplexing problems. Lak is a language which, though related to Archi and Khinalug, differs from them in an interesting way. Again there are four genders, and nouns are assigned to them as follows: I - male humans, II - some female humans (older females), III remaining female humans, most other animates, some inanimates, IV - a very few animates, some inanimates. Again we would expect gender IV to be used for neutral agreement, as in Archi and Khinalug; in fact gender III is used (Kibrik 1979: 13): (16)

g, anisa d-uc'an she n-come 'she can come'

b-uqlhlaj ΠΙ-can

b-u-r III-AUX.3RD

The gender II agreement marker d- on the infinitive d-uc'an is controlled by a deleted subject noun phrase g.a, preferential with g.anisa. The point of interest is the agreement on the modal and on the auxiliary; both have a gender III prefix, since they are controlled by the infinitive. Thus gender III is used for neutral agreement and there is no evident explanation in terms of the semantics of the controller genders as to why this should be (gender IV would be expected). However, as Aleksandr Kibrik points out (personal communication), an explanation is available if we take into account the pattern of the target gender forms, given in Table 3. Table 3. Gender agreement in Lak SINGULAR

PLURAL

gender I (male humans)

0/w

b/w

gender II (some female humans - older)

d/r

b/w

gender III (most remaining animates, some inanimates)

b/w

b/w

gender IV (residue - largely inanimates)

d/r

d/r

Forms before the slash are préfixai, those after it are internal or suffixal. As can be seen in Table 3, the forms for gender IV and gender II are identical in the singular. The use of the gender IV marker d/r for neutral agreement is ruled out by the fact that this marker is

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also the marker for gender II, which contains only nouns denoting females. This leaves b/w, the gender III agreement form as the only possibility for neutral agreement. This particular syncretism is not found in Archi and Khinalug, and so in those languages the gender IV forms are available for neutral agreement. Thus far we have found an explanation for the choice of neutral form in several languages, according to the semantics of the controller genders (with additional complications in the case of Lak). We now turn to cases which are initially surprising and for which the semantics of the controller genders appears to provide no help. But in these cases we find an explanation available in terms of the gender agreement forms. For example, the East Cushitic language Bayso has two genders, masculine and feminine, and uses the masculine agreement forms for neutral agreement (Corbett and Hayward 1987: I In): (1-7)

ibaaddo person

boc,_aano to beat

ka - meelan - ya PARTICLE.MASC - bad - COP.3RD.SG.MASC

'To beat people is bad.' In the last item, ka- is the associative particle in the masculine form and -ya is the clitic copula, third singular masculine. In Qafar, another Cushitic language, it is the feminine which is used. This can be shown with the so-called 'm-nominalization'. The clitic element -m attaches to a wide range of items, and the resulting form takes feminine agreement, despite ending in a consonant and so being of a phonological shape associated with masculines: (18)

gaddàli

kinnim

yòt

wealthy.man

is. 3RD.SG + m

to.me

celta seems.3RD.SG.FEM

'He seems to me to be a wealthy man.'

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Here the -m is attached to the phrase 'is a wealthy man' and this new element is a non-prototypical controller; as a result, the verb celta stands in the neutral form, which is the feminine (Hayward and Corbett 1988:266-268). There are no obvious differences in the semantics of gender in the two languages to explain the different choice of neutral form (R. J. Hayward, personal communication). However, if we look at the morphology of agreeing forms there is a ready explanation. Table 4 gives the forms of the associative particle for the two of the four numbers of Bayso which are significant for differentiating gender, and the verbal agreement markers of Qafar which are found in agreement with simple noun phrases. Table 4. Patterns of syncretism in Bayso and Qafar Bayso

Qafar

SINGULAR

PLURAL

SINGULAR

PLURAL

MASCULINE

ka

ka

y/0

t

FEMININE

ta

ka

t

t

There is considerable syncretism: one form covers three of the four theoretical slots, being used for the singular of one gender and the plural of both. And in each case it is this form, the one with the wider range of use, which is the neutral agreement form. Thus the neutral form is here aligned with a default inflectional form. It is worth clarifying the criteria we have employed so far. In the first languages discussed it was the semantics of the controller genders—the genders into which nouns are divided—which provided the reason for the choice of neutral agreement form. In these languages there is a gender for abstracts or inanimates, or at least one containing few if any nouns denoting humans, which appeared an appropriate gender for non-prototypical controllers to attach themselves to. In the case of Bayso and Qafar, however, there is no obvious choice in terms of the semantics of the controller genders, since humans and other animates are found in both of the available genders, as are inanimates. Here a second criterion comes into play: the choice of the neutral form can be understood in terms of the morphology of the agreeing elements (target gender forms). Lak can be seen as an intermediate type, in which the semantics of the controller

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genders and the pattern of syncretism of the target gender forms interact to determine the neutral agreement form. Some instances are more difficult, as in the Bantu language Chichewa: (19)

"aaa" a-na-mv-

eka

"aaa" 1 - PAST - hear - PASSIVE 'an "aaah" was heard'

Remarkably, class 1 agreement (as for humans) is used here, as the agreement marker prefixed on the verb suggests; to demonstrate this conclusively requires an example with object agreement (Corbett and Mtenje 1987: 14): (20)

a - na - mu- mva l.SUBJ - PAST - l.OBJ - hear 'he heard a crying sound'

"mayo" crying sound

The combination of a- as subject agreement marker in (19) and -muas object agreement marker in (20) means that we are dealing with class 1 markers. What makes the Chichewa case particularly surprising is that there is a special agreement form for infinitives, and this is not used for neutral agreement. Though neutral agreement forms may appear (in some languages) to be identical to some other form, they are usually odd in some ways. Thus they typically appear identical to singular markers, but they lack plural counterparts. This can be illustrated by conjoining. Moreover certain target types may be avoided. And as we saw in Romanian, the form to be used can vary according to the target type. Some languages have unique neutral agreement forms (examples are Spanish, Portuguese, the Surselvan dialect of Romansh, Ukrainian and the Sele Fara dialect of Slovene). However, no language has yet been found with a full set of unique neutral forms: regular gender/number forms are used for some targets. An interesting development occurs when neutral forms are used when the controller is an apparently straightforward noun phrase. This phenomenon is well attested in Scandinavian languages (for references see Corbett 1991: 216 and for extensive discussion see Källström 1993: 188-246 and Hedlund 1992: 95-111). Our example is Norwegian, taken from Faarlund (1977). Norwegian predicative

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adjectives distinguish singular from plural and, in the singular, neuter from common: (21)

Ein a

ny new

utanriksminister foreign secretary

sâ

dumt.

so

stupid.NEUT.SG

ville would

ikkje not

vere be

Ά new foreign secretary would not be a bad idea.' The interpretation is that having a new foreign secretary would not be a bad idea. If the adjective were in the common form dum, then it would agree directly with the subject noun phrase and the interpretation would be less complimentary. Default agreement then may be required in a range of circumstances: agreement with a clause as subject, with an absent subject, and so on. Note that the range of circumstances varies from language to language. In Russian, as in many other Indo-European languages, an infinitive phrase requires default agreement, while in Chichewa, and many other Bantu languages, there is a special gender for infinitives and the default is not invoked here. We have seen too that the default form overlaps to a greater or lesser extent with "normal" forms, and that the gender form with which it overlaps can be successfully predicted in some languages at least. In these instances a careful analysis would be required to determine which are the normal case defaults and which are the exceptional case defaults. Before moving on to our second major type of agreement default, we will consider two further types of case which might be expected to fit easily under neutral/default agreement but which in fact do not. The first concerns missing antecedents of pronouns, and is a problem raised by Tasmowski-De Ryck and Verluyten (1981; 1982). Consider the following French example. John is trying to get a large table into the boot of his car. Mary says: (22)

Tu You entrer enter

n'arriveras NEG.will.manage dans in

la the

jamais never voiture car

'You'll never get it into the car.'

à to

la it.FEM

faire make

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81

Here the pronoun must be in the feminine form la (*le is unacceptable); table 'table' is feminine in French. However, if John were trying to get a desk into his car, then the pronoun would be masculine (bureau 'desk' is masculine). The pronoun must be in the appropriate gender; since there is no antecedent present, the question is the source of the gender of the pronoun. These data have been one of the stimulants to an interesting debate on the nature of deixis and anaphora (see Corbett 1991: 244 for extensive references). Most agree that the gender of the pronoun in examples like (22) is determined by that of the default description of the referent in question. Normally this default description will be the basic level term, a notion which comes from Rosch (see, for example, Rosch 1978, and for discussion see Pulman 1983: 83-106). The basic level is the appropriate level. In (22) above, the basic level term for the object in question is table, which is feminine, hence the use of la. The fact that it is a piece of furniture (meuble, masculine) and indeed an object (objet, masculine) does not affect the gender since neither are basic level terms (Bosch 1987: 73). Hence we have another, rather different, sort of default, and one which need not coincide with the neutral agreement type. The second type concerns citation forms and other uses where there is no possible antecedent. For instance, if speakers wish to discuss a particular word, in a language where items of that class always agree in gender, then they will have to use one of the gender forms. A specific instance of this general problem is the use of numerals in abstract counting. It would surely be a reasonable prediction, that in such instances the neutral form (as for, say, impersonal sentences) would be used. Reasonable but not necessarily true. If counting in the abstract, a Russian speaker says dvadcat ' odin 'twenty-one.MASC', even though the gender-differentiating odin 'one' has a neuter form (odno). We might also have expected that older defaults would be preserved in fossilized form in complex numerals like odinnadcat' 'eleven' and dvenadcat' 'twelve'. But again the situation is more complex: in odinnadcat' 'eleven' the masculine odin is preserved, while in dvenadcat' 'twelve' we apparently have the feminine dve, though the form dates from a period when dve was the form for neuter as well as feminine (see Suprun 1969: 51-52 for an argument for dvenadcat ' based on the number of examples of use with feminine nouns (including weights and measures) and Comrie 1992: 768 for discussion).

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6.2.2. Reference problems Even if the agreement controller is a noun phase headed by a noun or pronoun, there may still be problems involving gender agreement, caused by reference difficulties. These have mainly been investigated relative to human referents, though there can be similar problems (usually in larger gender systems) with non-humans. There are at least three types of problem (it is not even clear whether all the different types have yet been identified): the gender required may be unknown, unclear or mixed. Suppose we ask Who said that?, in a language which requires agreement in gender on the verb. In this first type we cannot determine the gender, since we cannot identify the referent of who; thus the gender required is unknown. Similarly when we ask What was that? we may have theoretically possible referents of more than one gender. As a variant of this type we may have a noun, like English manager or friend, which can be used of a person of either sex. Again we may not know the sex of the referent. Second there are cases where the gender required is unclear because the referent is non-specific; here there are various possibilities: If a patient wishes to change doctors, he/he or she/they should advise the receptionist. A third area of difficulty here is agreement with a noun denoting a group of referents which would separately be referred to with nouns of different genders. The most obvious examples involve humans of both sexes (villagers, athletes). Here again the sex cannot be uniquely determined, but if the language distinguishes gender in the plural, then clearly one form must be selected for agreement purposes. We shall see that there are two main approaches to dealing with these problems. First, one of the possible alternative agreement forms may be used by convention—an obvious type of default. If the "reasonable possibilities" are genders A and B, then either A or Β is chosen. The second possibility is for an "evasive" form to be used. If the "reasonable possibilities" are genders A and B, then gender C is chosen. It is often assumed that in a single language, all problem types are dealt with in the same way (for example, it may be stated or implied that a particular gender is the unmarked or default one and so used in all these cases). But in fact languages may handle the three parts of the problem differently. This is an area where there has been a good

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deal of research on one small part of the topic but where much of the problem is only poorly understood. Consider first the case where the appropriate gender is unknown. Suppose we have a language in which there is at least a masculine gender (containing nouns denoting males, and other nouns) and a feminine gender (for females and other nouns). For the problem cases above, one set of target gender forms, say the masculine set, could be used by convention. This situation is found in many IndoEuropean languages. Let us take Russian examples: (23) Kto èto sdelal? who this did.MASC 'Who did this?' The speaker does not know the sex of the person responsible, but the masculine is used. Surprisingly, even in a setting in which the person must be one of a group of women, masculine agreement is still normal. Though the literature might suggest otherwise, it is not the case that the masculine is always used. In the Nilotic language Maasai, we find the feminine used for questions when the person involved could be male or female (Tucker & Mpaayei 1955: 27). Returning to Russian, nouns which can denote a male or a female, like vrac 'doctor', take masculine agreements if the sex is not known. In Archi, however, we find an "evasive" form. Archi has four genders, I and II for humans, male and female, III and IV less clearly defined semantically but with the larger animates in III and most abstracts in IV. In Archi, nouns like lo 'child', adam 'person', c'ohor 'thief, misgin 'poor person' take gender IV agreements in the singular if the sex of the referent is unimportant or unknown (Kibrik 1972: 126). Archi shows a particularly clear example of an evasive form, since gender IV does not contain any nouns denoting humans. 14 The second type of problem, non-specific referents, has created a considerable literature, but generally with reference to a small number of languages. Languages like Russian use the masculine here (see, for instance, Doleschal 1993: 39). The third problem involves mixed groups. Usually mixed groups of humans are investigated, but in large gender systems there could be analogous problems with inanimates. Given, however, a mixed group of humans, in Serbo-Croat we find the masculine plural oni 'they' in such cases. We may take the problem back into derivational

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morphology: Amerikanac (masculine) is a male American, while Amerikanka (feminine) is a female American in Serbo-Croat. To refer to Americans in general, the plural of the masculine noun is used, that is, Amerikanci, and it takes masculine plural agreements. This instance of the way in which gender is assigned to nouns denoting mixed groups links directly to the analysis of agreements used with conjoined noun phrases, which we consider in the next section. The "opposite" system is found in the Khoisan language Dama, spoken in northern Namibia; here mixed groups of people are referred to using the feminine pronouns (John Payne personal communication). Here too "evasive" forms are an alternative strategy. Polish for instance uses the neuter singular. This usage is described by Gotteri (1984), who took up the term "evasive" following a suggestion by Doroszewski. An example of the Polish neuter in evasive use is the following: (24)

Któr-es

ζ

matzonków

jest

one-NEUT

from

spouses

is

winn-e

zarzucanej

mu

zbrodni

guilty-NEUT

imputed

it. DAT

crime

One of the spouses is guilty of the crime he or she has been accused of.' Maízonkówie is masculine personal and means 'husband and wife'; when either the husband or the wife is potentially the referent, then the evasive neuter is used. The neuter cannot be used in all the situations we have considered; in most the masculine is used (for examples see Herbert and Nykiel-Herbert 1986: 67). Most interestingly, the evasive neuter seems to be used in the sort of contexts which also preclude the use of generic he in English, that is where there are implied disjuncts, one of which is specifically female. Weiss (1993) also discusses the Polish situation. The evasive neuter is found in Serbo-Croat too, but in rather limited use. Though a full analysis would be required in order to be certain, it would appear that in this section, the examples that use one of the expected genders should be treated as normal case defaults, while the evasive forms are exceptional case defaults.

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85

6.2.3. Gender resolution Our last type involves controllers with too many gender specifications, namely those consisting of conjoined noun phrases. Languages with gender agreement in the plural require rules to determine the form to be employed with conjoined noun phrases, and these rules are termed "resolution rules". As an example, we take Tsova-Tush, sometimes called Bats or Batsbi, which is a Nakh language (a subgroup of North-East Caucasian). It has some 3,000 speakers in Zemo Alvani in Kakheti (in eastern Georgia); all are bilingual with Georgian, and children are no longer learning the language. The data come from Dee Ann Holisky (forthcoming, and unpublished field notes). 15 Tsova-Tush has five main genders, and the target agreement forms make up a complex crossed system (shown in Figure 3; next page). Nouns which take ν - b (v in the singular and b in the plural) denote male humans and those which take j - d denote female humans. Thus far gender is semantic, and predictable. The basis for the remaining three major genders has not been established. There are just over 20 nouns which do not fit into the five main genders (Holisky forthcoming: see Corbett 1991: 171-172 for discussion of their status). They belong to three further classes: agreements b - j are taken by 15 nouns, all of which denote body parts (such as 'leg' and 'throat'), a further four nouns, also denoting body parts (this time all paired, like 'ear' and 'hand') take d - j, while three nouns take b - b (they are borag 'knit slipper', c'ekam 'boot', and kakam 'wool cut in autumn'). singular ν

plural b

J

j

d

d

b Figure 3. The main genders in Tsova-Tush

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The gender resolution examples are straightforward, though unusual. 16 If all conjuncts are headed by nouns denoting male humans, then the male human form (b-) is used (Holisky forthcoming, example (74)): (24)

mit'o-E p'et'o-E hen vazar-i Mito-and Peto-and 2SG.GEN brothers-INT 'Are Mito and Peto your brothers?'

b-a AG-be

Conjoining is marked by -E on each conjunct; variant forms are for phonological reasons (Holisky forthcoming: footnote 4). E is a reduced vowel; h is a voiceless pharyngeal fricative and e n is a nasalized vowel. INT indicates the question marker, and AG is for agreement marker. (Holisky (fieldnotes) reports checking various instances with conjuncts referring to male human and female human; in these mixed cases the d- form was used.) In all other circumstances (when not all conjuncts are headed by nouns denoting male humans) the d- agreement form is used (the form which is appropriate for female humans, and for two of the remaining major genders). There is a large number of possible combinations: female human plus female human, female human plus other, and the various types of noun not denoting humans, including those from the smaller genders. Here are just a few examples. The first has two nouns from the largest gender, d-d (Holisky fieldnotes): (25)

kotama-E mamala-E d-a chicken-and rooster-and AG-be 'a chicken and a rooster are: It is a chicken and a rooster.'

The next example has two nouns from the large j - j gender (Holisky field notes; in (26) g represents a voiced velar fricative, and E is again a reduced vowel): (26)

goba-E ezo-E d-a fence-and yard-and AG-be 'a fence and a yard are: It is a fence and a yard.'

In the next example (Holisky forthcoming example (26b)) we have two nouns from the small genders b - j and b - b:

Default genders

(27)

87

kok'a-E borga-E d-a leg-and knit slipper-and AG-be 'a leg and a knit slipper are: It is a leg and a knit slipper.'

The resolution rules are again based on semantics: 1. By default, the gender d- form is used. 2. This is overridden if all conjuncts are headed by nouns which denote male humans; in this case the male human form (b-) is used. For a typology of resolution rules, see Corbett (forthcoming). We might expect resolution rules to be examples of normal case defaults. However, there are systems of some complexity in which it is at least not obvious that they can be handled in this way.

7. Correlation of defaults It is important to note that grammatical defaults of different types may or may not line up together (and when there are only two possibilities, as with two-gender systems, then the coincidence cannot be assumed to be of any great significance). Let us return to TsovaTush. We saw that the default form in gender resolution is the dgender. Of the numerals in Tsova-Tush, just the numeral 4 (and numbers which contain it) agree. When counting in the abstract, it takes the d- agreement form (Holisky forthcoming, section 2.8). The engender is the largest one in terms of the number of nouns included and so a reasonable candidate for the default for gender assignment (section 2.1.1.), and verbal nouns, which might be thought of as nonprototypical nouns, are assigned to this gender. Consider finally what happens when the appropriate gender is unknown: (28)

vux d-a? what AG-is 'What is it?'

Again the d- gender form is used. Thus we have a clear example of several defaults lining up.

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An equally impressive case is Arapesh, as described by Aronoff (1992, 1994: 97-103, following Fortune 1942). The same default gender is used for null heads (1992: 26), interrogatives, including the interrogative for humans when sex is not known (1992: 27), for agreement with conjoined noun phrases when the head nouns are of different gender (1992: 27). Nouns which fall outside the regular gender assignment rules are assigned to this same default gender (1992: 28) as are "words that designate persons in a sex-neutral fashion" (1992: 29). These examples from large gender systems might lead us to expect that gender defaults regularly line up. However, there are other examples where this is certainly not the case. Moreover, we can show this even in relatively small systems. If we return to the Russian data discussed in detail earlier, we recall that at one level the default gender is neuter, and at another it is masculine. Then for nouns of particular inflectional classes the default is feminine. Russian of course has three genders, but even in a two-gender system the defaults need not line up. Recall that in Kala Lagaw Ya nouns are assigned by default to the feminine gender (only nouns denoting males are masculine). However, for a single human of unknown sex, the masculine is used (Alpher 1987: 173).

8. Conclusion The notion of default is of considerable potential value in the analysis of gender systems; indeed it could be so valuable that it is important to be clear in its use. When we attempt to cover a complete system we find that the defaults at different levels may well be different. Just as they may line up fairly consistently, they may also diverge, even in small systems. Since they can diverge, we need more descriptions of complete systems, so that we can attempt a typology of configurations of defaults in gender systems. Notes 1.

Addresses for correspondence: Greville Corbett, Department of Linguistic and International Studies, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2

Default genders

2. 3.

4.

89

5XH, UK. Norman Fraser, Vocalis Ltd, Chaston House, Mill Court, Cambridge CB2 5LD, UK. email: [email protected]. [email protected]. This research was supported in part by the Economic and Social Research Council (grants R000233633 and R000236063) and the Leverhulme Trust (grant F.242M); this support is gratefully acknowledged. Some of the data in this paper have been presented previously: sections 3 and 4 use material from Fraser and Corbett (1995) while section 6 takes data from Corbett (1991, chapter 7). What is new here is the central attention given to the notion of default, and the attempt to understand familiar data in this light. In addition, in the sections based on earlier work, new references to recent work have been added. A version of this paper was read at the workshop 'Approaches to Gender1 held at the Forschungsschwerpunkt Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Typologie und Universalienforschung, Berlin 26-28 May, 1994. We are grateful to those present for interested discussion, and especially to Wolfgang Wurzel and David Zubin for helpful suggestions at the meeting, and to Osten Dahl, Ursula Doleschal, Gerald Gazdar and Andrew Hippisley for subsequent useful comments. For further discussions of markedness see Schwartz (1980) and Greenberg (1988). The selection of DATR as the language of formal expression for Network Morphology is no accident. The theoretical framework emerged out of our exploratory work with DATR, informed by our earlier experience of default inheritance in Artificial Intelligence and in Word Grammar (Fraser and Hudson 1992). DATR offers a conceptually straightforward syntax and a well-defined semantics. In addition, the existence of a number of computer interpreters for the language allow theories encoded in DATR to be validated automatically. The following automatic phonological correspondences are assumed: a) IH is retracted to its allophone [i] after non-back hard (unpalatalized) consonants. Thus the nominative plural form /zakoni/ will be realized with [i] but /kost'i/ retains [i] since [t'] is soft. b) All consonants which can be palatalized are automatically palatalized before Id. Thus the locative singular of /zakon/, namely /zakone/, will be realised with a palatalized [n']. If the consonant is already palatalized as in genitive plural /kost'-ej/, it simply remains palatalized. Some consonants are always hard (/s, z, c/), and remain so before Id. On the other hand, / c 7 and /se'/ are always soft (palatalized), and naturally remain so before Id. We have chosen to mark softening redundantly for greater clarity in this instance. In addition, the gutturals Ik, g, x/ are palatalized before Iii, so that the genitive form /knigi/, from /kniga/ 'book', will be realized with palatalized tg'] (which then demands the front allophone [i]). c) There are complex patterns of reduction of vowels in unstressed position, which can safely be omitted from the transcription since our focus is on morphology. In particular, the unstressed loi ending of nouns with soft stems such as IpoVol 'field' (orthographically pole) is realized as either [a] or [i]. Although this loi is never realized as anything approximating to a mid

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6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

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12.

13. 14.

Greville G. Corbett and Norman M. Fraser

rounded back vowel, positing loi is justified by the stressed [ó] which occurs in [v'inó] 'wine' and [p'it'jó] 'drink(ing)'. For an informative sketch of Russian phonology, see Timberlake (1993: 828-832). We do not examine the complexities of hybrid nouns here, for which see Corbett (1991:39, 231-232), and for interesting data see Weiss (1991) and Doleschal (1992; 1993:40-46,138-144). There is a small number of exceptions, for which see Smirnova (1979). We are not concerned here with the special case of acronyms where derivational information may be relevant. A more extended account, to include cases where nouns may head noun phrases referring to either sex, would require us to state the first equation as: GENDER : == m a s c . Instances of this kind would be correctly assigned masculine gender so long as the indeterminate sex of the referent were identified by an explicit marker such as e i t h e r . There is no reason why such a phonological component could not also be formalized using DATR, as the work of Reinhard and Gibbon (1991) and Gibbon (1992) demonstrates. While the claim relating to gender assigment is a general one, we have not investigated declensional-class assignment beyond Russian. It is a plausible hypothesis that in declensional class assignment generally, formal factors will take precedence over semantic. If the stem ends in a hard (not palatalized) consonant, then type III can be eliminated. We have no rule to predict membership of class III; stems are by default "hard" (they end in a hard consonant). The III class is relatively small (see discussion after Table 2). This figure includes the small number of nouns (32 in Lazova's table) which are indeclinable but which do not end in a vowel. They are typically borrowings. Borrowings like miss 'miss', which denote females but end in a consonant are indeclinable. These require an exceptional marker just to indicate that they are indeclinable: the semantic gender assignment rule will then correctly assign them to the feminine gender. Rare borrowings which are indeclinable, consonant final, do not denote an animate, and are masculine or feminine, require two irregular markers (for declensional class V, and for gender). These marginal cases tend to be integrated over time or lost. An important paper which includes consideration of what we would call an exceptional case default is Marcus—Brinkmann—Clahsen—Wiese— Woest—Pinker (1993) where -s is discussed as the default plural of German. They quote Van Dam (1940) who called it the Notpluralendung 'emergency plural ending'. See also Clahsen—Rothweiler—Woest—Marcus (1992). For discussion of the forms used in English for "situation reference" see Fraurud (1992). Another evasive device is to use the plural, if gender is not distinguished there. Thus Alamblak (a Sepik Hill language of Papua New Guinea) distinguishes masculine and feminine in the singular, but not in the dual or

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15. 16.

91

plural. If "the speaker is either unable or unwilling to indicate the gender of an object" (Bruce 1984: 98) then the third plural is used: (i) yën-m heawrahtm indotti yamtn child-3PL she.will.bear.them another month.in 'She will bear a child in another month.' We are very grateful to Dee Ann Holisky for making her notes available to us. There is, however, an interesting complication with conjoined plurals, which would take the same target gender form (either j or b). There are a couple of cases of an informant offering this form (the plural which each plural conjunct would take individually). For discussion of the same phenomenon in Chichewa and in Serbo-Croat see Corbett and Mtenje (1987: 2026). It is argued that in these languages gender resolution is triggered only if there is a clash of genders or if another resolution rule (number or person) operates - since if one type of resolution rule operates, all available resolution rules must operate.

References Alpher, Barry 1987 Aronoff, Mark 1992 1994 Austin, Peter 1981 Bani, Ephraim 1987 Bosch, Peter 1987

"Feminine as the unmarked grammatical gender: buffalo girls are no fools", Australian Journal of Linguistics 7: 169-187. "Noun classes in Arapesh", in: Geert Booij—Jaap van Marie (eds.). Yearbook of Morphology 1991. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 21-32. Morphology by itself: Stems and inflectional classes. (Linguistic Inquiry Monograph 22). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. A grammar of Diyari, South Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. "Garka a ipika: masculine and feminine grammatical gender in Kala Lagaw Ya", Australian Journal of Linguistics, 7: 189-201.

"Pronouns under control? A Reply to Liliane Tasmowski and Paul Verluyten", Journal of Semantics 5: 65-78. Briscoe, Ted—Valeria de Paiva—Ann Copes take (eds.) 1993 Inheritance, defaults and the lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brown, Dunstan P.—Andrew R. Hippisley 1994 "Conflict in Russian genitive plural assignment: a solution represented in DATR", Journal of Slavic Linguistics 2 (1): 48-76. Bruce, Les The Alamblak language of Papua New Guinea (East Sepik) 1984 (Pacific Linguistics, Series C, No. 81). Canberra: Department of

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"Feature-value logics: some limits on the role of defaults", in: C.J. Rupp—M.A. Rosner—R.L. Johnson (eds.) Constraints, Language and Computation. London: Academic Press, 205-222. Clahsen, Harald—Monika Rothweiler—Andreas Woest—Gary F. Marcus 1992 "Regular and irregular inflection in the acquisition of German noun plurals", Cognition, 45: 225-255. Comrie, Bernard 1992 "Balto-Slavonic", in: Jadranka Gvozdanovic (ed.), Indo-European Numerals (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs, 57). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 717-833. Corbett, Greville G. 1979 Predicate agreement in Russian (Birmingham Slavonic Monographs 7). Birmingham: University of Birmingham. 1980 "Neutral agreement", Quinquereme - New Studies in Modern Languages 3: 164-170. 1982 "Gender in Russian: an account of gender specification and its relationship to declension", Russian Linguistics 6: 197-232. 1991 Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (forthcoming) "Types of typology, illustrated from gender systems", to appear in: Frans Plank (ed.). Noun phrase structure in the languages of Europe. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Corbett, Greville G.—Norman M. Fraser 1993 "Network morphology: A DATR account of Russian Inflectional Morphology", Journal of Linguistics, 29: 113-142. Corbett, Greville G.—R. J. Hayward 1987 "Gender and number in Bayso", Lingua, 73: 1-28. Corbett, Greville G.—Alfred D. Mtenje 1987 "Gender agreement in Chichewa", Studies in African Linguistics, 18.1: 1-38. Daelemans, Walter—Koenraad De Smedt—Gerald Gazdar 1992 "Inheritance in natural language processing", Computational Linguistics, 18: 205-218. Doleschal, Ursula 1992 "Genus und (Ko-)Referenz", in: Tilmann Reuther (ed.). Slavistiche Linguistik 1991: Referate des XVII. Konstanzer Slavistischen Arbeitstreffens, Klagenfurt - St. Georgen/ Längsee, 10.-14.9.1991 (=Slavistische Beiträge 292). München: Otto Sagner. 123-135. 1993 Genus als grammatische und textlinguistische Kategorie: Eine kognitiv-funktionalistische Untersuchung des Russischen. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Vienna.]

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Dziwirek, Katarzyna 1990 "Default agreement in Polish", in: Katarzyna Dziwirek—Patrick Farrell—Errapel Majias-Bikandi (eds.), Grammatical relations: A cross-theoretical perspective. Stanford: Stanford Linguistics Association / CSLI. 147-161. Evans, Roger—Gerald Gazdar 1989a. "Inference in DATR", Proceedings of the 4th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics. Manchester, England. 66-71. 1989b. "The semantics of DATR", in: A. G. Cohn (ed.). Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour. London: Pitman/ Morgan Kaufmann. 79-87. 1995 DATR: A language for lexical knowledge representation. University of Sussex. (=Cognitive Science Research Paper 382). School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex. Faarlund, Jan Teqe 1977 "Embedded clause reduction and Scandinavian gender agreement", Journal of Linguistics 13: 239-257. Fortune, Reo F. 1942 Arapesh. (Publications of the American Ethnological Society 19). New York: J. J. Augustin. [1977] [Reprinted, New York: AMS Press.] Fraser, Norman M.—Greville G. Corbett 1995 "Gender, animacy, and declensional class assignment: a unified account for Russian", in: Geert Booij—Jaap van Marie (eds.). Yearbook of Morphology 1994. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 123-150. Fraser, Norman M.—Greville G. Corbett (forthcoming) Defaults in Arapesh. To appear in Lingua. Fraser, Norman M.—Richard A. Hudson 1992 "Inheritance in Word Grammar", Computational Linguistics 18: 133-158. Fraurud, Kari Situation reference (what does 'it' refer to?). GAP Working Paper 1992 24. Hamburg: Fachbereich Informatik, Universität Hamburg. [1992] [Reprinted in: Kari Fraurud, Processing noun phrases in natural discourse. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University.] Gazdar, Gerald 1987 "Linguistic applications of default inheritance mechanisms", in: Peter Whitelock—Mary McGee Wood—Harold L. Somers—Rod L. Johnson—Paul Bennett (eds.), Linguistic theory and computer applications. London: Academic Press. 37-67. "An introduction to DATR", in: Roger Evans—Gerald Gazdar 1990 (eds.), The DATR Papers. Cognitive Science Research Paper

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CSRP 139. School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex. 1-14. 1992 "Paradigm function morphology in DATR", in: L. J. Cahill— Richard Coates (eds.), Sussex Papers in General and Computational Linguistics (Cognitive Science Research Paper 239). Brighton: University of Sussex. 43-53. (forthcoming) "Ceteris paribus", to appear in: J. A. W. Kamp—C. Rohrer (eds.), Aspects of computational linguistics. Berlin: Springer. Gaz dar, Gerald—Ewan Klein—Geoffrey K. Pullum—Ivan A. Sag 1985 Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar. Blackwell: Oxford Gibbon, Dafydd 1992 "LEX: a linguistic approach to computational léxica", in: U. Klenk (ed.), Computatio Linguae: Aufsätze zur algorithmischen und quantitativen Analyse der Sprache (=Zeitschrifl für Dialektologie und Linguistik. Beiheft 73). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. 32-53. Gotteri, Nigel 1984 "The evasive neuter in Polish", in: F. E. Knowles—J. I. Press (eds.), Papers in Slavonic linguistics II: 1-8. Birmingham: Department of Modern Languages, University of Aston in Birmingham. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1966 Language Universals: with special reference to feature hierarchies. The Hague: Mouton. 1988 "The present status of markedness theory: a reply to Scheffler", Journal of Anthropological Research, 43: 367-374. Hayward, Richard J. 1989 "The notion of 'default gender': a key to interpreting the evolution of certain verb paradigms in East Ometo, and its implications for Omotic", Afrika und Übersee, 72:17-32. Hayward, Richard J.—Greville G. Corbett 1988 "Resolution rules in Qafar", Linguistics 26: 259-279. Hedlund, Cecilia 1992 On participles. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Linguistics, University of Stockholm. Distributed by Akademitryck AB, Edsbruk. Herbert, R. K. —Nykiel-Herbert, B. 1986 "Explorations in linguistic sexism: a contrastive sketch", Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, 21: 47-85. Holisky, Dee Ann (with Rusudan Gagua) (forthcoming) "Tsova-Tush (Batsbi)", to appear in: Rieks Smeets (ed.), Indigenous Languages of the Caucasus III. Delmar, NY: Caravan Books.

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Hola, Eeva—Arto Mustajoki 1989 Report on Russian Morphology as it appears in Zaliznyak's Grammatical Dictionary (=Slavica Helsingiensia 7). Helsinki: Department of Slavonic Languages, University of Helsinki. Jackendoff, Ray 1975 "Morphological and semantic regularities in the lexicon", Language, 51: 639-671. Jespersen, Otto 1924 The Philosophy of Grammar. London: Allen and Unwin. Källström, Roger 1993 Kongruens i svenskan [Congruence in Swedish] (Nordistica Gothoburgensia 16) Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Kibrik, A. E. 1972 "O formal'nom vydelenii soglasovatel'nyx klassov ν arcinskom jazyke", [The formal identification of agreement classes in Archi.] Voprosy jazykoznanija, 1: 124-131. 1979 Materialy k tipologii èrgativnosti: 2. Lakskij jazyk, 3. Ûiragskij jazyk . [Materials for a typology of ergativity: 2. Lak, 3. Chirag.] (Predvaritel'nye publikacii 127). Moskva: Institut russkogo jazykaANSSSR. Klajn, Ivan 1984-85 "On conceptual neuter", Zbornik Matice Srpske za filologiju i lingvistiku (Novi Sad). 27-28: 347-354. Lazova, M. V. (ed.) 1974 Obratnyj slovar' russkogo jazyka: okolo 125 000 slov. [Reverse dictionary of Russian: about 125, 000 words.] Moskva: Sovetskaja Ènciklopedija. Marcus, Gary F.—Ursula Brinkmann—Harald Clahsen—Richard Wiese—Andreas Woest—Steven Pinker 1993 German inflection: the exception that proves the rule. Theorie des Lexikons: Arbeiten des Sonderforschungsbereichs 282, number 40. Düsseldorf: Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Seminar für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft. Mucnik, I. P. 1971 Grammaticeskie kategorii glagola i imeni ν sovremennom russkom literaturnom jazyke. [The grammatical categories of the verb and the noun in contemporary standard Russian.] Moskva: Nauka. Pulman, Stephen G. 1983 Word Meaning and Belief. London: Croom Helm. Reinhard, Sabine—Dafydd Gibbon 1991 "Prosodie inheritance and morphological generalisations", Proceedings, Fifth Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Berlin 1991: 131-136.

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Rosch, Eleanor 1978 "Principles of Categorization", in: Eleanor Rosch—B. L. Lloyd (eds.), Cognition and Categorization, 27-48. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Schane, Sanford A. 1970 "Phonological and morphological markedness", in: Manfred Bierwisch—Karl Erich Heidolph (eds.), Progress in Linguistics. The Hague: Mouton. 286-294. Schupbach, Richard D. 1984 Lexical Specialization in Russian (UCLA Slavic Studies 8). Columbus, Ohio: Slavica. Schwartz, Linda J. 1980 "Syntactic markedness and frequency of occurrence", in: Thomas A. Perry (ed.), Evidence and Argumentation in Linguistics, 315333. Berlin: de Gruyter. Shieber, Stuart M. 1987 "Separating linguistic analyses from linguistic theories", in: Peter Whitelock—Mary McGee Wood—Harold L. Somers—Rod L. Johnson—Paul Bennett (eds.), Linguistic Theory and Computer Applications, 1-36. London: Academic Press. Smirnova, G. A. 1979 "Kategorija roda nesklonjaemyx suscestvitel'nyx", [The category of gender of indeclinable nouns.], in: V. P. Grigor'ev (ed.), Lingvistika i poètika. Moskva: Nauka. 86-105. Suprun, A. E. 1969 Slavjanskie cislitel'nye (stanovlenie cislitel'nyx kak osoboj casti rea). [Slavonic numerals: the development of numerals as a separate part of speech.] Minsk: Belorussian State University. Tasmowski-De Ryck, Liliane—S. Paul Verluyten 1981 "Pragmatically controlled anaphora and linguistic form", Linguistic Inquiry, 12: 153-154. 1982 "Linguistic control of pronouns", Journal of Semantics 1: 323346. Timberlake, Alan 1993 "Russian", in: Bernard Comrie—Greville G. Corbett (eds.). The Slavonic Languages. London: Routledge. 827-886. Tucker, A. N.—J. Tompo ole Mpaayei 1955 A Maasai Grammar: With Vocabulary. London: Longmans, Green & Co. Van Dam, J. 1940 Handbuch der deutschen Sprache: Zweiter Band: Wortlehre. Groningen: J. B. Wolter's Uitgevers-Maatschappij N. V. [Quoted from Marcus, Brinkmann, Clahsen, Wiese, Woest, and Pinker (1993).]

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"How many sexes are there? (reflections on natural and grammatical gender in Polish and Russian)", in: Gerd Hentschel—Roman Laskowski (eds.)· Studies in Polish Morphology and Syntax (Specimina philologiae slavicae 99). München: Otto Sagner. 71105.

Worth, Dean S. 1966 "On the stem/ending boundary in Slavic indeclinables", Zbornik za filologiju i lingvistiku, 9: 11-16. Zaliznjak, Andrej Anatol'evic 1977 Grammaticeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka: slovoizmenenie. [Grammatical dictionary of Russian: Inflection.] Moskva: Russkij jazyk. Zwicky, Arnold 1986 "The general case: basic form versus default form", in: Vassiliki Nikiforidou—Mary VanClay—Mary Niepokuj—Deborah Feder (eds.), Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: February 15-17, 1986. 305-314. Berkeley, California: B.L.S., University of California. 1989 "What's become of derivations? Defaults and invocations", in: Kira Hall—Michael Meacham—Richard Shapiro (eds.), Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, February 18-20, 1989, 303-20. Berkeley, California: B.L.S., University of California.

Animacy and the notion of semantic gender Osten Dahl

1. General The research reported in this paper is part of a project called "Animacy in typology and discourse".1 One of the aims of this project is to investigate the role of the notion of animacy in different parts of grammar and gender is one of the most obvious places where animacy shows up. The aim of this paper, then, is twofold. One is to consider some generalizations about gender systems, based primarily on Corbett (1991), a recent comprehensive survey of gender and gender systems with data from over 200 languages. The other is to discuss, in the light of these typological generalizations, some of the theoretical notions needed to describe gender systems, in particular the concept of semantic gender. For an overview of animacy in general and the problems that interest us in the project, the reader is referred to Dahl—Fraurud (forthcoming). Here, I shall briefly mention some facts that are essential for the understanding of the rest of the paper. Animacy, or the distinction between animate and inanimate entities, is so pervasive in the grammars of human languages that it tends to be taken for granted and become invisible. It is only relatively recently that more systematic studies of animacy have been undertaken in linguistics. Many of these have concentrated on what has been called the "animacy hierarchy", its role in various grammatical categories and its interaction with other notions such as definiteness, individuation and degree of referentiality. The animacy hierarchy is supposed to have (at least) the following components: HUMAN > ANIMAL > INANIMATE. Hierarchies of this kind have been assumed by typologists to underlie various implicational universale. The general idea is that grammatical phenomena will "obey" the hierarchy in the sense that certain generalizations will apply to all cases above a

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certain cutoff point in the hierarchy. For instance, in case marking systems, direct objects are more likely to be marked if they have a high degree of animacy. Below, I will be using the animacy hierarchy quite extensively in making generalizations about gender systems. In fact, grammatical gender is one of the areas where it is easiest to do so, since animacy does not interact here with other parameters in the way it does in many other parts of grammar. However, in Dahl—Fraurud (forthcoming), we argue that what has been referred to in the literature as the animacy hierarchy is essentially a reflection of different ways of realizing grammatically a fuzzy dichotomy, at the base of which is the distinction between persons, that is, essentially human beings perceived as agents, and the rest of the universe. The dichotomy is fuzzy because we have the possibility of sometimes treating inanimate entities as persons and, perhaps less often, human beings as nonpersons, in one sense or the other. This also shows up clearly in gender systems: it is misleading, in most cases, to think of ANIMAL as a single "step" in the hierarchy—rather, gender distinctions often cut through the animal kingdom, with at least some higher animals being treated as persons and at least some lower ones being seen as inanimate. When discussing gender, then, it is more fruitful to think of the hierarchy as a .. In the end, the existence of various types of borderline cases of personhood, such as "nonpersonal agents", including organizations, companies, states etc., and metaphorical and metonymical references to inanimate and abstract entities of different kinds, destroys the possibility of assuming that this continuum can be seen as a one-dimensional linear ordering.

2. Animacy and the semantic core of gender systems Following Hockett's definition of gender (1958: 231) as "classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words", Corbett (1991) sees grammatical agreement as the determining criterion of gender, and says that the assignment of gender to nouns may depend on two kinds of information: the meaning of the noun and its form, the latter in its turn including on one hand morphological and on the other phonological information.

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Corbett joins Aksenov (1984) in the important claim that all gender-assignment systems have a semantic core. He does not go very far in characterizing what this core would look like, however. In my opinion, this is the place where the role of animacy becomes crucial. Another way of expressing Aksenov's generalization is to say that a typical gender system has two poles: one semantic and one nonsemantic, where "nonsemantic" may be interpreted as "formal" or maybe "arbitrary". What is important here is that the relation between the poles tends to be asymmetric with respect to animacy: animate nouns normally get their gender by semantic rules, whereas inanimate nouns may or may not have semantic gender.2 I have found no evidence of any gender system—neither in the rich crosslinguistic material presented by Corbett, nor anywhere else— in which this would not hold as a general rule, although there are in practically every case individual lexical items that act as exceptions. Let us thus postulate the following as a universal property of gender systems: (1)

In any gender system, there is a general semantically-based principle for assigning gender to animate nouns and noun phrases.

The ways in which the principle in (1) is applied are quite limited. I shall mention two major sources of variation. The first one is: (2)

The domain of the principle referred to in (1) may be cut off at different points of the animacy hierarchy: between humans and animals, between higher and lower animals, or between animals and inanimates.

Some examples of this kind of variation (from Corbett's material) are: In Tamil (and many other Dravidian languages) there are separate genders for male humans and female humans respectively. Everything else is assigned to a third gender (Corbett 1991: 9). Here, then, the cutoff point is between humans and everything else. In many Indo-European languages, humans and also, to a varying extent, higher animals, are assigned masculine or feminine gender on the basis of their sex, while inanimates and lower animals get their genders by lexeme-specific or formal criteria. For Ket (isolate), Corbett (1991: 19) characterizes the three-member system as "male

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animate, female animate and residue"; inanimates are assigned to any of the three genders. Here, the cutoff point goes between animates and inanimates, although, characteristically, some lower ("non-sexdifferentiable") animals are assigned gender in an unpredictable fashion. The second source of variation concerns the operation of the semantically based principle in (1): (3)

All animates above the cutoff point may either be assigned to the same gender or there may be further divisions.

(3) may sound like an "anything goes" rule but it is in fact heavily restricted as follows: (4)

If the principle referred to in (1) distributes animate nouns among different genders, sex is the major criterion.

The pervasiveness of sex as gender criterion is striking. There are many possible ways of classifying animates, in particular human beings, that might be used as a basis for gender, such as social status, ethnic origin, profession, age, hair color, etc., but none of them except perhaps age seems to play any important role in gender assignment. The frequency of sex-based gender distinctions to some extent hides the importance of animacy. Note, however, that sex is a criterion applicable only to animates, and that "sexual differentiation" holds of virtually all entities above a certain point on the animacy hierarchy, which is reflected in the fact that sexual differentiation is sometimes used as the main criterion for grammatical animacy. The asymmetry of gender systems with respect to animacy shows up in various more or less subtle ways. Corbett uses the notion of "semantic residue", defined as those nouns whose gender is not assigned according to a positive semantic criterion. Since exceptions in gender systems follow the principle that "nouns which do not meet the relevant semantic criterion are treated as though they did, rather than vice versa" (Corbett 1991: 13), Corbett rejects the possibility of formulating gender assignment rules in terms of negative criteria. From this, then, follows the notion of "semantic residue". By a more vivid metaphor, we could talk of "wastebasket genders". It appears that the semantic residue practically always consists of inanimate nouns. Accordingly, inanimate nouns are quite often as-

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signed to genders whose semantically determined core consists of animates, whereas the converse situation appears to be quite rare, except for a small set of well-defined cases, which we shall discuss below. There are often quite a few inanimate genders, and considerable arbitrariness in the ways genders are assigned to inanimate nouns: typically, we find mixtures of semantic, formal, and idiosyncratic marking. Table 1 (next page) shows some examples of how gender systems are typically structured, which should illustrate many of the points made above. Animate categories are indicated in small caps. Especially in the more complex systems, there are complicating factors that make the picture slightly less neat than might be expected from what we have already said. To start with, individual lexical items and also whole groups of such items may be treated as exceptions to the general gender-assignment principle which determines the gender of animate nouns. For instance, in Swedish the word vitine 'witness' is neuter gender. At least synchronically there seems to be no motivation for this. This kind of situation seems to be quite widespread. Commonly, derivatives such as augmentatives and diminutives obey special rules. Thus, in German, diminutives in -chen and -lein are all neuter. Here, then, there is a productive rule overriding the general principle in (1). Synchronically, the rule should probably not be seen as semantic, although it may have been motivated from the beginning. It seems to be a rather common phenomenon for there to be a semantic rule which assigns an "inanimate" gender such as neuter to young or small animates, e.g., unmarried women, as in certain Polish dialects (Corbett 1991: 100). One interpretation of this situation is to say that the cut-off point has been defined in such a way that these cases are seen as inanimate. Notice, however, that this has the rather questionable consequence that some humans have to be regarded as lower on the hierarchy than some animals. Instead, it appears that we have to admit the possibility of subsidiary criteria for gender assignment to animates. Special genders for animals or certain kinds of animals are not too uncommon, but seem to arise mainly in gender systems above a certain degree of complexity, where there is at least a masculine:feminine distinction for humans. We see examples of this in tables below.

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Table 1. Some gender systems Tamil (Dravidian)

Russian (Indo-European)

Name of gender

Includes

Name of gender

Includes

masculine

MALE HUMAN

masculine

MALE +

inanim. residue feminine

FEMALE HUMAN

feminine

FEMALE +

inanim. residue neuter

non-human

neuter

inanim. residue

French (Indo-European)

Diyari (Australian)

Name of gender

Includes

Name of gender

masculine

MALE +

Includes

I

FEMALE

Π

non-female

inanim. residue feminine

FEMALE +

inanim. residue

Dyirbal (Australian, Dixon 1972) Name General of characterization gender I

MALE HUMANS, NON-HUMAN ANIMATES

II

FEMALE HUMANS,

water, fire, fighting

Examples

men, kangaroos, possums, bats, most of: snakes, fishes, insects; some birds, moon, storms, rainbow, boomerangs, some spears, etc. women, bandicoots, dog, platypus, echidna, some snakes, some fishes, most birds, firefly, scorpion, crickets, hairy mary grub, anything connected with fire or water, sun and stars, shields, some spears, some trees, etc.

III

non-flesh food

honey, all edible fruit and vegetables and plants that bear them

IV

residue

parts of the body, meat, bees, wind, yamsticks, some spears, most trees and vines, grass, mud, stones, noises and languages

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Table 1. (continued) Ngangikurrunggurr Name of gender

(Australian)

Includes

Name of gender

Includes

I

most natural objects, KINSHIP TERMS, some body parts

V

MOST ANIMALS HUNTED FOR MEAT

II

hunting weapons

VI

edible plants

in

most body parts

VII

MALE ANIMATES (EXCL. DOGS)

IV

trees, most wooden implements

vm

FEMALE ANIMATES

IX

CANINES

However, some cases of "animal genders" mentioned in the literature are spurious in the sense that they are results of there being two alternative cut-off points between animates and inanimates. Thus, the rule in Polish that says that the accusative of animate nouns is equal to the genitive applies to both humans and animals in the singular but only to humans in the plural. The animal gender then is simply the set of nouns that are treated differently in the singular and the plural. In many languages, speakers may achieve various secondary effects by using the "wrong" gender for a referent, thereby as it were attributing to it the properties associated with that gender. Thus, it seems to be quite common in American English for inanimate objects to be referred to as he and she or for masculine pronouns to be used for women and vice versa or even for humans to be called it (Mathiot Roberts 1979). Such "upgrading" and "downgrading" may become more or less conventionalized, as when ships and countries are treated as feminine.

3. Lexical and referential gender To get further in our understanding of the role of animacy in gender systems we must elucidate the nature of semantic gender. As we have seen, Corbett talks of semantic gender assignment to nouns as

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being dependent on their meaning. As a general characterization, this is problematic, and in fact not wholly consistent with Corbett's own formulations in other places. Thus, noting that in German, a noun phrase headed by the neuter noun Mädchen 'girl' may be the antecedent of both a feminine pronoun sie and a neuter pronoun es, he claims (Corbett 1991: 245) that "the determination of the form of the pronoun can involve both the referent and the form of the antecedent". That is, sie is chosen because we are talking of a female individual, and for those feminine pronouns are normally used. The meaning of the noun Mädchen would thus be only indirectly relevant. This may be even clearer for anaphoric pronouns whose antecedents contain a sex-neutral head noun, as in the English example (5), where the choice between he and she depends on the sex of the referent, which can hardly be said to be part of the meaning of doctor: (5)

The

DOCTOR

said

HE/SHE

could see me tomorrow.

The formulation used by Corbett, "doctor takes he when it denotes a male, and she when it denotes a female" (p. 181) clouds the issue by using the verb "denote" rather than "refer". If we follow Lyons (1976: 208) in assuming that denotation, unlike reference, is "a relation that applies in the first instance to lexemes and holds independently of particular occasions of utterances", it should be clear from examples like (5) that semantic gender cannot be explained only in terms of nouns and their denotations but that also reference, which is primarily a property of noun phrases, has to be taken into account.3 What I have now said implies a possible distinction with regard to the locus of gender. We may speak of gender on one hand as a property of a noun (as a lexical item), on the other, as a property of a noun phrase (as an occurrence). We may also postulate a distinction with regard to the source of gender: whether gender is detemined on the basis of properties of a noun—what we can call lexical gender— or on the basis of the referent of a noun phrase—what we can call referential gender. Neither of these distinctions coincides with that between semantic and nonsemantic gender. Whereas referential gender is in principle always semantic, lexical gender may be motivated by semantic and/or fomal factors or be assigned on an arbitrary, lexeme-specific basis. This fact comes out clearly in the case of gender conflicts, to which we now turn.

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4. Gender conflicts An important test area for any theory of gender is how well it can account for gender conflicts. By a gender conflict we then mean a situation where the gender-assignment rules of a language may be applied in more than one way, yielding inconsistent outputs. One major type of gender conflicts is exemplified by the following German sentence, where das Mädchen 'the girl1 may be treated either as feminine or neuter gender, depending on whether we give preference to the rule that females should be feminine or to the rule that diminutives in -chen are neuter: (6)

Ich I

habe have

SIE/ES

war

she/it

was

EIN

MÄDCHEN

one

girl

gesehen. seen

schön.

beautiful

Ί saw a girl. She/it was beautiful.' Let us look at the treatment of gender conflicts of this type in Corbett 1991.4 According to Corbett Mädchen is a "hybrid noun", a noun that can take agreement in more than one gender. The agreement may be semantic, that is, consistent with semantic gender assignment rules, or syntactic, i.e., "agreement consistent with the gender as it would be assigned by morphological or phonological assignment rules" (Corbett 1991: 226). Which alternative is chosen depends (among other things) on the place of the agreement target (the agreeing item) on what Corbett calls the Agreement Hierarchy, where "[a]s we move rightwards ... the likelihood of semantic agreement will increase monotonically (that is, with no intervening decrease)" (ibid.): (7) The Agreement Hierarchy (Corbett 1991: 226): ATTRIBUTIVE < PREDICATE < RELATIVE PRONOUN < PERSONAL PRONOUN

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Corbett then, associates the gender conflict in (6) with the distinction between semantic and formal criteria. We shall now argue that this identification is inadequate, in a number of ways. The first objection is that Corbett's treatment leaves out cases where one way of assigning gender relies on an idiosyncratic lexical gender. Thus, instead of (6), we might quote (8), in which the (archaic) noun Weib 'woman', whose neuter gender is not motivated by its morphological or phonological makeup but has to be seen as an exceptional feature, is used instead of Mädchen: (8)

Ich habe ein Weib gesehen. Sie/es war schön. Ί saw a woman. She/it was beautiful.'

Gender conflicts involving idiosyncratic lexical gender could easily be accommodated by relabelling the second of the two conflicting types of agreement as "nonsemantic" rather than "formal". There are trickier cases, however. Consider a Russian word like vrac 'doctor', which is normally masculine, but may also be treated as a feminine noun when it refers to a female. This gives rise to gender conflicts as when a female doctor may be referred to either as molodoj vrac 'young (masc.) doctor' or as molodaja vrac 'young (fem.) doctor'. Corbett (1991: 183-184) gives the following rather complex description of the behaviour of vrac Thus vrac denoting a female is a 'hybrid' noun... . The choice of form to be used depends in part on the target type. Again this situation results from a conflict of the assignment rules, since the noun denotes a female (and so should be feminine) yet its declensional type is such that it should be masculine... . Taking vrac as a whole, it is a curious composite with one half being masculine, apparently half of a doublegender noun (when a male is denoted), while the other half is a hybrid noun (when a female is denoted).

As we can see, Corbett ascribes the masculine gender of vrac when it refers to a woman - to formal assignment rules, more specifically one referring to its declensional type. He is actually forced to do so to make it fit into his definition of a semantic-syntactic gender conflict. There are, however, similar cases that are considerably more difficult in this regard. The noun sud Ja 'judge' is regarded by Russian normative grammar as masculine only, although it may be used of women as well as of men and most crucially for our discussion ends in -a, which would normally make it feminine. In actual spoken

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Russian, however, it may be treated as a feminine noun, when it is used of females. We thus obtain gender conflicts similar to those found with vrac : a female judge may be talked of as strogij sudja 'strict (masc.) judge' or strogaja sudja 'strict (fem.) judge'. In this case, however, it is clear that one cannot invoke formal rules to explain the masculine gender of sud'ja. It is of course possible to treat it as an exception, and it would then fall under our revised version of Corbett's account, but that does not seem very attractive in view of the fact that sud'ja in this regard follows a general, semantically motivated pattern for Russian nouns denoting professions and the like, which are all masculine if not associated with a very clear female stereotype (such as medsestra '(medical) nurse'). This would leave us with a conflict between two different ways of assigning gender which both appear to be semantic. A somewhat similar situation arises in Swedish. In the so-called weak declension of Swedish adjectives, there is a gender distinction between masculine and nonmasculine, manifested in the choice between the endings -e and -a, respectively. In modern Swedish, this distinction is rather unstable, and intuitions vary. The cases that interest us would not be endorsed by normative grammar, but are not infrequent in texts. Like the Russian examples, they involve female referents using nouns denoting stereotypically male professions. Källström (1993: 101) quotes as a real-life example den avgángne justititeministern Anna-Greta Leijon 'the retired Minister of Law Anna-Greta Leijon', where avgángne takes the masculine ending in agreement with the noun justititeministern 'Minister of Law', in spite of Anna-Greta Leijon being a woman. Another parallel case is quoted by Corbett (1991: 230-231) himself. In Konkani (Indie), neuter agreements are used for young females, but not consistently: one thus finds mixed cases like (9), where awoy 'mother', a feminine noun, is used with an attribute marked as feminine and a verb marked as neuter: (9)

fonici John's.FEM

awoy mother

ay l ε came.NEUT

According to Corbett, the feminine agreement is syntactic and the neuter semantic. However, it would appear that awoy is assigned its feminine gender by a semantic rule 5 , thus again leaving us with a conflict between two semantically assigned genders.

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Still another problematic kind of case is also treated, somewhat cursorily, by Corbett, viz., what he calls (1991: 180-181) "boat nouns". As was mentioned above, ships may be referred to by the pronoun she in English, like also in some other languages (e.g., Swedish), but as Corbett points out, they take the (inanimate) relative pronoun which rather than the animate who, "a pattern allowed for by the Agreement Hierarchy" (Corbett 1991: 236). Corbett actually does not state explicitly which of the alternatives is semantic and which is syntactic, but his reference to the Agreement Hierarchy implies that the feminine gender is semantic. Still, it would appear that the use of the inanimate relative pronoun is also motivated on semantic grounds and in any case, it is hard to see in what sense it would be considered to be based on formal criteria. What is then the alternative? What I would like to suggest here is that such gender conflicts as obey Corbett's Agreement Hierarchy actually represent a conflict between lexical and referential gender. Thus, the choice between masculine and feminine agreement in the case of Russian sud'ja when referring to women as judges is not one between semantic and formal gender but between two kinds of semantic gender: lexical and referential. The gender of a noun, qua lexical item, is decided once and for all, rather than on each occasion when the noun is used. Accordingly, semantic lexical gender tends to depend on general stereotypes connected with the denotations of nouns rather than on concrete properties of referents. For my proposal, it is of some importance to relate the distinction between lexical and referential gender to the animacy-based asymmetry in gender systems, manifested in principle (1). The assumption that I want to make is that the propensity for letting gender be determined referentially rather than lexically increases as we go up the animacy hierarchy. Thus, referential gender will tend to be the default case above the cutoff point mentioned in (1), that is, for the application domain of the semantically determined principle for animate-gender assignment. However, lexical gender may sometimes come to the fore, especially at the leftmost end of the Agreement Hierarchy. Looking at the extreme cases, the Agreement Hierarchy implies (in Corbett's terms) that formal agreement is more probable if the target is an NP-internal adjective than if it is an anaphoric NP agreeing with another NP. If we now substitute "agreement with the lexical properties of a noun" for "formal agreement" here, this would not

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be too surprising: the propensity for lexical agreement would be greatest when the role of the head noun of the NP is most salient, that is, in NP-internal agreement Gender conflicts can be expected to arise whenever the referential gender determined by the properties of the referent of an NP contradicts the lexical gender of its head noun. This may happen in several types of situations, and is compatible with the lexical gender being semantically, formally, or idiosyncratically determined: 1)

2)

3)

When the lexical gender of the head noun is semantically determined, gender conflicts arise if the noun phrase has a referent whose actual properties for one reason or another contradict the stereotypical properties determining the gender associated with the head noun, as in Russian professiondenoting nouns used of females or noun phrases used metonymically, metaphorically or ironically. Examples of conflicts between a formally-determined lexical gender and referential gender are cases like German Mädchen, whose lexical gender can be attributed to its diminutive ending. Finally, a gender conflict may arise in a case like German Weib, whose lexical gender is idiosyncratically determined for that lexeme.

Most of the examples of gender conflicts discussed in Corbett (1991) and elsewhere in the literature concern animate referents. A notable exception is the use of feminine gender for referring to ships, etc., in English and other languages. It seems that it is less common for gender to be assigned to inanimates by general semantically- or referentially-based rules. Such semantic regularities as exist among inanimates tend to be tendencies or default assignments which are in general weaker than the rules applying to animates. However, there is a possible counterexample to what I have just said, in Swedish, in fact. There seems to be a tendency in spoken Swedish to use the "Uter" pronoun den to refer to singular instances of concrete, countable inanimate objects (e.g., pieces of furniture, instruments, etc.), even if the nouns used to refer to these objects are "Neuter" and according to normative grammar, the "Neuter" pronoun det should be used. In the case of NP-internal agreement, on the other hand, "Uter" forms are unlikely with these nouns. One interesting feature of this gender conflict - which indeed seems to obey the Agreement Hierarchy - is that

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it involves semantic properties that are known to interact with animacy, most notably individuation and degree of referentiality. Let us look at the advantages and disadvantages of the treatment I am proposing here. One clear advantage is that it dispenses with complex descriptions like Corbett's treatment of Russian vrac, quoted above, and in general with the notion of "hybrid noun", which means a significant reduction of the number of nouns which are assumed to have more than one gender. A noun like vrac has by itself only one gender, masculine. When it is used with feminine agreement, this is to be explained as agreement depending on referential gender. On the other hand, the treatment I am suggesting may seem to introduce an unwanted redundancy in that we have to assume that, e.g., a Russian noun phrase with a masculine noun as lexical head that refers to a male person is assigned masculine gender simultaneously in two ways: once from the referent and once from the noun. This is, I guess, disturbing especially to those persons whose scientific ideology tells them that a theory which does the same thing twice must be wrong. On the other hand, one may take a rather different view, namely that in human languages, different mechanisms tend to conspire in such a way that they give the same output, and that may in the long run be a more efficient way to construct a language; the assumption that referential and lexical gender tend to work in tandem is not at all repugnant. In addition, this assumption makes it possible to see gender conflicts as aberrant cases where the two mechanisms give contradictory results.

5. Concluding remarks It is perhaps not so common for gender systems to reflect the distinction between animate and inanimate referents directly in the sense that there is one animate and one inanimate gender. In those languages that have such systems, e.g., the Algonquian languages, there is a clear tendency for the animate gender to intrude into the inanimate domain. The importance of animacy distinctions for gender systems is of a more indirect nature, rather as general organizing forces, determining at least partly the choices between referential and lexical or between semantic and nonsemantic gender. In fact,

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I think it is a mistake to think of gender systems as systems for classifying things: to the extent that they do so it is secondary to their function to make it easier to keep track of links between constituents. One obvious question that arises is to what extent the generalizations made above hold also for other things than gender. A closely related phenomenon is that of numeral classifiers. What is said about these systems in the literature suggests that they may be governed by somewhat different principles. There is often a general classifier for animates, but it seems that it is usually not extended to inanimates. This is a matter that calls for further investigation. Other grammatical subsystems may well turn out to be more like gender than numeral classifiers are. Consider, for instance, the genitive endings of masculine nouns in Polish. There are two main alternatives, -a, which is used for animate nouns and some inanimates, and -m, which is used for the rest, that is, only for inanimates. Thus, like in gender systems, there is here a general semantic principle which determines the choice for animate nouns, while inanimates are less predictable. It is somewhat tempting to redefine the term "gender" to include also such subsystems of grammar, but it may be better to keep to Hockett's definition, restricting gender to those distinctions that play a role in agreement, and coin a new label such as "quasigender" for phenomena like Polish genitives. One possible way of summing up the above discussion of gender systems is to describe them as organized around three major dimensions which tend to go together: animate referential semantic

inanimate lexical formal

As I have already suggested, there are of course connections here to the ways in which what has been called the animacy hierarchy interacts with other phenomena in other parts of grammar. The connection between inanimate NPs and lexical/formal gender is perhaps less obvious. One possibly relevant observation is that inanimate noun phrases seem "noun-hungry" in the sense that they tend to require that a lexical noun is present or at least presupposed. Thus, quantifiers like many in many languages are interpreted as having animate referents if they occur without a head noun. (Exceptions are some

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very clear anaphoric uses, where the antecedent contains a lexical head.) The noun-hungriness may also be reflected in a tendency to use definite nouns rather than pronouns as anaphors for inanimate referents, although this is rather difficult to pinpoint (Dahl—Fraurud, forthcoming; Fraurud, forthcoming). This, then, suggests another line for further research.

Notes 1. 2.

3. 4.

5.

The project is financed by the Swedish Research Council for the Human and Social Sciences and the principal investigators are Kari Fraurud and myself. A similar point is made by Nichols (1992: 133), although formulated in a negative way: "... in many (and perhaps) most languages the gender assignment of nouns is semantically arbitrary except for that of animate nouns...". I do not claim originality for this statement, which is suggested more or less explicitly in many earlier treatments. It is not clear how to delimit what here is called "this type of gender conflict". Theoretically, a number of combinations of types of gender assignments are possible, but it is hard to know exactly which of these occur and how they relate to the Agreement Hierarchy. As an example of a word with double gender not involving any semantic considerations one might mention Russian kofe 'coffee', which is idiosyncratically masculine according to normative grammar but which is treated by many speakers according to the general rule that says that nouns in -e should be neuter. There seems to be no reason to assume that the variation between these two gender assignments should have anything to do with the Agreement Hierarchy. Corbett's discussion (1991: 100) of the origin of the Konkani system seems to give support to the idea that there are really two semantically motivated genders involved here. He says that the development started out with the noun cedü which changed its meaning from 'child' to 'girl', triggering a change in the meaning of the neuter gender in such a way that the neuter pronoun tè is now normal for younger females whereas the feminine ti is only used for older women. It's somewhat hard to see how this is reconcilable with the idea that the feminine gender is formal.

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References Aksenov, A. T. 1984 "K problème èkstralingvistiœskoj grammaticeskoj roda" [On the extralinguistic motivation of the grammatical category of gender], Voprosy jazykoznanija. 3. 14-25. Corbett, Greville 1991 Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dahl, Osten—Kan Fraurud (forthcoming). "Animacy in Grammar and Discourse." To appear in: Fretheim, Thorstein—Jeanette Κ. Gundel (eds.). Reference and Referent Accessibility. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Dixon, Robert M. W. 1972 The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. Fraurud, Kari (forthcoming). "Cognitive Ontology and NP Form." To appear in: Fretheim, Thorstein—Jeanette Κ. Gundel (eds.). Reference and Referent Accessibility. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Hockett, Charles F. 1958 A Course in Modern Linguistics. New York: Macmillan. Källström, Roger 1993 Kongruens i svenskan. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Lyons, John 1977 Semantics. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nichols, Johanna 1992 Linguistic diversity in space and time. Chicago—London: University of Chicago Press. Mathiot, Madeleine—M. Roberts. 1979 "Sex roles as revealed through referential gender in American English." in: M. Mathiot (ed.) Ethnolinguistics: Boas, Sapir and Whorf Revisited (Contributions to the Sociology of Language, 27). The Hague: Mouton. 1-27.

Gender assignment revisited Ursula Doleschal

1. Introduction The aim of the present article is to introduce a model of gender assignment devised for Russian (cf. Doleschal 1993). Russian lends itself more easily than other languages, e.g., German (cf. Kopeke— Zubin 1984, Zubin—Kopeke 1981), to such a task, since the gender of a Russian noun is highly predictable from semantic and morphological factors (cf. Corbett 1982; 1991: 34-43). Nevertheless there are some interesting and more intricate phenomena that defy ordered rules and call for a more interactive approach, integrating certain aspects of different approaches and models into a new, schematic, model.

2. What it is all about As a starting point, I will present an overview of gender assignment in Russian on a descriptive level. I adopt Corbett's (1991: 167) point of view that Russian has a three-gender system with 2 subgenders: animate and inanimate. The genders are traditionally called masculine, feminine, and neuter. 2.1. Semantic

assignment

Trivially, nouns denoting humans are assigned a gender according to their semantics, such that nouns denoting males are masculine (m), nouns denoting females are feminine (f) as:

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Table 1. Semantic assignment m

f

otee

'father'

mat'

'mother'

brat

"brother'

sestra

'sister'

papa

'daddy'

mama

'mummy'

djadja

'uncle'

tëtja

'aunt'

There are two classes of personal nouns that complicate this picture: 1. Epicene nouns, i.e., masculine nouns that can refer to both men and women, such as vrac m. 'doctor', ékskursovod m. 'guide'. It is possible for a woman to say of herself: (1)

Ekskursovod. per ed Vami. On podnjal ruku. Guide:m in-front-of you. He:m has-raised:m hand 'Your guide is standing in front of you. He has raised his hand.'

using only masculine agreement forms (example from Corbett 1991: 232). But many masculine epicene nouns show a hybrid behaviour when denoting women, i.e., they may trigger feminine agreement in certain syntactic positions: (2)

vrac skazal-a the doctor:m said-f 'the doctor said'

Hybrid agreement is subject to the agreement hierarchy (Corbett 1991: 225-60). This means that the nouns in question show a consistent masculine agreement pattern and exceptionally allow for feminine agreement in case of a female referent—but not with all agreement targets. 2. The second class are common gender nouns, which differ from hybrid ones by showing two consistent agreement patterns: one mas-

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culine and one feminine. The choice of gender depends on the sex of the intended referent, e.g.: (3)

Ivan — nas nov-yj kollega Ivan: m our:m new-m colleague:m/f 'Ivan is our new (male) colleague.1 vs. Nina — nas-a nov-aja kollega Nina:f our-f new-f colleague:m/f 'Nina is our new (female) colleague.'

In case of an unspecific referent (whose sex is undetermined) one group of common gender nouns shows masculine agreement, another one feminine, e.g.: (4)

vsjak-ij kollega any-m colleague 'any colleague"

ljub-aja kroska any-f tot 'any tot'

The first group of common gender nouns is therefore cosidered unmarkedly masculine, the second unmarkedly feminine. But as epicene nouns the first group (with unmarked masculine gender) may refer to women and at the same time trigger masculine agreement: (5)

nas nov-yj kollega Nina our:m new-m colleague Nina:f 'our new colleague Nina Stepanova'

Stepanova Stepanova:f

Similarly, common gender nouns with unmarked feminine gender may trigger feminine agreement while referring to male beings: (6)

Vanja — tak-aja kroska Vanja:m such-m (little) tot 'Vanja is such a little tot.'

See Doleschal (1993: 112-127) for discussion and further references.

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2.2. Morphological assignment This type of gender assignment is based on declensional class (including indeclinability, contra Beard 1995: 107). Russian declensional classes are traditionally referred to by numbers, such that the "first" declension (I) comprises masculines with a base form ending in a consonant and neuters ending in -o (the remnants of the IE o-declension); the "second" declension (II) comprises feminine and masculine nouns ending in -a (the IE α-declension); the "third" declension (III; the IE /-declension) comprises feminines ending in a soft consonant; and the "fourth" declension (IV; IE consonantal declension) contains neuters with a soft stem, an /amending and an expanded stem in the oblique cases.2 Corbett (1982, see also Fraser—Corbett 1995) breaks up the traditional first declension, subsuming under declension I only the masculine paradigm, while the neuter paradigm is referred to as declension IV, and the traditional fourth declension is neglected altogether. Still another classification has been put forward by Zaliznjak (1967: 204), which essentially differentiates five paradigms (Corbett's four plus the traditional fourth declension) plus a sixth one for the isolated exceptional masculine noun put' 'path'. The classification used in the present article (table 2) is a compromise between these views, such that the traditional numeration can be preserved, but the different paradigms still be separated. Therefore Table 2. Correlation of gender and declensional class declension

la

lb

Π

III

IV

park 'park'

vino 'wine'

lampa 'lamp'

model' 'model'

semja 'seed'

gender

m

η (m) 3

f (m)

f (m)

η

ending of base form (Nominai.)

C#

-o

-a

C[+pal]#

C[+pal]-«4

example

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the masculine paradigm of the first declension will be called la, the neuter one lb. The remaining declensions will be referred to by the same numbers as in traditional grammar. No separate class is being put forward for put'm. 2.3. Phenomena to be accounted for by a model of gender assignment 2.3.1. Declinable nouns 1. All nouns of declension la with the base form ending in a consonant are masculine: otee m. 'father', syn m. 'son', park m. 'park' etc. (eventually, they may be hybrid as vrac m.(f.) 'physician'). 2. Most nouns of declension lb ending in -o 5 (vino n. 'wine', more n. 'sea', lieo η. 'face, person' etc.) are neuter except for podmaster'e m. 'apprentice' and nouns derived by the evaluative suffixes -isce, -isko, -usko which keep the masculine gender if derived from masculine bases: skandal-isce m. 'scandal-AUGM', pal't-isko m. 'coat-DIM', xleb-usko m. 'bread-DIM'. 3. Nouns of declension II ending in -a are by default feminine {mama f. 'mummy', sestra f. 'sister', lampa f. 'lamp' etc.), but there are also some very prominent masculines as papa m. 'daddy', djadja m. 'uncle', muzcina m. 'man', some names as Nikita m., Il'ja m., and very many productively derived hypochoristics as Vanja m., Andrjusa m. Moreover all common gender nouns (kollega m.+f. 'colleague', starosta m.+f. 'elder', zanuda m.+f. 'pain in the neck, boring person', kroska 'tot' etc., (which make up about 400 according to Zaliznjak 1977) belong here. And there are some more transparent suffixes in this class as -ina, -iska, -uska, deriving masculines from masculine bases: syn-iska m. 'son-DIM', mal'c-iska m. 'boy-DIM', sosed-iiska m. 'neighbour-DIM', golos-ina m. 'voice-DIM'. 4. Nouns of declension III ending in a soft (palatalized) consonant are feminine (mat' f. 'mother', doc' f. 'daughter', vanii' f. 'vanilla' etc.) with the exception of put'm. 'path' which has a different (typically m./n.) instrumental ending as well.

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5. All (20 or so) nouns ending in -C[ +pa i]-a of the unproductive declension IV are neuter (vremja n. 'time', semja n. 'seed' imja n. 'name' etc.). 2.3.2. Indeclinable nouns Indeclinables such as abbreviations {zavkafedroj m.+f. 'head of department', GÉS f. 'hydroelectric power station' [=Gidroélektrostancija], KGB m. 'Russian secret service' [=Komitet Gosudarstvennoj Bezopasnosti 'Committee of National Security']), foreign words and names ending in a vowel (attase m.+f. 'attaché', sosse η. 'highway', pal'to η. 'coat', metro n. 'underground', tango n. 'tango' , kenguru m.+f. 'kangaroo'; Mali m.+n„ Tokio η.; Sandro m.) or female names and personal nouns ending in a consonant (Brizit f.; miss f. 'miss') and some idiosyncratic exceptions as surnames ending in -ko, -yx/ix (Janko m.+f., Dolgix m.+f.), can be divided as follows: 1. animate la. persons: gender is assigned according to sex. In case of abstraction from sex, the noun is masculine: attase m. 'attaché', madam f. 'madam', ledi f. 'lady', Sandro m., Briit f. Since some nouns of this group can refer both to women and men, they are of common gender: zavkafedroj m.+f. 'head of department', zamdirektora m.+f. 'deputy director'. lb. animals: gender is assigned as in nouns for persons, kenguru m.+f. 'kangaroo', kolibri m.+f. 'kolibri'; but cece f. 'tse-tse fly', ivasi f. 'iwashi' (kind of fish) are feminine, probably by association with muxa f. 'fly' and ryba f. 'fish' or selëdka f. 'herring'. 2. inanimate 2a. proper names: towns are masculine: Baku m., Tokio m. Countries vary between masculine and neuter: Nikaragua m.~n., Mali m.~n. Rivers are feminine: Mississippi f., Po f. Newspapers and firms are feminine: Tajms f. 'Times', Olivetti f. 2b. common nouns are usually neuter: viski n. 'whiskey', sosse η. 'highway', pal'to n. 'coat', metro n. 'underground', interv'ju n. 'interview', etc. But there is quite a large number of indeclinable common nouns showing a gender other than neuter. Usually this is explained by semantic association with respective hyperonyms, as: saljami f.

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'salami' (with kolbasa f. 'sausage'), kol'rabi f. 'kohlrabi' (with kapusta f. 'cabbage'), penal'ti m. 'penalty' (with udar m. 'kick'). 2c. abbreviations: Russian abbreviations are assigned the gender of their semantic head: KGB m. 'KGB' (head noun komitet m. 'committee', GES f. 'hydroelectric power station' (head noun stancija f. 'station'), foreign ones are assigned the gender of a respective Russian hyperonym: JUNESKO f. 'UNESCO' because of organizacija f. 'organization'. Sometimes variation can be observed, especially if the hyperonym is unclear as in NATO n.~m. (blok m. 'block', dogovor m. 'treaty', or no hyperonym —> n., as common nouns).

3. Corbett's model and critique The first (and so far only) rule-based account of gender assignment in Russian was proposed by Corbett (1982). For convenience Corbett's (1982, 1991: 40-41) rules of gender assignment are repeated here: Semantic assignment For sex-differentiable nouns: 1. Nouns denoting males are masculine 2. Nouns denoting females are feminine Morphological assignment For declinable nouns: 1. nouns of declensional type I are masculine 2. nouns of declensional types II and ΠΙ are feminine 3. nouns of declensional type IV6 are neuter For indeclinable nouns 1. for acronyms, take the head noun; the gender is then determined to the rules just given (that is, go back to 'morphological assignment for declinable nouns') 2. nouns denoting animates are masculine 3. others are neuter It is crucial for this account that the rules be applied in this order. But precisely this characteristic causes the following problems:

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1. The exceptional gender of indeclinable nouns as saljami f. but also Tokio m., Baku m., where masculine gender assignment is productive, cannot be motivated. 2. It is not quite clear by which rule personal nouns get their gender if they potentially refer both to men and women, as ueitel' m. 'teacher', vrac m. 'physician', but also attase, m.+f. 'attaché', burzua m.+f. 'bourgeois', unless one stipulates that masculine nouns are inherently male. By the way, there is a class of masculine nouns referring exclusively to women, namely hypochoristic names as Lizocek m. 'LizaDIM', Lidok m. 'Lida-DIM' which to my mind cannot be accounted for by Corbett's model even if a pragmatic rule was put forward providing that nouns denoting males may be used in the context of abstraction from sex to denote both sexes or females exclusively. 3. But even in case of such a provision a lot of common gender nouns like umnica m.+f. 'clever person', skotina m.+f. 'brute' pose a problem, since these may trigger feminine agreement, when used with reference to males. 4. It is unclear, how hybrid nouns arise. 5. Corbett strongly argues for a one-way dependency of the gender feature on the declensional class feature, excluding the other direction completely, while to my mind there is at least one case in contemporary Russian (and some more in the history of the Russian language) where declensional class is determined by gender: in the case of masculine nouns derived by -isko, -usko changing from declension lb into declension Π, as, e.g., dom-isko m. > dom-iska m. 'house-DIM'. Beside that, I contend that it is not clear, if nouns get assigned a declension on the basis of their base form which consequently assigns gender as Corbett argues, or if the base form is taken to assign a gender independently of declensional class (e.g., on phonological and semantic grounds, as argued by Wurzel (1985: 112-121). Taking external evidence such as language change, borrowings, acquisition, into account (see Doleschal 1993: 65-68 for a more detailed discussion) one finds that there is no clear solution for any of the two possible approaches. The hypothesis that gender alone assigns declensio-

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nal class—as proposed again by Aronoff (1994)—has to be abandoned though. It is more common and in line with the tradition of the field to view gender as a basic, primitive, category which can be used as a point of reference for the structuring of declensional classes (cf., e.g., Zaliznjak 1967, Wurzel 1985, Dressler—Thornton 1996, Bittner this volume, and many others). But the relation between declensional classes and gender is hardly ever such that a unique mapping from gender to declension is possible, simply because in inflectional languages there are usually more declensions than there are genders. Therefore even in a language, as, e.g., Czech, where the correlation between declensional class and gender is much more unique than in Russian, it is more consistent and simpler to map declension on gender than the other way round. But it can be deduced from external evidence such as borrowings that Czech assigns declension on the basis of gender, since borrowings usually retain the gender of their source language. Nevertheless even in Czech there is a residue of indeclinable nouns which, just as in Russian, get assigned neuter gender in spite of their source language. On the other hand, Russian speakers often feel uncomfortable when asked about the gender of abbreviations they are not familiar with or even names of countries that are indeclinable (e.g., Peru). They prefer to use them with a classifier such as gosudarstvo n. 'state' or strana f. 'country'. This is evidence for the view that neologisms are not immediately assigned gender, but only if the syntactic context makes it necessary to use an agreeing form. Since this necessity probably occurs less often than the necessity to use a case form (cf. also the data from acquisition, Wegener this volume) gender may remain unspecified while declensional class must not. I therefore argue that there is no universal preference for the directionality of the interrelation of gender and declensional class, and even in one and the same language mappings may occur in both directions, although usually one direction will be preferred systematically over the other. Thus, e.g., in contemporary Russian the mapping of declension on gender is the overall preference, but in morphological change the other direction may come into play, too. E.g., male names ending in -o (Marko m., Sadko m.) have obviously become indeclinable, because they would otherwise belong to a declension (lb) which assigns neuter gender. Consequently, the declension of these nouns has changed in dependence of their gender.

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Doleschal

To my mind, only the first problem (cf. above) can be solved within Corbett's model. It certainly is not a principled problem for Corbett's rule format to introduce some more subrules for indeclinables, e.g., TOWN —> m. As to personal nouns (problem 2), there is an interesting solution by Beard (1996, 1995), to which we will return below, section 4.4.2. He classifies nouns that potentially refer to men and women as doubly marked by the referential features [+Masculine, +Feminine], whereas purely male nouns like papa m. 'daddy' would be marked [+Masculine, -Feminine]. In this system, nouns are masculine if they are marked [+Masculine, ±Feminine], feminine if [-Masculine, +Feminine]. With such a provision the masculine gender of epicene nouns can also be solved in favour of Corbett's model. The remaining problems (masculine hypochoristics denoting women, hybrid nouns, common gender nouns, variation and change of gender and declension) cannot be handled by Corbett's rules for principled reasons, for these rules operate within the lexicon, creating unique lexical features which are then referred to by the syntax. In order to cope with hybrid and common gender nouns within such a model it is necessary to posit double lexical entries for nouns belonging to these two groups, one marked as lexically male, the other as lexically female, with the respective gender features which are correctly selected by the syntax according to the referential necessities of the sentence. Such a solution has been put forward by Iomdin (1990: 80), following Zaliznjak (1967: 67). Beard (1995) proposes that the feminine variant of common gender nouns be derived by zero-derivation from the masculine one such that one gets kollega m. 'colleague' [+Masculine, ± Feminine] referring to both males and females and kollega f. [- Masculine, + Feminine] referring exclusively to females. Again, this does not solve the problem of Lizocek m. (problem 2). In the following section I will show, how these apparent aberrances can be integrated into a model of gender assignment.

4. The alternative model It mainly depends on one's conception of grammar and grammatical theory, whether one considers the aforementioned problems of gen-

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der assignment serious or less so. To my mind a model describing not only regular rules but also variation and marginal phenomena is superior to one that sees the core of a phenomenon as its main concern (cf. Fraser—Corbett 1995: fn. 11). This wider aim is a tenet of Natural Phonology and Morphology on the one hand (cf. Dressler— Wodak 1982, Dressler 1989), and on the other hand, but with different theoretical implications, of Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1991)—theories to both of which I owe my own theoretical background. With an integrative approach combining this theoretical equipment I hope to overcome the difficulties (cf. section 3) of gender assignment in Russian. The present model is inspired partly by Bybee's (1985) notation of morphological paradigms and partly by Langacker's (1988) format of describing agreement. Gender assignment is achieved by the interaction of various schemata that generalize the relevant features of nouns. Nouns are associated with these schemata and in this way get assigned gender. A gender schema consists of two parts: • one part is a model of the semantic or morphological features responsible for gender assignment or, on another hierarchical level, the syntactic element (noun, pronoun) characterized by such features (cf. the left side of figure 1); • the other one is the gender feature abstracted thereof (cf. the right side of figure 1). An example for an abstract gender schema is the following:

•DtZI [zrcD

Figure 1. Abstract gender schema

X can be substituted for by any element assigning gender. In case it is substituted for by a noun, the abstract gender feature m, f, η is the lexical gender of this noun. In running text the schemata are represented without the boxes, e.g., XAm, X A f, ΧΛη.

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Ursula Doleschal

The categorial gender schema (which represents the link with the syntax, see section 5.), e.g., the feminine XAf, is an abstraction of a class of subschemata of the described format. Any noun takes part in the category of gender by association to various subschemata that generalize its semantic and morphological features. Such a participation is to be understood as a network: lexical entries are associated with the respective schema, i.e., the schema need not be stored with every single lexical entry, but it exists as an underlying pattern and lexemes adhere to it by association lines replacing lexical features which would otherwise be stored within the lexical entry. The subschemata are connected with the categorial schema and between themselves via the gender feature part which in my conception exists only once, as a single node (or box), to which all relevant (subschemata adhere. Moreover, subschemata may be interconnected between each other.

legend:

r^i

categorial gender schema: X: element ready for the syntax

f: gender feature (here: feminine)

subschemata:

1ΑΓ 1/sr

α

β γ

semantic and/or morphological features

lexical representation of a specific noun

association lines

Figure 2. Graphical representation of schema and subschema

Gender assignment revisited

129

So I posit the three categorial gender schemata Masculine, Feminine, Neuter plus the following types of subschemata: semantic and morphological schemata. 4.1. Semantic schemata Naturally there are semantic schemata for sex-specification: MAm, FAf and for animacy, e.g., animAmi. I further posit from internal and experimental evidence a subschema impersAn for the Neuter and humanAm for the Masculine. Furthermore I adopt semantic schemata for indeclinable nouns, such as townAm, organization^ to account for the gender of nouns like Baku m. and JUNESKO f. There are probably many more of these semantic schemata, and I will posit some others below. 4.2. Morphological schemata Since gender assignment in Russian, as in many other languages, is not strictly semantic, I adopt a second subtype of gender subschema, the morphological schemata. These are the declensional class schema and the base form schema in the first place. The left part of the declensional class schema consists of the whole paradigm of endings of a respective declensional class, e.g., declension III (the vertically arranged case endings are genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, prepositive; only the singular is being represented here, although I conceive of a declensional class as consisting of both singular and plural, counter Beard): f

=

-i -i Q+pall#l -ju -i Figure 3. Declensional class schema

III

/ N

f

130

Ursula Doleschcd

This schema will be abbreviated as I I I a f 7 . All nouns belonging to declension III are associated with the single endings and thus partake in the declensional class schema.

Figure 4. Association of a lexical noun with a declensional class schema

A base form schema is a "métonymie model" of a declensional class schema that is being hypostasized because of the special salience of the base form. For declension ΠΙ the base form schema would be as follows: C[+pai]#. This means that the base form of a declensional class has an extra association with the gender feature, while the remaining case-number endings together are associated via the declensional class schema.

Figure 5. Base form schema

The declensional class schema is always associated with its respective base form schema8; c,, ,, # / S m

f f

Figure 6. Connection between the base form schema and the declensional class schema of declension III

Gender assignment revisited

131

Practically speaking, a base form schema is a morphological interpretation of a phonological form that represents the first step in the assignment of a declensional class. Through the association with a corresponding base form schema a noun, e.g., a loan as vanii' f. 'vanilla', is indirectly associated with a corresponding declensional class schema, and in case it needs to be declined will be associated with the single endings and eventually be assigned to the declension as a whole. The base form schema on the one hand and the declensional class schema on the other associate the noun with a gender value, i.e., the respective gender schema (here the feminine one). Let us now compare the base form schemata of declensions III and la (figure 4 and figure 7):

Γ^ΥΤΉ Figure 7. Base form schema of declension la

The base forms of declensions la and III both end in a consonant, where the one of declension ΙΠ (any palatalized consonant) is a genuine subset of the one of declension la (any consonant). Therefore the base form schemata of declensions la and III overlap. Even more so do the declensional class schemata of declension II which show a feminine and a masculine variant: II A f, IIAm and therefore can be summarized as a double-sided schema of the form f A II A m. In such a way the participation of declension II in both the feminine and the masculine gender schema can be modelled: f

π

/s

m

Figure 8. Formal representation of the participation of declension II in f and m

These double-sided schemata account for the fact that nouns of declension II may be either feminine as lampa f. 'lamp' or masculine as papa m. 'daddy' (cf. table 2), the endings of this declension are ambiguous with respect to the signalization of gender. This entails that any noun associated with declension II is associated both with the feminine and the masculine gender schema.

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4.2.3. Schemata of indeclinable nouns A special subtype of the morphological schemata is constituted by the schemata for indeclinable nouns. Indeclinable schemata are analogous to declensional class schemata, except for the lack of a corresponding base form schema, since there is no characteristic base form for indeclinable nouns in Russian 9 . They will be abbreviated idclAm, idclAf, idclAn. Since abbreviations are usually indeclinable in Russian, this is accounted for by a special type of schema that mediates between the head noun of an abbreviation and the respective abbreviation itself and thus guarantees that the gender association will be the same as for the head noun, e.g., GÉS [=gidroélektrostancija] f. 'hydroelectric power station' and the head noun stancija, such that GÈS will be associated with a schema abbr(f)Af. Semantic schemata of indeclinable nouns (cf. 4.1.) which are responsible for the association of the latter with a gender other than neuter are linked with the morphological indeclinable schemata in such a way that they apply only if a word has been identified as indeclinable, e.g., the schema sausageAf accounting for the feminine gender of saljami f. 'salami' with the morphological schema idclAf10.

4.3. Gender schemata 4.3.1. Masculine In this section the single schemata will be explicated in more detail for the masculine gender. The Masculine consists of at least the following subschemata representing the following phenomena (figure 9, next page). 4.3.1.1. Semantic schemata The human schema humanAm provides for the masculine potential of nouns that may refer both to women and men, especially when abstracting from sex, as in (7):

Gender assignment

human

M

η :

c#

Γ ΐ -ij

la

m adj-m 1 / s

η M /s

revisited

133

/IS ιΛί m

-0

Ib idei abbr(m)

/ S

m

ri r t r t

Figure 9. The Masculine

(7)

Xoros-ij uciteV dolzen byt' obrazovann-yj good-m teacher:m must:m be educated-m Ά good teacher has to be an educated person'.

celovek. person:m

Beside that this schema is also responsible for the sex-unspecific reading of masculine demonstratives and adjectives in a generalized personal use as in: (8)

Neprijatno byt' obmanut-ym. unpleasant be deceived-m 'It is unpleasant to get deceived.'

(9)

Nexoroso obmanut' not-good deceive tvoemu your

t-ogo, kto verit kazdomu that-m who believes every

slovu. word

'It is bad to deceive someone who believes in every single word of yours'. The schema animAmi indicates that animate nouns may be assigned to the masculine gender and then belong in the animate subgender (and of course the animate subtype of the respective declension). The subgender is indicated by the subscript: mi.

134

Ursula

Doleschal

The semantic subschema MAm corresponds to Corbett's rule "Nouns denoting males are masculine", i.e., it formulates that a noun has a masculine potential if it is lexically or referentially specified to denote a male being (cf. Corbett 1991: 40). 4.3.1.2. Morphological schemata The base form schema C#Am refers to the potential of a noun ending in a consonant to signalize or get assigned masculine gender. The declensional class schema IaAm corresponds to Corbett's rule "nouns belonging to declension type I are masculine" (cf. Corbett 1991:40). -aAm—IIAm It may be surprising to find the default feminine declension represented in the masculine gender schema as base form schema -aAm and declensional class schema IIAm. This is to account for animate masculines, such as junosa m. 'young fellow', muzcina m. 'man', common gender nouns as kollega m.+f. 'colleague' and inanimates as golosina m. 'voice-DIM'. -oAm—IbAm What holds for -aAm—HAm is also true for the base form and declensional class schemata -oAm—IbAm, which is the default declension of the Neuter, in order to account for podmaster'e m. 'apprentice', xlebusko m. 'bread-DIM', skandalisce m. 'scandal-AUGM' etc. 11 -ij A m—adj-m A m The base form schema -ij A m stands for nominalized adjectives as zavedujuscij m. 'manager', vzroslyi m. 'adult', as does the declensional class schema adj-mAm. 4.3.1.3. Schema of indeclinable masculine nouns idclAm and abbr(m)Am The idclAm schema indicates that indeclinables may belong to the Masculine.

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135

The abbreviation schema abbr(m)Am mediates between the head of the abbreviation and the respective noun itself and guarantees that abbreviations with a masculine head noun get assigned to the masculine gender as KGB m. 'KGB' (komitet m. 'committee'), SSSR m. 'USSR' (sojuz m. 'union'), VINITI m. (Vsesojuznyj institut m. naucnoj i texniceskoj informacii) 'All-Union institute of scientific and technical information' (institut m. 'institute').

4.3.1.4. Status of the schemata Now that the formal representation of the schemata has been introduced the status of these schemata in the model will be explained: firstly they generalize the morphological and semantic features of actual nouns in a schematic way and in this way are comparable to morphological redundancy rules. On the other hand they serve as a basis for comparison by which new nouns get assigned gender and in this way are comparable to Corbett's gender assignment rules except for one crucial difference: they are not ordered in a strict sense and are allowed to apply all at the same time. Moreover gender is never assigned by only one schema, but through the interplay of various ones—either morphological or semantic or both—such that, e.g., Corbett's "semantic assignment" is not achieved by semantic schemata alone, and "morphological assignment" is not carried out by only one declensional class schema. All types of schemata have the same status, semantic ones are not prior to morphological ones and vice versa. A certain hierarchy is brought about by the relative strength of some schemata (see section 4.4.) and the dependence of some subschemata on other ones, e.g., the declensional class schema on the base form schema or the semantic indeclinable schemata on the morphological indeclinable ones. The more schemata are applicable, the firmer gender assignment is for a concrete noun and the less variation is to be expected. A prototypical case of masculine gender assignment would be the noun professor m. 'professor' which (according to my informants) is usually not applied to denote women in referential NPs, i.e., is lexically male (cf. Doleschal 1993: 70-76). It is associated with 5 masculine subschemata:

136

Ursula

Doleschal

(10) professor 'professor'

humAm MAm animAmi C#Am—IaAm

A noun like park m. 'park' is associated with two of the schemata presented so far, muzcina m. 'man' with four schemata, cf. examples (11) to (15) in which the resp. schemata will be ordered according to the relative centrality for the gender in question: (11) park 'park'

C#Am—IaAm

(12) muzcina 'man'

MAm animAmi -aAm—IIAm

(13) attase 'attaché'

MAm animAmi idclAm humAm

(14) Baku

idclAm townAm

(15) SSSR 'USSR'

C#Am idclAm abbrAm

A recent loan word as komp'juter m. 'computer' or impicment m. 'impeachment' as a first step activizes the base form schema C#Am and at the same time indirectly the declensional class schema IaAm to which it is eventually associated by its single endings. By these associations it is assigned both to declension and gender. In fig. 10 the primary association of the loan word with the base form schema of declension la is symbolized by a single line. Since the base form is part of the declension and the base form schema and declensional class schema are always interconnected, the loan word gets associated with declension la via the declensional class schema. Therefore the probability that it will be declined according to this declension is high. This is indicated by the dotted lines between the

Gender assignment revisited

137

loan word and the single endings of la. Eventually these endings will be associated individually, when declension actually occurs. This is then symbolized by a single line to the declensional class schema.

(Plural)

Figure 10. Association of recent loan words

After this exposition of the masculine gender we may proceed to the Feminine and the Neuter which are structured in the same way. 4.3.2.

Feminine

Figure 11 shows the structure of the feminine:

-aja

rt m

adj-:TVS'

η

m π

l/N

C[+pal]#K]N m idei

re re re

abbr(f) Figure 11. The Feminine

Γ

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Ursula Doleschal

4.3.2.1. Semantic schemata FAf is comparable to .i.Corbett;'s rule "nouns denoting females are feminine" (Corbett 1991: 40) and account for the feminine potential of nouns as: zenscina f. 'woman', sestra f. 'sister', kassirsa f. 'woman cashier'. The schema a n i m ^ accounts for nouns as zertva f. 'victim' belonging to the animate subgender of the Feminine. 4.3.2.2. Morphological schemata The base form and declensional class schemata -a A f—II A f generalize the properties of nouns as kartina f. 'picture', lampa f. 'lamp'. The base form and declensional class schemata C[ +pa i] A f—III A f generalize the properties of nouns as mat' f. 'mother', vanii' f. 'vanilla'. The base form and declensional class schemata -aja A f—adj-f A f indicate that nominalized adjectives as saslycnaja f. 'shashlik place', kofejnaja f. 'café' are associated with the Feminine. 4.3.2.3. Schema of indeclinable feminine nouns The schemata idclAf and abbr(f)Af account for the feminine assignment of nouns like miss f. 'miss', madam f. 'madam', Spree f. 'Spree', Mississippi f., GÈS f. (gidroélektrostancija 'hydroelectric power station'), ÈVMf. (èlektronnaja vycislitel'naja masina 'computer'). 4.3.3. Neuter Figure 12 shows the structure of the neuter (next page). 4.3.3.1. Semantic schemata The semantic schema impersAn operates on the syntactic level (see section 5), accounting for the neuter agreement with non-prototypical controllers (.i.Corbett; 1991: 203) as in (16):

Gender assignment revisited

impers

η

thing

anim

n

-0

l

-oje ι / ν

Ib

adj-n

idei

η

/ S

η

m re

139

l/N

[+pal] -a

IV

/ s

abbr(n) l / \ J

Figure 12. The Neuter

(16) Mne xolodn-o to-me cold-n Ί am cold.' (17) Ego zanesl-o snegom. him covered-n by-snow 'He was covered by snow.' The semantic schema thingAn describes the fact that typically no animate nouns are assigned to the Neuter. By the way, such a semantic schema has to be postulated for the Masculine and Feminine as well, in order to account for the inanimate nouns belonging to these genders (cf. figure 13 overview). The semantic subschema anim A n! accounts for the fact that the few animate nouns in the neuter gender are assigned to the animate subgender: zivotnoe n. 'animal', lieo η. 'person'. 4.3.3.2. Morphological schemata The base form and declensional class schemata -ο Λ η—Ib A n account for the neuter potential of nouns as vino n. 'wine', agentstvo n. 'agency', more n. 'sea'. The base form and declensional class schemata C[ +pa i]-a A n—IV A n assign nouns as vremja n. 'time', imja n. 'name' to the neuter gender.

140

Ursula

Doleschal

The base form and declensional class schemata -oje A n—adj-n A n generalize the properties of nominalized adjectives as zarkoe n. 'roast', beloe n. 'the white', staroe n. 'the old', novoe n. 'the new' etc.

4.3.3.3. Schema of indeclinable neuter nouns The schema idclAn (together with thingA-n) assigns nouns as pal'to n. 'coat', sosse η. 'highway', getto η. 'ghetto' to the Neuter. As in the other genders the schema abbr(n) A -n accounts for abbreviations with a neuter head as MID n. (ministerstvo n. inostrannyx del 'ministry of foreign affairs'), APN η. (agentstvo η. press Novosti 'press agency Novosti'). Figure 13 (next page) is an overview of the three gender schemata and their basic subschemata 12 (the prototypical nuclei are printed in gray color). As has been mentioned before, many of these subschemata overlap, i.e., their semantic or morphological feature part is part of more than one subschema, e.g., declension II of the Feminine and Masculine, declension lb both of the Neuter and the Masculine 13 , the idei schema of all three etc. But for every gender schema there is a prototypical complex of subschemata that, if applying together, will render gender assignment unequivocal: For the Masculine this is the coincidence of the schemata M A m, C# A m—Ia A m. The prototypical nucleus of the Feminine is made up of F A f, -aAf—IIAf and the one of the Neuter -oAn—IbAn, thingAn and idclAn. Table 3. Schemata making up the prototypical nucleus of each gender m

f

η

A

M m

A

F f

thingAn

C#Am—IaAm

-a A f—H A f

-οΛη—IbAn idclAn

4.4. How it works Let us now have a look in more detail at how gender assignment works in my model, i.e., how nouns are assigned their lexical gender.

Gender assignment revisited

«4-Η

«4-1

•a α.

mm

χ

Θ

es •ψ

adj-f

r r s ë i BasicNoun (> SuperCat). That is, whenever the form of the name, i.e., the MorphLex principle, spoke in favor of a certain gender, that gender was chosen. If the form did not tell, the BasicNoun principle was applied. (The SuperCat principle "won" in one case only: in the article before the desert name Sahara.) This consistent rule application of course produced a heavy bias

Proper names and gender in Swedish

193

towards more formal principles and a number of incorrect gender assignments, such as den vackra Härjedalen 'the= u beautiful Härjedalen', lit.: '//ärje-valley-DEF^U, a ρ r o v i n e e), since the actual system is much more complex. In evaluating the present questionnaires, I think one should be aware of a possible bias in favor of the MorphLex principle over the other principles and maybe also of the BasicNoun principle over the SuperCat principle. The second methodological issue has to do with the evaluation of the sentence completion task in Q2. Also in evaluating these answers one has to be cautious. A subject's choice of a noun may give some indication of what he or she knows and does not know about what the name refers to, but is in no simple way related to his or her preceding gender choice. While a correct description implies utilization of this knowledge, the converse is not true. That is, an incorrect answer to the sentence completion task does not necessarily mean that the subject, when choosing gender for that name in the preceding task, was not influenced by a correct view of what kind of object the name refers to—suggested by the context. 4.2. ΝΡ-internal and NP-external agreement One factor that is likely to influence language users' preferences regarding gender assignment is the type of agreement target, in the present context determiners versus predicate complements. Differences with regard to NP-internal and NP-external agreement are generally not mentioned in the grammars. The one exception is SAG, where it is stated about names of "intellectual products" like n e w s p a p e r s that, if the name is a lexicalized definite Neuter form, it NP-internally takes Neuter and NP-externally Neuter or Uter, e.g., (4)

det 'the=N

välredigerade Aftonbladet well-edited Aftonbladet'

vs. Aftonbladet 'Aftonbladet

anses trâkig / tràkigit) is considered (to be) boring=N / boring=U'.

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This would appear to be in accordance with Corbett's Agreement Hierarchy (Corbettl991: 226), which—among other things—implies that the likelihood of "semantic" (as opposed to "syntactic") agreement increases when we move from NP-internal to NP-external agreement. Transferred to the gender assignment principles presented here, the hierarchy might be taken to predict a preference order "SuperCat > BasicNoun > MorphLex" correlating with the type of agreement target. The MorphLex principle is clearly the least semantic one, and the BasicNoun principle, still involving the notion of a noun, is in some sense less semantic than the SuperCat principle. Thus, whenever there is variation due to the competition between two of these principles, we would expect to find that, for predicate complements as compared to definite articles, people favor the SuperCat principle over the BasicNoun principle, and the BasicNoun principle over the MorphLex principle. The present questionnaires do not cover this issue in any systematic way. In Q2 I chose to concentrate on NP-internal agreement, since I had to limit the number of sentences and since Q1 suggested that NP-external agreement is even more open to variation than NPinternal agreement8. There are, however, two pairs of sentences in Q2 that make a comparison possible (no. 13 and 18, and no. 8 and 19). The first involves the l a k e name Torne träsk, which can be assigned either Uter in accordance with the basic-level noun sjö-U 'lake', or Neuter, in accordance with the common noun träsk=N 'swamp' occurring in the name. As seen in table 7, the tendency to choose Neuter—i.e., presumably, to follow the MorphLex rather than the BasicNoun principle—is stronger for the determiner (84%) than for the predicate complement (69%). Table 7. Distributions over combinations of chosen gender for the lake Torne träsk with different agreement targets Agreement target

Combinations of chosen genders

Determiner

84% Ν

Ν

Pred. comp.

69% Ν

N

Subjects per combination

49 (61%)

Ν U

U

υ υ

6 (8%)

7 (9%)

N 18 (23%)

(Here and in the following tables 8-10, the total percentage of subjects favoring one gender is given in italics after the name.) On

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195

the other hand, no implicational pattern is found in the combinations of choices; 8% of the subjects did not comply to this tendency. A similar pattern, but with reversed genders, is seen in the pair of sentences involving the l a k e name Ladoga (table 8)—although it is less clear what accounts for the Neuter choice here, a question that I will return to below. Table 8. Distribution over combinations of chosen gender for the lake Ladoga with different agreement targets Agreement target

Combinations of chosen genders

Determiner

74Ψο Ν

U

U

Ν

Ν

Pred. comp.

59% Ν

U

Ν

U

Ν

37(46%)

22(28%)

10(13%)

11 (14%)

Subjects per combination

The third name occurring in a pair of sentences was Titanic. This case is different, however, since the variation probably does not reflect a conflict between gender assignment principles but rather between favored basic-level nouns (see below). As might therefore be expected, the difference between the NP-internal and the NP-external gender assignment is minimal (80% and 83%, respectively). Clearly, more data is needed in order to be able to say anything more conclusive about the relevance of the Agreement Hierarchy to the assignment of gender to proper names in Swedish.

4.3. Sources of inter-individual variation in gender assignment If we look at the different names and the distribution of gender choices in Q2 (Appendix 2), we first note a few names for which a vast majority of subjects agreed with each other, as well as with the grammars and the assignment model described in (B) and figure 2 above, namely: Kalifornien 'California', Härjedalen (a Swedish province), Sovjetunionen 'Soviet Union', Versailles, Elbe and Times (internal agreement). These will not be discussed here, since— allowing for more or less accidental "slips of the pen"—it is hardly meaningful to take into consideration deviations from the majority gender choice represented by only 5% or less of the subjects. All the other names displayed different degrees of inter-individual variation

196

Kari Fraurud

in gender assignment. There are several possible sources of this variation, some of which can be explained within the gender assignment model, and others that may have to be acknowledged as additional, possibly independent, factors influencing the gender choice. Most of the variation can be accounted for in terms of competition between two or three gender assignment principles. The i s l a n d Crete and the a i r p o r t Kastrup can be described as instances of competition between the SuperCat and BasicNoun principles, or as cases where it is possible to treat the referents as belonging to either LOCATION-1 or LOCATION-2/ARTIFACT. The alternative perspec-

tives on a referent are sometimes related to the polysemy of the name, as in the case of the n e w s p a p e r Times. As also pointed out by one subject in Ql, Dagens Nyheter 'Today's News' taken as the name of the newspaper implies Uter gender, while a c o m p a n y interpretation of the name—suggested by a predicate like köpa upp 'take over' and an adjective like konkursmässig approx. 'insolvent' (lit.: 'on-the-verge-of-bankruptcy')—implies Neuter gender. This intuition was confirmed in Q2 by the two sentences (no. 10 and 21) containing the name Times; the choices show a clear general preference and implicational pattern (table 9). Table 9. Distributions over combinations of chosen gender for the name of the newspaper Times in two contexts Predicate

Combinations of chosen genders

'read...'

100% U

U

U

Ν

Ν

'take over...'

75% U

U

Ν

U

Ν

60 (75%)

20 (25%)

0

0

Subjects per combination

Furthermore, subjects may give different weight to the MorphLex principle when it contradicts the SuperCat principle or the BasicNoun principle, as in the case of the small ρ 1 a c e / c o m m u n i t y (Swed. ort=^/samhälle=N) Färjestaden or the m o u n t a i n Àreskutan and the l a k e Torne träsk, respectively. For Tome träsk, it is also possible that (lack of) knowledge about the referent referred to by the name may play a role. Someone who does not know that this 'swamp' (träsk=Ν) is in fact a lake (sjö=U) would be more likely to choose Neuter. This was partly reflected in Q2 (in sentence no. 18), where 14 of the 17 subjects who described Torne träsk as a swamp in

Proper names and gender in Swedish

197

the sentence completion task chose Neuter. (Of those 48 subjects who described it as a lake 20 chose Neuter. The 15 remaining subjects described it by other nouns, such as 'river' or 'city'.) Another possible source of variation is alternative basic-level nouns, as I believe is the case with the boat/ship Titanic (sentence no. 5). Most subjects (80%) treated Titanic as Uter NP-internally. These included 32 of those 35 subjects who described the Titanic by the noun bât=U 'boat' (or a compound of bát). Of the 16 subjects who chose Neuter, 13 described the Titanic by one of the Neuter nouns skepp=N 'ship', fartyg=^ 'ship/vessel' or vra£=N 'wreck' (or compounds of these). Thus, we notice at least a tendency for the subjects' gender choices to agree with the selected noun. In three cases, the interpretation of the results of the questionnaire is less straightforward. The first is the l a k e Ladoga (sentence no. 8). To my surprise, and against the grammars, a relatively large minority of subjects (26%) treated Ladoga as Neuter. The possible explanation that these subjects were not aware of Ladoga being a lake and had a "Neuter" entity in mind is ruled out both by the fact that the context strongly suggested a lake reading (i.e., "... a boat trip over the beautiful L") and by the answers to the sentence completion task. A vast majority (90%) of the subjects described Ladoga either as a lake or—incorrectly but likewise implying Uter—as a river (flod=U). Hence we have to look for other factors behind the choice of Neuter. One of the (few) subjects in Q1 who preferred Neuter said, when asked about his choice, that he might accept Uter as well, but that "Ladoga is such a big lake". It is not clear whether the Neuter influence comes from a categorization of non-typical lakes as LOCATION-1 induced by size as an independent factor, or from a possibility of thinking of a very large lake as a Λαν=Ν 'sea' (cf. the Swedish names of the large and salty "lakes" (Swed. sjö/insjö) Kaspiska havet 'The Caspian Sea' and Döda havet 'The Dead Sea'). The possibility of size influencing the choice of gender for certain locations was tested in Q2 for the class i s 1 and (cf. table 10, next page). We see that the difference in the number of Neuter choices for the large island Crete and the smaller island Serifos is surprisingly large: over 90 per cent and less than one fourth, respectively. Furthermore, the choices are strictly implicational; all subjects who chose Neuter for Serifos did so also for Crete. At the moment, I find it difficult to imagine any other factor than size that could account for this pattern. That the size factor may also be involved in, for example, lake names

198

Kari Fraurud

like Ladoga, has to remain a hypothesis awaiting further data on the behavior of other presumed LOCATION-2 names. Table 10. Distributions over combinations of chosen gender for the islands Crete and Serifos Proper name

Combinations of chosen genders

Kreta

91%

Ν

Ν

U

υ

Serifos

24%

Ν

U

Ν

υ

19 (24%)

54 (68%)

0

7 (9%)

Subjects per combination

A second name displaying variation where I would not have expected it is the o r g a n i z a t i o n Greenpeace in sentence no. 3. According to the grammars as well as my own intuition, an organization name like Greenpeace would be Neuter. But in Q2 as many as 28% of the subjects chose Uter. In addition to the methodologically related possible bias toward more formal gender assignment (in this case the BasicNoun vs. the SuperCat principle), one possible explanation could be that the name, when mentioned for example in the news, commonly is preceded by a non-restrictive definite description such as miljöorganisationen, lit.: 'the environment organization' containing the basic-level common noun organisation=U and carrying its own gender. It may be noted that in this respect ORGANIZATION names appear to differ from LOCATION-1 names. The latter more seldom occur with such modifiers. Let us finally consider the c h u r c h name Notre Dame, where both Uter and Neuter are possible according to Q1 (66% N, 34% U) and Q2 as well as my own intuition and the grammar SAG. In the sentence completion task (Appendix 3) the vast majority of subjects (90%) described Notre Dame by the noun kyrka=U 'church', katedral=V or domkyrka=U 'cathedral'. 'Church' is a likely basic-level noun implying Uter if the BasicNoun principle is followed. But what would be the basis for a Neuter choice? One possibility might be that there is an alternative, Neuter, basic-level noun, for example the more general noun hus=Ν 'house/building/block (of flats)'—as implicitly suggested in SAG. I do not, however, find hus a very likely basic-level noun for describing a church. The extension of Swedish hus is wider than that of English house but narrower than that of building (Swed. byggnad). For example, it sounds odd in

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Swedish to say that a church is a hus. Also, the answers of the sentence completion task did not include either hus or any other Neuter noun—-with the exception of incorrect contributions like slott=N 'castle' and stad 'town' from a few subjects. (Most of these subjects, 87%, chose Neuter, which seems natural.) Moreover, 65% of the majority describing Notre Dame as a 'church/cathedral' preferred Neuter. A more likely explanation of the gender variability of Notre Dame is, I think, that c h u r c h e s represent a kind of location that can be considered as LOCATION-1 as well as LOCATION-2/ARTIFACT and that thus alternatively could follow the SuperCat principle. A i r p o r t s , represented in Q2 by Rastrup, are probably another example of such "indeterminate" locations whose gender variability can be accounted for in terms of alternative perspectives. In the next section we will turn to the question of what the classes in LOCATION1 have in common and why classes like c h u r c h e s and a i r p o r t s might be conceived of as fitting in among the more stable LOCATION-1 classes.

5. P O S S I B L E P E O P L E C O N T A I N E R S MANIPULATION OR VISION

and

OBJECTS

OF

What could be the motivation behind the three-way distinction between ANIMATE, ORGANIZATION/LOCATION- 1 and ARTIFACT/LOCA-

TION-2 categories and the way these categories do (or do not) relate directly to Uter and Neuter gender? I will suggest at least a partial answer to this question. The first part of the question concerns in particular the "split" of an otherwise conceivable superordinate category "LOCATION" into LOCATION-1, which associates with ORGANIZATION, and LOCATION-2, which associates with ARTIFACT. Let us consider two observations that may give us a hint about what the superordinate categories LOCATION-1 and ORGANIZATION may have in common as opposed to LOCATION-2 and ARTIFACT.

The first observation has to do with the relationship between animacy and syntactic functions. A statistical study of Swedish texts (Dahl and Fraurud 1996) confirmed earlier findings regarding the strong tendency for subject constituents, in particular the subjects of

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transitive sentences, to have animate referents. What are interesting in the present context are the exceptions to this tendency, that is, inanimate (transitive) subjects. Most of these have referents belonging to the classes that have here been included in ORGANIZATION and LOCATION-1.1 believe that the main reason why these superordinate categories offer candidates for the semantic roles typically filled by persons (besides personification of, for example, countries) is that they both, metaphorically speaking, "contain" people in different ways: LOCATION-1 through a metonymy relation between, for example, the country and its inhabitants or representatives, and ORGANIZATION through a collective relation between the organization and its members (or, alternatively, through metonymy, as in the case of the representatives of a company). I think it is therefore motivated to label the classes included in ORGANIZATION and LOCATION-1 POSSIBLE PEOPLE CONTAINERS. In this connection, I should also mention Hagâsen's (1992) study of a special case of gender variation (or "neuter non-agreement" as he calls it), namely the occasional use of Uter predicate complements with (NP-internally) Neuter inanimate controllers. This is less common than the use of Uter predicate complements with Neuter animate controllers mentioned in section 1.1., but when it occurs, the controllers are almost exclusively proper names, acronyms or common noun NPs with referents that would fall under my categories ORGANIZATION or LOCATION-1.

The second observation concerns the relationship between the superordinate categories and the Swedish prepositions of co-location: i 'in' and pâ 'on/at'. It turns out that there is a rather strong tendency for the ORGANIZATION/LOCATION-1 classes to combine with the inclusive preposition i (thus also: medlem i Greenpeace 'member of (lit.: in) Greenpeace'), while those of LOCATION-2, as well as the variable classes i s l a n d and a i r p o r t , commonly combine with pâ. There are exceptions to this tendency, however. First, in the case of rivers, lakes and seas the preposition is either i or pâ depending on the spatial relationship described (on/under the surface of water etc.). Second, there are occasional lexicalized uses of pâ with certain LOCATION-1 names "that are considered geographic rather than administrative" (SAG), for example pâ Österlen 'on/at Österlen' (a plain in the south of Sweden). Third, for certain small populated places like farms, special rules apply. Hellberg (1988), referring to an unpublished note by the late Swedish onomastic David Palm, mentions several tendencies in Swe-

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dish dialects to associate i and ρά before place names with different properties of the referent. Thus the choice between i and ρά may reflect distinctions between (a) farms situated in low places (in a valley) and in high places (on a hill), (b) a farm conceived of as a settlement and as a plantation (cultivation), and (c) larger (freehold) farms and homesteads and smaller cottages (crofters' holdings), respectively. (Very large or important farms, however, tend to combine with ρά.) Without being able to go into more detail here, I would like to suggest that these exceptions notwithstanding, the general pattern in the preposition data lend support to the intuition bringing ORGANIZATION and LOCATION-1 together under the label POSSIBLE PEOPLE CONTAINER. In fact, even the exceptions sometimes appear to be in line with the container idea in that ρά combines more readily with locations that are not conceived of as "people containers", cf. geographic vs. administrative, plantation vs. settlement. POSSIBLE PEOPLE CONTAINERS can contain people by:

(i) having people as members, (ii) being inhabited by them, or (iii) being temporarily filled by them. have members. Most LOCATION-1 classes are (potentially) inhabited places. As examples of locations that more temporarily are filled by people we may consider churches and airports, whose gender—as we have seen—is variable. It is possible that the influence of the size of a named entity, discussed in section 4.3. (i.e., the stronger tendency for the big island Kreta than for the small island Serifos to be treated as LOCATION-1), can be explained against this background; for a location like an island, the larger it is the more likely it is to be inhabited and hence to be categorized as LOCATION-1. Since I have not tested the variable classes in different semantic contexts, I can only hypothesize that the choice of gender in these cases may have to do with the presence or absence of a "people container" perspective. Perhaps this is what comes to the surface in the gender choice for the instance of LOCATION-l/LOCATION-2 in the following real-life example, where the BasicNoun and the MorphLex principles strongly speak for Uter, but the adjective modifying the name brings the people container aspect into focus, possibly enforcing the choice of Neuter. ORGANIZATIONS

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Kari Fraurud

det absolut fullsatta Àrstahallen the =N absolutely crowded Àrstahallen ( illod quid quod

'that' 'what' 'which'

Since the Romance article has developed from demonstratives, it is not at all surprising to find the distinction at least in some Romance dialects. It also explains why the distinction is limited to the form of the article, the demonstrative, and personal pronouns in part of Central Italy. 4.2. Preserving the Latin ablative? Hall claims that the neuter goes back to the Latin ablative (Hall 1968). He argues that mass nouns are often used in a partitive meaning in that case. Hence the neuter article lo goes back to ILLÖ or rather ILLÖD, the Old Latin form of the ablative. Hall has to refer to Old Latin, in order to explain syntactic doubling. This is, of course, a weak point in his argumentation since it would mean that this archaic long form of the ablative would have been preserved under the documented surface, presumably in the spoken language which otherwise tends to prefer shorter forms. But there are even stronger arguments against Hall's hypothesis. In part of Central Italy special neuter forms exist for the article, demonstratives, anaphoric pronouns only; there is no special neuter noun or adjective declension. In the light of Hall's explanation this is strange. One has to suppose that neuter nouns and adjectives have taken over the masculine declension at some point, whereas articles and pronouns have maintained the old form. The consequence is a noun phrase with heterogeneous endings. Such a development is less

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likely than the opposite: the analogical spread of one and the same ending over the noun phrase. My account is the following: Where the neuter is marked on nouns and adjectives, it has been extended from the article/pronoun ending. There is evidence from the dialect of Norcia (SE Umbria) where neuter nouns tend to end on -o, whereas masculine nouns end on -u (Hall 1968: 437). In an old text from that area, a 15th-century manuscript entitled Dialoghi di S. Gregorio tradotti,9 neuter nouns show the same ending as masuline nouns, viz. -u: (18)

lu DF

uassellu small container

M.S

dello of-DF

uitru (Dialoghi: § 32) glass

Ν

'the glass container' Another argument against Hall's hypothesis is the fact that traces of the ablative are missing in the feminine. If the neuter preserves the old ablative ending -ÖD, why don't we find traces of its feminine counterpart -ÄD? The areas showing syntactic doubling in the neuter never show it with feminine nouns. Hall's hypothesis thus remains in the realm of mere speculation. Taking the ablative as an explanation of Romance forms which can be explained otherwise, is not at all advisable, since there is no other direct or indirect evidence for such a case in Romance.

4.3. Collective neuters in Latin Although the neuter is found in Italo-Romance and Ibero-Romance (Asturian) dialects, we do not have to suppose that it goes back directly to spoken Latin. It is an analogical possibility that may have shown up in these areas independently. Rohlfs, however, points out that such neuters can be found in the works of Plautus and Ennius (Rohlfs 1968: §419, Anm. 1). Unfortunately, he doesn't give the exact location, but it seems that he is thinking of one location in Plautus (Curculio 367) and another in Ennius (Annales 113). The example from Plautus is the following:

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(19) haec DEM¡:N.P pane bread

sunt be.3p et and

uentr-is belly-GEN.s

ass-a fried-F

stabiliment-a, support-N.P

bubula. meat

'These are the supports of the belly: bread and fried meat.' The form pane is supposed to be a secondary neutral nominative of PÄNIS, -IS (M) 'bread'. There are other possible explanations: it can be a form of spoken Latin, going back to the accusative (actually, an alternative reading is panem), it can be the fossilized name of a dish, or a mass plural (without the plural marker -s). And even if it is a variant of the nominative (presumably neuter), it remains an isolated form. The other example is from Ennius: (20) o oh

pater father

dis god:DAT.P

o oh

genitor begetter

o oh

sanguen blood

oriund-um stemming from-N.S

'Oh, father, oh, begetter, oh, blood stemming from the gods.' The form sanguen is a variant of SANGUIS, -INIS (M) 'blood'. Like other members of the -EN, -INIS declension type, it is neuter. So the neuter is sufficiently accounted for by the declension type, and may have nothing to do with the Romance neuter.

5. Semispeakers The dialects of Central Italy are threatened by a general tendency towards language shift: They are being replaced by a regional variety of Italian, a product of the interaction of local dialects with the standard language. I have treated this problem elsewhere (Haase 1996). The result is an ever increasing number of speakers whose

Reorganization

of a gender system: The Central Italian neuters

233

first language is the regional variety of Italian and not the dialect. With regard to the latter, they have to be considered semispeakers. Such speakers know that the dialect form of the Standard Italian nonfeminine article il is lu. Consequently, when they try to speak the dialect, they substitute il with lu in all cases. As a result, the opposition between countable and uncountable nonfeminine nouns has disappeared from the semispeaker's variety of the dialect. The following scheme illustrates the difference of the two systems: (21)

a. full speakers' dialect forms —> standard form: lu (M) Ιο (Ν)

ì ï J

il (M)

b. semispeakers' dialect form inferred from standard: il (M)

lu (M)

6. Conclusion The Romance neuter is not a (generally unpredictable) gender, but a semantically-based noun class, actually a subclass of the nonfeminine gender. The basis for this conclusion is the definition of gender as a lexically-based classification of nouns (for the sake of agreement marking, anaphora, etc.), meaning that the attribution to one or the other gender is not predictable on semantic grounds. An exception is "natural gender" (sex) which can be seen as a secondary functionalization of gender in order to achieve "motion", i.e., the derivation of terms designating members of a specific sex (always within the sphere of animate beings). On these grounds I strongly plead for a distinction between lexical classes (genders) to which nouns are attributed in a more or less arbitrary way, and semantically-based (functional) classes which allow for recategorization, thus changing the semantic content of the noun. There are of course transitions: functional classes may be defunctio-

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nalized and become genders; genders may be used functionally in a well-defined section of the lexicon, as is the case with animate nouns where gender is used for the distinction of sex. The Central Italian neuter has come about through the analogical association of the neuter demonstrative (used for reference to clause content and the like) with a semantically-based class of nouns (uncountables), and is thus an innovation related to the genesis of the article. It may eventually become desemanticized and thus a gender; for the time being, the situation within the dialect is stable. On the other hand, the existence of the dialect as a whole is threatened by a tendency towards language shift to standard or regional Italian. Within regional Italian some speakers tend to revert to dialectal forms such as the masculine article lu, without making the distinction between countables and uncountables. Thus, the neuter has vanished from the semispeakers' variety of the dialect. List of DAT DEM DEF F GEN INT IPF

abbreviations dative demonstrative definite feminine genitive interrogative imperfective

M Ν O P. Ρ PRT REL S, s

masculine neuter object plural preterit relative singular

Notes *

1.

2.

3.

I would like to thank Ursula Doleschal and Utz Maas for valuable comments on previous versions, and Dennis Newson for 'standardizing' my English. Just to avoid misunderstandings, it has to be emphasized that in Romance linguistics 'dialect' is used to refer to all varieties of the Romance language continuum which (more or less independently) have developed from spoken varieties of Latin. It cuts across the Rome-Ancona bundle of isoglosses to the North in the region of Lazio (around Rome), and in Umbria, where Foligno (East of Perugia) shows a fully developed neuter distinction, i.e. occurences of the neuter are found further North than is usually thought (Rohlfs 1968: §419) All of my examples come from this area. Rohlfs's examples are slightly unfortunate (Rohlfs 1968: §419), since words starting with Imi may show doubling even after the masculine article,

Reorganization of a gender system: The Central Italian neuters

4.

5. 6.

7. 8. 9.

235

because Im/ is always doubled between vowels in parts of the area in question. Only in part of the Central Italian dialect area is this word considered a neuter: for my speakers of Apennine Umbrian it is (but not for all of them, by the way), as it is for speakers in Macerata (Luciano Giannelli, p.c.), i.e., the neighboring province of the Marche region. Some speakers consider it a masculine noun. In other languages lexical classes can have a different ontological basis or interpretation. In such languages the semantic predictability and the possibility of recategorization may be greater. In Plautus and Ennius there are isolated examples of usages that come close to what we see now in Central Italy (Rohlfs 1968, § 419); cf. 3.3 in this article. Ilse Schön treats the collective function of neuter forms, especially in the plural (Schön 1971). Interestingly, Italian and other Romance dialects of Italy have preserved this pattern: so it is not the article but the demonstrative which is used before a relative clause:... quello che ... Others have proposed this solution (Lüdtke 1979, Rohlfs 1968, § 419). Biblioteca Jacobilli, Foligno Ms. 79. (A.III.24), the transcription is mine.

References Franceschi, Temistocle 1979 "La Vallesina nel contesto dei dialetti marchigiani", in: Autori vari. Nelle Marche centrali. Territorio, economia, società tra Medioevo e Novecento: l'area esino-misena. Jesi: Cassa di Risparmio 1979: 2.1899-1946 (= § 48). Haase, Martin 1996 "Dialektwandel und Regionalsprache in Mittelitalien", in: Boretzky, Norbert—Werner Enninger—Thomas Stolz (eds.), Areale, Kontakte, Dialekte. Akten des 10. Bochum-Essener Symposiums, Essen 30.6.-1.7.95. Bochum: Brockmeyer. 207233. Hall, Robert Α., Jr. 1968 '"Neuters', mass-nouns and the ablative in Romance", Language 44: 480-486. Harder, Andreas 1988 Laut- und Formenlehre der Mundart von Ripatransone. [Unpublished dissertation. Kiel: Christian-Albrechts-Universität.] Lüdtke, Helmut 1970 "Arcaismi nei dialetti de la Lucania: i continuatori di ILLUM, ILLUD, ILLOS (in posizione protonica)". Abruzzo 8. 1: 41-44. Rohlfs, Gerhard 1968 Grammatica storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti. 3 voli.. Torino: Einaudi.

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Schön, Ilse 1971 Vignuzzi, Ugo 1988

Neutrum und Kollektivum: Das Morphem -a im Lateinischen und Romanischen (= Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 6). Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft. "Italienisch: Areallinguistik VII. Marche, Umbrien, Lazio", in: Holtus, Günter—Michael Metzeltin—Christian Schmitt (eds.), Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik IV: Italienisch, Korsisch, Sardisch. Tübingen: Niemeyer. 606-642 (= § 273).

Gender in Old High German* Elisabeth Leiss

1. Old High German as a potential source of information on gender It is astonishing how little we know about the grammatical meaning of the category gender even today. We know only that it has nothing or at least very little to do with biological gender and that calling the gender classes masculine, feminine, and neuter is misleading. Thus, we know what gender is not, but not what constitutes the function of this category. Surprisingly, we can discover a great deal about the category gender from Old High German. According to the claim which I will attempt to make plausible in this contribution, Old High German is something of a gold mine for students of gender who want to finally hit the jackpot. In Old High German the categorial meanings of gender are realized more systematically than in later stages of the language. The greater transparency of to some degree still functioning oppositions contains a potential for revelation that up to now has not been exploited.

2. Is gender a grammatical category at all? If we look up "grammatical category" in the dictionaries and encyclopedias of linguistics, without exception we find gender listed as one of the categories in question. However, it is not entirely obvious that this classification is correct. There are good reasons to doubt that gender can be characterized as a grammatical category. The gender of nouns differs from all other grammatical categories, such as tense or number, in that it allows of no choice. Every other grammatical

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category permits selection from a paradigm. The category number offers singular and plural as category members to choose from. The same is true of tense, which gives us the chance to select from among different tense forms. It is also true of aspect, which lets us represent a situation as either perfective or imperfective. Of course, the various grammatical categories influence one another, so that "functional constraints" arise which the "stronger" category imposes upon the "weaker" category. Thus, there is not always perfect freedom of choice (for instance, in the choice of an aspect), yet theoretically there does exist the possibility of choice between different members of the same category. In this way, the grammatical categories make available means of differentiating perspectives with regard to aspect, tense, modality, etc. An occurrence can be represented as past or present, as real or unreal, as viewed from the outside and bounded or as viewed from the inside, to mention only some of the possible perspectivizations. Such opportunities for perspectivization are not available for the category gender. We cannot use a noun equally with masculine, feminine, and neuter gender. The choice of noun entails a specific choice of gender. Certainly there is occasional variability in gender choice, as in Butter 'butter': die Butter (fem., Standard German) vs. der Butter (masc., Upper German), or in Hummel 'bumble-bee': die Hummel (fem., Standard German) vs. der Hummel (masc., Upper German, yet these variations are usually of a regional nature 1 ; they have no systematic quality. The question then arises, Is gender a grammatical category at all? Should we not strike it from the list of category handed down to us? One candidate for new admission to the list is already on standby: the article, which supplies the categorial content of definiteness/indefiniteness and which, interestingly enough, is continually forgotten when the grammatical categories of German are counted. Perhaps the article has been forgotten because it played no part in Latin grammar writing. Perhaps it has been forgotten because the colloquial designation as Geschlechtswort 'gender word' led to confusion with grammatical gender. If we look at the article in the nearly genderless language English, it immediately becomes clear that use of articles is unrelated to gender. In German the category gender happens to be borne by the article, just as case does. Yet what is the point of bearing gender if, in contrast to case, it has no recognizable categorial significance?

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Every grammatical category presents specific options in a paradigm, be it large or small. Gender, however, gives us no choice. We cannot choose among *der Blume (mase.), die Blume (fem.), and *das Blume (neut.) 'flower', or among *der Luft (mase.), die Luft (fem.), and *das Luft (neut.) 'air'. But one used to be able to choose. In Old High German, one could decide between bluomo (masc.) and bluoma (fem.). Luft likewise occurred in both genders, even as late as Middle High German. It was W. P. Lehmann who convincingly argued that in Indo-European the distinction of genders originally involved one and the same noun. The next step is to determine whether the oft-mentioned gender variations of Old High German are not better interpreted as gender alternatives whose use was not arbitrary but in fact entirely regular. In the following I will first introduce Lehmann's hypothesis. Then I will show that, beside the few examples of gender distinction within one noun paradigm cited by Lehmann, it is possible to find a multitude of additional examples if one goes less far back in time and examines gender in Old High German. The abundance of double and triple gender realizations are taken as encouragement for my attempt, in the third part of this paper, to filter out the categorial meanings of the so-called masculine, feminine, and neuter.

3. Ways of perspectivizing nomináis: W. P. Lehmann's pioneering contribution to the interpretation of gender If one follows W. P. Lehmann's reconstruction of the use of gender in Indo-European, gender was a "perfectly normal" grammatical category. According to Lehmann, every noun could be inflected with three different nominal endings; each of these endings modified the meaning of the noun in a specific way. The three endings were -a or -h ("feminine"), -s ("masculine"), and -m ("neuter"). Lehmann illustrates how these endings modify the meaning of the noun by means of this concise example: himâ himás himam

(< himah)

feminine masculine neuter

'winter' 'cold, frost' 'snow'

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As a first step, Lehmann demonstrates the formal parallelism of the suffixes, by deriving the long vowel ä in hima from the collapsing of a short vowel a with a laryngeal h: hima - h himá - s hima - m In this way he is able to present a fully regular paradigm. Taking the laryngeal theory of Ferdinand de Saussure together with the gender theory of Karl Brugmann, he manages to make the inflection of IndoEuropean nouns completely transparent. Brugmann had already shown that the so-called feminines (that is, the nouns in ä and ΐ ) were originally collective and abstract nouns. These morphemes originally did not have any semantic connection to biological gender. With this analysis Brugmann placed himself in direct opposition to Jakob Grimm, who had argued that the grammatical genders were the result of the highly sexual imaginations of "our primitive ancestors." Lehmann adopts Brugmann's idea but updates Brugmann's "obsolete phonological system" (Lehmann 1958: 185). If Brugmann had followed the laryngeal theory of his student de Saussure, his gender theory would have been more widely accepted, Lehmann suggests. And indeed, all nouns with a unified collective meaning can now be traced to a unified morphological pattern. The collective nouns end with the long vowels α, Γ and ü. According to Lehmann, following Saussure, these are derived by the collapsing of a short vowel with the laryngeal -h. -eh - ih -uh

>ä >Γ >ü

As a result of this collapsing process, a formerly regular paradigm becomes more and more opaque: it is no longer recognizable that nouns ending in a long vowel have been formed in a unified manner. Previously nonphonemic vowels (allophones) become phonemes, so that an originally regular paradigm loses its transparency. After Lehmann has reconstructed the regularity of the paradigm, he turns his attention to reconstructing the uniformity of the mea-

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nings assigned to these forms. He is able to draw upon advances in knowledge going back to the neogrammarians. Particularly important is the work of Johannes Schmidt on the plural formation of neuters in Indo-European (1889). Schmidt proved that the morphological identity of the neuter plural and feminine singular was no accident. The feminine singular also expressed a kind of plural—the collective plural, in which the emphasis is not on the multiplicity of the individual elements but rather on the whole (the totality) of these elements. Lehmann complains that results of the studies by Johannes Schmidt and other associates of Brugmann were never included in the handbooks, which therefore remained at the level of the nineteenth century. Today-—after nearly forty years—we are left to repeat this complaint and to seek out "dusty literature" on the library shelves, in order to read, after a delay of over 100 years, what everyone has always wanted to know: the meanings of the genders.2 Basically, Lehmann's important article contains nothing which could not be found in older works. Lehmann's primary contribution to the reconstruction of the meanings of the genders is the clarity of his presentation, thanks to his reconstruction of a transparent paradigm. Lehmann re-translates himä 'winter' as 'season of cold', pointing out the collective meaning of this feminine in contrast to himás 'cold, frost', which refers to a singular occurrence of frost. Himä has the meaning, to paraphrase it somewhat more clearly than Lehmann, 'the whole of the occurrences of frost/cold'. The so-called masculine was originally a count noun with "singulative" quality, the so-called feminine a collective noun. The two genders consequently had nothing to do with biological gender; they were much more closely related to the category number. Singulative forms are are explicitly marked singulars. They occur in languages in which the nouns' inherent quality is such that it does not allow access to the category of number. The so-called neuter himam ('snow') is, according to Lehmann, a nominal resultative; thus, himam could be paraphrased 'the result of cold'. Lehmann produces further examples to support the proposed reconstruction of the meanings of the gender forms. In each case he must pull the various genders together from several different IndoEuropean languages, such as Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Old Church Slavonic, and Lithuanian. This is necessary because in all these languages the nouns occur with fixed gender, that is, with only one gender.

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The fact that Lehmann's proposal rests upon only a handful of examples and that, moreover, these are all reconstructions, is the most likely explanation of why his opinion on the original meaning of the gender oppositions is today almost completely ignored. Corbett in his standard work on gender mentions Lehmann's contribution only in passing; older literature is cited there, he comments with surprising laconism (Corbett 1991: 309). The most noteworthy thing about Lehmann's reconstruction is that, in it, the category gender exhibits the behavior of a "genuine grammatical category." Lehmann himself failed to notice this interesting aspect of his analysis. This unintentional secondary result— that the reconstructed gender system behaves like a normal, complete category—is in my opinion the greatest service to the field of Lehmann's work. More recent studies cannot compete with it. They reduce the function of gender to the creation of agreement. This represents an unsuccessful solution, since other grammatical categories exhibit agreement as well. Yet none of these other categories is reduced to this function in the discussion of their grammatical meaning. In German and other Indo-European languages today, gender is an opaque leftover category which may well indeed exhibit only a leftover function, namely, that of producing grammatical agreement. On this point the more recent works have certainly furnished an adequate description. But it is unlikely that the grammatical category gender has always behaved like a categorial relic, that is, like a "category without a paradigm." It is in this sense that Lehmann's reconstruction of the gender system has a higher degree of plausibility than other, only agreement-oriented works. As I will argue below, Lehmann's reconstruction would probably have become even more plausible if he had taken his examples from the Germanic languages, for instance, from Old High German. In Old High German there is a conspicuously large number of nouns with double and even triple gender. This linguistic stage was of little interest to Lehmann, for a simple reason. Old High German represented a much too late stage of IndoEuropean to be useful in the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European. However, it will be seen that Old High German offers particularly elaborate examples of Lehmann's reconstructed gender system. If the examples to be provided in the following are convincing, one must ask why it is that the "young" Old High German features such an

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"old" language condition. Twenty years ago, one would have stopped one's research at this point, if not before. But today it is known that Vennemann dates Old High German to almost a thousand years earlier than previously assumed.

4. Gender variations or gender alternatives in Old High German? Beginning students, when confronted with the morphology of Old High German nouns for the first time, 3 generally ask 'whether one can count on the nouns' having the same gender as in New High German. As they see it, this would simplify the determination of forms. However, the question whether the Old High German equivalent of NHG Blume 'flower' is also feminine can be answered only with "Yes, b u t . . . " There are also examples in the masculine. Many students then want a list of the supposedly few exceptions allowing two or even three genders. But such a list would in fact be very long. Hermann Paul (1917/1968: 91-124) refers to these multiple genders as gender variation and gender change. In gender variation, the nouns cannot "decide" on one specific gender. In gender change, they appear to leave their gender class for another, such as when OHG hlüta (fem.) 'sound' becomes NHG Laut (mase.). The terms gender variation and gender change imply that the observed phenomena constitute unmotivated, arbitrary linguistic processes. If it turns out that a gender change is linked to a systematic meaning change, it would not longer be possible to maintain the idea of arbitrary gender variations. Furthermore, the meanings reconstructed by Lehmann are not of a speculative nature. That so-called feminines are collective nouns— even more clearly so in non-Indo-European languages—has been confirmed again and again since Brugmann and Lehmann. 4 Meanwhile there have been empirical studies on universals that demonstrate the relationship between the categories gender and number. 5 This suggests that in the case of so-called gender variation we should consider the possibility of an associated "meaning variation." At the very least, there is no good reason for failing to check for such a relationship. If a relationship should be found, then gender variation

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would be nothing other than a shifting between two or three categorial meanings. Shifting is characteristic of the behaviour of all functioning grammatical categories. That sound change alone is not sufficient as an explanation of gender change was observed as early as 1889 by Victor Michels in his dissertation Zum Wechsel des Nominalgeschlechts im Deutschen: So hätte man keineswegs erklärt, warum ahd. touf Maskulinum geworden ist, wenn man aufdecken wollte, dass ein urgerm. *daupu ['Taufe' - E.L.] seine Endung lautgesetzlich verlor und damit das Charakteristicum der femininen o-Deklination. Hierdurch wird wohl gezeigt, wie sich das assoziative Band, das *daup(u) mit den übrigen (kurzsilbigen) Feminina der ô-Deklination verband, lockerte, aber noch lange nicht warum das Wort Masculinum ward. Warum blieb es nicht Femininum (und ging etwa in die ¿-Deklination über)? Warum wurde es nicht Neutrum, sondern einzig zum Maskulinum? Das bleibt unerklärt und damit der wahre, d.h. positive Grund des Genuswechsels (Michels 1889: 5). [Thus one would in no way have explained why OHD touf ['babtism' - E.L.] became masculine if one wanted to reveal that sound laws caused a ProtoGermanie *daupu to lose its ending and with it the characteristic of the feminine o-declension. This may show how the associative tie which bound *daup(u) to the other (short-syllable) feminines of the ö-declension was loosened, but not why the word became masculine. Why did it not remain feminine (and perhaps switch to the ¿-declension)? Why did it not become neuter, but masculine and only masculine? This remains unexplained, and consequently so does the true, i.e., positive reason for the gender change.]

Explanations, however, were not a commodity that Grimm's followers were looking for. To them, blind sound change or the vagaries of sexualizing imagination were the causes of gender change. One who speaks of arbitrariness, as Grimm did, has already announced the reason why it is superfluous to seek further explanation. Michels, who studied in Leipzig under Brugmann, employs the concept of analogical formation, which for the neogrammarians was of central importance. Michels does not restrict analogical formation to the cases of especially close "sound relationship" but, consistently, includes the especially strong "concept relationships" as well (Michels 1889: 7-8). Unfortunately, Michels takes this position and goes no further. His intention is clear: he is rebelling against the assumption of mere arbitrary processes. He postulates, Eine Erklärung, die in allen diesen Erscheinungen nur Willkürlichkeiten sah, konnte die richtige nicht sein (Michels 1889: 2). [An explanation that in all these occurrences saw only arbitrariness could not be the right one.]

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The adherents of arbitrariness might justifiably counter, That's wishful thinking, not an argument. 6 As it stands, Michels produces few interesting examples of regular semantics-related gender change. His examples are isolated occurrences that cannot be generalized. For example, French été 'summer' is masculine, although it is derived from Latin aestatem (feminine). Été has, according to Michels, gravitated to the gender of the other French words for seasons, hiver 'winter', printemps 'spring', and automne 'autumn', which are all masculine. In arguing for his hypothesis that analogical organizational principles exert influence in the semantic domain, Michels does not use terms like "collective noun" etc., although his education in Leipzig surely must have put them at his disposal. Nonetheless, Michels' work is illuminating in another regard: he is the first to show that double and triple gender is common is Old High German. He makes his demonstration of gender doubling even more persuasive by adding evidence from other Germanic languages. Not only that, Michels comments several times that there was double gender already in Proto-Indo-European (cf. Michels 1889: 22-24). But he makes such assertions without knowing what to do with them. One must first be familiar with W. P. Lehmann's article to appreciate Michels' observations. After all, Michels was interested primarily in the motivation for gender change. He does not attempt to suppress instances of twofold gender, but he is not paying them much attention, either. Most importantly, he does not explain them. Still, Michels' material presented a challenge. It was not long before a work by Polzin (1903) appeared which stated that Michels was exaggerating. To be sure, Polzin rejects not only Michels' claims but also Grimm's theory of the sexualizing "folk imagination" as avoiding the solution to the problem (Polzin 1903: 4): he would like to explain the parallel occurrences of nouns in -o and -a that are so common in Old High German. At the same time, however, he wants to maintain the idea that the distribution of these forms is purely accidental. Polzin's book could be summarized by the formula "Herz rhymes with Schmerz" ['heart' rhymes with 'pain']. He attributes the frequent phenomenon of gender pairs in Old High German, such as smerzo (masc.) and smerza (fem.) 'pain', to mere rhyme associations: Wie manches Mönchlein mag nach heißem, vergeblichen Bemühen dazu gegriffen haben, des Reimes wegen aus einem -a ein -o, oder aus einem -o

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ein -a zu machen. So erkläre ich mir die reichlichen Nebenformen auf -o und -a im Althochdeutschen (Polzin 1903: 13). [Just as some little monk may, after fervent, vain endeavor, have made an -a into an -o or an -o into an -a for the sake of a rhyme. This is my explanation for the numerous -o and -a variants in Old High German.]

Polzin does not explain how the much older double forms came into being before "some little monk" wanted to make a rhyme. Nevertheless, with his arbitrariness theory Polzin serves the spirit of the times of modern linguistics. Michels was probably on the verge of solving the gender puzzle. Yet he was vulnerable. Polzin shows with many examples that Michels theory of "concept relationship" cannot explain most gender change. Michels' notion of "concept relationship" was in fact naive. Polzin recognized the weak point and attacked. Michels had burdened a correct observation with a flaw in reasoning. He was correct in suspecting analogies not only within the domain of "sound associations." He was wrong in placing the "concept associations" that he was trying to track in the lexical morpheme or stem of the words under comparison. And here Polzin is right, in saying that Schlange 'snake' has nothing to do with Wange 'cheek', and Made 'maggot' nothing to do with Wade 'calf. The flaw in Michels' reasoning consists of linking his "concept associations" with the wrong morpheme, namely, the lexical stem morpheme, rather than the grammatical gender morpheme. It is the grammatical semantics of the gender morphemes that cries for investigation.7 Michels should have asked the question, In the change to a specific gender is there also a regular modification of the categorial meaning?

5. Examples of gender cooccurrence in place of gender competition One could start this section on gender in Old High German by listing every example of double or triple gender, but that would not be very practical. Samples taken from Schützeichel's dictionary of Old High German (1989, 1995)—which contains only the vocabulary of the extant texts—show that double gender occurs regularly in the language. On the very first page, for instance, we find four nouns with

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single gender versus six nouns with double gender (not counting compounds). The following nouns have single gender: OHG

aband (masc.) abbat (masc.) abesaga (fem.) abwerti (fem.)

'Abend' (masc.) 'Abt' (masc.) 'das Absprechen' (neut.) 'Abwesenheit' (fem.)

'evening' 'abbot' 'denial' 'absence'

Although abbat alternates with the derived feminine abbatissa 'abbess' (not included in Schützeichel), there exists no gender opposition but rather a sex opposition, with the result that it belongs on the list of nouns having only one gender. The next set of nouns exhibit double gender: envy, resentment' 'resentment, envy' 'evening, evening mass; eve'

OHG abanst (masc./fem.)

'Neid, Mißgunst'

abunst (masc./fem.)

'Mißgunst, Neid'

abant (fem.)/ abunt (mase.)8;

'Abend, Abendgottesdienst; Vorabend'

abgot (masc./neut.)

'Abgott, Götzenbild, 'idol, graven Götterbild' image

abcrunt (masc.) and abgrunti (neut.)

'Abgrund'

'abyss'

ablaz (masc.) and abläzi (neut.)

'Vergebung der Sünden'

'forgiving of sins'

ablid (masc./neut.)

'Tod'

'death'

abulgi (neut.) and äbulkii (fem.)

'Wut, Zorn, Jähzorn' 'anger, rage, outburst of temper'

This frequency of gender doubling is surprising. If one considers that the corpus of Old High German texts is limited, and that moreover

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the gender information given in the dictionaries is not complete, one must conclude that the proportion of double (and triple) genders is even greater. This is an example of triple gender: OHG ägez (masc./fem./neut.)

'Vergessen, Vergessenheit'

'forgetting, oblivion'

If one brings in other Germanic languages, nouns with three genders are not unusual. Thus, OHG luft 'air, gentle breeze,9 sky' is registered as masculine and as feminine. In Old English, lyft appears in the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter (cf. von Glahn 1918: 3, fn.2). OHG luft (masc., fem.) OE lyft (mase., fem., neut.)

'Luft, Lufthauch, Himmel'

'air, gentle breeze, sky'

That implies that in Proto-Germanic nouns often were available in all three genders. However, sometimes not all of the genders survived in the individual Germanic languages. Michels' material shows that if several Germanic languages are taken into consideration, one frequently finds three different genders for one noun. OHG bluomo (masc.) 'flower, blossom; shine, splendour' and bluoma (fem.) 'flower, blossom' can be placed alongside Old Norse blóm. OHG fluot 'flood' (masc./fem., in Schützeichel cited only as fem.) may be compared with an Old Norse neuterβόδ (Michels 1889: 24). Other examples of three genders given by Michels are *grundu, which is attested in Old Norse as neuter grunn 'shallows', feminine grund and masculine grunnr 'ground'.10 In Old English, Old High German, and Middle High German, grund is masculine. *wi5u or *widu, for which Michels cites masculine and feminine examples in Old Norse,11 as well as neuter witu 'wood' in Old High German. In Starck—Wells, witu is also identified as masculine. Anyone who still wants to attribute this richness of gender to "blindly" applying sound laws and sound analogies must admit that even the neogrammarians—or perhaps especially them—with their deterministic view of the forces at work in sound change, should have ex-

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pected more regularities. On the other hand, one who wishes to show that the distribution of the genders is nonarbitrary must demonstrate that the choice of a particular gender was associated with the choice of a particular categorial meaning. This need not be proven for every individual case, since the former gender system, in which gender was still a full-fledged category, was obviously breaking down in Old High German. The appearance of new suffixes to express the semantics of collective and abstract nouns12 represents a clear indication of this process. Despite this situation of categorial revolution, it is possible to find many times the number of Lehmann 's examples. As a rule, Michels cites examples without going into a discussion of their meanings. Usually he neglects to provide any meanings at all. He did not consider the possibility that semantic modification was caused by gender modification. A closer look at just one of his example words (*wiöu) is enough to give an idea of what a largescale investigation could have revealed. MHG wit, wite (masc./neut.) and wit, wide, wid (fem.) are attested as masculine, neuter, and feminine. The masculine denotes 'wood, firewood' and the feminine 'basketry sprig; cord of twisted twigs; band as ornament'. The feminine obviously displays collective semantics: a cord of twisted twigs, after all, combines a number of twigs.13 In Old High German, witu 'wood' is attested as a neuter; in Middle High German, the masculine noun wite occurs more commonly than the neuter. The OHG feminine witta 'string' is clearly related to wit, wide, wid, which likewise expressed the meaning 'band as ornament'. These data can be summarized as follows: OHG witu (neut.) witta (fem.)

Ήοΐζ' 'Binde, Band, Kopfbinde'

'wood' 'string, band, headband'

MHG wit, wite (masc., neut.)

'Holz, Brennholz'

'wood, firewood'

'Flechtreis, Strang aus gedrehten Reisern; Band als Schmuck'

'basketry sprig' cord of twisted twigs; band as ornament'

wit, wide, wid (fem.)

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Following Lehmann's hypotheses, one should be able to trace the masculine form witu to an etymon with count noun semantics. According to Lehmann, the inflectional gender morpheme -s had functioned to turn an unmarked mass noun into a count noun. For the neuter, one would have to assume an etymon in -m with resultative meaning (cf. himam 'snow'). I am inclined to believe that the alteration in meaning brought about by the suffix -m may be described differently. That is, if one assumes with Lehmann that the neuters appeared only later (after the masculines and feminines) and follows him in believing that the older consonantal noun stems, which as yet exhibited no gender marking, were mass nouns, an obvious possibility is that the later-appearing neuters were also mass nouns. Neuters would then represent secondary mass nouns, that is, noncount nouns. Lehmann's example himam 'snow' can also be fit into this slightly modified version of the theory: himam would then be interpreted as 'cold substance', not 'the result of cold', as Lehmann proposed. Mass nouns, which typically express type of material, have the properties of divisibility and additivity, which imply unboundedness. These properties are compatible with the meaning himam 'snow'. In searching for the categorial meanings of the Old High German genders, I take a tip from the description below: masculine: feminine: neuter:

count noun collective noun mass noun

singulative non-distributive plural no access to the category of number

In general, the descendants of *wi5u match this description. OHG witu (neut.) 'wood' has the semantics of a mass noun. ON viör (mase.) possesses the semantics of a count noun ('tree'), but also of a mass noun ('wood') and a collective noun ('forest'). In contrast, English wood displays only mass and collective noun meanings, although it is thought to be derived from an Old English masculine, wudu < witu (however, one would do well to verify this; it is possible that the etymological dictionaries (e.g., Skeat 1882/1983) list only the most frequent gender of an entry). Apart from this variation, it is of course the case that as soon as the gender oppositions formally dissolve, the corresponding semantic oppositions break down as well. Yet the question remains the same:

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Can reflexes of the former categorial meanings of the three genders still be discerned? In many of the "gender doublets" which Polzin (1903: 14) cites without giving their meanings, it is striking that they regularly have two readings: as a count noun and as a collective or mass noun. A number of examples follow. Bluomo (masc.) vs. bluoma (fem.): Schützeichel gives the meanings 'flower' and 'blossom' for both, and for the masculine also 'shine' and 'splendour'. Here one ought to check whether bluomo is not a count noun that refers to one clearly delineated blossom while bluoma as a collective noun expresses the season of blooming. In New High German, Blüte is polysémie (cf. Kirschblüte 'a cherry blossom, cherry blossom time'). The means of nominal perspectivization which must have still been formally present in Old High German have received no attention in dictionary entries to date. A further example of the ambiguity of dictionary entries is felis (masc.) vs. felisa (fem.) 'rock, stone'. Again two readings are possible: the count noun reading 'piece of rock, stone' or the mass noun reading of 'rock' and 'stone' as substances. Wabo (masc.) vs. waba (fem.) 'honeycomb': Here as well two readings are possible, on the one hand that of a count noun (referring to a single cell of wax) and on the other that of a collective noun (referring to the entire set of wax cells making up the wall of a beehive). The entries in the Schützeichel and Köbler dictionaries again fail to differentiate between them. Tutto (masc.) vs. tutta (fem.) vs. tutti (neut.): In Schützeichel, only the masculine form is reported as meaning 'nipple', which points to a count noun. Köbler, in contrast, cites tutta and tutti as having the meanings 'nipple, teat, breast', wherein he agrees with Starck— Wells. Köbler gives the same meanings for tutto. These identical double notations are so frequent that one must assume that they were simply copied from one gender entry to the other. In any case, if a new project ever focuses on recording the nouns and their genders, one would have to note their nominal quality as count or mass nouns where used in each text. From the meaning given as 'breast', which oscillates between count and collective readings, it is not possible to isolate the nominal quality of each token or the categorial meaning of its gender. Additional examples include smerzo vs. smerza 'pain'; kresso vs. kressa 'cress'. In both cases the double reading is possible. 'Pain' can

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refer to an individual pain or collectively to pains as a whole. 'Cress' can be taken as a single plant or as a collection of cress plants. The same holds of the other gender pairs named by Polzin (which are found neither in Schützeichel nor in Köbler), such as kristallo vs. kristalla 'crystal'. Here, too, the count noun interpretation (der Kristall, mase.) and the mass and collective interpretation (das Kristall, neut.) are both available. We could go on and on. Nonetheless, the interpretations mentioned above soon reach a limit. True, the identifying characteristic of the gender pairs really is their semantic ambiguity, which can usually be sorted out by assignment to one of the three groups count nouns, collective nouns, and mass nouns. Yet the dictionaries do not reveal whether the three categorial meanings in the relationship postulated here correlate with a specific formal gender—or rather, still correlate. All gender entries in the dictionaries should be gone over afresh. Only then could the hypothesis that the three formal genders originally expressed three gender meanings be confirmed. For luft, for example, the presence of three formal genders in the Germanic languages with three gender meanings can be demonstrated: 'air', 'gentle breeze', and 'sky'. The position taken here retrodicts that the count noun meaning 'gentle breeze' was formally a masculine, the material/substance denotation 'air' a neuter, and the collective meaning 'sky' a feminine. New High German, too, contains its count nouns, its mass nouns, and its collective nouns. Since Old High German, these distinctions have been increasingly expressed with suffixes. The "new suffixes" remain true to the old gender meanings. Collective suffixes like -schaft or -ung are feminines in New High German as well. This implies that the "old suffixes" had the same gender distribution. Similarly, the new count nouns formed by conversion, such as der Dreh 'the turn, twist', der Wurf 'the throw, toss', are masculine; and it is not surprising that conversions like das Drehen 'the turning', das Werfen 'the throwing' retain the neuter gender of mass nouns.14 One must recognize that it is the derivational morphemes, not the articles, which transmit gender. The derivational morphemes realize the gender-specific categorial content. Consequently, the gender markings on the articles can only be agreement phenomena. The article agrees in gender with the noun, which itself expresses the categorial meaning count, collective, or mass—either by a certain type of derivation (conversion, explicit derivation, implicit deriva-

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tion) or by inheritance from an Old High German relic system which even now is still partly motivated. In Old High German, gender is sometimes still expressed via suffixes. It is no different in New High German. In Old High German many nouns still bear the gender suffix for masculine, feminine, or neuter, but many others do not. For instance, luft has lost its suffix and can be either feminine or masculine. The transparent Proto-IndoEuropean system (-s, -h, -m) no longer holds sway. As a result, new grammatical morphemes develop to carry the categorial content. Thanks to research on grammaticalization, we know today that when new grammatical morphemes arise, it is not the case that one new morpheme simply replaces one old morpheme. Rather, several, usually lexical, morphemes compete for this "grammatical position." Many well-documented examples are now available, such as the history of the grammaticalization of the French negative particle pas, which for centuries competed with pointe, mie, etc. (cf. Hopper 1991). The derivations developing in Old High German represent just such a grammaticalization process. Strictly speaking, these derivations do not produce new words but new suffixes.15 The difference between die schœne and die Schönheit is not to be found in the lexical semantic domain. What we instead observe is the appearance of a new morpheme, to express the categorial meaning of a collective noun ('the quality of the beautiful viewed in its entirety'). Grammaticalization processes can last hundreds of years. The German language is currently in the middle of such a restructuring process. The reorganization of the categorial meanings of the three genders as reconstructed here—the meanings of count, collective, and mass noun—has given rise to the present much more numerous set of morphemes. We know today that grammaticalization processes end in the survival of only a few competing morphemes with a "lexical past." In this case, the selection of three grammatical morphemes might be expected. However, German is currently at least as far away from this as it is from Old High German.

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6. Conclusion and outlook Our starting point was W. P. Lehmann's theory that the genders in Proto-Indo-European represented grammatical markings on one and the same noun. In this sense gender was a full-fledged category with paradigmatic options. The categorial meanings of these options were those of count nouns, collective nouns, and mass nouns. These constitute different qualities of nominal perspectivization. My purpose has been to show that the myriad occurrences of nouns with more than one gender in Old High German are not the result of arbitrary sound change, but rather that these represent an archaic but still very much motivated system. At the end I have pointed out the continuity of the gender meanings down to present-day German. The gender meanings have remained constant from Proto-Indo-European to today. What has changed have been the formal means of expression. Since Old High German a far-reaching grammaticalization process has been in force developing new forms for "old categorial contents." These contents are obviously as old as human cognition itself. A person who wants to learn something about the structure of human cognition can collect more relevant data from a trip through the history of language than from diagnostic imaging in neurology. Notes * This paper is the English version of Leiss (1997). I would like to express my gratitude to Darcy Bruce Berry for her sensitive and competent translation and to Barbara Unterbeck for including this paper into the present volume. 1.

2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

Cf. Talanga (1987:133): Of 503 nouns with gender variation found in New High German, only a few dozen are generally known and thus in common use. Salmons (1992: 82) likewise notes that research into the history of the German genders stopped 100 years ago. On English, however, C. Jones has published Grammatical Gender in English (1988). Usually when working through Alt- und Mittelhochdeutsch, by R. Bergmann, P. Pauly, and C. Moulin-Fankhänel (1993). For references, see Leiss (1994). For references, see Leiss (1994), and Corbett (1991). Salmons (1992) and Zubin—Kopeke (1984: 41-46) are open to the same criticism. They are attempting to show the motivation for gender within the

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8. 9.

10.

11. 12.

13. 14. 15.

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framework of naturai morphology. Their argumentation, however, is based on a very naive conception of the semantics of gender: they link masculine gender to extroversion and aggression, and feminine gender to introversion! If the hypothesis that gender is motivated can be bought only with "folketymologizing" fantasy, it is better to drop the hypothesis—at least for the time being. This same mistake of investigating the semantics of the lexical morphemes instead of the gender morphemes has continued until today in, e.g., Salmons (1992) and Zubin—Kopeke (1984). Abunt is not recorded in Schützeichel (1989, 1995) but it is in Köbler (1994). The meaning 'gentle breeze' is given in Starck—Wells (1990), and in Splett (1993), vol. I. This further meaning is most definitely relevant, as will be seen shortly. Baetke (1975) gives the meaning for grunnr (masc.) as 'sea floor, bottom'. The neuter form grunn can denote the same thing, but its primary meaning is 'ground just below the water surface, shallows'. The feminine grund means 'ground (on land), grassy area, plain'. The three genders, then, are not redundant. Michels (1889:22-23). Interestingly enough, Kömer (1888: 8) remarks that it is the abstract nouns which in English are the first to undergo loss of gender. His interpretation of this finding goes in the wrong direction, however. He believes that the abstract nouns lose their gender because they have little to do with the separation into two sexes. In the Middle High German dictionary by M. Lexer, no connection was made between the two entries—i.e., wit (masc./neut.) and wit, -de (fem.). Further examples, as well as a thoroughgoing treatment of conversions and their relation to gender are to be found in Vogel (1996). Incidentally, there is no "gender change" from Middle High German to New High German. What looks like a change of gender classes is, as a rule, only the handing down of one of two genders: the gender system in its old form is dissolving. The apparently "lost" gender is then restored by morphology. Numerous examples illustrating that gender change is merely the reduction of the double marking of gender are to be found in Florer (1900).

References Baetke, Walter 1965-68

Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, 2 vols., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. [1993] 5th. reprint. Bergmann, Rolf—Peter Pauly—Claudine Moulin-Fankhänel 1993 Alt- und Mittelhochdeutsch. Arbeitsbuch zur Grammatik der älteren deutschen Sprachstufen und zur deutschen Sprachgeschichte, 4. erw. A. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

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Brugmann, Karl 1897 The Nature and Origin of the Noun Genders in the IndoEuropean Languages. A lecture delivered on the occasion of the sesquicentennial celebration of the Princeton University, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1889 "Das Nominalgeschlecht in den indogermanischen Sprachen", Internationale Zeitschrift für allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft 4, 100-109. Corbett, Greville 1991 Gender, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Florer, Warren Washburn 1900 "Gender-change from Middle High German to Luther, as seen in the 1545 edition of the Bible", Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 15,442- 491. Glahn, Nikolaus von 1918 Zur Geschichte des grammatischen Geschlechts im Mittelenglischen vor dem völligen Erlöschen des aus dem Altenglischen ererbten Zustandes (Anglistische Forschungen 53) Heidelberg: Winter. Hopper, Paul J. 1991 "On some principles of grammaticization", in: Elizabeth Closs Traugott—Bernd Heine (eds.) Approaches to Grammaticalization, vol. I.,, Amsterdam—Philadelphia: Benjamins, (Typological Studies in Language 19), S. 17-35 Jones, Charles 1988 Grammatical Gender in English: 950 to 1250, London—New York—Sydney: Croom Helm. Köbler, Gerhard 1993 Wörterbuch des althochdeutschen Sprachschatzes. Paderborn— München—Wien—Zürich: Schöningh. 1994 Taschenwörterbuch des althochdeutschen Sprachschatzes (UTB fur Wissenschaft 1823) Paderborn—München—Wien—Zürich: Schöningh. Kömer, Karl 1888 Beiträge zur Geschichte des Geschlechtswechsels der englischen Substantiva [Unpublished dissertation, University of Greifswald]. Lehmann, Winfred P. 1958 "On Earlier Stages of the Indo-European Nominal Inflection", Language 34, S. 179-202 Leiss, Elisabeth 1994 "Genus und Sexus. Kritische Anmerkungen zur Sexualisierung von Grammatik", Linguistische Berichte 152, 281-300. 1997 "Genus im Althochdeutschen", in: Glaser, Elvira und Michael Schlaefer (eds.) unter Mitarbeit von Ludwig Rübekeil. Grammatica Ianua Artium. Festschrift für Rolf Bergmann zum 60. Geburtstag. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter. 33-48.

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Lexer, Matthias 1872/78 Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, Leipzig: Hiizel Michels, Victor 1889 Zum Wechsel des Nominalgeschlechts im Deutschen [Unpublished dissertation, University of Leipzig, printed in Strassburg]. Paul, Hermann 1917 Deutsche Grammatik, II: Flexionslehre. Tübingen: Niemeyer. [1968] [Reprinted, Tübingen: Niemeyer] Polzin, Albert 1903 Geschlechtswandel der Substantiva im Deutschen (mit Einschluß der Lehn- und Fremdworte), Hildesheim: Gebr. Gerstenberg. Salmons, Joe 1992 "The Evolution of Gender Assignment from OHG to NHG", in: Rosina Lippi-Green (ed.) Recent Developments in Germanic Linguistics (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 93) Amsterdam— Philadelphia: Benjamins, 81-95. Schmidt, Johannes 1889 Die Pluralbildungen der indogermanischen Neutra, Weimar: Hermann Böhlau 1889. Schützeichel, Rudolf 1989 Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 4. überarb. u. erg. A. Tübingen: Niemeyer 1989 1995 Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 5. Überarb. u. erw. A. Tübingen: Niemeyer 1995 Skeat, Walter W. 1882 A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Oxford: Clarendon. [1983] [Reprint Oxford University Press] Splett, Jochen 1993 Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch: Analyse der Wortfamilienstrukturen des Althochdeutschen, zugleich Grundlegung einer zukünftigen Strukturgeschichte des deutschen Wortschatzes, Berlin—New York: de Gniyer. Starck, Taylor—John C. Wells 1990 Althochdeutsches Glossenwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter. Talanga, Tomislav 1987 Das Phänomen der Genusschwankung in der deutschen Gegenwartssprache [unpublished dissertation, University of Bonn] Vennemann, Theo 1994 "Dating the division between High and Low Germanic. A summary of arguments", in: Toril Swan—Morck, Endre—Jansen, Olaf (eds.) Language Change and Language Structure. Older Germanic Languages in a Comparative Perspective. Berlin—New York: de Gruyter, (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 73), 271-303.

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Vogel, Petra Maria 1996 Wortarten und Wortartenwechsel. Zu Konversion und verwandten Erscheinungen im Deutschen und in anderen Sprachen (Studia Linguistica Germanica 39) Berlin - New York: de Gruyter. Zubin, David A.—Klaus-Michael Kopeke 1984 "Affect Classification in the German Gender System", Lingua 63, 41-96.

Classifiers versus genders and noun classes: A case study in Vietnamese Elisabeth Löbel

1. Introduction! Since gender and noun class systems are typical of fusional and/or agglutinating languages, while numeral classifier systems are typical of isolating languages, it is often assumed that these systems do not have many properties in common, apart from the fact that they serve to categorize or 'classify' nouns: "... noun classes (a grammatical system) and noun classifiers (a lexical set) fulfill similar semantic roles in a language. They tend to occur in languages of different morphological types ..." (Dixon 1986: 111). These similar semantic roles are characterized by Dixon as follows: Noun class systems and sets of noun classifiers each provide the means for categorisation of an object in terms of relevant parameters of world-view. They do essentially the same semantic task, although they do approach it in rather different ways, noun classes operating in terms of an obligatory morphological system, with a limited number of possible choices, and noun classifiers constituting a largish set of lexical items, in syntactic construction with the head noun (Dixon 1986: 108).

A closer look at the literature, however, reveals that the notions of noun class and classifier are not used uniformly. Due to the fact that the semantic task is decisive, Allan (1977) uses the term in a broader sense, covering both classifier and noun class (see below). On the other hand, Corbett (1991) uses the term gender to cover both noun classes (e.g., Swahili) and genders (Indo-European languages), due to the fact that, to him, the formal criterion of agreement is decisive. In what follows I will use the terms in the sense of Dixon (1986), the term 'classifier' being an abbreviation for 'numeral classifier', i.e., sortal classifier (cf. below).

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Table 1. Uses of the terms 'classifier' and 'noun class' 'classifier'

'noun class'

'gender'

'classifier' in Dixon (1986)

+

-

-

'classifier' in Allan (1977)

+

+

-

'gender' in Corbett (1991)

-

+

+

Allan (1977) provides a thorough study of the semantic task of noun classification. A summary of his findings is represented in Lee (1988): Table 2. Semantic features of noun classification (according to Allan 1977, quoted from Lee 1988: 227) 1. Material a. animacy b. abstract nouns c. material 2. Shape a. saliently one-dimensional b. two-dimensional c. three-dimensional 3. Consistency a. flexible b. hard or rigid c. non-discrete

4. Size 5. Location a. inherent location b. contingent location 6. Arrangement a. objects in specific, non-inherent configuration b. position c. objects in non-inherent distribution 7. Quanta

According to Lee, Allan's claim is that, "with a few exceptions, these properties are 'inherent' properties of an object rather than contingent ones. These results suggest that the distinguishing feature of a classifier language is possession of a grammatical system which groups nouns according to their inherent characteristics" (Lee 1988: 227). The "few exceptions", cf. 5b to 7 in table 2, are commented on as follows: [They] serve as the basis of quantifier phrases in non-classifier languages as well, while categories based on the first five properties are found only in classifier languages. Some examples of non-inherent English 'classifiers' are given below:

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two loops of rope two bundles of string a piece of paper a kind of mammal The classifier in each case refers to a temporary state of the associated noun. The fact that exceptions to the generalization (that classifiers refer to inherent properties) are not peculiar to classifier languages strengthens the idea that this is a defining property of such languages (Lee 1988: 242).

These observations refer to the fundamental distinction between mensural and sortal classifiers (Lyons 1977: 463) which leads us to the following question: Is there any formal distinction of mensural and sortal classifiers in a genuine classifier language such as Vietnamese despite the fact that, at first glance, the corresponding noun phrases (NPs) are formally identical, as example (1.1) illustrates: (1.1) a. measure phrase containing a "mensural elf" mot cân cá one pound fish 'a pound of fish' b. classifier phrase containing a "sortal elf' mot con cá one animal fish (con 'animal', elf for N[+ammate]) 'a fish' It is in section 5 that this question will be dealt with. The sortal classifier in (1.1.b), con 'animal', denotes a property which is inherent to the meaning of the classified noun cá 'fish'. This fact is the starting point for another important question: What exactly does 'inherent property' mean, and are there any criteria—other than semantic ones—by which 'inherence', if it at all exists, can be demonstrated? This problem will be discussed in section 7. Apart from the semantic function of classification, which both systems have in common, there are a number of differences between these two systems, described in Dixon (1982, 1986).2 They can be summarized as follows: Noun classes constitute an obligatory grammatical system, where each noun chooses one from a small number of possibilities. Ways of marking noun class include a prefix to the noun (and usually to other constituents in the noun phrase, or in the sentence, that show concord with it), as in Bantu languages; an obligatory article, as in French and German; or an inflectional suffix that shows a portmanteau of case and noun class, as in Latin (Dixon 1986: 105).

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In contrast to noun classes, noun classifiers are always separate lexemes, which may be included with a noun in certain syntactic environments; there is usually a largish set of classifiers (perhaps not clearly delimited in scope), but not every specific noun may be able to occur with one. In many languages classifiers are required in the context of numeral quantification of a specific noun ... , but in some languages noun classification exists independently of numeral quantification (Dixon 1986: 106).

Dixon's observations lead to the following question: Whereas noun classes tend to have a fixed set of markers—why is it so difficult to delimit the set of classifiers? This question will be taken up in section 4.2. Furthermore, Dixon refers to other criteria to distinguish these two systems, namely, (i) size (all the nouns of noun class and gender systems are grouped into a smallish number of classes), (ii) realization (noun class and gender systems constitute a closed grammatical system), and (iii) scope (agreement as the defining criterion of noun class and gender systems). These criteria all have in common that in contrast to noun classes and genders, it is far more difficult to characterize the notion of classifier systems. I will come back to the problems of delimiting these two systems in section 7. In what follows, I will try to answer the a. m. questions with special reference to Vietnamese, which is uncontroversially considered a typical classifier language. Hopefully, some of these aspects will also be valid for the description of other classifier languages. It must be kept in mind, however, that classifier languages and their respective classifier systems are just as diverse as gender systems in languages exhibiting gender, a phenomenon amply illustrated in Corbett (1991). This paper is organized as follows: After a short description of the Vietnamese noun phrase, the difficulties of traditional approaches for delimiting nouns and classifiers are discussed (section 2). Sections 3 and 4 are devoted to the delimitation and description of entitydenoting nouns on the ontological as well as on the syntactic level. Mass-denoting nouns and measure phrases are dealt with in section 5. The problem of the classifiers denoting a property inherent to the meaning of the classified noun is the topic of section 6; this question correlates with the non-occurrence as well as with the referential function of classifiers. A comparison of gender and noun class systems on the questions already alluded to in this introduction is given in section 7.

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First of all, however, I will present a short description of the Vietnamese noun phrase.

2. The Vietnamese noun and noun phrase The Vietnamese language may be regarded as the prototype of an isolating language, which means that there are no grammatical means which enable us to decide to which lexical class a given item is to be assigned to, such as affixes, etc. This question may only be answered on the grounds of distributional criteria. For the lexical class of verbs, two tense markers are constitutive, namely dä 'anterior' and sé 'subsequent' (Thompson 1987: 206), which, however, are only used if the time reference cannot be understood from the context. Therefore, these markers are pragmatically conditioned: (2.1) a.

b.

Ôngay sé di he future go 'He will go to Saigon.'

Sài-gòn. Saigon

Toi dä hièu. I past understand 'I've (already) come to understand.' (Thompson 1987: 208)

For the lexical class of nouns, two sets of markers ... help identify substantival elements. They are plural markers ... and demonstrative markers ... All those words which are found in some instances directly following a sentence initial plural marker and/or which occur as head with a demonstrative marker as complement are substantives (Thompson 1987: 179):

(2.2) a.

nhüng chó b. sita này plural dog milk this 'dogs' 'this milk' These examples demonstrate that, despite the lack of any formal marking on the nouns and verbs themselves, these lexical classes can

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be distinguished according to distributional criteria. It is the aim of this paper to show (i) that the phenomenon of numeral classification in Vietnames is based primarily on distributional criteria as a general procedure, and (ii) that the count-mass distinction, too, correlates with the potential of being used or not in a given syntactic slot, and (iii) that, furthermore, this distinction also plays an important role within the domain of referentiality.

3. Approaches to numeral classification in Vietnamese 3.1. Emeneau's notion of "classified nouns" vs. "non-classified nouns"

Within the lexical class of noun, according to Emeneau (1951: 84), the two major subclasses of Vietnamese nouns are "classified nouns" and "non-classified nouns":3 Both the noun subclasses have the same class meaning; roughly stated, it is: 'such and such a species.' In neither subclass is number part of the class meaning ... The classified noun adds to this class meaning: 'numerable only when preceded by a unit indicator (i.e., a classifier).' The nonclassified nouns, on the other hand, are 'directly numerable' (Emeneau 1951: 94).

The type of construction in which the differences in the syntactic behavior of nouns appears is given by Emeneau (1951: 85): Table 3. Structure of the Vietnamese noun phrase (Emeneau 1951: 85)

Classifier I Classified Noun Numerator

± Attribute(s)

± Demonstrative

Nonclassified Noun

This table shows that Vietnamese belongs to the word order type "QCl-N" [Q=quantifier, Cl=classifier, N=enumerated noun] discussed in Greenberg (1974: 31), which means that 'classifier' and 'classified

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noun' (in Emeneau's sense, cf. table 3) cannot be separated; this word order is fixed. An example for the combination of 'classifier' and 'classified noun' is presented in (3.1a), a nonclassified noun in (3.1b): (3.1) a. hai quâ dào dêp này two fruit peach nice demonstrative 'these two beautiful peaches' (quâ ' 1. fruit, 2. elf for fruits') b. hai näm two year 'two years' In this connection, it is important to note that all the nouns characterized as 'nonclassified' are not only 'directly numerable', but also denote exactly one unit, i.e., câu 'a sentence', mùa 'a season', etc. (see Emeneau 1951: 100). The distinction into these two subclasses of nouns, however, is by no means totally clear, as the following quote indicates: The nouns and classifiers in the basic vocabulary number 770. Of these, 121 are classifiers, 471 are classified nouns, and 178 are nonclassified nouns. Each substantive that occurs as a member of more than one of these subclasses has been counted separately in each to obtain these figures (Emeneau 1951: 93).

3.2. The approach of Cao Xuan Hao At first glance, Vietnamese entity-denoting nouns "do not themselves contain any notion of number or amount. In this respect they are all somewhat like English mass nouns such as milk, water, flour, etc." (Thompson 1987: 193). A rigorous proponent of the affinity of entity-denoting nouns to mass nouns is Cao (1988):4 The structure of may cài dao 'some knives' (litt, 'some things-knife') and of may giot d&u 'some drops of oil' is exactly one and the same: in both cases we have NPs with a count noun as the head followed by a mass noun as its qualifier (Cao 1988: 41).

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In other words, it is not only mass-denoting nouns ("oil" in his example) which Cao refers to as 'mass nouns', but also nouns which denote discrete 'objects' ("knife"). He points out that there are only two possibilities of how things, or rather properties of things, can be perceived, namely as "that of the form of existence as a discrete unit or item", or "that of substance or content, which includes quality and stuff (Cao 1988: 43). Therefore, there are three ways of naming things: 1. designating the form, i.e. the unitness, only (nouns of the piece, item, pair type, which I will call 'form nouns' or 'pure form nouns'); 2. designating the substance, i.e. quality, the stuff or the species properties only (nouns of the courage, water, lightning type, which I will call 'substance nouns'); 3. designating both form and substance conjugatedly (nouns of the knife, horse, chief type, which I will call 'foim-substance nouns') (Cao 1988:43-44).

Therefore, according to him, it is not necessary to establish a separate class of classifiers as they may be subsumed under the broader notion of pure form nouns. The difference between languages such as Vietnamese and languages such as English is seen as follows: Thus Vietnamese chooses to refer to objects analytically by distributing the properties to be designated between two nouns [i.e. by means of a 'form noun' (=classifier) and a 'substance noun' (='mass noun') - E.L.], ... while European languages prefer to name things synthetically by count nouns [i.e. by means of 'form-substance nouns' - E.L.] ... As a corollary of this, there is in Vietnamese no grammatical distinction between nouns for objects (at least in their quasi-totality) and nouns for stuffs, while that between unit nouns (pure form nouns) and the two formers is rigorously clearcut; in European languages, on the other hand, the semantic difference between pure form nouns and object nouns is weakly reflected on the grammatical level, while the distinction between object nouns and stuff nouns is generally clear cut semantically and grammatically, but when used in a mass sense, object nouns become semantically similar to Vietnamese mass nouns referring to objects (Cao 1988: 46).

This lengthy quotation illustrates that there is no grammatical distinction between object nouns (entity-denoting nouns) and stuff nouns (mass-denoting nouns). They are said to behave both like 'mass nouns' because both kinds of nouns use pure form nouns in order to make them countable, the three-partite canonical construction being 'numeral—form noun—noun'. The implication which is drawn from this observation, namely that an identical construction implies an identical status with regard to the

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category of nouns, is not a necessary one. In what follows it will be argued that the most important distinction to be made for Vietnamese nouns is just this distinction between entity-denoting nouns and massdenoting noun—as it is for nouns of any gender language. But contrary to gender languages, this distinction is encoded in the grammar of a classifier language such as Vietnamese in a way which is entirely different to a gender language.

3.3. The difficulties of the traditional approaches The distinction Cao makes between 'pure form nouns' and 'mass nouns', however, is by no means totally clear. As already mentioned in section 3.1., Emeneau emphasized the fact that there are substantives which occur as a member of classified nouns as well as of classifiers. This functional overlap within nouns is illustrated by the following examples (cf. Emeneau (1951: 80); the following lexemes also exhibit conversion, which I will not address here): (3-2) (a)

bao

(b)

gói

(c)

nam

Noun bag (classified noun; classifier) package (classified noun; classifier) fist; a fistful (classifier)

Verb to cover all around to wrap up (as a package) to close (hand) tightly

The nouns in (3.2) share the property of denoting containers which may be used (a) as 'classifiers' in the sense of Emeneau, i.e., as measure nouns denoting an abstract quantity, which is analogous to English nouns such as a glass (of wine), a pot (of tea), or (b) as common nouns denoting a (concrete) item (a glass, a pot). In contrast to English, however, these different uses of Vietnamese nouns also imply a difference with regard to 'number': As common nouns, they are said to be 'transnumeral', i.e., number is not part of the meaning of these nouns, their quantitative interpretation is dependent on the context:

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(3.3) a. b. c.

bao gói nam

'bag, bags' 'package, packages' 'fist, fists'

(3.4) tô i dâ mua bao I past buy bag Ί bought a bag/bags, the bag/the bags' Furthermore, being transnumeral, they may be combined with numbers only by means of a 'classifier', as the following examples illustrate: (3.5) a.

b.

hai cài bao two elf bag 'two bags' (cài 'thing', general classifier) ba cài gói three elf package 'three packages'

As measure nouns, however, they denote exactly one unit, i.e., they "usually refer to a single entity" (Thompson 1987: 197), as is illustrated in (3.5a): Omission of the numeral mot 'one' shows that the interpretation is clearly 'one unit': (3.6) a. (mot) bao cam one bag orange 'a bag of oranges' b.

ba gói sách three package book 'three packages of books'

c.

hai nam dudng two fist sugar 'two fistfuls of sugar'

In other words, one and the same noun may denote (a) an unspecified number/quantity of (concrete) entities, i.e., it is "transnumerai", or

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(b) one single (abstract) unit, i.e., it is not transnumeral. This again means that—contrary to the fact that the grammatical category of number is said to be non-existent in isolating languages such as Vietnamese—the primary function which number fulfills, namely, to indicate the opposition between denoting one entity (singularity) vs. more than one entity (plurality) also exists in Vietnamese: what we find here is an opposition consisting of 'denoting one unit' vs. 'being unspecified for number1. Container nouns, therefore, may be considered 'underspecified', i.e., they are capable of being unspecified for number as well as of denoting a single unit, depending on distributional and therefore syntactic criteria. One might object that these nouns are subject to conceptual shift, comparable to that of English container nouns which are also used as measure nouns. In English, however, this contrast does not correlate with the distinction 'one unit' vs. 'unspecified for number' since the English nouns are still subject to obligatory marking for number.

4. A new approach: The opposition of [±particularized] 4.1. Denoting a single entity vs. being transnumeral The observations made for container nouns in connection with the examples (3.5) and (3.6) are summarized in (4.1; next page). In order to avoid any terminological misunderstanding, the general term 'numerative' is used instead of 'classifier'. The term numerative, therefore, is representative of all those nouns which are capable to be used in slot Νχ: in (4.1a), it is a classifier, whereas in (4.1b) it is an abstract measure noun. The opposition between 'denoting a single entity' and 'being transnumeral' is called [¡¿particularized].5 The observations of (4.1) may be interpreted as follows: 1. The main distinction of Vietnamese nouns cannot be 'classified vs. nonclassified' since this distinction suggests that nouns are specified either positively or negatively, despite the fact that there are nouns which occur "as a member of more than one of these subclasses" (cf. the quote by Emeneau 1951: 93 at the end of section 3.1.).

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2. The notion of 'transnumerality' suggests a certain deficiency with regard to the grammatical category of number. Therefore, the feature [-particularized] is used instead. As is obvious from (4.1), this feature is not tied to certain nouns but to a syntactic position, since all nouns being able to occur directly after a numeral in constructions such as (4.1a/b) are 'particularized'. (4.1)

(a) (b)

numeral slot

slot Ν ι

slot N 2

numeral

numerative unit single entity

noun transnumeral

[+particularized]

[-particularized]

hai two

cài one thing

bao bag

hai two

báo one bag

cam orange

'two bags' 'two bag(ful)s of oranges'

Therefore, the first problem to be dealt with is to describe and delimit those nouns which are capable of being used in the syntactic position [+particularized]. This is the topic of the following sections. 4.2. The syntactic position [+particularized\ It is commonplace that classifiers are confined to the combination with entity-denoting nouns: Classifiers are semantically distinguished from unit names such as meter in the following respect: classifiers are used to indicate the number of entities in a naturally discrete unit, while unit names are used to measure an entity or a group of entities in terms of a humanly determined unit (Matsumoto 1993: 706).

Therefore, nouns denoting natural discrete units will be regarded first. The next two sections will show that the observations regarding container nouns also apply to other entity-denoting nouns.

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4.2.1. Denoting the whole: Taxonomy The following example illustrates that one and the same noun may function as a classified noun or as a classifier (cài 'thing', i.e., general classifier), cf. Tnfcfng (1970: 256): (4.2)

a. b. c.

cài elf

cây tree/plant cây rau elf vegetable plant rau can elf celery

'a tree/plant' 'a vegetable plant' 'a celery'

These examples are commented on as follows: ... le spécificatif [= elf, E.L.] est un tenne générique, tandis que le substantif principal [= classified noun, E.L.] est un terme individuel désignant un être qui appartient à la catégorie, classes ou espèce exprimée par le spécificatif. Cependant, ... ces notions de 'générique' et 'individuel' sont tout à fait relatives. ... un même substantif peut être employé tantôt comme terme générique, tantôt comme terme individuel: terme générique par rapport à un terme considéré comme individuel, et terme individuel par rapport à un terme générique plus large (Tnftfng 1970: 256). [...the classifier is a generic term, whereas the classified noun is an individual term denoting an entity which belongs to the category, class, or kind expressed by the classifier. The notions of 'generic' and 'individual', however, are completely relative ones. One and the same noun may be employed either as a generic or an individual term: generic term with regard to a term which is considered to be an individual one, and individual term with regard to a more comprehensive general term. Translation mine, E.L.]

Example (4.2) shows that the notion of 'classifier' is not absolute: A noun is a classifier relative to the classified noun, i.e., if it stands in a taxonomic relation with it. In (4.2b), cây 'tree/plant' is used as a classifier for the classified noun rau 'vegetable plant'; this classified noun, again, functions as a classifier for can 'celery'. This means that the classifier denotes a class, whereas the classified noun denotes the corresponding subclass. Example (4.2a) also illustrates that an entitydenoting noun such as cây 'tree, plant' does not have 'such and such a species as class meaning' (Emeneau 1951: 94), but rather 'such and such a subspecies', i.e., it is subsumed under the more comprehensive class cài 'thing' (general classifier for nouns denoting nonliving things). In other words, cây is conceived of as being a subclass of the

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class of (nonliving) things. The general classifier cài denotes exactly this kind of property, i.e., cài can be paraphrased as 'designating the property of being a (nonliving) thing'. In (4.2b), however, where cây is used as a classifier, it denotes the class of the subclass rau Vegetable plant', and, accordingly, can be paraphrased as 'designating the property of being a plant'. Both cài and cây, when used as in (4.2), denote a property which is inherent to the meaning of the classified noun. This aspect is analogous to semantic gender assignment (Corbett 1991): (4.3)

a. hai cm{ [+class (nonliving two elf 'two trees/plants'

ώίη8)]

b. haï Câyi [+class(tree/plant)] two elf 'two vegetables'

^ y i [cài (nonliving thing)]

tree/plant

rau

i [cây (tree/plant)]

vegetable

The following examples indicate that, in principle, most, if not all, entity-denoting nouns may function as 'classifiers', as long as they designate a class of a corresponding subclass. Nouns such as chó 'dog', áo 'dress', sách 'book', etc., which are said to require a classifier, may all be used in this sense, i.e., in addition to being unspecified for number, they are also capable of denoting 'one unit': (4.4)

(4.5)

a.

hai chiec xe two piece car 'two cars'

b.

hai xe two car 'two tanks'

a.

hai con chó two elf dog 'two dogs' (con 'elf for living beings')

b.

hai chó eskimo two dog eskimo(dog) 'two eskimo dogs'

thiet giáp iron armour

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9

(4.6)

a.

hai quyên sách two elf book 'two books' (

=

b.

may άο dài sew gown 'to sew gowns', lit. 'to gown-sew'

It is tempting to say that the occurrence of a classifier is triggered by the occurrence of a numeral, e.g., chiec 'item' is triggered by mot 'one' in (6.1a). This conclusion, however, is not correct. It is demonstrated in the sections to follow that the occurrence of numerals and classifiers is more than often independent from each other. 6.2. Referentiality and the occurrence vs. non-occurrence of classifiers Even in an agglutinating language such as Japanese, the following distribution of classifiers can be observed (examples in (6.3) from Zubin—Shimojo 1993: 499; [the relevant NPs are typed in square brackets]): (6.3) a. [manjyuu-o jyuugo-ko] JAP bean-jam bun-Obj 15-CL '(I) ate 15 bean-jam buns.'

tabeta. ate

Classifiers versus genders and noun classes: A case study in Vietnamese

b. sono heya-ni-wa [isu-ga jyuunana-ko/0] the room-Loc-Top chair-Nom 17-CL 'There are 17 chairs in the room.' c. sono hon-ni-wa [hanashi-ga jyuuni-0] the book-Loc-Top story-Nom 12-CL 'There are 12 stories in the book.'

295

aru. exist

aru. exist

In contrast to native numerals, where a classifier is always obligatory, the variation exhibited in (6.3) is confined to Sino-Japanese numerals 'over ten'. According to Zubin—Shimojo (1993), the classifier is obligatory in (6.3a). In (6.3b) it is optional, and in (6.3.c) no classifier is acceptable. The crucial case is (6.3b), where the classifier is optional. According to Zubin—Shimojo (1993: 499), this kind of variation is largely controlled by lexical selection; nouns such as isu 'chair' "lack one or more core semantic properties of ko" [= general classifier, limited to concrete inanimates, E.L.]. Furthermore, they list nouns which occur with either ko or 0-classifier, such as kaban 'bag' or booru 'bowl', as well as nouns which occur only with 0-classifier, such as honoo 'flame', gakubuchi 'picture frame', etc. The latter "completely violate the semantic core of ko, with few exceptions. This distribution clearly shows the semantic restrictedness of ko, provided, of course, that we allow a semantic explanation for the existence of the 0-classifier construction" (Zubin— Shimojo 1993: 500, emphasis added, E.L.). First of all, nouns said to be unclassified, such as honoo 'flame', or gakubuchi 'picture frame', etc., suggest that also in Japanese the partwhole relation might be just as important for particularizing nouns as in Vietnamese. With regard to (6.3b), unfortunately, consultance with two native speakers of Japanese revealed no obvious difference in meaning with regard to the occurrence/non-occurrence of a classifier. The corresponding Vietnamese translation, however, clearly shows that, at least in Vietnamese, there is a difference regarding the syntactic status of the classified NP, namely referentiality: In (6.4a), the NP in question (in square brackets) is syntactically non-referential, whereas in (6.4b), it is syntactically referential and therefore can be modified by a relative clause or other attributive constructions:

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(6.4) a.

Trong in

nhàhàt cinema

kia this

có have

[17 17

ghe]. chair

'There are seventeen chairs in this cinema.' Lit.: 'This cinema is seventeen-chaired.' b.

Trong in

nhà hát cinema

làm bâng made out of

kia this cây wood

có [[1 7 cài have 17 elf

ghe] chair

tot]. good

"There are seventeen wooden chairs in this cinema.' (lit.: 'There are seventeen chairs in this cinema which are made of precious wood.') In Vietnamese, the occurrence vs. non-occurrence of a classifier is confined neither to a special subgroup of numerals, nor to any lexical selection or core semantic properties of nouns, as has been stated for Japanese. In (6.5), an example for Ν ^ η ί π ^ ] is presented: (6.5) a.

Trong in

chuòng stable

này this

có [15 have 15

bo]. cattle

'There are 15 head of cattle in this stable.' (lit.: 'This is a stable made for 15 head of cattle.') b.

Trong In 5 5

con elf

chuòng stable

này this

bò cài cattle female

có [15 have 15 và 10 and 10

con elf con elf

bo], cattle bò con. cattle young

'There are 15 head of cattle in this stable, 5 cows and 10 calves.' These examples clearly show that, at least for Vietnamese, the primary function of a classifier is syntactic referentialization, which is strongly connected with particularization.

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The referential function of the classifier can also be illustrated by comparing the generic sentence in (6.6a) with the non-generic one in (6.6b) (I will come back to compounds such as con chó 'dog' in the next section): (6.6) a.

b.

Con chó có [bon chân.] elf dog have four leg Ά dog has four legs.' Lit.: Ά dog is four-legged.' Con chó toi có [bon cài elf dog I have four elf 'My dog has four long legs.'

chân leg

lán]. long

There is another type of construction which is not dependent on verbs such as có 'have, there is/are'; these are nominal attributes (examples (6.7a) and (6.8a) from TriMng 1970: 246): (6.7) a.

b.

(6.8) a.

b.

may bay bon dông cü airplane four engine 'avion à quatre moteurs' (lit.: four-engined airplane') máy bay vói bon chiec airplane with four elf 'airplane with four big engines'

dông cö lön engine big

nhà ba phòng house three room 'maison à trois pièces' (lit.: 'a three-roomed house') nhà vói ba cài phòng house with three elf room 'a house with three rooms (plus kitchen, bathroom, etc.)'

These few examples may suffice to illustrate that there are contexts where the presence vs. absence of a classifier in combination with numerals correlates with a difference in meaning. From a syntactic point of view, the corresponding noun phrases without a classifier exhibit a kind of incorporation into the main verb, as is illustrated in (6.4) to (6.6), or, in the case of nominal attributes, a kind of nominal compounding as in (6.7) and (6.8).

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Another important aspect of the non-occurrence of classifiers is the use of the enumerated noun as a functional noun resp. concept, where the notion of totality is especially relevant. This question will be dealt with in section 6.5. A closer look at the Vietnamese language will certainly reveal that there might be other contexts which exhibit the contrasts mentioned above. Apart from the correlation with referentiality, the a.m. examples exhibit another important aspect: It is possible to have the classifiers omitted due to the fact that they denote something which is inherent to the meaning of the enumerated noun. In other words, non-occurrence of a classifier is possible only in those cases where the classifier can be inferred from the context which is, however, not always the case. This phenomenon is known as "inherent" vs. "temporary" classification and will be the topic of the next sections.

6.3. Inherence of meaning: the core group of classifiers The contrasts of the type illustrated in (6.4) to (6.8) with respect to the occurrence/non-occurrence of a classifier can be used as test cases in seeing what classifier in relation to which enumerated noun denotes something which is inherent to the meaning of that noun. In (6.4) and (6.8), it is cài 'thing', general classifier for N[-animate]', in (6.5) and (6.6), con 'animal; general classifier for N[+animate]'. In fact, these are the classifiers with the highest frequency of occurrence; they clearly show that the main distinction within nouns is that of 'living being' vs. 'non-living thing'; they denote something which is inherent to the meaning of the enumerated noun. This kind of nominal distinction according to animacy is well attested in other classifier languages as well as in other classification systems, such as genders or noun classes. In example (6.7), it is chiec 'piece, classifier for nouns denoting artificial, individual items'. Not all nouns which are said to be classifiers in the literature, however, allow for the contrast illustrated in (6.4) to (6.8). In fact, elicitation of the list of classifiers given in Emeneau (1951: 110-113) as well as the so-called 'numeratives' in Karow (1972), a VietnameseGerman dictionary with 40,000 lexical entries, revealed that out of 144 nouns said to be classifiers or numeratives, there are exactly ten lexical items which allow the contrasts illustrated above, i.e., they

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express a component which can be said to be inherent to the meaning of the enumerated noun (the glosses are those given in Emeneau 1951: 110-113): Table 4. List of 'core' classifiers in Vietnamese a. b. c. d. e. f.

cài cây chiec con hdn qua quyen scfi tam td

g· h. i. j·

'a non-living thing' 'a tree or plant, a stick-shaped or plant-like object' 'individual item' 'a living thing that is not human' 'a stone or stonelike object' 'a fruit, a round, globular object' 'a volume' 'a hair, thread, cord, etc.' 'a flat piece of material' 'a sheet of paper, document'

In (6.9), some more examples are given to illustrate the occurrence vs. non-occurrence of a classifier; the respective classifier which might be inferred from the meaning of the head of the classifier phrase is indicated in brackets: (6.9) a.

gio näm [qua] cam basket five elf orange '(small) basket (made) for five oranges'

b.

hôp ba [cây] bút box three elf pencil 'box (made) for three pencils/brushes'

c.

co hai [sçfï\ râu fish two elf beard-hair/hair(s) of beard 'sheat-fish, weis', lit.: 'two-haired fish'

Example (6.9c) is especially interesting from the point of view of European languages, as râu is usually translated as 'beard'. Its literal meaning, however, is 'hair(s) of beard', whereas the beard as such is bô râu, lit. 'set of beard hair'. Therefore, one could assume that the nouns given in table 4 constitute the 'core group' of classifiers in Vietnamese. They correspond to

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Berlins (1968) 'natural state classifiers' or 'inherent state classifiers' in contrast to the 'temporary state classifiers' in Tzeltal, a Mayan language. The distinction between these two types of classifiers is based on the observation that "some objects on the world are inherently characterized by one particular classifier" (Berlin 1968: 174). He defines the 'inherent state classifiers' as those nouns which are used when answering the following question: "Which words do we use when we want to count (something) as it appears in its natural environment on earth?" (Berlin 1968:174). According to him, out of 148 classifiers in Tzeltal, there are exactly 9 classifiers which may occur in the a.m. question; these inherent classifiers are the following (Berlin 1968: 177): Table 5. Inherent state classifiers in Tzeltal a. b. c. d. e. f. g· h. i.

/c'is/ /coht/ /koht/ /lehc/ /lihk-hil/ /p'eh/ /pehc/ /tehk/ /tul/

'long, slender, nonflexible pointed object' 'upright, legged, inanimate object' 'animals' 'thin, broad, generally nonflexible object' 'slender, flexible object' 'certain round-like solid/non-solid objects' 'flat, broad, nonflexible object' 'living plant' 'humans'

The analogy to the Vietnamese classifiers listed in table 4 (10 out of 144 classifiers in Vietnamese vs. 9 out of 148 classifiers in Tzeltal) is obvious. 13 What is achieved by the procedure mentioned in Berlin (1968), however, is not particularization oí nouns (linguistic aspect), but a categorization of objects and their respective designations (extralinguistic aspect) into different classes, hence the parallelity of the set of classifiers in Tzeltal, Japanese, and Vietnamese. As far as I can see, these two different aspects, in general, are not kept distinct in the literature on classifiers. I will return to this aspect in section 7. Whereas in Vietnamese the occurrence vs. non-occurrence of the ten inherent core classifiers mentioned in table 4 correlates—from a syntactic point of view—with referentiality, it remains to be examined whether the notion of inherence is also applicable to languages such as Tzeltal and Japanese, and what syntatic aspect this phenomenon correlates with in these languages.

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6.4. Non-inherence or temporary classification It must be taken into account, however, that even with the core classifiers listed in table 4, the inherence of meaning and, therefore, their potential non-occurrence is entirely dependent on the 'classified' noun. As an example, quâ 'fruit' is the ('inherent') classifier for fruits, but not for mountains, as the following contrast reveals: (6.10) a. hai (cài) núi two elf mountains 'two mountains' b. *hai quâ núi *two elf mountain 'two (small) mountains, hills' c. [hai qua núi] ô gan bià two elf mountain be located near border 'two hills near the border of the wood' (6.11) a. Tôi có [hai cài I have two elf Ί have two machines.'

rùng wood

máy.] machine

b. Tôi có hai [bô máy I have two elf machine Ί have two large/small machines.'

lón/nho.] large/small

These so-called 'special' or 'temporary' classifiers (Serzisko 1982), however, are only used if the classified noun is also used in a 'special' sense, i.e., where a modifying attribute occurs; otherwise, the construction is ungrammatical (6.10b). On the other hand, if this condition is met, i.e., if there is a modifying attribute (6.11b), a 'special' classifier is obligatory; thus, the use of cài 'thing' in (6.11b) in analogy to (6.11a) is ungrammatical, or, to be more precise, it does not correspond to the intended reading for the following reason: If the general classifier cài 'thing' is used in contexts such as (6.11b), it automatically triggers the interpretation of 'extra cài' (Emeneau 1951: 97-98) which results in a contrastive reading: 'extra cài' is

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distinguished from the use of cài as a general classifier by intonation, i.e., it bears the main stress: (6.12) a.

Tôi có hai bô máy Cdm-pú-to. I have two elf machine computer Ί have two computers.' {bô 'elf for machines which consist of several parts in the sense of 'a set') Tôi I

have

mot one

cài elf

CÓ

hai two lón, large

cài 'extra cài' mot one

máy Cüm-pú-tú, machine computer cài elf

nhô. small

Ί have two computers, a large one and a small one.' 14 Whereas in (6.12a) the special classifier bô 'set' is used due to the fact that máy 'machine' is attributed by Ccfm-pú-ta 'computer', (6.12b) illustrates that, in the same context, the use of the general classifier cài 'thing' is interpreted as 'extra cài', implying a contrastive reading (the main stress is indicated by bold faces). I have illustrated in this section that the use of a classifier does not primarily depend on the presence or absence of numerals. The primary function of the classifier is to make an NP syntactically referential. This function results from the classifier being located in the syntactic position [+particularized], i.e., in the slot Ni. I regard these characteristics to be the defining features of a classifier system such as Vietnamese. 6.5. The non-occurrence of classifiers with functional nouns In the preceding sections several cases have been discussed where a numeral and a noun are combined without an intervening classifier. This obviously violates the common three-partite construction which, according to the literature on classifiers, is supposed to be the canonical one. There is another type of construction violating this canonical structure, namely fixed expressions, as illustrated in (6.13) to (6.15).

Classifiers versus genders and noun classes: A case study in Vietnamese

(6.13) JAP

(6.14) CHIN

(6.15) VIET

a.

go-tairiku five-continent

'the Five Continents'

b.

huta-tu two-clf

'two continents'

a.

sishu four-book

b.

siben four-clf

shu 'four books' book (6.14a,b cf. Dragunov (1960: 203)

a.

bon four

bê ocean

b.

mot cài bê ô hUÔng one elf ocean be located direction 'one ocean is (located) in the East'

no tairiku attr. continent

303

'the Four Books'

'the Four Oceans' ctong East

The examples in (a), where no classifier is permitted, all function as fixed expressions since they are proper nouns (in fact, the Japanese and Vietnamese examples (6.13a) and (6.15a) are loan translations from Chinese). These examples illustrate again that neither numerals nor nouns are 'defective' in any sense. Nouns can be combined with numerals without a classifier. This correlates to a difference in meaning. One might object that these expressions are lexicalized and do not touch upon the obligatory occurrence of a classifier as such. This conclusion, however, is not correct. It will be illustrated below that there are quite a lot of other cases which exhibit the same syntactic behavior and which cannot be subsumed under lexicalization. First of all, what the examples (6.13a) to (6.15a) have in common in contrast to the corresponding examples (6.13b) to (6.15b) is the notion of totality which is rendered in English by the definite article and in Vietnamese by the obligatory non-occurrence of a classifier. Therefore we can assign a classifier the following feature specification: [+particularization, +unit, -totality]; i.e., a classifier is confined to those expressions where there are potentially more referents. This generalization is not confined to the kind of lexical expressions men-

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tioned above. In the examples in (6.16) a classifier is not permitted due to the fact that reference is unique. In other words, there is nothing to 'particularize', whereas in (6.17), a classifier is obligatory: (6.16) a.

vua Tàu king China 'the king of China'

b. me toi mother I 'my mother' c.

(6.17) a.

trdi xanh sky to be blue 'the sky is blue' mot ông vua Tàu one elf king China 'a king of China, a Chinese king' (ông 'grandfather, elf for respected persons')

b. ngUdi me hien elf mother good 'a good mother' (nguài 'person, elf for human beings') c.

mot bau trài xanh one gourd sky blue 'a blue sky' (bâu 'gourd, elf for round objects')

The obligatory occurrence vs. non-occurrence correlates directly with the fundamental distinction between sortal nouns (in German Gattungsbegriffe) and functional nouns, as well as between sortal concepts and functional concepts, elaborated in Löbner (1985). Functional nouns such as mother (of), king (of), etc., always identify a referent; therefore, they obligatorily occur with the definite article in German and English. Other nouns, too, may be used to identify a referent, and in this case they constitute a functional concept. A noun such as áo di mua 'raincoat' is used as a functional concept in example (6.18) from Tnftfng (1970: 261).

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305

A/

(6.18) a.

Giáp mäc [cái áo den cua Giáp wear elf dress black goss. 'Giáp is wearing the black dress of At'

At.] At

b.

Giáp mäc [0 áodimUa cua Giáp wear raincoat ^ poss. 'Giáp is wearing the raincoat of Ât.'

At.] Ât

According to Triftfng (ibid.), a classifier is used in (6.18a) because it is presupposed that people have several dresses; in (6.18b), however, the presupposition is such that people normally have only one raincoat, i.e., raincoat constitutes a 'semantic definite' in Vietnamese. Again, the use of a classifier in (6.18b) would presuppose that someone has more than one raincoat, which is said to be unusual (see Löbel 1996 for further discussion). Notice, by the way, that the definite article is obligatory in English in both cases. The distinction between functional and sortal concepts is quite independent from the occurrence of numbers. The examples (6.13a), (6.14a), and (6.15a) all represent functional concepts; example (6.14a) si-shu 'the Four Books' does not refer to just four books in general, but to very specific books, i.e., the reference is unambiguous (notice again the obligatory use of the definite article in the English translation). This holds true for example (4.8) as well, repeated here for convenience as (6.19): (6.19) a.

mot 0 làng ô huyêm Nam-XUúng one village in district Nam-Xuong 'the (one) village in the district Nam-Xuong'

b.

mot cài làng ò huyêm Nam-Xuong one elf village in district Nam-Xuong 'a/one village in the district Nam-Xuong'

The use of the classifier cài in (6.19b) implies that there are several villages in this district, whereas in (6.19a), it is presupposed that there is only one. As classifiers as well as numeratives in general belong to the lexical class of nouns it is perhaps not so surprising that they are not confined to occur as a separate constituent but can also occur as part of a compound. This is illustrated in the next section.

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6.6. Numeratives in compounds In Vietnamese, it is notoriously difficult to distinguish between phrases and compounds, as word order is identical in both cases, namely, 'head - modifier': "Compounds are perhaps the least understood elements of Vietnamese grammar" (Thompson 1987: 127). Word order, in this respect, is comparable to French, where the difference between a compound and the corresponding NP is not signaled by a difference in word order, but by different linking elements (French bouquet de fleurs (compound)' lit. 'flower-bunch' vs. bouquet des fleurs (NP) 'bunch of flowers'). 15 As there are no such linking elements in Vietnamese, a sequence such as bó hoa 'bunch of flowers', at first glance, is ambiguous with regard to these two readings. Again, it is intonation which is decisive: In the case of a compound, stress is on the first element, whereas in a classifier construction, it is the last element which receives primary stress (indicated by bold faces, cf. also example (4.19)): (6.20)

a.

b.

(mot) one

'flower-bunch'

[bó bunch

flower

bó bunch

hoa flower

'a bunch of flowers'

Another way of disambiguating these two possibilities is the use of the general classifier cài: (6.21) a.

b.

hai bó hoa two bunch flower hai cài two elf

bó bunch

(6.22) a.

ba three

dàn herd

bd cattle

b.

ba three

cài elf

dàn herd

'two bunches of flowers' (German Strauß Blumen) hoa16 flower

'two flower-bunches' (German Blumenstrauß) 'three herds of cattle' (German Herde Vieh)

bd cattle

'three cattle-herds' (German Viehherde)

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Another contrast where compounding is relevant can be illustrated by the following example (6.23), which is interpretable as (a) a sentence, (b) an NP, and (c) a compound. As already illustrated in connection with the examples in (4.19) and (6.20), the difference between these three types of construction is not obvious in writing but in pronunciation: In (6.23a), subject and predicate are distinguished by a pause (signaled by "-L"), whereas in (c), primary stress is on the first element (signaled by bold faces): (6.23) a.

[[ngudi] 1 person/people

[dánh cá] ] s 'a person/some people catch fish are catching fish'

b.

[ngudi

[dánh cá]]Np

'a person/people who catch(es) fish'

c.

[ngieiñ

dánh cá]N

'(professional!) fisherman/ fishermen'

It is obvious that ngudi 'person' in (6.23c) is part of the compound. As this noun is also used as a classifier for persons, it should, therefore, occur as a classifier if 'fisherman' is classified. As repetition of two identical elements is not permitted, however, the classifier slot remains empty: (6.24)

Ni

n2

a.

*hai two

ngudi elf

ngudi person

dánh cá catch fish

b.

hai two

0i

[ngudi i person

catch fish

'two fishermen' 'two fishermen'

This phenomenon is described in Kol ver (1982: 172), where it is interpreted as a kind of 'neutralisation' between the noun being an unspecified form for number (transnumeral reading) and being individualized (particularized reading). This interpretation, however, is not correct because nouns denoting human beings, i.e., N[+human], when combined with numbers, have to be obligatorily particularized due to the fact that human beings are always conceived of as discrete. In compounds such as (6.23c), nguài 'man' has a transnumeral reading (6.25a), whereas ngudi 'man in (6.25b) is particularized, i.e.,

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there is no neutralization whatsoever, i.e., ngUdi 'man' is either transnumeral (6.25a) or not (6.25b): (6.25) a.

b.

Ni bao nhiên 0¿ how many 'How many fishermen?' hai two

N2 [ngUài dánh cá] fishermen

ngtídi man

Likewise, in contrast to an NP such as hai ngUài ban 'two elf friends', the sequence hai ban 'two friends' without a classifier is possible only in an elliptic reading, as illustrated by the following example: (6.26) a.

Ni N2 anh có bao nhiêu ban dông-nghiêp you have how many friend colleague 'How many colleagues (lit. "equal-profession") who are friends do you have?' hai two 'two'

ban friend

There is, however, another type of construction which is very important from the syntactic point of view, namely, the sequence 'elf + Ν' as a compound. Consider the following contrasts: (6.27) a. mot one

ngUdi elf

ban friend

toi I

'one of my friends (vs. two, etc.)'

b.

(mot) [ngiidi one elf

[ban friend

tôl]Np]Np I

'a friend of mine'

c.

0

[[ngit&i elf

ban]N friend

tÔi]Np I

'my (best) friend'

quyen elf

sách book

tôi I

'one of my books'

(6.28) a. mot one

Classifiers versus genders and noun classes: A case study in Vietnamese

b. (mot) [quyen one elf

[sách book

I

c.

sách]n book

tôi]NP I

0

[[quyen elf

tô/]Np]Np

309

'a book of mine' 'my (favorite) book, the book I am working on at the moment, etc.'

Again, this kind of difference is not obvious in writing, but in pronunciation: In the case of a NP ((6.27b) and (6.28b)), the classifier has weak stress, whereas in the case of compounds, the classifier bears the main stress. This kind of compound can also be used in generic sentences (6.29); it is even possible with measure nouns (6.30), which is not allowed in English: (6.29) [con mèo]N là con thú elf cat is elf animal 'a/the cat is a domestic animal' (6.30) a.

nhà house

[lit sán]N rät rè liter petrol very be cheap 'a liter of petrol is very cheap' (cf. German 'der Liter Benzin ist sehr billig1)

b. (mot) lit san rat rè one liter petrol very be cheap 'a liter of petrol is very cheap' (cf. German 'ein Liter Benzin ist sehr billig') The most important function, however, is the use of classifiers in anaphoric compounds.17 In a collection of Vietnamese fairy tales I have found numerous examples of 'elf + Ν' compounds which are used when it is not possible to refer to a referent which or who has already been introduced by means of a pronoun; this might be due, for instance, to a change of frame. The conditions under which it is necessary to use a pronoun or the corresponding anaphoric compound are not quite clear, but the following example may serve as an illustration: In (6.31a), a referent, in this case a raven, is introduced by

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'numeral + elf + noun'; in (6.31b), 'elf + noun' is an anaphoric compound (which, again, is signaled by the difference in intonation): (6.31)

a. mot one

con elf

qua raven

b. 0

[con qua\n

'a raven' 'the (afore-mentioned) raven'

The same observation can be made if there is more than one referent, i.e., if the anaphoric NP exhibits plurality. In this case, the plural marker nhüng is obligatory: (6.32)

a. ba three

con elf

qua raven

b. nhüng plural

[con qua] elf raven

'three ravens' 'the (afore-mentioned) ravens'

Thus, NPs such as con qua as well as the corresponding plural NP nhüng con qua exhibit differences which are not obvious in writing, but only in pronunciation. The respective interpretation (either aforementioned or not) is dependent on the context: (6.33)

a. (mot) one

con elf

quQ raven

'a raven' (not afore-mentioned)

b. 0

con elf

qua raven

'the raven' (afore-mentioned)

a. nhüng plural

con elf

qug. raven

'ravens' (not afore-mentioned)

b. nhüng plural

con elf

qua raven

'the ravens' (afore-mentioned)

The examples mentioned in this section illustrate that one of the means of expressing 'definiteness' in Vietnamese is by using 'elf + noun'-type compounds.18

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There is, of course, another way of expressing definiteness, namely, the use of demonstratives which according to Allan (1977: 286) are supposed to trigger the obligatory use of classifiers: [n]umeral classifier languages are the paradigm type; they are so called because a classifier is obligatory in many expressions of quantity.... In all numeral classifier languages, the classifiers occur in anaphoric or deictic expressions as well as in expressions of quantity.

It has already been shown that, in Vietnamese, neither numbers nor nouns as such are defective with regard to their capacity of being combinable with numerals; this also holds true for demonstratives, i.e., even in these contexts, a classifier is not obligatory: a.

mèo này cat this

b.

con mèo này elf cat this

'this cat (vs. that one)'

con mèo này elf cat this

'this one cat (vs. those two others, etc.)'

c.

mot one

'this cat, these cats'

To summarize: In addition to the use of demonstratives as a lexical means to express definiteness, Vietnamese, despite the lack of any kind of article, uses two further strategies to denote definiteness. First, numerative compounds are used for reference tracking (cf. (6.31) and (6.32)). At the same time, they denote singularity, and, in contrast to noun phrases, correlate with a definite interpretation (cf. (6.27) to (6.30)). Second, the non-occurrence of a classifier, even in combination with numbers, signals totality (quantitative aspect, cf. section 6.5). In many cases, totality is expressed in English by the definite article, i.e., in these cases, non-occurrence of a classifier may correspond to a definite reading. Non-occurrence of a classifier for the cases mentioned above, however, is possible only if the combination of classifier and enumerated noun refers to an object or entity in its entirety. This distinction, namely categorization of objects or entities vs. particularization of nouns, constitutes one of the main differences of classifier systems in

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contrast to gender and noun class systems; this is the topic of the final section.

7. Conclusion: The main difference between gender/noun class systems and classifier systems According to Corbett, the criterion which is decisive for gender/noun class systems is agreement: While nouns may be classified in various ways, only one type of classification counts as a gender system; it is one which is reflected beyond the nouns themselves in modifications required of 'associative words' (Corbett 1991:4).

Another important aspect is captured in Greenberg's Universal 36, according to which the presence of the category of gender always implies the presence of the category of number (Greenberg 1966:95). Whereas gender is said to be a category which is inherent to the noun, a noun can occur in different numbers in a sentence, similar to case, i.e., these two categories are dependent on the use of the noun in a given sentence. If a language possesses the category of gender, there is no distinction between mass and entity-denoting nouns: both types of noun belong to a given gender. In contrast, classifiers (at least in Vietnamese) are confined to the subclass of nouns denoting structured concepts, i.e., they cover only part of the nominal subclasses. These nouns, however, only roughly correspond to entity-denoting nouns, as has been shown throughout this paper. Apart from this important aspect, there is yet another important distinction which has already been alluded to in section 6.3, namely the distinction between the noun as a word form (linguistic aspect) and the reference of the respective noun (extralinguistic aspect). It has been illustrated in section 6.3 that the potential non-occurrence of a classifier in combination with numbers is possible only in those cases where the meaning of a classifier reflects the meaning of what the enumerated noun refers to in its entirety. Nouns used as classifiers which denote a part of the corresponding enumerated noun cannot be inferred from the context and, therefore, cannot be omitted.

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To be even more precise, it is not the enumerated noun as such which is decisive in this respect, but rather the enumerated entity. Recall the quotation by Berlin by which the notion of inherent classifier is defined (cf. section 6.3), and which is repeated here for convenience: "Which words do we use when we want to count (something) as it appears in its natural environment on earth?" (Berlin 1968:174). This quotation refers to the counting of objects and their respective categorization. With this in mind, we can elaborate the main difference between gender and noun class vs. classifier systems on the basis of the wellknown semiotic triangle as follows:

Figure 2. Semiotic triangle (Lyons 1 9 6 8 : 4 0 4 )

In gender and noun class systems, nouns always belong to a given gender; the objects or entities they denote are categorized accordingly. The criteria may have a high degree of abstraction, such as the features [+feminine] or [+neuter], or they may be based on more concrete semantic criteria such as [+human], [+animate], etc. In other words, there is a one-to-one correspondence between nouns as word forms and the categorization of the objects/entities they denote. Furthermore, gender is signaled either by inherent features (covert gender marking), or by morphological units such as affixes or prefixes (overt gender marking). This one-to-one correspondence does not hold true of classifier systems such as Vietnamese. For this language, classifiers for nouns denoting structured concepts correspond to the semiotic triangle as follows:

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Elisabeth Löbel

MEANING (CONCEPT)

WORD

OBJECT/ENTITY

Particularization of nouns many-to-one

FORM

REFERENT

Categorization of objects / entities one-to-one

Figure 3. Semiotic triangle for Vietnamese nouns

On the right-hand side of the triangle, there is a one-to-one mapping between the categorization of objects or entities and one corresponding classifier. This is the common denominator of both gender/noun class systems and classifier systems such as Vietnamese. On the lefthand side of the triangle, however, there is a many-to-one mapping. The formal correlate of this distinction is the potential non-occurrence of a classifier with regard to the aspect represented by the right-hand side of the triangle. Furthermore, the very notion of classifier for a system such as Vietnamese is not tied to a morphological unit, but to a syntactic slot. There is always more than one classifier, i.e., more than one noun in the classifier slot which serves to particularize a given noun. One final example may serve as an illustration (cf. also examples (4.2) as well as (4.9) and (4.10)): (7.1) (a)

rau plant

can celery

'a celery plant'

(b)

cây stick

can celery

'a celery stick'

(c)

là leaf

cân celery

'a celery leaf

(d)

cu bulb

can celery

'a celery bulb'

Classifiers versus genders and noun classes: A case study in Vietnamese

315

With this in mind, the definition for the notion of classifier in Vietnamese presented in section 5.4 can be refined as follows (final version): The classifier constitutes a syntactic function for particularizing nouns denoting structured concepts and/or categorizing objects conceptualized as being structured. It is the complex interaction of taxonymy, meronymy, particularization of nouns and categorization of objects which is constitutive of the Vietnamese classifier system. Hopefully, these observations might also prove useful for classifer systems in other languages. Notes 1.

2.

3. 4.

5.

6.

This paper is a revised version of working paper No. 74 "Theorie des Lexikons' (University of Duesseldorf). Work on this project has been financed by the German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) within the Special Research Branch 282 'Theory of the Lexicon', sub-project "The noun in the lexicon'. I would like to thank Walter Bisang, Greville Corbett, Werner Drossard, Johanna Mattissen, Ulrike Mosel, Thomas Müller-B ardey, Albert Ortmann, Fritz Serzisko, and Thilo Tappe for their helpful comments. I especially thank Barbara Unterbeck for many further suggestions. All errors, of course, are mine. The results which I present in this article are based on elicitation of (i) twelve Vietnamese-German fairy tales which were kindly provided to me by Walter Bisang, (ii) a Vietnamese-German dictionary comprising 40,000 lexical entries (Karow 1972), and (iii) the extensive lists of classifiers and classified nouns presented in Emeneau (1951: 93-113). I especially thank my native consultant, Phtf óc-Hi/ng Trtfcmg, for his patience in having gone through all this data with me. Instead of an extensive survey on the literature on classifiers, I will take Dixons articles as representative of the problems which arise in connection with classifiers. Therefore, in what follows, I will present his arguments in greater detail. In section 4 below, I will present a different proposal for major subclasses of Vietnamese nouns. Again, I will take Cao as a representative of this assumption which is often found in the literature on classifiers. Therefore, I will present his arguments in greater detail. The most appropriate term for this kind of opposition is the German expression Gliederung (Vater 1979). Unfortunately, a precise equivalent for this term does not exist in English. The lexeme dam. is a loan of French '(ma)dame'.

316

7.

8.

9.

10.

11. 12. 13. 14 .

Elisabeth Löbel

One might object that these part-whole constructions could be disambiguated by using cua 'possession, to belong to' (a lexeme which exhibits conversion). This, however, is not possible since it implies a difference in meaning: (i) môt cành cüa cây one branch poss. tree 'a cut-off branch of a tree' (ii) hai hoa cua cam two blossom poss. orange(tree) 'two fallen-down blossoms of an orange-tree' Cao himself mentions in a footnote (1988: 43) that "many MNs [= mass nouns, E.L.], when referring to parts of the same whole (organs or members of one and the same animal, person, machine, family, etc.) occur after numerals (and only exceptionally, if ever, after other quantifiers). These occurrences, the conditions of which are statable in rigorous terms (Cao 1982), are frequently used as counterexamples against the claim about the uncountability of the MNs involved." Unfortunately, the article mentioned in this quote, which appeared in Vietnam, was not available to me. These nouns constitute a special case in that if they are used with the classifier cài, a contrastive reading is involved, which does not hold true for nouns denoting parts such as cành 'branch' or bành 'wheel'. This is due to the fact that days, sentences, etc. are always (conceived of as being) parts of speech, time, etc., whereas nouns such as cành and bành are not necessarily confined to denote parts (see (4.15)): cài câu 'two sentences (vs. words, etc.)' (i) hai two elf sentence cài ngày 'two days (vs. months, etc.)' (ii) hai two elf day This special use of 'contrastive' cài, however, is possible for all entity-denoting nouns and is not constitutive for distinguishing between (sub)classes of nouns (Difcfng 1970: 117-122, Emeneau 1951: 97-98). Literally, chuc denotes 'a small group of ten' (Emeneau 1951: 111), French 'une dizaine', and covers the amount of approximately 8 to 12 entities. In the following, I will use 'a dozen' as translation equivalent. Apart from the fact that this collective noun is not used with nouns denoting human beings (except for a pejorative connotation), there are no other selectional restrictions. Furthermore, this noun may also be used as a number word with the meaning 'approximately ten'. I will come back to this difference in meaning below. The word class of adjectives as such does not exist in Vietnamese. Stative verbs denoting properties, however, may be distinguished from other stative verbs in that they may be modified with rat 'very' (Honey 1972: 278). Notice that the stative verb dài 'to be long' does not show this kind of ambiguity; it cannot be interpreted predicatively, as it is part of a compound (see example (5.4)). The translation equivalents of table 4 and table 5 also correspond to the most frequent classifiers in Japanese (Johanna Mattissen, p.c.). The construction 'extra cài' is very interesting from a syntactic point of view. Unfortunately, due to lack of space, I cannot give a detailed description. For

Classifiers versus genders and noun classes: A case study in Vietnamese

15.

16.

17.

18.

317

a syntactic treatment of this construction within the framework of DP-syntax in generative grammar, see Löbel 1997. In English, as well as in German, the difference between a NP and a compound correlates with a difference in word order (Strauß Blumen vs. Blumenstrauß·, see Löbel (1986) for an extensive discussion of these types of constructions). Again, at first glance, these constructions look like the so-called 'extra cài' constructions, which could be glossed as 'the two flower bunches (in contrast to other bunches, etc.'). In the usual classifier construction, cài has weak stress, whereas in the 'extra cài' construction, the 'extra cài' bears the main stress. This type of compound is discussed extensively in Downing (1977) from where I quote the following example: Stir 1/4 cup of Port wine into the cornstarch. Remove braising liquid from heat and beat into it the cornstarch-Port mixture; ... Place the egg yolks in the STARCH BOWL, and ... (Downing 1977: 839, emphasis by the author, E.L.). For a discussion of anaphoric compounds containing numeratives in German cf. Löbel (1986:183-191). This kind of ambiguity can also be observed in Cantonese spoken in Southern China; compare the following example mentioned in Chao (1968: 396): "... since the subject position has definite reference, the M [= measure noun in the sense of classifier, E.L.) translates also into 'the' instead of 'a'". (i) Kiw [(yat),E.L.] koh yan call (one) elf man 'Call a man.' [use of yat is optional, E.L.] (ii) Koh yan muxag lai elf man not-will come 'The man won't come.' The sequence koh yan in (i) is a classifier phrase, in (ii), it is a compound. This is not possible in Mandarin, as the use of the classifier g in a sentence comparable to (ii) would correspond to Ί myself wouldn't come'.

References Allan, Keith 1977 "Classifiers". Language. 53 (2): 285-311. Berlin, Brent—Romney, A. Kimball 1964 "Descriptive semantics of Tzeltal numeral classifiers", American Anthropologist 66(2), part 2, 79-98. Cao Xuan Hao 1988 "The Count/Mass Distinction in Vietnamese and the Concept of 'Classifier', Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 41: 38-47.

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Chao, Yuen Ren 1968 A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press. Corbett, Greville G. 1991 Gender. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press. Craig, Colette (ed.) 1986 Noun Classes and Categorization (Typological Studies in Language 7), Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins Pubi. Company. Cruse, D. A. 1995 Lexical Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [=1986] reprinted Dixon, R.M.W. 1982 "Noun classifiers and noun classes", in: Where Have All the Adjectives Gone? and other essays in semantics and syntax. Berlin—New York: Mouton. 1986 "Noun Classes and Noun Classification in Typological Perspective", in: Craig (ed.). 105-112. Downing, Pamela 1977 "On the creation and Use of English Compound Nouns". Language 53.4. 810-842. Dragunov, A. A. 1960 Untersuchungen zur Grammatik der Modernen Chinesischen Sprache, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. Dtfcfng, Than Bình 1971 A Tagmemic Comparison of the Structure of English and Vietnamese Sentences. Janua Linguarum, Series Practica 110. The Hague/Paris: Mouton. Emeneau, M. B. 1951 Studies in Vietnamese (Annamese) Grammar. Berkeley—Los Angeles: University of California Publications in Linguistics 8. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1966 "Some Universale of Grammar with Particular Reference to the Order of Meaningful Elements", in: Greenberg, J. H. (ed.), Universals of Language, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 73-113. 1974 "Numeral Classifiers and Substantival Number, problems in the Genesis of a Linguistic Type", in: L. Heilmann (ed.) Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Linguists, Bologna, p.17-37. Honey, P. J. 19721=1956] "Word Classes in Vietnamese", in: Householder, Fred W. (ed.), Syntactic Theory 1. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd., 275286. Karow, Otto 1972 Vietnamesisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Kölver, Ulrike 1982 "Klassifikatorkonstruktionen in Thai, Vietnamesisch und Chinesisch. Ein Beitrag zur Dimension der Apprehension", in: Seiler/ Lehmann (eds.), 160-185.

Classifiers versus genders and noun classes: A case study in Vietnamese

Lee, Michael 1988

319

"Language, Perception and the World", in: John A. Hawkins (ed.), Explaining Language Universals, Oxford: Blackwell.

Löbel, Elisabeth 1986 Apposition und Komposition in der Quantifizierung. Syntaktische, semantische und morphologische Aspekte quantifizierender Nomina im Deutschen. Linguistische Arbeiten 166. Tübingen: Niemeyer. 1996 "Function and Use of Vietnamese Classifiers", in: E. Weigand & F. Hundsnurscher (eds.), Lexical Structure and Language Use. Lexikon und Sprachgebrauch, Linguistische Arbeiten, Tübingen: Niemeyer, 293-304. 1996 "Numerus - funktionale Kategorie und syntaktische Funktion", in: Löbel, Elisabeth—Gisa Rauh (eds.), Lexikalische Kategorien und Merkmale. Linguistische Arbeiten, Tübingen: Niemeyer, 87-123. Löbner, Sebastian 1985 "Definites", Journal of Semantics 4: 279-326. Lyons, John 1968 Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press. 1977 Semantics. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press. Matsumoto, Yo 1993 "Japanese numeral classifiers: a study of semantic categories and lexical organization", Linguistics 31: 667-713. Miller, George A. —Philip N. Johnson-Laird 1976 Language and Perception. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press. Seiler, Hansjakob—Christian Lehmann (eds.) 1982 Apprehension. Das sprachliche Erfassen von Gegenständen. Teil I: Bereich und Ordnung der Phänomene. Tübingen: Narr. Serzisko, Fritz 1982 "Temporäre Klassifikatoren. Ihre Variationsbreite in Sprachen mit Zahlklassifikatoren", in: Seiler/Lehmann (eds.), 147-159. Thompson, L.C. 1987[=1965] A Vietnamese Grammar (Mon-Khmer Studies XIII-XIV), University of Hawaii Press. Tnfcfng Van Chinh 1970 Structure de la Langue Vietnamienne. Paris. Tversky, Barbara 1986 "Components and Categorization", in: Craig (ed.), 63-75. Vater, Heinz 2 1979[ =1963] Das System der Artikelformen im gegenwärtigen Deutsch. Linguistische Arbeiten, Tübingen: Niemeyer. Zubin, David A.—Mitsuaki Shimojo 1993 "How 'general' are general classifiers? with special reference to ko and tsu in Japanese", in: Guenter, Joshua S., B. A. Kaiser—Ch. C. Zoll (eds.), Proceedings of the 19th Annual Meeting, Berkeley Linguistic Society, Berkeley, Ca.: BLS, 490-502

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea) Ulrike Mosel and Ruth

Spríggs

1. Introduction The Teop language is an Austronesian Oceanic language and belongs to the Nehan-North Bougainville network of the North-West Salomonic Group of the Meso-Melanesian Cluster (Ross 1988). NehanNorth Bougainville languages are renowned for their highly complex verb-phrase morphology (Allen 1978, Ross 1982), whereas the morphosyntax of their noun phrases has not attracted much attention so far.1 None of the languages has been described in any kind of grammar. The data used in this study were provided by Ruth, a native speaker of Teop, with whom Ulrike started to learn and describe Teop in Australia in 1992. In 1994 we got a grant from the Australian Research Council, so that Ruth could work as Ulrike's research assistant and go home to her village in Bougainville for a three months' fieldwork trip. There she collected data for a dictionary, and taped and transcribed five hours of narratives and casual conversation. When Ulrike moved to Germany in 1995, Ruth visited her for three months to continue the analysis of the tapes and the dictionary work. Because of the war in Bougainville, Ulrike could not do any fieldwork until now. In the present paper2 we will show that Teop has a true gender system, which is very unusual for an Austronesian language, and only seems to be attested in the Nehan-North Bougainville languages. The assignment of gender is mainly determined by semantic criteria and manifests itself in the selection of articles and the agreement of numerals and adjectives. As in many other languages, the same morphemes simultaneously express gender and number, but what is exceptional is the form of this syncretism: Teop seems to be the only language attested so far which shows full polarity (cf.

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

Corbett 1991: 196). This means that for the four possible combinations of the two genders I and II and the two number categories singular and plural only two morphemes χ and y are employed, whereby χ marks the singular of gender I and the plural of gender Π, and y the singular of gender Π and the plural of gender I: sg

pi

I

χ

y

II

y

χ

In other words, those forms which differ in gender as well as in number and hence are maximally distinct, are expressed by the same morpheme. Gender assignment is meaningful and is exploited as a means of derivation. It also plays a significant role in possessive constructions. Certain body-part terms belong to gender I when they are used in inalienable constructions, but shift to gender II when they are used in isolation. Pronouns do not distinguish between genders so that Teop presents a counterexample to Greenberg's universal 43 (Greenberg 1966: 96).

2. Articles As mentioned above, we distinguish two genders in Teop. These genders are established on the basis of the form of agreeing numerals and adjectives, i.e., the target genders. The selection of the article of the head noun leads to a further division of Gender I into two subgenders I-E and I-A. Table 1. Teop basic articles head Gender I-E Gender I-A Gender II

target

sg-

head pi.

sg·

target pi.

e

0

a

0

a

0

a

0

0

a

0

a

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323

Table 2. Simple noun phrases singular

plural

Gender I-E

e maagee ART friend 'my friend'

Gender I-A

0. moon 'the woman'

a 'the

moon women'

Gender II

o 'the

3. 'the

hoi baskets'

tenaa my

o maagee ART friend 'my friends'

hoi basket'

tenaa my

Proper names of persons, kinship terms, and the interrogative pronoun teiee 'who' can take a special plural article, ere. With singular proper names ere expresses that the person referred to is accompanied by one or more other people: (1)

ere

subun-ae

PL. ART grandparents-his 'his grandparents'

ere Kakato PL.ART proper name 'Kakato and his company' ere

teiee

PL. ART who 'who? which people?'

The article ere is also used when two kinship terms or proper names are coordinated: (2)

ere Kakato PL. ART Kakato 'Kakato and Sovavi'

bo and

Sovavi Sovavi

ere

bo and

tetee Dad

iaa Mum 'Mum and Dad'

PL. ART

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

The articles e, a, o, and ere precede nominal predicates, specific subject noun phrases and certain specific object noun phrases. They contrast with four other kinds of articles, two of which are also marked for gender: Table 3. The paradigm of Teop articles singular gender

I-E

II

I-E

I-A

II

a

0

ere

0

a

bona

bono

bere

bono

bona

non-specific article

ta

to

specific partitive article

eta

non-specific partitive article

sa

basic article

e

object article

bene

I-A

plural

Since the function of these articles is not directly related to our topic a few remarks and examples might suffice. The object article is used with direct objects following the verb in transitive clauses whose subject is a third person, with second objects of ditransitive verbs, and with prepositions. (3)

E

iaa na mum ASP 'Mum fed the pig.'

ART.I-E.SG

(4)

Enaa

na

l.SG

ASP

vaa'ani feed

vaa'ani feed

bene OBJ.ART.I-E.SG

e

guu. pig

guu. pig

ART.I-E.SG

Ί fed the pig.' (5)

E

guu na vaa'ani pig ASP feed 'The pig was fed by mum.'

e

ART.I-E.SG

ART.I-E.SG

E

naa.

guu ART.I-E.SG pig 'The pig, I fed it.'

na ASP

vaa'ani feed

l.SG

iaa. mum.

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325

The non-specific articles express that one can think of any item or items of the class denoted by the noun. Their use seems to be restricted to negative and imperative sentences. (6)

(7)

Saka

naovana.

NEG

vana haa maa ta Shoot NEG DIR NSP.ART.I.SG 'He did not shoot any bird.' (pr. 5.II) 3

bird

Voni

to

ravarava

buy

NSP.ART.II.SG

sarong

'Buy a new sarong.' The partitive articles do not distinguish gender or number. (8)

(9)

Hee anaa eta kaukau. give me PART. ART sweet potato 'Give me the piece of sweet potato.' Gono

sa

tou.

get

NSP.PART.ART

sugarcane

'Get a piece of sugarcane.'

3. Adjectives Adjectives follow the noun and are preceded by an article which agrees with the head noun in number and gender. The adjectives of nouns of Gender I-E and I-A take the article a in the singular and the article o in the plural, adjectives of gender II the articles o and a in the singular and the plural, respectively. Table 4. Articles

singular gender basic article article with adjectives

plural

I-E

I-A

II

I-E

I-A

II

e

a

0

ere

0

a

a

a

0

0

0

a

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

The following constructions allow both an attributive and a predicative interpretation: (10) basic articles of gender I-E with common nouns a. singular e maagee tenaa a kou friend my extravagant 'my extravagant friend / my friend is extravagant' b. plural o maagee tenaa o kou friend my extravagant 'my extravagant friends / my friends are extravagant' (11) basic articles of gender I-E with proper names a. singular e Kakato Kakato 'Kakato is full.'

a

mahun full

b. plural ere

Kakato o mahun Kakato full 'Kakato and his friends are full.'

(12) basic articles of gender I-A a. singular a inu a rutaa house small 'the small house / the house is small' b. plural o inu o (ruta)rutaa house small 'the small houses / the houses are small'

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

2>11

(13) basic articles of gender II a. singular o hoi o rutaa basket small 'the small basket / the basket is small' b. plural a hoi a (ruta)rutaa basket small 'the small baskets / the baskets are small' (14) non-specific partitive article of gender II to

ravarava sarong 'a new sarong'

to

voon new

(15) specific partitive article eta

kaukau eta tamahaka sweet potato cooked 'the cooked piece of sweet potato'

(16) non-specific partitive article sa

tou sa bebeahu sugarcane long 'a long piece of sugarcane'

Adjectival attributes are not tightly bound to the nominal head. If the noun phrase is combined with a demonstrative, it directly follows the head and thus separates the adjectival attribute from the head: (17)

me bona baenat vai a be-bebeahu with ART.II.PL bayonet DEM ART.n.PL PL-long 'with these long bayonets' (Puana 25)

The demonstratives do not distinguish between genders.

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

4. Numerais If a noun is quantified by a numeral, it occurs in the singular form. The numeral precedes this noun and its article and is marked by the same singular article. (18)

a

buaku

ART.I.SG two 'the two houses'

a

inu

ART.I.SG

house

o

buaku o

hoi

ART.n.SG.

two

basket

ART.II.SG

'the two baskets' Nouns of gender I-E take the article a when they are modified by numerals. In other words, quantification by numerals leads to a neutralization of the distinction between I-E and I-A. (19)

a

buaku

ART.I.SG two 'my two friends'

a

maagee

tenaa

ART.I.SG

friend

my

The numeral peha 'one' fuses with the following article of the head noun, yielding peha and peho respectively. 4 (20)

a

peha one 'one house'

inu house

o

peho hoi one basket 'one basket'

A similar fused form is frequently used instead of buaku 'two' plus article. (21)

a the

bua two

inu houses

o buo the two

hoi baskets

The forms peha, peho, bua, buo can now be regarded as numerals which are inflected for gender.

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

329

That noun phrases containing numerals are formally singular is nicely illustrated by the following example in which such a noun phrase (NP in [ ] ) functions as a nominal predicate. (22)

Ere ART.I-E.PL [a ART.I.SG

iaa Mum

bo and

bua too two.I person

tetee Dad Teapu]. Teop

Mum and Dad are both Teop people. (Helen 1) The noun too 'person' (in 22), which only occurs in compounds with place names and common nouns referring to places, is singular. Its plural counterpart is the collective noun ta 'people' as in a ta Teapu 'the Teop people': (23)

a

too Teapu person [sg] Teop 'a Teop person'

a

ta Teapu people [coll] Teop 'the Teop people'

When a noun is combined with both an adjective and a numeral, the numeral is repeated with the adjective. (24)

a

bua

inu

a

bua

ART.I.SG two.I house ART.I.SG two.I 'the two houses are new / the two new houses' 5

voon new

5. Other ways of expressing number In addition to the articles, various other lexical and grammatical means of expression can be employed to explicitly indicate that a certain noun phrase refers to more than one entity, which shows that the category of number exists independently of the category of gender.

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

5.1. Number distinction with nouns

A few nouns can be reduplicated to indicate plurality. We do not know yet whether this kind of plural is semantically different from plural marking by articles or the plural marker τη««. Table 5. Plural formation by reduplication singular

plural

a visoasi

Tx)y'

o (vis)visoasi

'boys'

e subuava

'old woman'

o (subu)subuava

'old women'

e sumeke

'old man'

o (sum)sumeke

'old men'

5.2. Reduplication

of adjectives

Certain adjectives are reduplicated when they are related to plural nouns: Table 6. Reduplication of adjectives (beerà 'big') a inu a beerà o inu o bebeera

'the big house' 'the big houses'

ohoio beerà a hoi a bebeera

'the big basket' 'the big baskets'

5.3. The plural marker

maa

Plurality can be indicated by the plural marker maa which precedes the nouns and requires the article a, irrespective of the inherent gender of the noun (table 7 next page). Thus in contrast to the numerals, the plural marker leads to a neutralization of gender distinctions.

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

331

Table 7. The plural marker maa I-E I-A I-A II

a a a a

maa maa maa maa

maagee tenaa moon inu hoi

'my friends' 'the women' 'the houses' 'the baskets'

Adjectives attributed or predicated to maa-plurals take the simple plural article when the head noun is human, but the maa-plural elsewhere, the only exception being nouns referring to domestic animals which allow both constructions: (25)

a maa moon ART PLURAL woman 'the big (adult) women'

(26)

a maa ART PLURAL 'the big houses'

(27)

a maa ART PLURAL 'the big pigs'

inu house

guu pig

o ART.I.PL

a ART

o ART

be-beera PL-big

maa PLURAL

bebeera PL-big

bebeera PL-big

The difference between the plural expressed by articles and the maaplural seems to be that the latter refers to a theoretically countable number of individual people or objects, whereas the former does not necessarily imply countability. (28)

A ART na ASP

maa toro PLURAL ship agaa anchor

te-a ta of-ART.i-A people

rori ASP.3.PL

teotoro European

Vapahana. Vapahana

'The ships of the Europeans are anchoring at Vapahana.' (29)

A ART. II. PL

toro ship

te- a ta of-ART.i-Α people

teotoro European

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

a

bero.

ART. II. PL

many

'The ships of the Europeans are many. / The Europeans have many ships.'

5.4. Collective nouns Collective nouns refer to a group, a bundle, cluster, or any other form of collection of items of the same kind. In Teop the collective noun is the head of the noun phrase and determines its gender, whereas the noun denoting the collected items functions as a modifier which directly follows the head noun. Table 8. Collective nouns singular noun

collective construction

e sinariori 'their mother'

a ba sinariori 'the group of their mothers'

£ beerà 'the chief

û kan bebeera 'the group of chiefs'

S maoruu 'the pigeon'

û hovo maoruu 'the flock of pigeons'

a pauna 'a banana'

a hian pauna 'a bunch of bananas'

a tou 'a sugarcane'

a VMM tou

a iana 'a fish'

a hoi iana 'a basket of fish'

o ravarava 'a sarong'

o hoi ravarava 'a basket of sarongs, clothes'

'a cluster of sugarcanes'

As for the combination with adjectives (including adjectives derived from verbs by reduplication), we observe the same phenomenon as with the plural marker maa. Human nouns are followed by adjectives which take the plural article of gender I, but with non-human nouns the quantifying element, in this case the collective noun, is repeated with its article and becomes the head of the adjectival phrase.

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

(30)

a ART.I-A.SG kiikiu working

ba group

sina-riori mother-their

333

o ART.I.PL

kurusu very

'Their mothers are hardworking.' (31)

a kan bebeera o ART. I-A group chiefs ART.I.PL 'the group of knowledgeable chiefs'

(32)

a hian pauna a hian vuri ART.I-A.SG bunch banana ART.I-A.SG bunch ripe 'the bunch of bananas is ripe / a bunch of ripe bananas'

(33)

a_

vuu

tou

a

natanata knowledgeable

vuu

bebeahu

ART.I-A.SG. cluster sugarcane ART.I-A.SG cluster long

'a cluster of long sugarcane' (34)

a hoi ravarava ART.n.SG basket clothes 'the basket of clean clothes'

o ART.II.SG

hoi basket

tahavi clean

The plural marker maa is not a collective noun, because it does not denote "a unity of individuals characterized by certain Gestalt qualities" (Seiler 1986: 43) as the collectives do, but indicates discrete plurality and hence can also be used to express plurality of collectives: (35)

a

maa

kan

be-beera

ART PLURAL group PL-chief 'groups of knowledgeable chiefs'

5.5. Crossreferencing affixes Number, but not gender, is also indicated by crossreferencing morphemes in verb phrases, prepositional phrases, and inalienable possessive constructions. The reason why these morphemes do not carry

334

Ulrike Mosel and. Ruth Spriggs

information on gender is obvious: they originate from personal pronouns, which in Oceanic languages do not distinguish gender, see the examples: (36)

O ART.I.PL

guu pig

na ASP.

na-e6 ASP.3.SG.-ART.I-E.SG

vaa'ani-ri feed-3.PL iaa. mum

"The pigs are being fed by mum. / Mum is feeding the pigs.' (37)

ki-ri o for-3.PL ART.I.PL 'for the women'

moon woman

(38)

a hena-ri ART.IA.SG name-3.PL 'the names of the women'

o ART.I.PL

moon woman

6. The semantic basis of gender assignment The assignment of gender is highly predictable in Teop. One can easily see that nouns of certain semantic classes belong to either gender I-E, I-A, or Π. 6.1. Gender I-E Gender I-E comprises all personal names, all kinship terms, nouns denoting pets, and a number of nouns which refer to people who have a particular status within the community or play a socially important role for others. 1. personal names e Kakato e Sovavi

'Kakato (male name)' 'Sovavi (female name)'

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

335

2. kinship terms of endearment, which are alienably possessed e iaa (tenaa) e tetee (tenaa)

'(my) mum' '(my) dad'

3. other kinship terms which are mostly inalienably possessed e sina-naa e tama-naa e keara tenaa

'my mother' 'my father' 'my sister' (when I am a woman), 'my brother' (when I am a man)

4. nouns referring to people of social importance e e e e

beerà sunano siisia maagee

'a chief (big man)' 'a paramount chief, lord' 'a teacher' 'a friend'

5. the nouns e tohihiupu e magaru

'volcano' 'earthquake'

6. nouns referring to pets e guu e kahi e puisi

'pig' 'dog' 'cat'

7. the interrogative pronoun teiee

'who'

The nouns of group 5 and 6 are not nouns referring to people, but their gender membership can probably be explained in terms of rules similar to those suggested by Dixon (1968: 120) for Dyirbal: (1) if some noun has characteristic X (on the basis of which its class membership would be expected to be decided) but is, through belief or

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

connected with characteristic Y, then generally it will belong to the class corresponding to Y and not corresponding to X. (2) if a subset of nouns has some particular important property that the rest of the set do not have, then the members of the subset may be assigned to a different class from the rest of the set, to 'mark' this property, ( ...)•

As for group 5, we suspect that their gender assignment has some mythological reason. Mountains and natural forces are otherwise located in gender I-A. The three animals pig, dog, and cat differ from other mammals, which belong to gender I-A, with respect to their social standing in the familiy (if we may say so) and are therefore treated like special persons. The article e seems to be cognate with the prefix e- that is found with independent personal pronouns in topic position, e.g., e-naa 'I'. This prefix is, however, not identical with the article, as it also occurs with plural pronouns, e.g., e-nam 'we (exclusive)', e-ara 'we (inclusive)', e-am 'you (pi.)', e-ori 'they'.

6.2. Gender I-A Gender I-A contains the bulk of the lexicon. It can be regarded as the unmarked gender. 1. nouns denoting male and female human beings other than those of gender I-E a otei a moon a beikoo

'the man' 'the woman' 'the child'

2. nouns denoting vertebrates, insects, crabs (but not molluscs, shellfish, etc. which have gender II) a a a a a a a

keusu naovana goroto kuruu vigogiri rokorok iana

'rat' 'bird' 'turtle' 'snake' 'seasnake' 'frog' 'fish'

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

a a a a

beebee vavaaviru kobaa karee

337

'butterfly' 'spider' 'hermit crab' 'centipede'

3. nouns denoting fruits, nuts (but not plants which have gender II) a a a a a a

overe pauna mode kaukau ohita are

'coconut' 'banana' 'watermelon' 'sweet potato' 'galip nut' 'betelnut'

4. nouns denoting utensils (other than wooden ones, mats and clothes which have gender Π) a kepaa a anoo a guvi

'(clay) pot' 'peeler ( made from pearl shell)' 'drinking vessel made from the coconut husk'

5. nouns denoting prepared food a taba 'ani a roororo a hiroo

'food' 'chopped sweet potatoes in coconut milk' 'special soup for women after having given birth'

6. nouns denoting landmarks a a a a a a

tahii kasuana voora vaan mohína ruene

'sea' 'beach' 'mountain' 'village' 'garden' 'water, river, creek'

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

7. nouns denoting winds, rain a huan a irivata a horivana

'rain' 'wind' 'cyclone'

8. the interrogative pronoun a tabae

'what'

9. some abstract nouns derived from verbs a uruuru a mararae

'love' 'happiness'

6.3. Gender II Gender II comprises names of plants and their parts except for fruit, objects made of plant material, invertebrates without legs; furthermore, many mass and abtract nouns. 1. nouns denoting plants o overe o pauna

'coconut palm' 'banana tree'

2. nouns denoting parts of plants o paka o pus

'leaf 'stump'

3. nouns denoting objects made from wood o o o o o o

hinahoo itokono sinivi tatasu veveo toro

'taro planting stick1 'walkingstick' 'canoe' 'pestle' 'broom' 'boat'

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

339

4. nouns denoting mats (made from coconut or pandanus leaves) o maata o karukaa

'mat' 'coarse mat made from pandanus'

5. nouns denoting clothing and decoration (originally made from plants or parts of animals) o o o o

bun ravarava sikioto suu

'decoration' 'sarong, lavalava' 'skirt' 'shoe'

6. nouns denoting invertebrates without legs o o o o

bohara demdem hoe kurita

'kind of edible shell' 'snail' 'edible sea urchin' 'octopus'

7. nouns denoting dances and feasts o paku o vaupee o vaasipoana

'feast' 'initiation' 'blessing feast'

8. nouns denoting fire and light o o o o o

suraa tahiupu sunuu giigii raama

'fire' 'blasting flame' 'torch made from coconut leaves' 'shooting star' 'lamp'

9. nouns denoting some kind of masses o o o o

kasuana nou tahii koara

'sand' 'rubbish' 'salt' 'language'

(a {a (a (a

kasuana nou... tahii koara

'beach') 'a pile of...') 'sea') 'speech')

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

10. abstract nouns (often derived from verbs) o o o o o o

hivi huíate rake hevee suuna problem

'question' 'story' 'will' 'anger' 'truth' 'problem'

(hivi (huíate (rake (hevee

'ask') 'tell a story') 'want') 'be angry')

but there are also some with gender I-A, e.g. a uruuru a mararae

'love' 'happiness'

uruuru mararae

'love' 'be happy'

6.4. The rules of gender assignment The examples illustrate that in Teop gender allocation is not related to the biological categories of sex or animacy. Irrespective of their sex all kinship terms belong to gender I-E, all common nouns denoting ordinary people belong to gender I-A, and animals belong to gender I-E, I-A, and Π. Thus the Teop data represent an exception to Dahl's claim (in this vol.) that if a language distributes animate nouns among different genders, sex is the major criterion. Gender assignment is also not based on the distinction between "individual" and "mass", as Malcolm Ross suggested for the NehanNorth Bougainville languages (Ross 1988: 252; 299-301), since the nouns for shells, octopusses, sea urchins, trees, parts of trees, wooden tools, and clothes denote individual entities but belong to gender II, whereas the mass nouns a hiroo 'kind of soup' and a raes 'rice' belong to gender I-A. Nouns denoting animals belong to all three genders, e.g., e guu 'pig', a keusu 'rat', o demdem 'snail'. The classification of animals is, however, not arbitrary. Domestic animals which are particularly important or close to the family belong to gender I-E like kinship terms, all vertebrates and invertebrates with legs belong to gender ΙΑ, and all invertebrates without legs belong to gender Π. Plants and parts of plants belong to gender II, but the fruits to gender I-A, as do other kinds of food.

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

341

Table 9. Gender assignment in Teop gender I-E

gender I-A

gender II

kin socially important people human beings other than those of I-E pets vertebrates and invertebrates invertebrates without legs with legs fruit, food

plants, including trees parts of plants

all objects except for those of gender II

objects made from parts of plants

landmarks, natural forces

feasts abstract concepts, emotions

7. The origin of gender in Teop Similar to the articles of other languages, the Teop articles have developed from demonstratives, but they did not, as for instance the French articles, develop from a single demonstrative which already showed gender distinction. Rather the Teop articles, and hence the gender system, seems to have originated from three distinct spatial demonstratives and thus show a path of development which has not been reported yet in the literature on the grammaticalization of gender? With respect to the Proto-Oceanic demonstratives, Malcolm Ross (1988: 100) writes : ...there is sufficient evidence in WM Oceanic languages to propose that POC had at least three demonstratives/spatial deictics, and that we can reconstruct *e/*ne 'near speaker', *a/*na 'near addressee', and *o/*no 'distant from both speaker and addressee'. Since there is a strong tendency for Oceanic languages to treat the middle member of the set, *a/*na, as 'neutral1,... it is conceivable that it also became a common article.

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

The reconstructions can be summarized as follows: Table 10. Ross' reconstruction of the Proto-Oceanic demonstratives near speaker

*e/ *ne

near addressee

*a / *na

distant from both speaker and hearer

*o / *no

We assume that the Teop articles have developed from these demonstratives and believe that our hypothesis finds some support in the semantic rules of gender assignment.8 What we do not know, however, is which route this development exactly took. Malcolm Ross (p.c.) suggests that the Nehan-Bougainville languages inherited *a after it had already become a common article. Similarly, *e could already have been a personal article similar to those found in some Meso-Melanesian languages (Ross 1988: 98-100). This personal article probably has its origin in the deictic. Table 11. The origin of Teop articles deictic

gender article in Teop

article

*e (near speaker)

personal article

-»

gender I-E

*a (near addressee)

common article

—>

gender I-A

*o (remote)

?

gender II

Whatever the exact path of grammaticalization was, we think that it is at least not unrealistic to assume that there is some relationship between the genders of Teop and the deictic categories of proximity and distance. All nouns of gender I-E denote human beings or animals which are close to the individual or which have an important function in the community, and hence are tightly bound to the community. In this respect they contrast with human nouns of gender ΙΑ, which do not imply such a relationship. If it seems plausible that gender I-E somehow implies the idea of proximity, we could perhaps go a step further and assume that gender Π carries the notion of distance. With regard to the variant gender assignment of bodypart terms, which we'll discuss in the next section,

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

343

this seems to make sense. But we do not have sufficient evidence at this stage of our research to claim that plants and their parts, and the things which are made from them are "more distant" than the fruit of these plants and the food made from them. Or that non-vertebrates without legs, which do not look and behave like prototypical animals, are "more distant" than those which have bones, move on legs or fly. Cognitive linguists, however, may have something to say about this.

8. Possessive constructions Similar to other Oceanic languages, Teop distinguishes between alienable and inalienable possessive constructions. Inalienable constructions express close relationships such as kinship and part-whole relationships which include the relationship between a body-part and the body to which it belongs. This semantic difference is iconically reflected in the form of alienable and inalienable constructions: alienable possessors are expressed by optional prepositional phrases, whereas inalienable possessors are tightly bound to the possessee by affixes. (39) alienable possessive constructions a

inu

te-a9

ART.I-A.SG house of-ART. l.SG 'the house of the woman'

a

inu

te-naa

ART.I-A.SG 'my house'

house

of-I.SG

moon woman

(40) inalienable possessive constructions with pronominal possessors a

hena-

ART name'my name'

naa10 l.SG

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

a

hena-

ART name'his name'

na-

e

LIG.SG-

3.SG

a

ri-

ori

ART.I.SG

henaname'their name(s)'

LIG.PL-

3.PL

(41) inalienable constructions with singular nominal possessors a

hena- ne ART.I-A.SG name- LIG.SG- ART.I-E.SG 'the name of the friend'

a hena-n-a moon a hena-n-o toro

maagee friend

'the name of the woman' 'the name of the ship'

(42) inalienable constructions with plural nominal possessors a

hena- riname- LIG.PL'the name(s) of the friends'

o

ART.IA.SG

ART.I.PL

magee friend

a hena-ri-o moon a hena-ri-a toro

'the name(s) of the women' 'the name(s) of the ships'

In constrast to other Oceanic languages Teop does not distinguish between severals kinds of alienable constructions distinguished by possessive classifiers. We suspect that this simplification of the possessive system is related to the genesis of gender. While kinship terms always require the expression of the possessor, body-part terms can be used without. What is most interesting with regard to gender assignment is that in this case the body-part term changes to gender II: (43)

Enaa

na

o

l.SG

ASP

vanun forget Ί forgot the name.'

ART.II.SG

hena. name

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

345

(44) body-part terms a bina-naa a vuha-naa

'my spleen' 'my heart'

vs. vs.

o bina o vuha

'the spleen' 'the heart'

Some body-part terms require the suffix -na when they are used in isolation. In other words, this suffix indicates that the body-part term is no longer relational, u (45)

a

moo-naa

ART.IzA.SG

leg-l.SG

'my leg' a

moo-n-

ART.I-A.SG leg-LIG.SG'the leg of the pig'

(46)

Koroto o draw ART.II.SG 'Draw a leg.'

e

guu

ART.I-E

pig

moo-na. leg-DER

The change of gender is also observed when the body-part term is used in a compound, in which case it does not take the suffix -na. (47)

Koroto o draw ART.II.SG 'Draw a pig's leg.' o

moo ART.II.SG leg 'the right leg'

moo leg

guu pig

matau right

In addition, body-part terms change to gender II when the body part is literally or metaphorically separated from its body. If the possessor is to be explicitly mentioned, it is expressed by an alienable possessor phrase. Compare: (48)

a

revasin-naa

ART.I-A.SG

blood-my

'my blood (in my body)

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

o

revasin

te-naa

ART.II.SG blood PREP-my 'my blood (outside my body)'

(49)

(50)

a

ihu-naa

ART.I-A.SG 'my nose'

nose-my

O

ihu-na

te-naa

to

gono

ART.n.SG

nose-DER

of-me

TOP

get

e

Leona.

ART.I-E.SG

Leona

'Leona [my daughter] inherited my nose.' To conclude, Gender I-A is selected when the body-part term is relational and bound to a possessor noun or pronoun, and when the whole construction refers to a body part in its normal place. When, however, reference is made to a body part which is separated and thus distanced from the body, the term belongs to gender II and is alienably possessed. Thus our hypothesis that Gender II carries the notion of distance seems to be supported by the variable gender assignment of body-part terms.

9. Concluding remarks Teop represents an unusual case of grammaticalization of gender. The three head genders I-E, I-A and II seem to originate from the three Proto-Oceanic demonstratives *e / *ne, *a / *na and *o / *no which have been reconstructed for 'near speaker', 'near adressee', and 'distant from both speaker and hearer', respectively. The assigment of nouns to gender I-E and Π can at least in some cases be related to the deictic categories of proximity and distance. Gender I-A seems to be a default gender (Corbett—Fraser 1994), which is used for human beings other than 'special' people, for all animals except for pets and atypical animals like molluscs, for body-parts as long as they are in

Gender in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

347

their normal place, and for all nouns marked by the plural marker maa. Most Oceanic languages which did not develop gender, only preserved a reflex of *a / *na as a general article or noun-phrase marker, some also show a reflex of *e / *ne as the so-called personal article which combines with proper names of persons and independent pronouns (Ross 1988). Our investigation leaves many questions unanswered. In particular, we are not sure if in addition to the notion of distance some other more or less related concept as, for instance, individuation, also plays a role in the assignment of gender, as pairs like a kasuana 'beach' and o kasuana 'sand' might suggest. We also do not know, how the relation between the singular and the plural forms of the articles can be explained. List of abbreviations ART ASP DEM DER DIR I I-A I-E II LIG NEG NSP.PART OBJ.ART PART.ART PL, PL. PL.ART PLURAL PREP SG, SG. SP.ART TOP

article aspect marker demonstrative, derelationalizer directional particle gender I gender I-A gender I-E gender II ligature negation non-specific partitive article object article partitive article plural plural article plural marker preposition singular specific partitive article topicalization particle

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Ulrike Mosel and Ruth Spriggs

Notes 1.

2.

3. 4. 5

6. 7. 8.

Ross describes briefly the noun class system (here called gender system) of Nehan and North Bougainville languages. He does not recognise it as a gender system, but speaks of two categories which he calls 'individual and mass' (Ross 1988: 252, 299-301). We wish to thank all colleagues and friends who commented on earlier versions of this paper: Nikolaus Himmelmann, Claudia Kuzla, Elisabeth Löbel, Malcolm Ross, Doris Weber. Particular thanks go the Cognitive Anthropology Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen who invited us in September 1995 to present our very first version of this paper. The abbreviations in brackets refer to texts. Articles are in many contexts enclitics of the preceeding word and often fuse with the morpheme to which they are attached. When counting one says peha, buaku ... 'one, two'... Unfortunately we do not have data for higher numerals. The aspect marker and the following article are fused and pronounced as [®]· Corbett 1991, Greenberg 1978, Heine—Reh 1984: 217- 235, Himmelmann [in press], Lehmann 1995. Note that Teop demonstratives do not distinguish between genders and occupy a different position in the noun phrase. However, several Teop demonstratives and local deictics reflect the form reconstructed for Proto Oceanic. *e / *ne ei

*a / *na 'this here' vai

en 9. 10. 11.

*o/*no

'here'

'this'

oi voi on

'that over there' 'that' 'over there'

The preposition and the article of the following noun form one word. hem 'name'belongs to the class of body-part terms. Compare Tolai for similar constructions (Mosel 1984: 30-46).

References Allen, Gerald 1978

Halia verb morphology: from morpheme to discourse. [M.A. dissertation, University of Texas at Arlington.] Corbett, Greville G. 1991 Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Corbett, Greville G.—-Norman M. Fraser [in this vol.] "Default genders".

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Dahl, Osten [in this vol] "Animacy and the notion of semantic gender" Dixon. Robert M. W. 1968 "Noun classes", Lingua 21:104-125. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1966 "Some universale of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements", in: Joseph H. Greenberg (ed.). Universals of language. 2nd ed., Cambridge, Mass.: The M.I.T. Press. 73-113 1978 "How does a language acquire gender markers?", in: Greenberg et al., Universals of human language, vol. 2. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 47-125 Heine, Bernd—Mechthild Reh 1984 Grammaticalization and reanalysis in African languages. Hamburg: Buske. Himmelmann, Nikolaus in press Deiktikon, Artikel, Nominalphrase: Zur Emergenz syntaktischer Struktur. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Lehmann, Christian 1995 Thoughts on grammaticalization. Lincom Studies in Theoretical Linguistics. München, etc.: Lincom Europa. Mosel, Ulrike 1984 Tolai syntax and its historical development. Pacific Linguistics B92. Canberra: Australian National University. Ross, Malcolm D. 1982 "The development of the verb phrase in Oceanic languages of the Bougainville region", in: Amran Halim—Lois Carrington— Stephen A. Wurm (eds.). Papers of the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, vol. 1: Currents in Oceanic. Pacific Linguistes C - 74, Canberra: Australian National University. 1-57. 1988 Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian languages of Western Melanesia. Pacific Linguistics C - 98. Canberra: Australian National University Seiler, Hansjakob 1986 Apprehension. Language, object and order. (Language Universale Series, l/III).Tübingen: Narr.

Gender and number in acquisition Natascha

Müller

1. Introduction The study of the acquisition of grammatical systems like gender and number has given rise to speculations about how grammatical systems where semantic and formal properties play a crucial role are bootstrapped. In the formulation of "operating principles", Slobin (1973, 1985) stresses the importance of semantic properties for the development of grammatical systems. In other words, semantic properties trigger the acquisition of grammatical systems such as gender and number. This hypothesis is known as the semantic-primacy hypothesis (Slobin 1985) or the semantic-bootstrapping hypothesis (Pinker 1982, 1984). Accordingly, the young child will acquire grammatical number before grammatical gender (since grammatical number is more transparent than grammatical gender) and semantic properties which determine the gender of nouns will be acquired before formal regularities (concerning the phonological or morphological structure of nouns). Mills (1985, 1986a, b) concludes from a longitudinal and a crosssectional study on the acquisition of gender in German monolingual children that semantic and formal regularities are acquired simultaneously (around the age of 3). Put differently, semantic properties are important in gender assignment, but they coexist with formal properties, i.e., they do not trigger the grammatical system. The literature on the acquisition of gender systems, however, contains many examples for the predominant influence of semantic properties in gender assignment at later stages. Yaguello (1978: 105) mentions the overgeneralization of natural gender in a French child: De même une autre petite fille me soutenait que tout substantif devient automatiquement féminin lorsqu'il est employé par une femme, masculin

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Natascha Müller

lorsqu'il est employé par un homme, manifestant ainsi un refus du genre grammatical et arbitraire. [Furthermore, another little girl assured me that every noun automatically turns into a feminine noun when used by a woman, into a masculine noun when used by a man, thus manifesting a rejection of grammatical and arbitrary gender.]

Jakobson (1963: 85) makes a similar observation in a Russian child: De même un enfant russe, lisant des contes allemands en traduction, fut stupéfait de découvrir que la Mort, de toute évidence une femme (russe smert', féminin), était représentée comme un vieil homme (allemand der Tod, masculin). [Furthermore, a Russian child, reading German fairy-tales in translation, was surprised to discover that the death, clearly a woman (Russian smert, feminine gender), was represented as an old man (German der Tod, masculine gender).]

In a comprehension test with Icelandic children from 4 to 8 years of age, Mulford (1985) observes that comprehension of pronouns which refer to nouns denoting male or female beings is much better than comprehension of pronouns which refer to nouns denoting objects or nonsense words.1 In the literature on the acquisition of grammatical systems, the opposite hypothesis has been advanced as well, namely that grammatical systems are set up on formal (phonological or morphological) grounds. As for the acquisition process, one would expect the child to develop formal regularities before semantic regularities. Karmiloff-Smith (1978, 1979) indeed finds evidence for the acquisition of formal regularities in determining the gender of French nonsense nouns at the age of 3. More specifically, she observes that very young children do not consider semantic regularities in gender assign ment (cf. also Tucker—Lambert—Rigault 1977). Clark (1985) notices that children acquiring Spanish make gender assignments on the basis of the nominal endings -o and -a (cf. also Colomina—Gilboy); for the importance of formal regularities in gender assignment cf. Tucker—Lambert—Rigault 1977 for French. The same results are obtained by Thiel (1994) for German and by Berman (1981) and Levy (1983a, b) for Hebrew. In what follows I will try to show that neither semantic primacy nor formal primacy can account for the development of the grammatical gender and number systems in German and French (cf. Mills 1986a, b). Put differently, the discovery of semantic properties does not precede that of formal properties or vice versa in the acquisition process. Both properties are recognized simultaneously. The child's

Gender and number in acquisition

353

task is rather to relate the semantic and the formal aspects of the number and gender systems. The paper is organized as follows: The next section deals with the German and French gender and number systems. It will be shown that both systems are characterized by a high degree of plurifunctionality. Section three outlines the development of gender and number in the grammar of three bilingual (German/French) children. I will conclude the paper with a short summary and a discussion of the results with respect to semantic and formal primacy.

2. The adult systems In the study of the development of gender and number, it is important to distinguish between the semantic concepts on the one hand and the grammatical notions on the other hand. The semantic concept of number is based on the characterization of a plurality of persons or things, i.e., "singular vs. plural". Mostly, the grammatical number corresponds to the number of referents, i.e. plural nouns refer to more than one referent and singular nouns refer to one referent only. However, there are some exceptions to this regularity, namely nouns which are marked as [-countable] are specified as [+singular]; la foule disparaît 'the crowd disappears' vs. les gens disparaissent 'the people disappear'. Furthermore, number may be chosen freely by the speaker (in contrast to gender). In French and in German, number is an agreement feature, i.e., determiners, adjectives, etc., agree in number. The semantic concept of gender is based on female and male sex on the one hand and on unspecified sex (neuter gender in German, e.g., kind 'child', n.)2 on the other. Grammatical gender corresponds to the semantic notion only in some cases, e.g., femme (f.) 'woman', homme (m.) 'man', frau (f.) 'woman', mann (m.) 'man'. This gender, called natural gender, differs from the gender which does not depend on characteristics of the respective referent, often defined as arbitrary gender. As Kopeke (1982), Kopeke—Zubin (1983) and T u c k e r Lambert—Rigault (1977) have shown for German and French respectively, the term "arbitrary gender" is misleading, since it is predictable on the basis of phonological (the noun's ending; cf. tables la

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Natascha Müller

and l b b e l o w ) and morphological properties of nouns (cf. also Corb e « 1991). The grammatical feature "gender" is part of the lexical entry of nouns. One has to distinguish nouns that have gender as an inherent feature and words which get gender by agreement, such as adjectives and determiners. The inherent, invariable characteristic of nouns is often called gender attribution, in contrast to the variable characteristic of modifiers which is defined as gender agreement (cf. Carroll 1989). Table la. Some phonological gender regularities in French3 phonolog. form

associated gender^

number of nounsS

exception^

1. [ml

M (1292) approx. 92%

1406

la plume (114) 'feather'

2. [a]

M(1949) approx. 99%

1963

la dent (14) 'tooth'

3. [E]

M (929) approx. 99%

938

la faim (9) 'hunger'

4. [o]

M (841) approx. 97%

865

la photo (24) 'photo'

5. [œ]

M (17) 100%

17

6. [Ö]

F (1872) approx. 70%

2666

le mouton (794) 'sheep'

Table lb. Some phonological gender regularities in German phonolog. form

associated gender

1.

approx. 90% F (13 500)

M

2. [Et]

approx. 95% Ν (55)

number of nouns 15 000 58

exception der Hase, m.7 'rabbit' das Auge, η. 'eye' der Jet, m. 'jet'

Gender and number in acquisition

355

In the following analysis, I will focus on gender and number markings on definite and indefinite articles and on number markings on nouns. French has two genders, feminine and masculine. Gender is marked in the singular and in the plural. It is expressed on determiners (cf. table 2a for definite and indefinite articles), adjectives (petit - petite 'small'), and sometimes on nouns (which is mostly not audible) (ami - amie 'friend'; serveur - serveuse 'waiter' - 'waitress'). Table 2a. Definite article (D) and indefinite article (I) in French singular

plural

masculine

feminine

D/I le/un

D/I la/une

D/I les/des

Table 2. Definite article (D) and indefinite article (I) in German case

singular

plural

masculine

feminine

neuter

D/I

D/I

D/I

D/I

nominative accusative

der/ein den/einen

dative genitive

dem/einem des/eines

die/eine die/eine der/einer der/einer

das/ein das/ein dem/einem des/eines

die/die/dett/der/-

Determiners, adjectives and nouns are also marked for number in French. However, in general the plural noun does not differ from the singular form phonologically (maison - maisons 'house/s'), since the plural -s is not pronounced. Some nouns have phonologically distinct singular and plural forms, but they represent rather exceptions; cheval - chevaux 'horse/s' (cf. table 3a). One peculiarity of the French number system is that if a plural determiner precedes a noun beginning with a vowel, the final plural -s of the determiner fuses with that vowel, e.g. [le] [zanimop (=les animaux) 'the animals'. Summarizing the French gender and number system, both gender and number are unambiguously marked on determiners only.

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Natascha Müller

Table 3a. Plural markings on nouns in French mostly not audible, cf. some exceptions, e.g.:

maison maisons cheval corail

[mezö] [mezö] chevaux coraux

'house' 'houses' 'horses' 'corals'

Table 3b. Plural markings on nouns in German allomorph

1. [/s/} 2. {/(3)n/} 3. {hi} 4.. {/a/ + Umlaut} 5. {/ar/} 6. {/ar/ + Umlaut} 7. {/0/} 8. {/0/ +Umlaut}

example singular

plural

Auto Katze Tier

Autos Katzen Tiere Töne Kinder Räder Adler Mütter

Ton Kind Rad Adler Mutter

'cars' 'cats' 'animals' 'tones' 'children' 'wheels' 'eagles' 'mothers'

German has three genders, feminine, masculine and neuter. As in French, gender is marked on determiners (cf. table 2b for definite and indefinite articles), adjectives (gutes wasser 'good water, n.' - gute butter 'good butter, f.' - guter wein 'good wine, m.'), and sometimes on nouns (freund - freundin 'friend, m.' - 'friend f.'). However, it is marked in the singular only. The majority of grammatical markings is plurifunctional. Thus, the determiner die is used to indicate singular and feminine gender on the one hand and plural on the other. As in French, number is marked on determiners, adjectives, and nouns (cf. table 3b for the different plural allomorphs). Again, one finds plurifunctional markings. One example is -e which may function as a plural allomorph, e.g., tiere 'animals', and as an integrated part of the lexical item, e.g., tasche 'bag'. In conclusion, neither gender nor number is marked unambiguously in German.

Gender and number in acquisition

357

3. T h e analyis 3.1. The DUFDEproject The subjects of this study are three bilingual (French/German) children, Caroline, Ivar, and Pascal. The age period investigated in this paper covers the age span from 1;5,09 to 3;0 in Caroline and Ivar and from 1;5 to 2;7 in Pascal. The bilingual data originate from the DUFDE project (Deutsch Und Französisch - Doppelter ¿srstspracherwerb; cf. Meisel 1990, 1994), where bilingual German/French children are studied longitudinally.10 They are recorded from their first comprehensive words at about age 1;0 - 1;6 up to the age of 5 years. The children find social circumstances favoring simultaneous and also balanced bilingualism. The parents, one being French, the other German-speaking, use the one-person-one-language strategy (Ronjat 1913). The families' social background is middle-class. The children are video-taped every two weeks. Two interviewers, one French-speaking, one German-speaking, visit the child at home and play with her/him for approximately half an hour in each language. While the French assistant is playing and speaking with the child, the German assistant operates the video equipment, and vice versa; one person is therefore not involved in the interaction which makes it clear for the child what language to speak, or at least what language is expected of her/him.

3.2. Gender and number in bilingual first language acquisition 3.2.1. The unavailability of the grammatical features "gender" and "number" Noun phrases used by very young children differ in crucial ways from their respective adult counterparts. They lack agreement markings and they do not consist of more than two elements (cf. also Clahsen—Eisenbeiß—Vainikka 1994, Mills 1985). In the language development of the three bilingual children, Caroline, Ivar and Pascal, a very early developmental phase may be observed where the grammatical features gender and number have not been discovered yet. This phase covers the age period from 1;5 to ap-

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Natascha Müller

proximately 2;0 in Caroline (1;5-1;9 French; l;5-2;0 German), from 1;6 to 2;4 in Ivar (French/German), and from 1;5 to approximately 1;10 in Pascal (1;5-1;9 French; 1;5-1;10 German). The MLU (Mean Length of Utterance) values (cf. Brown 1973) are given below in table 5. Table 4. Phase 1 (ages) Caroline (Ca) German l;5-2;0

Ivar (Iv)

French

Gennan

1;5-1;9

l;6-2;4

Pascal (Pa)

French l;6-2;4

German

French

1;5-1;10

1;5-1;9

Table 5. MLU values! 1 Ivar

Caroline age

1;6,26 1;9,16 1;11,4 2;0,9 2;1,13 2;3,11 2;4,8 2;7,20 2; 10,28 3;0,2

German

1.19 1.35 1.55 2.23 1.93 2.30 2.12 3.08 3.62 3.96

French

1.19 1.85 2.13 —

2.09 2.50 3.23 3.16 3.68 —

age

1:10,12 i;iU7 2;0,2 2;0,29 2;2,7 2;3,9 2;4,9 2;5,7 2;6,6 2;7,17 2;8,15 2;9,18 2; 10,24 2;11,21 3;1,3

Pascal German

1.12 1.41 1.68 1.63 1.71 1.83 1.83 2.76 3.03 3.35 3.52 3.82 4.29 4.77 4.55

French

1.13 1.31 i.b.12 1.31 1.47 1.29 1.29 2.93 3.58 3.51 3.96 4.55 4.90 4.90 5.47

age

i;8,22 1;10,0 1; 10,28 1;11,28 2;1,0 2;1,28 2;2,26 2:4,7 2:5,5 2:6,2 2;7,0 2:8,17

German

French

1.07 1.70 1.63 1.58 1.97 2.15 2.04 2.81 3.17 2.74 3.09 4.35

1.06 1.57 1.85 1.63 2.14 2.49 2.42 3.45 3.63 3.93 4.53 4.87

The crucial observation is that the children do not use adult-like determiners yet, except for the forms of the indefinite article ein and un (cf. Koehn 1989) which are, however, analyzed as numerals.13 Two reasons could be advanced in order to account for the absence of adult-like determiners, the complexity of the underlying semantic concepts (singularity vs. plurality, female vs. male sex) or limits on formal complexity. There are, however, several observations

Gender caïd number in acquisition

359

which show that the absence of determiners can neither be ascribed to the supposed complexity of the underlying semantic concepts nor to limits on formal complexity. With respect to number, Koehn (1989) observes that Ivar uses the forms un/un autre 'one'/'another' and ein/noch ein 'one'/ 'another' in order to refer to one object, deux and zwei 'two' in order to refer to more than one object (>1) from 1;10 onwards. The same usage can be observed in Pascal from 1;6 onwards. Caroline makes target-like use of numerals like un/ein 'one' and quantifying expressions like beaucoup 'much'/'many'. These usages indicate that the underlying semantic concept "singularity vs. plurality" has been discovered by that time. With respect to gender, the semantic concept "female vs. male" has probably not evolved yet at this early age. Although the children do not distinguish female and male sex, they have developed one prerequisite concept of natural gender, namely animacy (cf. Mills 1986a for the importance of the features [±animate] and [±human] in gender attribution; "animacy and personal rule"). Ivar starts using the free morpheme [aman] (=ein Mann) 'a man' from 1;8 onwards to refer to animate beings such as a man, a woman, his mother, a cowboy, a snake, a bird. Caroline uses das 'this' for the reference to nonanimates. (1)

(a) G 14 [aman] (=ein Mann) 'a man' reference=[+animate]: man, woman, mother, cowboy, snake, bird (b) G

das 'this' reference=[-animate]

These observations clearly indicate that the relevant semantic concepts are already being developed at this early age by the children. An approach which accounts for the absence of adult-like determiners in terms of cognitive complexity thus runs into severe problems. Another possible reason for the absence of adult-like determiners expressing gender and number distinctions could be the supposedly too complex structure of noun phrases containing more than one element. The problem with this approach is that the children do use early forms like [a], [da], [a] already in combination with nouns at this early age. Although these forms do not encode grammatical distinc-

360

Natascha Müller

tions such as gender, number, or case, they almost always appear in front of the noun. (2)

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i)

G G F G F G F G F

[9] turm d[d] hund [an] canard [a] [veve] (=Wauwau) [a] mess[u] (=monsieur) d[a] tiger [e] nez [m] banane [a] pied

'tower' 'dog' 'duck' 'dog' 'man' 'tiger' 'nose' 'banana' 'foot'

(Ca;l;6,26) (Ca;l;6,8) (Ca;l;6,26) (Iv;l;5,24) (Iv;l; 10,30) (Iv;2;0,29) (Pa;l;6,4) (Pa;l;8,6) (Pa;l;8,22)

Moreover, the children use noun phrases which contain an (uninflected) adjective and a noun. These observations clearly show that the children are able to produce noun phrases with two lexical items and that limits on formal complexity may thus not account for the absence of adult-like determiners. On the basis of these observations I want to suggest that the absence of adult-like determiners to encode grammatical gender and number distinctions is due to the unavailability of the corresponding grammatical features in child grammar. Of course, from the mere absence of adult-like determiners to express grammatical gender and number distinctions it does not necessarily follow that the grammatical features are not available. Rather, the children might express these distinctions with other forms they have already acquired which are, however, target-deviant. However, there is evidence to assume that this alternative is untenable. The first observation is that the early prenominai forms like [3], [da], [a] the children use are combined with masculine as well as with feminine (and neuter) nouns on the one hand and with singular and plural nouns on the other. 15 One would expect this to be the case if these forms were not used in order to express grammatical gender and number distinctions. (3) (a) G (b) G (c) G (d) G (e) G (f) G (g) G

[ a] [dede] (=Teddy) [d] b[o]me (=Blume) [α] mama [a] papa [a] bus [a] schiff [a] mama

'teddy', m. •flower", f. 'mummy', f. 'daddy', m. 'bus', m. 'ship', η. 'mummy', f.

(Iv;l;8,8) (Iv;l; 10,30) (Ca;l;6,26) (Ca;l;6,26) (Pa;l;8,6) (Pa;l;8,22) (Pa;l;8,22)

Gender and number in acquisition

(h) (i) (j) (k)

F F G G

[g] ba[du] (=bateau) [g] [zjoeufs [a] mann [e] manner (=Männer)

'boat' 'eggs' 'man' 'men'

361

(Iv;l;9,28) (Iv;l; 10,30) (Pa;l;9,ll) (Pa;l;9,ll)

The examples under (3) indicate that the children have discovered the syntactic position where determiners are generated in the adult language (cf. Bottari, Cipriani—Chilosi 1992, Dolitsky 1983 and Penner—Weissenborn 1993 for the usage of monosyllabic place-holders like [a, [da], [a] in early child language). 16 Furthermore, the syntactic property that determiners precede nouns in German and French already seems to be well established. The second observation with respect to the unavailability of the grammatical gender and number distinctions is that adjectives appear without inflectional markings. This will be exemplified by using Ivar's data only, because he makes extensive use of adjective+noun combinations. (4) (a) G (b) G (c) G (d) FG (e) F (f) F

gubum (=große Blume) gu haus (=groß) gan pubi (=kleine Puppe) granfi] schuhe (=grand) petit nounours petit vache

'big flower', f.

(Iv;l; 10,30)

'big house', η.

(Iv; 1 ; 11,7)

'small doll', f.

(Iv;l;ll,17)

'big shoes'

(Iv;2;2,7)

'small teddy', m. 'small cow', f.

(Iv;2;3,5) (Iv;2;3,5)

The third point is that the elements ein, un and un autre are used by the children irrespective of the gender and the number specification of the co-occurring noun in the respective adult system. (5) (a) F (b) F (c) G (d) G (e)

F

un [zyni] (=soleil) un dame eina-anas (=Ananas) ein deddi (=Teddy)

'a sun', m. 'a woman', f. 'a pine-apple', f.

(Iv;l;10,12) (Iv;2;0,29) (Iv;l; 10,30)

'a teddy', m.

(Iv;2;3,5)

un autre dame

'another woman', f.

(Iv;2;0,29)

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Natascha Müller

F

'another duck', m.

(Iv;2;0,29)

'another thread', f.

(Iv;2;3,5)

'another button', m. 'another book'

(Iv;2;3,5) (Iv;2;4,9)

un aut mal (=animal) (k) FG [anot] schuhe (=un autre) FG un autre [zu] (1) (=Schuh)

'another animal'

(Iv;2;3,5)

'another shoes'

(Iv;2;2,7)

'another shoe'

(Iv;2;2,7)

(m) G (n) G

'a bus', m. 'a snail', f.

(Pa;l;8,6) (Pa;l;9,30)

'a horse', n.

(Pa;l;8,6)

'a balloon', m. 'a cow', f.

(Pa;l;8,6) (Pa;l;9,ll)

un autre cahar (=canard) F un autre [faze] (g) (=ficelle) (h) F un autre bouton (i) FG un autre buch (f)

(j)

F

(o) G (P) F (q) F

ein bus ein [d]ecke (=Schnecke) ein [b]erd (=Pferd) un ballon un vache

h determiner-like elements only: (r) (s)

G G

[a] vögel [a] vogel

'bird' 'bird'

(Pa;l;9,30) (Pa;l;9,30)

Ivar combines the numerals zwei and deux 'two' with formally singular as well as with plural nouns. (6) (a) F (b) FG (c) G (d) FG

deux [zamono] deux schuhe [sai] [aus] (=zwei Haus) deuxpaket

'two animals' 'two shoes' 'two house'

(Iv;2;2,21) (Iv;2;2,21) (Iv;2;3,5)

'two parcel'

(Iv;2;3,19)

Note that Ivar already produces the respective formally correct singular nouns mal 'animal' and schuh 'shoe' on the one hand and the plural noun häuse17 (=Häuser) 'houses' on the other. The crucial observation made by Koehn (1989, 1994) is that the numerals are always referentially adequate. This suggests that number is clearly marked during this developmental phase but it seems to

Gender and number in acquisition

363

be a semantic feature of numerals. In this respect, numerals may be compared with adjectives like groß/grand 'big' and klein/petit 'small', which have a referential and not a grammatical function in child grammar. The last point refers to Koehn's (1989, 1994) observation that children make use of formally singular and plural nouns which, however, do not serve to express number distinctions. As shown in the examples in (7) singular and plural nouns may refer to both one object (Reference Singular, RSg) and more than one object (Reference Plural, RP1). (7) Reference of singular and plural nouns (a)

kind 'child'

(Iv;l;9,28)

RSg/RPl

(b) G

orna 'grand-ma'

(Ca;l;ll,4)

RSg/RPl

(c)

loch 'hole'

(Pa;l;9,ll)

RSg / RP1

(d) G

kinder 'children'

(Iv;l;9,28)

RSg / RP1

(e)

G

schuhe 'shoes'

(Ca; 1 ; 11,4) (Ca;l;7,9)

RSg RP1

(f)

G

hausschuhe 'slippers'

(Pa;l;9,ll) (Pa;l;9,30)

RSg RP1

G

G

Interestingly enough, Pascal incorrectly imitates the adult's utterance in (8) and uses a noun which could be analyzed as a formally plural noun in his grammatical system: fuße (=Füße) 'feet'. (8)

Adult: Pascal:

zu fuß gehen zu fuße gehen

'go by foot' 'go by feet' (Pal;9,ll)

There are other nouns to which Pascal adds the ending -e like balle 'balls' (correct plural form: balle) and manne 'men' (correct plural form: männer), where the formally singular nouns are used as well, i.e., ball and mann. These examples show that the child is able to create new words, on the basis of nouns which are part of the child's lexicon like schuhe 'shoes' and Strümpfe 'stockings'. Note, however, that the function of these forms (plural) has not been discovered yet, since singular and plural forms may have both singular and plural reference.

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Natascha Müller

3.2.1.1. Summary of the first developmental phase To summarize, the children do not seem to have discovered the grammatical notions of gender and number yet. However, there is evidence to suggest that the corresponding semantic concepts are being developed. This is best demonstrated by the correct usage of numerals and quantifying expressions (un 'one', deux 'two', ein 'one', zwei 'two', un autre 'another', viel 'many', beaucoup 'many') with respect to the number of referents. Numerals and quantifying expressions have a referential function in the child's system. Their usage may be compared with adjectives like grand/groß 'big' and petit/klein 'small' for example, which is dependent on properties of the object referred to but not on properties of the syntactic category Noun. With respect to gender, animacy seems to play an important role in the choice of particular lexical items. [±animate] represents a semantic feature of the lexical item [aman] 'a man' and the demonstrative pronoun das 'it'. Again, the usage of either form depends on characteristics of the corresponding referent, but not on grammatical features. Another interesting observation concerns the usage of monosyllabic place holders like [a], [da] and [a] which could be shown to be independent of the adult-like grammatical number and gender features of the respective nouns in child language. It may be argued that these place holders are manifestations of the child's tacit knowledge about the syntactic structure of noun phrases in German and French. The important question is: do these elements fulfill a particular function in the child's system other than just signaling that the syntactic structure of the noun phrase has been discovered by that time? Noun phrases which contain a prenominai element like an adjective, a numeral or a determiner-like element like [a, [da] or [a] correspond to definite noun phrases in the adult system in that they have a deictic function and often refer to a particular individual. In other words, only noun phrases with a deictic function or individual reference license a prenominai element in child grammar. Thus, definiteness seems to have syntactic effects in child grammar. This does not imply that noun phrases with a deictic function or individual reference always contain a prenominai element. Indeed, the children also use bare noun phrases containing only the noun in order to express these functions. These findings suggest that it is worth studying the development of definiteness in order to determine the

Gender and number in acquisition

365

structure of early nomináis. Given space constraints it is not possible to pursue this issue any further here. 3.2.2. The availability of the grammatical features "gender" and "number" Table 6. Phase 2 (ages) Caroline

Ivar

Pascal 18

Gemían

French

German

French

German

French

2;0-2;ll

1;9-2;11

2:4-2:11

2;4-2;ll

l;10-2;7

l;9-2;7

In the course of further development, the children start using grammatical gender and number markings. They make productive use of determiners and they make number distinctions on nouns (cf. Koehn 1989, 1994). Interestingly enough, gender and number markings are used simultaneously, i.e., number marking does not precede gender marking or vice versa. In what follows I will show that the grammatical features number and gender are now available in child grammar and that they emerge step-by-step. Furthermore, the acquisition data suggest that both grammatical features are first interpreted as inherent features of Ν by the children, based solely on the phonological shape of nouns in the case of number and on phonological and semantic properties of nouns in the case of gender. Another observation, which may indicate that the children have reached a new developmental stage, is that Ivar, Pascal, and to a lesser extent also Caroline start using complex nominal expressions like those in (9) where a definite article for instance appears in front of an adjective, followed by a noun. The children's noun phrases now contain more than two morphologically visible positions. (9) (a) G (b) F (c) (d) (e) (f)

G G F F

der [s]warz auto le pauvre champignon der andre koffer ein grò [s]iff un petit auto un gros caillou

'the black car' 'the poor mushroom' 'the other suitcase' 'a big boat' 'a small car' 'a big stone'

(Iv;2;8,l) (Ca;2;7,6) (Pa;l;ll,13) (Iv;2;5,7) (Ca;2;3,ll) (Pa;l;ll,28)

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Natascha Müller

3.2.2.1. Number As for number specification, the children use numerals and quantifying expressions correctly with respect to the number of objects referred to, as during the preceding phase. This is also true for the singular forms of the definite article, der, das, le, and la and the indefinite articles of the adult system, ein, eine, un, and une. The plural definite articles die and les, however, show up in combination with plural nouns to refer to a single object as well as to more than one object. 19 These errors appear the latest until the age of 2; 11 in Ivar, in Caroline until the age of 2;6 in French and 2; 10 in German, and in Pascal until the age of 2;4 in French and 2;5 in German. Table 7. Reference of dieñes+plural noun combinations (types) dieAes+plural noun RPl

RSg

Ivar

(2;4-2;ll) (2;4-2;ll)

German French

5 10

6 7

Caroline

(2;0-2;10) (1; 10-2,6)

German French

3 9

6 7

Pascal

(l;10-2;5) (l;9-2;4)

German French

3 7

4 8

Some examples are listed in (10) below. (10) (a) Singular Reference GF

die [zamono] (=animaux)

'the animals'

(Iv, 2;4,23)

G G G

die tier e die vögel die hasen

'the animals' 'the birds' 'the bunnies'

(Iv;2;8,l) (Iv;2;8,15) (Iv;2;ll,7)

G G GF G

die schuhe die pferde die poussetten die Carolines

'the shoes' 'the horses' 'the baby carriages' 'the Carolines'

(Ca;2;0,9) (Ca;2;0,9) (Ca;2;l,26) (Ca;2;3,ll)

G

die hufe

'the hooves'

(Pa;l;ll,13)

Gender and number in acquisition

367

G G G

die [kakjerlein die sterne die manner

'the black people' 'the stars' 'the men'

(Pa;l;9,30) (Pa;2;2,26) (Pa;2;5,5)

F F F F

les les les les

cacaos poupées tables sacs

'the 'the 'the 'the

chocolats' dolls' tables' bags'

(Iv;2;5,21) (Iv;2;9,18) (Iv;2;9,18) (Iv;2;9,18)

F F F F

les les les les

couches poussettes mémés tables

'the diapers' 'the baby carriages' 'the grand-mas' 'the tables'

(Ca;2;0,9) (Ca;2;l,26) (Ca;2;l,26) (Ca;2;l,26)

F F F F

les mains les [vaso] (=oiseaux) les graçons les maisons

'the hands' 'the birds' 'the boys' 'the houses'

(Pa;l;ll,28) (Pa;2;l,28) (Pa;2,2,26) (Pa;2;2,26)

(10) (b) Plural Reference G G G G

die fiiße die kinder die sandalen die tiere

'the feet' 'the children' 'the sandals' 'the animals'

(Iv;2;8,15) (Iv;2;8,15) (Iv;2;8,15) (Iv;2; 11,21)

G G G

die boote die triinfen (=Striimpfe) die toffen

'the boats' 'the stockings' 'the stockings'

(Ca;2;4,20) (Ca;2;5,18) (Ca;2;5,18)

G G G

die [r]ände (=Hände) die tieren (=Tiere) die autos

'the hands' 'the animals' 'the cars'

(Pa;2;4,7) (Pa;2;4,21) (Pa;2;5;5)

F F F F

les pieds les légos les ma[n]s (=mains) les chaussons

'the feet' 'the legos' 'the hands' 'the socks'

(Iv;2;6,27) (Iv;2;7,17) (Iv;2;7,17) (Iv;2;8,l)

F F

les oreilles les mains

'the ears' 'the hands'

(Ca;l;10) (Ca;l;10)

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Natascha Müller

FG F

les bäbärs les enfants

'the teddies' 'the children'

(Ca;2;0,9) (Ca;2;l,26)

F

les [s]am[s]ams (=chansons) les enfants les maisons les vaches

'the songs'

(Pa;l;9,30)

'the children' 'the houses' 'the cows'

(Pa;2;l,0) (Pa;2;4,7) (Pa;2;4,7)

F F F

The same errors in reference can be observed with the indefinite plural marker des in Pascal's French, e.g., des chapeaux 'hats' (2; 1,28) refers to only one hat, whereas des tomates 'tomatoes' refers to many tomatoes in the same recording. des+N combinations are, however, used very infrequently. The assumption that des patterns with les in French thus has to remain speculative. The same applies to other plural markers, e.g. ces 'these'. Ivar uses ces [zamono] 'these animals' (2;2,17) in order to refer to one animal; cf. also Caroline who refers with diese deckel 'these covers' (2;9,29) to one cover. Since the article die is plurifunctional in the German article system, i.e. it serves to express singular (feminine gender) and plural, the question arises whether die+singular noun combinations may refer to more than one object. The most interesting cases are listed in (11) which are singular noun phrases with a plural shape (compare these singular noun phrases with the plural noun phrases in (12)). Interestingly enough, neither child ever uses singular noun phrases like those in (11) which have a plural shape in order to refer to more than one object. This is also true for other J/e+singular noun combinations such as those in (13) which have no plural shape. (11) Singular nomináis with plural shape —» RSg G G G

die tasche die puppe die kiiche

'the bag' 'the doll' 'the kitchen'

(12) Plural nomináis G G G

die schuhe die tiere die kiihe

'the shoes' 'the animals' 'the cows'

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369

(13) Singular nomináis without plural shape —» RSg G G G

die uhr die polizei die eisebahn (=Eisenbahn)

'the watch' 'the police' 'the train'

The usage of bare nominal forms is subject to the same restrictions. Singular nouns are used adequately with repect to the number of objects referred to, including those singular nouns which have a plural shape. Plural nouns may refer to more than one object as well as to a single object. The usage of plural nouns for singular reference disappears after the age of 2;6 in the language use of Caroline (completely) and Ivar (still some errors after 2;6) and at 2;4/2;5 in Pascal. Table 8. Reference of bare plural nouns (types) bare plural nouns RP1

RSg 8 1

Ivar

(2;4-2;ll) (2;4-2;ll)

German French

24 4

Caroline

(2;0-2;6)

German French

2

2

-

-

German French

10 1

7 1

Pascal

(l;10-2;5) (l;9-2;4)

Some examples are listed in (14) below. (14) (a) Singular Reference FG G

cub[a] (=cubes) manner

'dice' 'men'

(Iv;2;4,9) (Iv;2;4,9)

G G

schuhe tonnen

'shoes' 'casks'

(Ca;2;0,9) (Ca;2;5,18)

G G

pferde duplos

'horses' 'legos'

(Pa;2;0,9) (Pa;2;4,21)

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Natascha Müller

F

[z]oreilles

'ears'

(Iv;2;6,6)

F

[z]oreilles

'ears'

(Pa;2;4,7)

(14) (b) Plural Reference G G

tifjje (=Tiere) füße

'animals' 'feet'

(Iv;2;4,9) (Iv;2;4,9)

G G

schuhe haare

'shoes' 'hair'

(Ca;2;0,9) (Ca;2;4,8)

G G

pferde männer

'horses' 'men'

(Pa;l;ll,13) (Pa;2;6,16)

F F

[zamono] (=animaux) [z0] (=yeux)

'animals' 'eyes'

(Iv;2;4,9) (Iv;2;6,6)

F

[z]animaux

'animals'

(Pa; 1; 10,28)

In Caroline's data, the last example for the use of a singular noun for plural reference is at 2;0,9 schuh 'shoe' which, however, may also be a self-correction: schuh schuhe de de da 'shoe shoes there'. Ivar uses buntstift 'crayon' at 2;6,6 in order to refer to more than one object. In Pascal's data, there are three exceptions at 1;11,13. He uses gabel 'fork', krokodil 'crocodile', and pferd 'horse' in order to refer to more than one object. Two examples occur at 2; 1,12, namely vogel 'bird' and maus 'mouse'. All examples occur at the time of development when the child is entering phase 2. This indicates that it is difficult if not impossible to assume clear-cut developmental phase. The ages given in tables 4 and 6 are thus approximations. The observations presented so far are summarized in (15; next page). The important observation is that errors are evidenced in one direction only, namely the usage of dieAes+^hxrdl noun and bare plural nouns for singular reference (some errors are attested with dei+plural noun). One may conclude from this that it is plural marking which represents a problem space for the child.

Gender and number in acquisition

371

(15) number singular

German

French

der das die singular nouns plural nouns ein eine

le la les des singular nouns plural nouns un une

plural

die plural nouns zwei vie 1(e) beide alle

les des plural nouns deux beaucoup tout

The systematic usage of singular nomináis for singular reference represents a further step in the children's development, since these nomináis had singular and plural reference during the preceding developmental stage (cf. (7)). One may account for this new step in development by claiming that nouns are now specified for number and that [+singular] is the unmarked specification. Furthermore, one may assume that [+singular] operates as the default value for number, i.e., this specification is chosen in the first place and maintained until evidence tells the child that the choice is wrong. The child will only then specify the noun as [-singular] which is done in an item-by-item fashion. Under this approach, we can account for the observation that errors in reference occur in one direction only (plural nomináis for singular reference). The assumption that [+singular] acts as a default in the child's grammatical system is supported by observations made by Löbel (1990) who argues that [+singular] represents the unmarked realization of the feature "number" in the adult system. Note that at least for some nouns a stage can be observed where the same plural noun is used as a singular and as a plural noun in the same recording.

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Nalascha Müller

In sum then it is hypothesized that those plural elements which are used by the children for singular reference are not featureless, but instead have the feature [+singular]. The development from phase 1 to phase 2 is shown in figure 1 below (kind 'child', kinder 'children'): Phase 1

Phase 2

kind

=> [anum]

kind

[+sg]

kinder

=> [anum]

kinder

[+Sg] =>

Figure 1:

L sgj

=> [-sg]

Number specification of nouns

There is also evidence to suggest that those formally plural nomináis which are used for singular reference are specified as [+singular]. For those referentially inadequate nomináis which are subjects of finite clauses, the verb shows up with singular morphology. Some examples are listed in (16): (des) manner kommt (RSg) 'the men comes'

(Iv;2;4,9)

(b) G

und eh schiffe paßt (RSg) 'and eh boats fits'

(Iv;2;6,27)

(c) G

die hasen die will gucken (RSg) 'the bunnies they wants to look'

(Iv;2;ll,7)

(d) G

macht da die tiere (RSg) 'does there the animals'

(Iv;2; 11,21)

(e) G

da's die sessel (=ist) (RSg) 'there's the arm-chairs'

(Ca;2;10)

(f) F

où l'est les poussettes? (RSg) 'where they is the baby carriages'

(Ca;2;l,26)

(g) F

où est les balles? (RSg) 'where is the balls'

(Pa; 1;9,30)20

(16) (a) G

Gender and number in acquisition

373

Another interesting observation concerns mixed utterances, e.g. le sterne 'the[sg] stars'. Pascal uses this noun phrase in order to refer to the sun. In this case, the usage of the masculine definite article suggests that the noun phrase is not featureless, but instead singular. Note also that the children use the respective formally correct singular nomináis in free variation with the formally plural nomináis which have been argued to be singular noun phrases, sometimes even within the same recording; e.g. F les couches RSg

'the diapers' 'the diaper'

(Ca;2;0,9)

(b) F les tables RSg la tab (=table) RSg

'the tables' 'the table'

(Ca;2;l,26) (Ca;2;2,9)

F les chaussures RSg

'the shoes' 'the shoe'

(Ca;2;5,18)

'the bags' 'the bag'

(Iv;2;9,18)

'the dolls' 'the doll'

(Iv;2;9,18)

'the trains' 'the train'

(Iv;2;ll,7) (Iv;2;8,15)

(a)

la couche RSg

(c)

le chaussure RSg

(d) F les sacs RSg le sac RSg (e)

F les poupées RSg la poupée RSg

(f)

F les trains RSg le train RSg

(g) F les [vaso] RSg (=oiseaux) le [vaso] RSg

(h) F les tracteurs RSg le tracteur RSg

(i)

F les garçons RSg le garçon RSg

(j)

G die Carolines RSg die caroline RSg

'the birds' (Pa;2;l,28) 'the bird' 'the tractors' 'the tractor'

(Pa;2;2,26)

'the boys' 'the boy'

(Pa;2;2,26)

'the Carolines' 'the caroline'

(Ca;2;3,ll)

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Natascha Müller

(k)

G die hasen RSg die hase RSg

'the rabbits' 'the rabbit'

(Iv;2;ll,7)

(1)

G die puppen RSg die puppe RSg

'the dolls' 'the doll'

(Iv;2;ll,7)

(m) G die tiere RSg der ander tier RSg (n)

'the animals' (Iv;2; 11,21) 'the other animal'

G die manner RSg 'the men' der blaue mann RSg 'the blue man'

(Pa;2;5,5)

According to the approach presented here the child's task in determining the number specification of nouns is reduced to finding out whether the noun is not a singular. Koehn (1989) argues that schémas play a decisive role in this process.21 If this were indeed the only "device", one would expect the child to make errors also with those nouns in German which have a plural shape, e.g. puppe 'doll'. Since this does not seem to happen in the children studied here, it is reasonable to assume that before schémas or morphological rules may operate or help the child in organizing his/her lexicon, defaults apply. The reader may still not be convinced that the errors found in the corpora are not due to the plurifunctionality of several forms in the adult system. If we found these results in monolingual German children, we could have argued that the errors are due to the plurifunctionality of die and most of the nominal endings which serve the function of a plural allomorph indicating plural and that of an integrated part of the lexical item in the adult system. The same can be argued for nominal endings and nouns beginning with [z] 22 in French (chev[o] (=chevaux) 'horses' - bat[o] (=bateau) 'boat'; [zjanimaux (=animaux) 'animals' - [zjèbre 'zebra'). Consider however the fact that les (and also des) is a non-ambiguous form and thus, errors made with this form cannot be due to plurifunctionality. The hypothesis presented here can account for the German and the French data. Finally, we may ask the question why the children have chosen the form die or les in nomináis which have singular reference. Or to put the question differently: Why did they not choose another form of the determiner (singular determiner)? I want to suggest that the choice of definite determiners is dependent on the phonological shape of the noun. An interesting observation is that neither child

Gender and number in acquisition

375

ever uses the singular forms of the definite article der, das, le and la in combination with plural nouns.23 Although the children use plural noun phrases containing the definite determiner die or les in order to refer to a single object, these nomináis are formally target-like with respect to number marking, excluding noun phrases like (18) (a) (b) (c) (d)

F F G G

leña [zamono] le/la [ζφ] (=yeux) der/das tiere der/das schweine

'the[sg] animals' 'the[sg] eyes' ' t h e [ s g ] animals' ' t h e [ s g ] pigs'

which, indeed, do not occur. The child's task then is to find out how this formal system is mapped onto the distinction between singular and plural. The importance of formal regularities for the choice of definite determiners will be discussed in more detail under 3.2.2.2. The observations made with definite determiners are even more striking if one considers that at least in Ivar's and Pascal's data one finds examples where ein(e)/un(e) are also used in combination with plural nouns (the quantitative facts are summarized in table 9). The referent of these nomináis is always a single object. Examples for this usage occur most frequently until the age of 2; 11 in Ivar and until 2;5 in Pascal. Some examples are listed under (19): (19) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g)

G G G G G G F

ein schweine ein vögel ein kiihe ein fußen eine kinder ein sitze un autre [ζ]enfant

'a pigs* 'a birds' 'a cows' 'a feet' 'a children' 'a seats' 'another children'

(Iv;2;5,21) (Iv;2;6,6) (Iv;2;6,6) (Iv;2;6,6) (Iv;2;8,l) (Iv;2; 10,24) (Iv;2; 11,21)

(h) (i) G) (k) (1) (m) (n) (o)

G G G G G G F F

ein biicher eine schweine ein elef-fanten eine ohren ein autos ein babies un yeux une [ζ]assiette

'a books' 'a pigs' 'an elephants' 'an ears' 'a cars' 'a babies' 'an eyes' 'a plates'

(Pa;l; 10,28) (Pa;l;ll,28) (Pa;2;l,28) (Pa;2;2,12) (Pa;2;4,21) (Pa;2;4,21) (Pa;2;2,12) (Pa;2;5,5)

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Natascha Müller

Note that the corresponding contrastive singular form is also used with one form of the indefinite article (free variation of singular and plural nouns with indefinite articles), even within the same recording. Some examples are listed under (20): (a) G

ein ein

schwein Schweine

'a pig' 'a pigs'

(Iv;2;5,21)

(b) G

ein ein

vogel vögel

'a bird' 'a birds'

(Iv;2;6,6)

ein kuh ein kühe

'a cow' 'a cows'

(Iv;2;6,6)

(d) G

ein fuß einflißen

'a foot' 'a feet'

(Iv;2;6,6)

(e) G

ein buch ein bûcher

'a book' 'a books'

(Pa; 1; 10,28)

G

ein ein

elefant elef-fanten

'an elephant' 'an elephants'

(Pa;2;l,28)

(g) G

ein ein

baby babies

'a baby' 'a babies'

(Pa;2;4,21)

(h) F

un oeil un yeux

'an eye' 'an eyes'

(Pa;2;5,5) (Pa;2;2;12)

(c)

(f)

Table 9.

G

Absolute number of NPs containing ein(e)/un(e) and a formally singular or a formally plural noun (types) shape of the nouns singular

plural

Ivar

(2;4-2;ll) (2;4-2;ll)

German French

14 2

214 161

Pascal

(l;10-2;5) (l;9-2;5)

German French

6 2

96 95

Gender and number in acquisition

377

The same variation occurs in cases where a referentially plural noun phrase contains a quantifying expression or a numeral indicating plural and a formally singular noun. Sometimes, both formally plural and singular nouns occur in such noun phrases. However, the absolute number of such noun phrases is very low in the data of the children. zwei kindern zwei kind

'two children' 'two child'

(Iv;2;6,6)

(b) G

zwei kanal

'two channel'

(Iv;2;ll,7)

(c) G

zwei affé zwei äff

'two monkey/s' 'two monkey'

(Iv;2;ll,21)

(d) G

alle muschel

'all shell'

(Pa; 1; 10,28)

(21) (a) G

With respect to noun phrases containing a numeral or quantifying expression, the children obviously have not made progress yet. The data clearly show that the adult indefinite articles behave like numerals and quantifying expressions in the children's language use. It is thus plausible to assume that they still analyze these elements as numerals having a referential but no grammatical meaning, in contrast to the adult definite articles which are analyzed by now as elements which enter into a grammatical relation with the noun. Note that there are natural languages like Creole languages for instance where it is sufficient to mark number in nomináis containing a numeral or a quantifying expression solely by the numeral or the quantifier (cf. Bickerton 1981)24 There is more evidence in support of the categorization of indefinite articles as numerals. Apart from nomináis like those under (22), which correspond to the adult language, the children use targetdeviant noun phrases like those in (23), where ein/une or deux may precede the definite article. (22) (a) (b)

G F

der ein schlumpf les deux poupées

'the one smurf 'the two dolls'

(23) (a) (b) (c)

G G F

ein der teddy ein der zoo une la poule

'a the teddy' 'a the zoo' 'a the hen'

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Natascha Müller

(d) (e) (f) (g)

F F F F

une la lune une l'o[kro] (=orange) deux les [z]oreilles deux [n]'argent

'a the moon' 'an the organge' 'two the ears' 'two the money'

Interestingly enough, the same contrast between definite and indefinite articles that has been observed with respect to number can also be observed for gender. 3.2.2.2. Gender Gender attribution does not seem to be problematic for the children, if one considers nomináis containing a definite article. Neuter nouns represent an exception to this generalization. Ivar, Caroline, and Pascal begin to discover neuter gender at the age of approximately 2;8, 2;7, and 2;4, respectively. Nearly all neuter nouns are initially combined with the wrong form of the determiner,25 mostly with the masculine definite article. Almost all other noun phrases (with a feminine or a masculine noun) containing a form of the definite article correspond to the adult system. It is remarkable that Ivar and Pascal choose the wrong form of the German definite article with 3 nouns (types) up to the age of 2;11 and 2;7 respectively (9 up to 5;10 in Ivar), Caroline with 8 nouns (types)26 up to the age of 2;11 (15 up to 5;0). Patterns in the German data resemble those in French. Ivar chooses the wrong form of the definite article only with 4 nouns (types) up to the age of 2;11 (13 up to the age of 5;10), Caroline with 6 nouns (types) up to the age of 2; 11 (8 up to 5;0) and Pascal with only 9 nouns up to the age of 2;72?. In Müller (1987, 1990, 1994) I tried to show that the target-deviant uses of definite articles indicate that the children have discovered gender regularities. The phonological shape as well as semantic properties (cf. (26)) of the noun are important for the choice of a particular form of the definite article. All children, for example, combine French nouns ending in a nasal vowel with the masculine definite article le as shown in (24), even in cases where adult French requires the feminine article, i.e., main 'hand', dent tooth', maison 'house', maman 'mother', télévision 'television' are used with le. Another important regularity concerns the frequent German schwa-ending. The children use the feminine definite article with nouns having this ending as shown in (25), Ivar also with masculine nouns like e.g. hase 'rabbit'. 28 Caroline uses French nouns like

Gender and number in acquisition

379

conenfa] (=coccinelle) 'ladybug' and port [a] (=porte) 'door' with the form die. Interestingly enough, Ivar leaves out the schwa-ending with the target-like noun affé 'monkey, m.' and then chooses the masculine definite article der, der a f f . He seems to avoid the use of der in combination with nouns ending in schwa. In Ivar's data, monosyllabicity clearly is associated with the masculine definite article. (24) French Ivar, Caroline and Pascal: nasal vowel —» le target-like le train le mouton le lapin le capuchon le pont le champignon etc.

'train' 'sheep' 'rabbit' 'hood' 'bridge' 'mushroom'

target-deviant le main le dent le maison le maman le télévision

'hand' 'tooth' 'house' 'mummy' 'television'

Caroline: [e] —» le target-like le nez le bébé le panier le papier etc.

'nose' 'baby' 'basket' 'paper'

target-deviant 'key' le clé 'doll' le poupée

Ivar: [o] —» le target-like le cacao le manteau le marteau etc.

'chocolate' 'coat' 'hammer'

target-deviant 'photo' le photo 'motor bike' le moto

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Natascha Müller

(25) German Ivar, Caroline, Pascal: schwa —> die target-like die sonne 'sun' die hose 'pants' die puppe 'doll' die garage 'garage' die katze 'cat' die brille 'glasses' die zunge 'tongue' etc.

target-deviant die hase 'rabbit'

Ivar: monosyllabicity target-like der zaun der zoo der zug

'fence', m. 'zoo', m. 'train', m.

other der aff (=Affe) 'monkey' die cofnena] (coccinelle) 'ladybug' die port[a] (=porte) 'door'

der target-deviant 'number', f. der zahl 'door', f. der tiir 'hole', n. der loch 'ship', n. der schiff 'roof, n. der dach 'bed', n. der bett 'bread', n. der brot 'house', n. der haus 'animal', n. der tier 'money', n. der geld 'light', n. der licht 'horse', m. der pferd

(26) German and French Natural gender: Ivar, Caroline, Pascal G G G G G FG

der opa die orna der papa die mama die caroline die clopinette

'grandpa' 'grandma' 'daddy' 'mummy' 'Caroline' 'Clopinette

t

Gender and number in acquisition

G G G F F F F F F F F

der busfahrer der mann der junge le papa la maman le garçon la fille la femme le monsieur le stroumph le petit bonhomme

381

'busdriver' 'man' 'boy' 'daddy' 'mummy' 'boy' 'girl1 'woman' 'man' 'smurf 'the small man'

With respect to natural gender, no overgeneralizations are evidenced in the corpora. Since all assignments correspond to the target systems, it is impossible to determine whether the child has discovered natural gender. One interesting observation concerns the usage of the feminine definite article die with nouns ending in -a in Caroline. She uses target-deviant nomináis like die opa 'the grand-pa' and die papa 'the daddy' (cf. also die sofa 'the sofa, n.'), which correspond to the discovered regularity 'die + N-[a]', and target-like nomináis like die orna 'the grand-ma' and die mama 'the mummy'. At the same time, she also uses the correct definite article with the nouns opa and papa, namely der opa and der papa. Although the formal regularity seems to dominate in the process of choosing one of the forms of the definite article, these examples clearly show that the semantic regularity has been discovered as well: Nomináis like der mama and der orna which contradict the semantic (natural gender) and the formal regularity (die+N- [a]) are absent in Caroline's data. Furthermore, formations like der garçon 'the boy' and le bruder 'the brother' occur in the language use of all children; noun phrases which do not necessarily occur in the children's input and therefore are not simply memorized. If the above examples are taken as evidence in favor of the discovery of natural gender, we may conclude then that natural gender and gender based on the phonological shape of nouns are marked simultaneously by the children. Pascal's French has to be discussed separately with respect to natural gender. Out of the 9 nouns he uses with the incorrect form of the definite article, 4 denote animate beings and, more interestingly, the gender attributed to these nouns contradicts natural gender and cannot be accounted for on the basis of formal regularities either.

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Natascha Müller

These assignments are la coq 'the cock', la monsieur 'the mister', le vache 'the cow', la papa 'the daddy'. He also uses the correct form of the definite article with these nouns, mostly in the same recording. These assignments rather fall out of the remaining regular system. It is unclear how to account for them. The same patterns which have been observed for singular nouns, are found to be relevant for plural noun phrases which have singular reference: (27) German: Ivar, Caroline, and Pascal (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (0

die pferde die plakate dietiere die schuhe die hufe die sterne

'horses' 'posters' 'animals' 'shoes' 'hooves' 'stars'

RSg RSg RSg RSg RSg RSg

The form die is chosen because of the schwa-ending of the following noun. (28) French: Ivar, Caroline, and Pascal (a) les trains (b) les cacaos (c) les dos (d) les poupées (e) les mémés (f) les mains (g) les garçons (h) l[e] [z]oreilles (i) ,l[e] [zamono] (=animaux) (j) les yeux (=[lezj0]

'trains' 'chocolates' 'backs' 'dolls' 'grandmas' 'hands' 'boys' 'ears' 'animals' 'eyes'

RSg RSg RSg RSg RSg RSg RSg RSg RSg RSg

In French, les is chosen among others with nouns ending in a nasal vowel and with those starting with [z]. The usage of liaison -s as part of the noun indicates that the children have wrongly segmented adult French les animaux into l[e] and [zjanimaux. In sum, with respect to formal regularities, the children establish the groups la vs. not la (leñes) and der vs. not der (die), i.e.

Gender and number in acquisition

(29)

der la

383

die leñes

Note, however, that the children distinguish singular and plural within the established groups. A very different pattern emerges with indefinite articles. Table 10a. Usage of un/une (m., n., and f. denote the gender of the respective noun in the adult language). un/une+nom (types) un

une

Ivar (2;4-2;8)

m. f.

55 18

6 29

Caroline (1;10-2;11)

m. f.

27 15

7 16

Pascal (l;9-2;7)

m. f.

73 24

3 19

Table 10b. Usage of ein/eine (m., n., and f. denote the gender of the respective noun in the adult language). ein/eine+noun ein

eine

Ivar (2;4-2;8)

m./n. f.

103 22

2 6

Caroline (1;10-2;11)

m./n. f.

31 11

5 18

Pascal (l;10-2;7)

m./n. f.

68 11

18 18

Indefinite articles do not seem to follow the regularities observed for definite articles. To illustrate this point, I will consider those nouns ending in a nasal (vowel) or schwa. The children use the wrong forms une and ein respectively with these nouns. (30) (a) F (b) F (c) F

unepu[n]{=pullover) une pont une avion'

'a sweater, m.' 'abridge, m.' 'aplane, m.'

(Iv;2;4,23) (Iv;2;6,27) (Ca;2;2,23)

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(d) F (e) F (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k)

G G G G G G

une gens une bonbon

'a person, m.' 'a sweet, m.'

(Ca;2;7,20) (Pa;2;6,2)

ein puppe ein katze ein tonne ein katze ein necke (=Schnecke) ein puppe

'a doll, f.' 'a cat, f.' 'a cask, f.' 'a cat, f.' 'a snail, f.' 'a doll, f.'

(Iv;2;5,21) (Iv;2;6,6) (Ca;2;5,18) (Ca;2;7,20) (Pa;2;0,9) (Pa;2;l,0)

Mostly up to the age of 2; 11 in Caroline, 2;8 in Ivar, and 2;7 in Pascal, there are many instances where both forms of the indefinite article are used with these nouns. (31) (a) F (b) F (c) F (d) F (e) F (f) F (g) G (h) G (i) G (j) G (k) G (1) G

un dame - une dame (Iv;2;6;6) 'a woman, f.' un pont - une pont (Iv;2;6,27) 'a bridge, m.' une avion (Ca;2;2,23) - un avion (2;3,11) 'a plane, m.' un gens (Ca;2;7,20) - une gens (2;8,19) 'a person, m.' un bonbon - une bonbon (Pa;2;6,2) 'a sweet, m.' un banane (Pa;2;2,12) - une banana (2;5,19) 'a banana, f.' eine rage (Iv;2;6,6) - ein garage (2;6,27) 'a garage, f.' ein affé (Iv;2;7,17) - eine affé (2; 11,21) 'a monkey, m.' eine katze (Ca;2;5,4) - ein katze (2;7,20) 'a cat, f.' eine brille (Ca;2;8,5) - ein brille (2;8,5) 'glasses, f.' eine necke - ein necke (=Schnecke) (Pa;2;0,9) 'a snail, f.' eine b[eze] - ein b[eze] (=Brezel) (Pa;2;l,28) 'a pretzel, f.'

The choice of the form of the indefinite article thus does not seem to depend on formal properties of the co-occurring noun. The same

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variation occurs with nouns other than those ending in a nasal vowel or schwa as well. (32) (a) F (b) F (c) G (d) G (e) F (f)

F

(g) G (h) G (i)

F

(j)

F

(k) G (1)

G

un chèvre (Iv;2;5,21) - une chèvre (2;6,6) 'a goat, f.' une nounours (Iv;2;6,6) - un nounours (2;9,5) 'a teddy, m.' ein lego - eine lego (Iv;2;6,6) 'a lego, m.' ein schiff - eine segelschijf (Iv;2;6,27) 'a boat, η.' une abeille - un abeille (Ca;2;2,9) 'a bee, f.' une bateau (Ca;2;6,8) - un bateau (2;7,6) 'a boat, m.' eine schiff - ein schiff (Ca;2;6,8) 'a boat, η.' ein elefant - eine elefant (Ca;2;8,5) 'an elephant, m.' une abeille - un abeille (Pa;2;5,19) 'a bee, f.' un tête (Pa;2;2,12) - une tête (2,7,0) 'a head, f.' ein auto - eine auto (Pa;2;l,28) 'a car, n.' ein bär - eine bär (Pa;2;l,28) 'a bear, m.'

Again, nouns for which the children have chosen the wrong form of the indefinite article, systematically show up with the correct form of the definite article in both languages. (33) Ivar (a) (b) (c) (d)

F F G G

le nounours - une nounours la poupée - un poupée die eisebahn - ein eisebahne der schiff29 - eine schiff

'teddy, m.' 'doü, f.' 'train, f.' 'boat, η.'

Natascha Müller

Caroline (e) (f) (g) (h)

F F G G

le pied - une pied la tête - un tête die ampel - ein ampel der bär - eine bär

'foot, m.' 'head, f.' 'traffic light, f.' 'bear, m.'.

le lit - une lit la saucisse - un saucisse der ball - eine ball die katze - ein katze

'bed, m.' 'sausage, f.' 'ball, m.' 'a cat, f.'

Pascal (i) (j) (k) (1)

F F G G

An interesting phenomenon is the case of self-corrections with indefinite articles in both languages. They indicate the insecurity in the use of indefinite articles; e.g. (34) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

F F F G G G

un une une aille tte (=alouette) un su-une sucette une-un légo eine ein wagen eine ei ein mann ei-eine-ein kreis

'a lark, f.' 'a lollypop, f. 'a lego, m.' 'a car, m.' 'a man, m.' 'a circle, m.'

The observations made with the forms of the indefinite article indicate that the children still categorize them as numerals. Note that if the numeral function of the indefinite article is stressed, Caroline seems to prefer the forms ein/un. Some illustrative German examples are given in (35). (35) (a)

(b)

ich hab nich ein katze (Ca;2;7,20) I have not one cat Ί do not have one cat' müssen wir ein schraube nur (Ca;2;10,0) must we one screw only 'we must take one screw only'

Caroline has indeed two cats. In (35b) the adverb nur is used to focus the numeral function of ein.

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3.2.2.3. Summary and discussion of the second developmental phase During the second developmental phase the children discover the grammatical features gender and number. However, these features still seem to differ from those of the adult systems. How can we account for the observations made for number and gender markings during this second developmental phase? In particular: how can we account for the contrast between definite and indefinite articles? As far as the usage of definite articles is concerned, I have shown that the choice of a particular form of the article depends on the phonological shape of nouns in the case of number, and on phonological and semantic properties of nouns in the case of gender. This relationship is a syntagmatic relation. The usage of indefinite articles does not follow the same regularities as those observed for definite articles. I have assumed that the children still analyze them as numerals which have a referential function. However, apart from examples like those under (33) there is evidence to suggest that the children start to organize the forms of the indefinite article in paradigms. (36) Ivar (a) (b) (c) (d)

la soupe - une soupe le train - un train derpferd - ein pferd die polizei - eine polizei

'soup', f. 'train', m. 'horse', η. 'police', f.

F F G G

le mouton - un mouton la table - une table das schlumpf - ein schlumpf die hose - eine hose

'sheep', m. 'table', f. 'smurf, m 'pants', f.

F F G G

le café - un café la table - une table der mann - ein mann die biene - eine biene

'coffee, m.' 'table, f.' 'man, m.' 'bee, f.'

F F G G

Caroline (a) (b) (c) (d) Pascal (a) (b) (c) (d)

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In adult language, having masculine, feminine, or neuter gender means that the noun may be combined with several particular function words which are related in gender paradigms (cf. Carroll 1989), e.g. masculine nouns occur with both un and le in French. The children start to establish word-specific gender paradigms at the age of 2;6/2;7 (Ivar and Caroline) / 2;0 (Pascal), i.e., during the second developmental phase. It is important to note that the first genderparadigms are word-specific, i.e., although the noun tasche 'bag f.' is used correctly with die and eine, this knowledge is not automatically extended to all nouns which have the schwa-ending. In contrast to the syntagmatic relation between definite articles and nouns, which is a class-specific relation, the organization of determiners in paradigms is word-specific. In other words, the adult gender feature emerges step-by-step. One of the important characteristics of the second developmental phase then is the establishment of paradigmatic relations between determiners. Interestingly enough, the same variation that has been observed with indefinite articles can also be observed for example with possessive articles in both German and French. Thus, the children use nomináis such as meine brille - mein brille 'my glasses, f.' and mon bonbon - ma bonbon 'my sweet, m.' which contradict the regularities found with definite articles. Under the analysis presented here we would expect difficulties to occur with possessives as well. These elements are used to express possession and are integrated into the grammatical gender (and number) system only at a later point in development. The important question now is which changes in child grammar cause the emergence of the adult grammatical features "number" and "gender". I suggest that the categorization of ein/eine and un/une as indefinite articles plays a decisive role in the emergence of the adult grammatical features. As far as number is concerned, the child recognizes from then on that the grammatical feature "number" is related to the semantic feature "number" (encoded by numerals). With respect to gender, the child begins to recognize that le and un for instance are related in a paradigm which corresponds to saying that the adult feature [mase] emerges. The hypothesis that the forms of the indefinite article which are initially analyzed as numerals are interpreted as indefinite articles only later in language development has consequences for the marking of indefiniteness in child grammar. A possible assumption would be

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389

that [-definite] is marked by 0, and [+definite] by elements like definite articles and any prenominai expression. Similar claims have been advanced by Bickerton (1981) for Creole languages. Once the child has discovered that ein/eine and un/une are indefinite articles, target-deviant zero-markings of nouns should no longer occur. Berkele (1983) finds that in Caroline, zero-markings completely disappear from the age of approximately 2; 11 onwards in both languages. Note that the age range from 2; 11 onwards corresponds to the period where target-deviant uses of indefinite articles are no longer attested in the children's speech. The absolute number of target-deviant zero-markings already drops below 50% at the age of approximately 2;6. The same observations apply to Ivar's language use. Pascal's data still have to be studied for this aspect. This indicates that the integration of the indefinite article is a gradual process. The gradual emergence of the grammatical features "number" and "gender" is thus reflected in the gradual integration of indefinite articles. This result clearly shows that future research has to take into account the development of the grammatical feature "definiteness" in child grammar. 3.3. The separation of the two languages The issue to be discussed in this section is that of bilingualism. The question which has to be answered is whether the grammatical developments observed in the bilingual children studied here are due to their bilingualism or, put differently, to unsuccessful transfer. With respect to the usage of les+N for singular and plural reference one might suggest that the bilingual child wrongly applies the German system onto her/his French grammatical system, namely that the definite article die in German has the function to mark singular as well as plural. However, other researchers have noted the inappropriate usage of les in French. Pupier (1982) mentions that French-English bilingual children also use les+N in order to refer to one and more than one object. At the same time, the children use the other forms of the French definite article and English the correctly.30 This indicates that the children make a gender distinction in French, but not in English (at least as to what definite articles are concerned) which conforms to the adult systems. Thereby, they clearly distinguish the two languages. If the children do not transfer the English

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singular determiner system into their French grammatical system, why should they do so with plural determiners? Thus, the transfer hypothesis is not very plausible. However, longitudinal studies on the acquisition of French by monolingual children are necessary to shed more light on this issue. The next important observation with respect to bilingualism is the rather late acquisition of neuter gender in German. One could assume that the bilingual children have transferred their French system which contains two gender classes into their German lexicon. However, there are factors which are independent of bilingualism which make it difficult to establish neuter gender: - Masculine and neuter determiners are very often homophonous (cf. table 2b). In other words, the masculine and neuter paradigms are not sufficiently distinct. - Kopeke (1982) shows that most adult gender regularities allow only the exclusion of feminine gender. - Kopeke (1982) shows that there are only some adult gender regularities which determine the attribution of neuter gender. - In the children's language use, the definite article das is used as a deictic element at early ages (cf. Berkele 1983). Furthermore, Mills (1986b) finds that also monolingual German children have difficulties to attribute neuter gender. The three properties of adult German neuter gender are reflected in the children's usage of neuter nouns. Nearly all neuter nouns are classified as masculine nouns in the first place. Then, the children use both the correct neuter form of the definite article and the incorrect masculine form with that noun. Only in a third step, the children always choose the correct neuter determiner with neuter nouns, e.g. der bett 'bed, n.' —> der bett - das bett

—>

dasbett.

This three step process clearly shows that first, feminine gender is excluded or not probable with neuter nouns in the children's lexicon and second, neuter gender is attributed on a trial-and-error basis, as if the adult system did not supply the child with regularities or rules for the attribution of neuter gender. At the time when the children use the correct nominative definite article das with a particular neuter

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391

noun, errors persist with accusative forms of the definite article. Thus, the children use the correct form of the definite article das haus 'house, n.' in nominative contexts, but the masculine form of the definite article in accusative contexts, den haus. This usage reflects one peculiarity of the paradigms of most masculine and neuter determiners in adult German, namely that they are not sufficiently distinct due to homophony. In sum, then, the intrasystematic factors presented here can explain why the acquisition of neuter gender is a late step in language development.

4. Summary In the preceding sections I tried to argue that the grammatical features gender and number are discovered simultaneously in language acquisition. The most interesting aspect of the analysis with respect to the "trigger" question is that the children treat grammatical number, as compared to gender attribution, as an inherent and formal (phonological) property of the noun. Furthermore, all nomináis are initially specified as [+singular] (default). The children then have to learn whether nomináis are specified as [-singular]. In order to do this, they have to figure out how the formal system is mapped onto the semantic distinction singular vs. plural. With respect to the grammatical feature "gender", I have argued that it is interpreted as an inherent property of Ν (based on phonological shape and semantic properties). The children have to figure out that the determiners are organized in gender paradigms. Both developments are triggered by the reanalysis of the forms of the indefinite article as indefinite articles. By this reanalysis, the child discovers that the numeral function of the forms of the indefinite article is related to the "grammatical" function of the forms of the definite article which is important for the adult-like comprehension of grammatical number. With respect to adult gender, the child establishes gender paradigms which corresponds to saying that adult-like grammatical gender emerges. In section 2 I have presented two approaches where grammatical systems like gender and number systems are bootstrapped either on

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Natascha

Müller

the basis of a semantic analysis of the input or on the basis of formal factors. I think that both extremes are incorrect. I have tried to show that semantic and formal developments are parallel. This is best exemplified in the treatment of the grammatical feature number by the children under investigation. Under the approach presented here, the child's task is to relate these two systems, the semantically-based and the formally-based one. Finally, we may ask what happens after the ages studied in this paper. With respect to number, the children acquire the complex regularities of German plural nouns. Koehn (1989, 1994) observes that Ivar avoids zero-markings and uses {/s/} with nouns ending in -er which are plural in adult German. (37) Usage of German nouns ending in -er with {/0/} -plural (Ivar) (cf. Koehn 1994). target-deviant types (tokens) die räubers (13) die Verkäufers (1) die ritters (2) 'knights' die lasters (1) die gitters (1) 'iron-bars' die vaters (3) 'fathers' die käfers (1) 'bugs' die tigers (1) 'tigers'

target-like types

(tokens) die räuber (2) 'robbers' die Verkäufer (1) 'sellers' die laster

(1)

'trucks'

die die die die

(1) (2) (1) (1)

'taler' 'windows' 'plates' 'fingers'

taler fenster teller finger

Furthermore, the target-deviant usages of -lééÍE

FFO*

Flat Flexible Object ("cloth-like")

-tSOOZA

-tsóosA

-tSOSA

bag (flat flexible container) with or without contents

-tSOOZß

-tSÓÓSB

-tSOSß

SSO

Slender Stiff Object ("stick-like")

-tq

-tiih

-tiii

AnO

Animate Object

-tí

-teeh

-tééi

OC

Open Container with contents

-kg.

-kaah

-káái

NCM

Non-Compact Matter

-jool

-jooí

-jo i

MM

Mushy Matter

-tíéé'

-tíéé'

-tioh

LiSB

Liquid (Small Body)

-ziid

-sííd

-zìi

LPB

Load, Pack, Burden

-yí

-yeeh

-yééí

PlO-1

Plural Objects 1

-nil

-nííí

-nií

PlO-2

Plural Objects 2

-jaa'

-jááh

-jih

Beyond this core group there is quite a number of verbs also having a "classificatory implication" (Hoijer 1945a: 16) but sharing only part of the defining structural criteria of the verb stems in the core group. This problem of delimiting the inventory of classificatory elements is not confined to verbal classification. As for numeral classification, the problem is to separate classifiers proper in the sense of Greenberg's "unit counters" from what Greenberg had called "quasi-unit counters" and from measures (Greenberg 1974; cf. Löbel in this vol.). But also in gender systems it may sometimes be rather difficult

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to make clear what are gender classes proper and how to determine subtypes (e.g., Corbett 1991: 145-188). Derived from Hoijer's basic ideas Roger Barron in a survey of the phenomenon of verbal classification of Northern American Indian languages (Barron 1980: 12, 1982: 134) has established three criteria to define verbal classification (quoted in the English translation from Seiler 1986: 78): 1. It must be possible to correlate the same noun classes with at least two predications. 2. It must be possible to correlate the different noun classes with one and the same predication as materialized in at least two different verb forms. 3. The classification of the nouns is brought about by the verb forms only.

As can be seen from the examples in (1.3) and (1.4), criterion 1 is met since it is possible to correlate, e.g., SRO solid roundish objects "with at least two predications": being handled (in this case being given) and being at rest. Also criterion 2 is fullfilled since it is possible to correlate the same predication, e.g., handling ("giving"), with "at least two different verb forms", those encoding the giving of a SRO, a SFO, an AnO, etc. It is thus—on the one hand—the individual object/noun determining the selection of the individual verb in an individual context. On the other hand, the paradigmatic effect makes the verb to be the classifier and to establish the nominal class (criterion 3). Barron's criteria demand the phenomenon of verbal classification to be paradigmatic in two respects: at least two predications and at least two noun classes. The third criterion is less grammatical but rather cognitive and semantical: the fact that the verb classifies the noun is a cognitive achievement along semantic lines and does not say anything about the grammatical function of the classifying element. In the course of the paper these criteria will be used to test certain verb stems for their membership in the group of classificatory verbs proper. A predication in Barron's sense is not only correlated with handling and positioning, but with each of the four stem sets A, B, C, and D given by Davidson—Elford—Hoijer (1963): A occurs in "neuter verbs, which denote the object category in a position of rest" (Davidson—Elford—Hoijer (1963: 30); Β occurs in "active verbs which have reference to the movement of or handling of the object category" (p. 31);

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C occurs in "active verbs which have reference to throwing, dropping of the object category" (p. 31); D occurs in "active verbs which refer to the free movement in space of the object category (p. 31).1 Table 2.2 shows the perfective stems of the four predications. Table 2.2. Categories and predications of Navajo classificatory verb stems (perfective stems) ("These categories are cover categories subsuming one or more subcategories which are explained in the paper. ) A (neuter) position

Β (active) handle

C (active) propel

D (active) fly/fall

SRO

-'4

-4

-ne'

-ts'id

SFO

-là

-lá

-déél

-déél

FFO

-tsooz

-tsooz

'ah

-na'

-tq

-fe'

-kççz

SSO* AnO

-tí

-tí

-t'e'

-tiizh/-go'

NCM

-jool

-jool

-jool

-jool

MM

-tiéé'

-tiéé'

-tiéé'

-hççzh

LPB*

-yí

-yí

-yí

-hççzh

PlO-1

-nil

-nil

-nil

-dee'

PlO-2*

-jaa'

-jaa'

-kaad

-dááz/-dee'

OC

-kq

-kg.

-kaad

-kaad

LiSB

-ziid

-ziid

-kaad

-kaad

In all cases the object in question may be the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb. The special point is that in case of the classificatory verbs proper these two syntactic roles are covered by verb forms that include identical perfective verb stems. It is this coincidence of semantic and morphological properties that was regarded as the main criterion of classificatory verbs by Hoijer (1945a: 17, 23). Verbs without this type of collapsed stems were qualified as "pseudo-classificatory" (p. 17, 23). One of his examples is the verb form shiyish 'it is bent like a bow' and he relates it

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to the shape class of SSO slender stiff objects: if an 'object bent like a bow' is handled, this action cannot be expressed by a verbform based on the stem -yish but only by a verb form based on the classificatory stem for SSO slender stiff objects A verb like shiyish would not "give rise to parallel active verbs" (Hoijer 1945a: 17) as the classificatory verbs proper do. One should add that the ^/-perfective form of the stem -yish, shiyish, does not even denote the positioning of an 'object bent like a bow' but merely the situation that this object IS bent like a bow (cf. YMM 1992: 718). The neuter forms are not automatically positioning forms and thus the only "classificatory implication" that puts the stem -yish into the vicinity of classificatory verbs is the shape component in its meaning2. Grammatically it would not even fulfill the condition of a pseudo-classificatory verb for failing to represent at least one of the major predications and therefore this distinction is ignored here. Different to cases like -yish the C and D stems do have a common semantic basis with A and Β in the similarity of objects covered by all four of them (cf. the review in Garrison 1974: 428-448). The shapes in A to D are basic dimensions: long, flat, round. But although C and D—in sum—cover the same objects as A and B, they are distributed partly in a different way on the stems as one can see from the columns in the table. C and D show a less "neat" picture than the A/B stems and less differentiation. A/B and C/D are bridged in another way. The Β stems are based on "handling" actions. In the works of Young, YM and YMM the importance of the "manual contact" or the "continuing manual contact" during the action is paid special attention to and occurs in many detailed descriptions of classificatory stems. Manual contact connects the Β and the C stems: in Β (handling) it is the (more or less) continuing contact, in C (propel/ toss) the contact is rather punctual. As table 2.2 shows, the categories MM mushy matter, LPB load, pack, burden, and P10-1 Plural Objects 1 do not only cover the minimum of two predications, but show the same stem covering three predications. The category NCM non-compact matter shows the same stem even for four predications. On the other hand, on the basis of the criteria established by Barron -déél (SFO slender flexible objects in predications C and D) and -kaad (OC open container and LiSB liquid small body in predications C and D) would be qualified as classificatory verbs proper. It is not clear whether such a conclusion would be helpful in understand-

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ing these verbs: Do any two or more predications qualify a verb as classificatory? Or do we more properly delimit them? If so, by what criteria? I propose a delimitation to at least two predications one of which has to be the positioning expressed by a neuter (stative) form: a neuter + any active(s). This decision results from the system-internal facts and can possibly also be related to discussions within the pronominal theory of gender. The pronominal theory of gender investigates the syntactic functions and the ability of nouns to be used as subjects and objects and in the sentence-semantic roles of agent and patient (cf. Tichy 1993 and the summary of the pronominal theory in Weber in this vol.). This theory clearly has close connections to the formal-grammatical theories of gender which until now have proven to be the most fruitful ones. The bridge between gender and verbal classification is that they are both systems of nominal classification and on this basis it makes sense to work with an exchange of opinions and stimulating ideas from different sources. As for the C and D predications, another piece of comparison to English shall be mentioned: To some extent they are comparable to English verbs of the type crash, thud, plop, plunk, ooze, splash down, in that terms of the type crash, thud, plop usually apply to heavy objects, plunk, waft, float to lighter objects ... Each of these terms has its peculiar area of use, determined to a large extend by the physical characteristics of the object involved (Young—Morgan 1980: 368).

These cases are indeed illustrative but we have to pay special attention to the type of "physical characteristics": in these English verbs they are basically weight and size. Although size may be a class criterion, e.g., in Haida or in Swahili, it does so only within a system of shape classes (at least in these two languages). No language has hitherto become known of that would build a coherent semantic system of nominal classification on criteria like weight and size. A typical semantic system is shape, and this is what can also be found in verbal classification. Weight and size are secondary features only. The peculiarity of classificatory verbs is their fusion of a nominal and a verbal component. A borderline question between morphology and semantics of the classificatory verbs refers to the way these two components, the verbal and the nominal one, are distributed in a verb form. Hoijer (1945a: 13) was quoted above with the statement, that the "sequence of prefixes is the same for each theme but the stem varies with the class of object referred to". Garrison (1974: 398)

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Barbara Unterbeck

summarizes examples given by Hoijer (1945b: 195) for SRO solid roundish objects: Table 2.3. Examples of prefixes of handling verbs (cf. Hoijer 1945b: 195) prefix(es) meaning iih-niinto dá-di in front of, before dahon top tá-difrom place to place nahere and there nidown ná-dimotion upward ghafrom ch'éoutside

English to put one's head [one's own SRO] into to put a SRO at the entrance, to put in a stopper to put a SRO on top to carry a SRO from place to place to carry a SRO here and there to put a SRO down to take a SRO out of an enclosed space to take a SRO from (someone) to take a SRO outside

These examples give an idea of how the system works, but it needs to be stressed that it is but a tiny fraction of the possible combinations the wealth of which is surveyed in two compact tables in YMM (1992: 828-837; 1104-1116) approaching classificatory verbs from the nominal and the verbal perspective (cf. also YM 1987: 251-263). But independent of how much material is included in a study the basic question of the special relationship between the stem and the prefixes of classificatory verb forms remains the same. To Garrison there is a clear job-sharing in that "the verb stem, rather than denoting the type of action involved, denotes instead the category of object involved in the action (and the nature of the action itself is then suggested by other elements which precede the verbal stem)" (Garrison 1974: 10-11). It is evident that the classificatory verb stems play an important role in denoting objects, but if the stems would just contain nominal information the question arises why this nominal component occurs in different stem forms in different types of movement (like handling, propelling, falling) instead of generally making use of prefixes to express the nature of the movement. There are no prefixes available to be attached to the stem, say A/B of SRO, to encode the falling movement of an object. When expressed with the SRO B-stem a downward movement means the 'putting down' of the object. If an SRO is falling, this needs to be expressed by a D-stem because the B-stem is bound to handling actions. This means that these basic verbal notions and a certain type of object are co-expressed by the stems and the action is only additionally refined by prefixes. E.g.,

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handling is basically encoded in the Β stems and may be subdivided into giving, taking, carrying etc. This subdivision is what is added by the prefixes on the basis of the very general both verbal and nominal semantics of the stem. A comprehensive morphological and morpho-semantic analysis of the classificatory verbs waits to be carried out. It will most certainly bring about answers to questions touched upon in this section. If it is done with a historical perspective we might learn more about the bridges between the prefix classification (position VI with "gender") and the stem classification. The fact that nominal classification has moved from a prefix system (in which noun related positions are a usual and an integral part) into the heart of the verb, the verb stem, is a grammatical revolution that must have its reasons in the grammatical system as a whole and might involve fundamental questions of the noun-verb structure (cf. also Broschart 1991, Sasse 1993).

3. Verbal classification in Navajo: The semantics of the categories The research history in verbal classification is comparable to the history of research in numeral classification: semantics plays a major role and many studies are dedicated to the question of what verbs can be correlated to what nouns to denote what kind of objects. Ample material can be found in Reichard (1951) and in Young (1968), YM (1980, 1987) and Y MM (1992). The books By Young and Morgan (1987) and the Analytical Lexicon of Young—Morgan—Midgette (1992) may be called twin-books presenting the language from two perspectives and being complementary to each other. These two books are the standard reference material of modern Navajo and the main data source of the present paper. The most comprehensive study of the semantics of Navajo verbal classification is Garrison (1974). It is based on an intensive study of the preceeding literature and on his own work with native speakers. His main interest is the semantics of the system based on a "study in object categorization by culturally defined physical dimensions" (Garrison 1974: 33). Except for the category AnO animate objects he treats all the verbs that were ever mentioned in the literature in

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connection with the concept of "classificatory verbs" ("type verbs" in Reichard 1951). From this pool I select those verbs that follow the paradigmatic demands developed by Barron. As can be seen from table 2.1, there are shape categories as well as others which are summarized as non-shape categories.

3.1. The features shape and ±stiff-/compactness in Navajo Shape is one of the fundamental features of different classificational systems. As for numeral classification, Adams—Conklin (1973: 5-6) see the "three basic shapes of long, round and flat" as derived from names of parts of plants and interacting with "secondary parameters" like "1) rigidity vs. flexibility, 2) relative size, 3) empty vs. full, 4) irregularity vs. regularity in shape, 5) part vs. whole, 6) horizontal vs. vertical, 7) edgedness (the latter two are applicable to long only)". Speaking of "basic shapes" and "secondary parameters" means to rank the criteria: "The uses of the forms and the secondary parameters are implicationally ordered into hierarchies. No secondary feature can be the sole basis for a classification, (i.e., a language may separate flexible long objects from rigid long objects, but not just flexible entities from non-flexible ones)" (Adams—Conklin (1973: 6).

Garrison (1974: 38-129) has developed a schema including the basic features length, width, and thickness to compose the three dimensions which are combined with the feature [± stiff/compact] 3 (abbreviated here as ±stc). The shape categories in table 3.1 are arranged according to their dimensionality: 1-d, 2-d, 3-d categories. Examples are taken from YM (1987) and YMM (1992). Denny (1976: 127) says about this Athapaskan shape system that it "gives a very efficient representation of configurational and strength classes in their most frequent contexts" (strength = flexibility and hardness). The systematicity of this system indeed makes a rather completed impression. We will see that the secondary parameters are probably not confined to stiff-/compactness but also include size.

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Table 3.1. Shape classes of Navajo verbal classification4 shape stiff-/compactness objects one-dimensional: SSO [+ stiff/compact] SSO ("sticklike"): banana; bow; broom; ciga-tÇA rette(loose); fishhook; flashlight; guitar; hot dog; key; ladder; pencil; rifle; pole, post, log, timber SFO [ - stiff/compact] SFO ("ropelike"): string; rope; belt; comhusk; -làa flower; grass (blade of); rope; spaghetti (boiled); whip; supple branch two-dimensional: [+ stiff/compact] FSO ("boardlike"): sheet of plywood or tin, dry FSO hide, license plate of a car, playing card, door, -tQB wedding basket [ - stiff/compact] FFO ("clothlike"): bag (small, empty); blanket FFO (flat); dollar bill; hide (pliable); newspaper (flat); -tSOOZA paper (sheet); shirt; towel (flat) three-dimensional: [+ stiff/compact] SRO: apple, balloon (inflated); bed; beer (in SRO closed bottle); book; boot (single); bread (loaf, •'4 slide); clock; drum; ice cream (closed package); ring; tire (car); the sun [ - stiff/compact] NCM: dough; tuft or wad of hair, grass; lettuce NCM -jool (shredded); moss; towel (bunched); wool (loose); tumbleweed, sapling; bunch of flowers; cloud

In the following discussion the 3-d classes are given first because the 1-d and 2-d classes feed into the adjacent container section.

3.1.1. 3-d

categories

The dominant 3-d category is 3-d +stc: the category SRO -'ç solid roundish objects, is a rather general class for nouns denoting objects being basically three-dimensional, including closed containers like a box, a package, a closed bottle or can, but it is also a class for many "intangibles". Due to its special status and its usages beyond shape this category will be discussed in detail in section 3.6 in connection with its "wastebasket" function. The second 3-d categroy, 3-d -stc, seems to be a unique category to Navajo. According to Garrison (1974: 537) Navajo is the first Athapaskan language for which a 3-d -stc category is reported: -jool, NCM non-compact matter (see the objects given in the table). How-

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ever, in a recent paper Poser reports about a category 'hay-like' for nouns like 'hay' in Carrier (Northern Athapaskan) which is homophoneous with a category 'liquid': the common stem is -dzo, cf. Poser 1996: 11). This would mean that Navajo is probably not the only language with a category NCM 5 . 3.1.2. 1-d and 2-d categories The feature +stc The four semantic categories of the non 3-d side are represented by three lexical forms only. From the point of view of shape, the traditional 1-d category SSO slender stiff objects proves to be a hidden double category: it contains nouns denoting objects like pole, post, log, pencil, pen, cigarette, banana, pipe etc. which are slender stiff objects. But this category also contains nouns denoting objects which are not slender but flat, like a rigid flat cover (board, cellar door, cistern cover), a sheet of plywood or tin, a board, a dry hide, a moccassin sole, a license plate of a car, playing card, a door, a wedding basket (flat round basket), etc. These flat things have always caused trouble for the description of SSO. Garrison proposed an expansion of the dimension width within the category SSO, but he did "not feel that the argument is totally convincing". Therefore he left open "the possibility that the category sitçi might be more accurately characterized as actually being two homophoneous categories" (Garisson 1974: 72). Due to the lack of 2-d +stc objects in the descriptions of this category in other Athapaskan languages Garrison (1974: 525) is "highly suspicious" that the descriptions of this category were made up with a focus on the 1-d +stc objects thus missing the 2-d objects. In more recent material 2-d +stc objects are included as in the description of the Slave system by Rice (1989: 780), but tradition has it that the name of the category continues to be confined to 1-d +stc objects. Table 3.1 shows that a category 'flat stiff objects' fits exactly into the system as a counterpart of FFO flat flexible objects and it is established here as the category -tg,β FSO flat stiff object. The size of the l-d/2-d+stc objects reaches from small things like a cigarette to rather bigger things like pole, post and plank and thus

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also reaches to the limits of handling actions. This category may shift objects into the category LPB with increasing size and weight. The feature —stc and the bundle/container extension As for the feature -stc, it has the two separate categories -MA6· SFO slender flexible objects for 1-d, and -ÍSOOZA FFO flat flexible objects for 2-d. The 1-d category -là contains all sorts of ropelike objects, from hair to string, rope, and wire, barbed wire. The 2-d -stc category is -tsooz. It covers all sorts of flat flexible objects, cloth-like, paper, leather, etc. No exceptions can be found at least in Navajo (cf. the review in Garrison 1974: 534-537). It looks like a very unproblematic category. But if it comes to size, this category reveals some interesting information. In her study of the handling verbs "based on original research with speakers" (Liebe-Harkort 1984: 78) of the four Apachean languages Plains Apache (Kiowa Apache), Chiricahua Apache, White Mountain Apache, and Navajo, she reports that Navajo speakers made a distinction for flat flexible objects (category III) between the two categories of -tsóós and -yèh (-yèèh) (imperfective forms, in YM spelling -yeeh) in the following way: Category III included for all languages: 'piece of paper, pillow case, T-shirt, paper money, small piece of canvas'. The following, all referred to in Navajo with -yèh, also belong to this category: "blanket, horse blanket, saddle pad, sleeping bag, buckskin (tanned), paper sack, burlap sack', and 'dress, shirt and coat' as -yèh or -tsóós, depending on the size (Liebe-Harkort 1984: 90).

The nouns given for -yeeh (perfective form -yf) are typical nouns in the category LPB load, pack, burden. LPB is a very interesting category with subcategories that will be analysed in detail below. Descriptions vary to some extent in their focus but a "bundle" or "anything bundled together" is usually included. As the name "load, pack, burden" suggests things in this category should be rather heavy. But the objects given by Liebe-Harkort can all rather conveniently be handled: blankets, (empty) sacks, clothing, and they were elicited in a study of handling verbs, not of transportation in general. Backed by the data of Liebe-Harkort the category -yf shall here be compared to the category -tsooz (perfective form of -tsóós):

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In all descriptions of Navajo, -tsooz is given as the FFO category either implying the container meaning or making it explicit as a subcategory. It goes without saying that the containers are made of flat flexible material: bag and sack (small) are the most typical nouns given. Historically, the container component of the category -tsooz is rather young, it seems to have developed only in Navajo so far (Garrison 1974: 594). The link between the flat flexible object and the flat flexible containers bag and sack is the bundle. In the description of Liebe-Harkort (1984: 85) -tsooz appears not only as bag and sack but also as "Bundle containing objects from I-IV" (Italics added B.U., IIV are the basic shape classes SRO, SSO, SFO, SFO). Things are usually put in a container in order to be transported. Transportation is also the purpose of a "load, pack, burden". The noun derivative hééi is given as "bundle, pack, burden load" in YMM (1992: 716, Italics added B.U.). A cloth is a flat flexible object and in a bundle it serves as the most elementary flat flexible container. Bags and sacks are variants of flat flexible containers. For bigger ones the stem -y[ is used, for smaller ones the stem -tsooz. In the description of -tsooz the 2-d -stc component is the decisive feature, in the description of -yj the 2-d -stc component is absent: the focus is on the heaviness and bulkiness of the bundled objects and so the (hypothetical) original connection between the bundle and the bundling cloth is lost. Note how Garrison composes a diachronic scenario for -y¡. He believes "that the Navajo stem -yeeh, -y¡ originally referred to actions of carrying relatively heavy and/or bulky objects; as these objects were too heavy and/or bulky to be handled in one's hands, they were typically carried on one's shoulders and/or back, and carried wrapped or tied up within a blanket or hide so as to be made into a pack or bundle" (Garrison 1974: 582, Italics added B.U.). In modern Navajo, blanket, hide, and empty sacks are all nouns in the LPB class representing the large flat flexible objects and containers. Parallel smaller objects are in the class of -tsooz. The data of Liebe-Harkort draw the attention to the 2-d —stc component of the category -y\ as the possible source of what is now summarized by the handy label "load, pack, burden". The underlying connection might be exactly the same as the one in -tsooz: a flat flexible object is the source of a flat flexible container. The difference is size. The difference in the size of the 2-d -stc objects, i.e., the cloth the bundle can be made of, results in different sizes of bundels and in the

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different in the size of bags and sacks: FFO -tsoozß is rather a "five pound bag or a twenty pound sack", LPB -yí woud rather "refer to something like a one hundred pound sack" (Garrison 1974: 475). Thus the categories LPB and FFO intersect in their container components. They denote both the empty container and the full container, i.e., the feature 'contents' is not specified, both are [±contents]. The empty containers in both cases are objects of handling size. The full FFO containers are also of handling size, but full LPB containers shift to hauling size. This 2-d -stc container part of LPB is specified here as LPB(FFC) load, pack, burden (flat flexible container) as against the full containers which are part of the hauling category LPB. Here is a summary of the information discussed: Table 3.2. Navajo flat flexible container categories label

features

objects

FFO -tSOOZB

open or closed container [-stiff/compact] [±contents], contents of any quality, full container of handling size

empty (or full) paper sack, bag/sack with potatoe(s) in it, bag with water (full or nearly empty)

LPB (FFC)

open or closed container [-stiff/ compact] [-contents], empty container of handling size

empty sack, big empty bag, burlap sack, paper sack

open or closed container [-stiff/compact] [+contents], contents of any quality, full container of hauling size

sack of wool, flour, beans, sugar, cement ect.

-y\ LPB

•yi

3.2. The category OC open container The category OC open container -kg. is synchronic ally not related to any of the shape classes. It rather is an all-shape category and its etymology is given as Pre-Proto-Athapaskan (PPA) and Proto-Athapaskan (PA) in almost the same form and meaning as the modern form and meaning: "PPA Ka > PA Ka-nY [0]: classificatory stem for substance in a container" (YMM 1992: 294). OC is a pan-Athapaskan category. Open containers are usually cups or plates, bowls or baskets. But any other appropriate object of any shape may as well serve as an open container as long as it is +stiff/compact and not too big to be

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handled. Also the human hand with something in it may be regarded as an open container with contents. Garrison (1974: 228-236) has found out, that the amount of contents has to be "more than a mere trace of contents": Table 3.3. Navajo container categories label

features

objects

OC -M

open container [+ stiff/compact] with more than just a mere trace of solid or liquid contents

beans, boiled (in a pot); beer (in mug or open bottle); cup of coffee; cornmeal (loose) in a cup or dish

3.3. Non-shape

categories

In table 3.4 non-shape categories are listed, again based on Garrison (1974), YM (1987) and YMM (1992). Table 3.4. Non-shape classes of Navajo verbal classification label animates: AnO -tí

masses: MM -tiéé'

description

objects

any living object

person (life or dead), baby, man, woman, corpse; any animal (life or dead): ant, kitten, snake, elefant, bird, etc.; personifications: doll; in myths also water, mountain, ritual objects 7

[self-explanatory term: mushy matter]

butter (chunk), cornmeal (boiled -mush), egg (raw, scrambled), ice cream, mashed potato, mud

"dry matter" (as against "mushy matter"), and "granular substance" LiSB small amounts of liquid, if in -ziid container focussing the liquid (not the container) special category: - anything bundled or loaded LPB together; single big and -yi heavy things - small precious items (metaphorically "heavy") DM/GS -jaa'

flour, powder, ashes, dust, dirt, snowflakes, sand, grain, grated cheese drop, little puddle; small amount of liquid in a dish, spoonfull of liquid medicine - arrows (in quiver), beans (in bag), cement (in bag), blanket (rolled, folded), chain (coiled), coat, mattress - ceremonial paraphernalia, medicine pouch

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As with the shape classes, the entries in the table are the more or less standardized usages of the stem. They are the "first choice" options, the "unmarked" usages. But variation is possible, different perspectives on an object can be expressed using different stems. Thus in Navajo, for a baby walking and falling in its first steps the stem -jool may be used, regarding the baby as a non-compact matter, as kind of a soft ball rolling around. A snake in Navajo may be both an AnO and a 2-d -stc object. Variation is discussed in section 3.4 below.

3.3.1. The category AnO Animate Objects -tj The large category of AnO -t¡ encompasses all living beings, alive or dead. Since they are of any shape one would not expect shape to play a role here. But there is an intersection of the category of AnO with the category SSO slender stiff objects in that they share a common C stem (cf. table 2.1. above), i.e., an animate being being tossed/propelled is expressed by the same stem as a slender stiff object. A connection of 1-d and +human is described for Proto-Bantu by Denny— Creider (1986) and diachronically it is also contained in the Chinese numeral classifier ge (cf. Erbaugh 1986). 3.3.2. Masses Grammatically, mass nouns are opposed to count nouns. Ontologically, masses and countable objects are entities that differ in their internal organization (holistic vs. additive/partitive). The three stems to be discussed next all refer to entities which are additive/ partitive and thus are masses. The three categories look like a little scale from dry to liquid with the middle category MM mushy matter basically consisting of dry matter being wetted or of things being by nature a middle thing between dry and wet. The category MM mushy matter -tiéé' This category is very coherent in Navajo. The stem refers to nouns denoting genuinely mushy objects or metaphorically refers to objects in a situation like this, e.g., a soggy towel. In all cases the dry and the liquid component are present or the natural status of mushiness as in

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butter is described. There are few cases where the liquid component is dominant: in the causative usage these forms mean "be(come) damp or wet/dampen, moisten, wet 0[bject]" (YMM 1992: 563), and in two noun derivatives: "kétioh, an infusion made with water and herbs. Used ceremonially, it is imbibed by the patient" (YMM 1992: 569), and "tsiighá bétíohí, hair oil, hair dressing (that which is rubbed onto the hair)" (YMM 1992: 569). There seems to be no case with the dry component being dominant. (For the stem allomorphs see table 2.1.).

The category DM/GS dry matter/granular substance -jaa' Quite parallel to the category MM 'mushy matter' a category 'dry matter/granular substance' is established here in addition to the traditional set of categories. It is not carried by a stem of its own but shares the stem -jaa' with the traditional category PlO-2 plural objects 2. The component 'granular substance' is like a pivot between the three components dry matter, granular substance and plural objects. The stem -jaa' has the "underlying meaning 'cause granular substance or a mass of small objects to move by continuing manual contact (handling)" (YMM 1992: 255). As will be shown in the section on plurals this meaning has been extended to include a plural of all sorts of objects which are bigger than granules and which may be covered by different singular categories. But one should also observe the extension of this stem to the size smaller than granules, viz., to powderlike dry matter: ashes, cement (powdery, loose) cornmeal (loose), ground coffee, pollen, powder, dirt, dust etc. If in the list in YMM (1992: 830) grated cheese is registered for both OC open container with contents and PlO-2 this does not mean that the category OC is pluralizable (which it is not, see chapter 4) but that grated cheese is to be taken as DM dry matter, as a mass. It is both the semantics and the grammatical behaviour that keep the component DM/GS separate from the plural component. And therefore, in addition to the traditional category PlO-2 a separate (or sub-) category DM/GS is established here for the stem -jaa'. Many Athapaskan languages have a category cognate to Navajo -jaa' (cf. Garrison 1974: 569-573). This stem is often described as to "refer to masses that are 'inherently' plural such as a mass of grain or a mass of sugar" (Garrison 1974: 570). Although this "granular"

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component is shared by all languages, a clear plural component which does not only refer to what is called the "inherent plurality" of grain or sugar, but is based on different singular classes, has only developed in a few languages, e.g., Navajo, Koyukon, and Western Apache (cf. Garrison 1974: 571).

The category LiSB liquid (small body) -ziid The Navajo stem -ziid is not usually included in the lists of classificatory verbs. According to Garrison (1974: 303) it is only Haile (1926, 1950) who gives adequate descriptions that include both the neuter and the active usages for liquids. Except for Navajo, this stem is mentioned only for a few other Athapaskan languages: according to Garrison (1974: 548) for Western Apache (Basso 1968), and possibly for Chipewyan (Li 1933). In more recent literature it is mentioned for Chiricahua Apache and White Mountain Apache (LiebeHarkort 1984). It is probably a more recent category and shall be analyzed here according to the criteria developed. The primary meaning of the stem is "move in a flowing-streaming manner (as liquid, sand, grain)" (YMM 1992: 748). Two components are thus the starting point: a verbal component referring to a 'flowing-streaming manner', and a nominal component referring to objects that may move in this manner: pourable matter like liquids, sand, grain. In many verbforms based on the stem -ziid both types of substances may be referred to and the context makes clear what is meant (cf. YMM 1992: 749-751). The typical handling actions derived from the primary meaning are the moving of liquids and sand-like substances by 'pouring' and 'raking'. Many verb forms are used for both substances, but if -ziid is used in the central handling pattern of "giving" it is rather specialized on small amounts of liquids and is not used for small amounts of non-liquids: (3.1)

Tó shaa nízííd. water to me you-LiSB 'Give me a drink of water, a small amount of water.'

(3.2)

*Séí shaa' nízííd. sand to me you-LiSB 'Give me some sand, a small amount of sand.'

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The stem -ziid would only reckon a classificatory verb proper if it also shows neuter verb forms for the same object, liquid (small body), being positioned. The neuter form is the typical ^/-perfective, i.e., the verb form siziid: (3.3) YMM (1992: 751): 'Atiingóó tsézéí road gravel (lit. stone-sand) 'The road is gravelled.'

siziid. in position-LiSB

(3.4) YMM (1992: 751) Tó dah naazziid water on top here and there/spf-LiSB 'drops of water dangle (as from wet leaves)' Similarly, one may say "tó siziid to refer to a drop of water, to water in a spoon ..., to a small body of water at rest at the surface such as a table, to a little puddle or a small amount of water at rest in a ditch, etc." (Garrison 1974: 304). A special affinity of -ziid to liquids can also be seen from the list of noun derivatives: out of 15 nouns 12 are related to liquids, e.g., blood transfusion, eyedrops, cocktail, mixed drink·, two are related to the meaning of "raking" denoting the tools baster and rake, one is a name of a person. The features of -ziid are summarized in the following table: Table 3.5 The classificatory stem -ziid neuter

active

small amount of pourable matter lies, is in position

make pourable matter to move in a flowing-streaming manner

handling action to give a small amount of pourable matter

±Iiquid

iliquid

+liquid

Only small amounts of liquids are affected by the double function of -ziid in predication A and the verb base of 'giving'. More verb bases should be tested to find out how far the specialization reaches. The emergence of -ziid as a classificatory verb fits nicely into the semantic system Navajo has developed so far: a special verb for liquids adds up to the coverage of masses (not contained) by stems for MM

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and DM/GS. If these masses occur in open containers they are expressed by the category OC open container with contents -kg,, in closed containers of handling size with the category SRO -g or FFO -tsoozB, and in containers of hauling size with LPB(FFC) -yf. Before we turn to the last and special category of the non-shape section we summarize the result. First, in the shape section we saw the categories referring to concrete objects. Concrete objects may be regarded as being covered by "count categories". Second, we saw containers being derived from shape categories. Containers have the double function of being a holistic entity (i.e., the container itself is a discrete object), and housing either holistic or additive/partitive entities (masses). The third group has three categories referring to additive/partitive entities exclusively , i.e., they are mass categories. 3.3.3. The special category LPB load, pack, burden -yi In the shape section a connection was drawn between the categories -tsooz and -yj in that both are used for flat flexible objects and flat flexible containers. The difference was seen in size: -tsooz is the category for the smaller objects (both the cloth-like objects and the container extension of the cloth meaning), -yf is the category for the the larger ones (again both cloth and container). The category -tsooz has no meanings except these two, but LPB load, pack, burden is a multifacet category. In order to determine its status as a classificatory verb the paradigmatic behaviour of the stem has to be checked for all semantic components in the two respects demanded: for noun categories and for predications. This category is unusual as a "handling" category in that loads, packs or burdens are rather "hauled" than "handled" as Garrison (1974: 469-480) points out. YMM (1992: 710) treat these two different actions by subsuming hauling under handling: -y[ "occurs ... in a full range of verb bases that describe the 'handling' (carry, lift, bring, take, give, haul etc.) ... of an object of the 'load, pack, burden' class (LPB)"8.. As the name says, the typical objects of this category are rather large, bulky, and heavy and in these cases hauling is indeed the way of moving them. Garrison concentrates on the large and bulky objects, but he also observes this stem being metaphorically used for smaller items which are "heavy", e.g., a paycheck in an envelope (cf. Garrison 1974: 477-478). However, one should add that classificato-

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ry verbs always have a double perspective: what is only metaphorically heavy is only metaphorically hauled. The metaphorical process involves both components, the verbal and the nominal one, both components diminish and smaller but precious things are handled rather than hauled. Furthermore, large bodies of water are covered by the neuter verbform of this stem. This mixture is sorted out in the following table: Table 3.6. The category -y¡ LPB load, pack burden neuter lies, is in position

active hauling on back, on horse, on wagon or vehicle

handling actions like to give, to take out, take down

1. large and heavy things: bundle, load, pack, saddle, sack, large bag 2. smaller things: medicine pouch, tobacco pouch, paycheck in envelope 3. body of water: puddle, lake, ocean

This table shows that the nouns in group 3, the large bodies of water, only occur with the neuter and therefore this type of objects cannot be properly accounted for as being covered by a classificatory category. But the two other groups are paradigmatical as for their predications: a neuter expressing positioning combines in group 1 with the predication of hauling, in group 2 with the predication of handling. As for positioning and handling it has already been shown that these two predications are correlated to different categories of objects, so group 2 of the table, i.e., smaller things being metaphorically heavy, might represent the category as a non-shape handling category and could be added in table 2.1 above as a subcategory. Semantically it might intersect with the subcategory E of the 1-d -stc category SSO slender flexible objects -laE 'valuable property'. Value is a rare feature in classificational systems, Adams (1986: 253-254) mentions it for Austroasiatic numeral classifier language Bahnar as a class extension. Clearly the Navajo cases probably related to a fea-

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ture 'value' are not the primary meanings of -là or -yf, but synchronically there is no access to the source of the extension and the explanation has to be postponed to a diachronic study 9 . As for hauling, there is no differentiation of objects. Anything hauled is expressed by -y¡ and no categories are formed. What is lumped together in group 1 could be subgrouped as: - entities bundled together and seen as a whole (collection of similar or different objects), the bundle may be carried on back (traditional way of transportation), or loaded on horses, wagons or vehicles (cf. Garrison 1974: 469-487); - entities contained for transportation (in bag or sack); - loose entities loaded on a vehicle (any collection or a mass like coal); - individual heavy and bulky entities (e.g., a bed, a mattress, a big chair or armchair). If ever an object or collection of objects—irrespective of its shape and internal composition—has some size and weight it may be covered by the category LPB load, pack burden. It is this quality that is related to the specific predication of hauling expressed by the stem -y¡. If the things are smaller, handling is the appropriate predication. Clearly, the predication of hauling does not behave like handling: - hauling covers everything from individual entities to masses including collections of objects of any shape, - handling is differentiated for object classes: animate, shape, etc. Garrison's argument against LPB is based on its verbal part: -y¡ is not a handling but a hauling verb. In addition to this, I would reject LPB with an argument related to its nominal part: it lacks parallel hauling verbs expressing different types of objects. It is kind of a general class for large things or quantities to be transported. But I would accept the handling part of -y[ which is a truly classificatory subcategory: paradigmatical both in its verbal and its nominal part (group 2). However, the nouns in this category are very few and as a subcategory it looks as peripheral as the subcategory of valuable property of the category -là. In addition to this handling part of LPB there are the 2-d -stc objects of handling size as discussed in section 3.1.2. above. To draw the attention to the handling part of LPB a container subcategory was established (which might also be included in the 2-d -stc part as a category of large flat flexible objects).

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3.4. The relationship between noun and classificatory verb In his work with his Eyak informant Lena Nacktan Krauss found out that "L seemed entirely unaware of any correlation between the choice of -ta or -'a and the physical nature of the referents of the classified nouns" (Krauss 1968: 196). Eyak is a Na-Dene language very close to the Athapaskan languages and has the least unfolded state of the verbal classification. In all the other languages (at least as described so far) verbal classification has established a clear shape system. Descriptions of the Athapaskan classificatory verbs (e.g., Basso 1968, Lawson 1972, Garrison 1974) unanimously stress the easy elicitation of the material with native speakers and the intuitive knowledge of the speakers of this field of grammar:"That object categorization/nominal classification ... is made according to conscious rational criteria is evidenced by the ability of virtually all Navajo speakers to systematically and consistently rationalize and defend their choice of verb stem with respect to a given object—and in both Navajo and English if the speaker is bilingual" (Garrison 1974: 2425). Even "first grade age Navajo students ... were not only able to give nearly instantaneous responses, but also to defend and debate their answers with any students who disagreed (p. 37 fn 8). 10 These statements imply two fundamental characteristics of verbal classification: on the one hand, the system is semantically highly transparent to the speakers. On the other hand, the relationship between nouns and classificatory verb stems is not entirely a fixed oneto-one relation but rather flexible: in many cases choices can be made, i.e., depending on the object to be denoted the use of the classificatory verb may vary:"Many nouns may co-occur with more than one 'classificatory' verb stem. ... This condition has always presented problems for those describing 'classificatory' verb stems in Athapaskan languages" (Garrison 1974: 30). A wordlist in YM (1987: 251-263) contains 51 (out of 654) noun entries with more than one classificatory verb, which are all semantically meaningful, i.e., they encode reference either to different objects or to different aspects of the same object. In YMM (1992: 837) the rate is 6 out of 290. These are, of course, only the more or less standardized alternations, which do not yet include the creative use that may be made of these verbs. Here is the often quoted "béésò example" from Davidson—Elford—Hoijer (1963: 30):

Verbal classification and number: A case study in Navajo

(3.5)

a.

béésò si- 'ç money spf-SRO 'a single coin lies (there)'

b.

béésò sì-nìl money spf-P10-l 'a (handful of) coins lie (there)'

c.

béésò sì-i-tsòòz money spf-FFO 'a (e.g. dollar) bill lies there'

427

Cook (1986: 18) adds, that a dollar bill might well be "rolled up like a cigarette", and the neuter theme being appropriately chosen would then be "-tç (implying a slender solid object) as in si-tg". In (3.5b) a non-singular object is expressed. The plural verb form sìnìl may not only refer to a handful of coins but also to several or a handful of banknotes (cf. YM (1987: 255) and YMM (1992: 831)). The semantics of the plural stems is not parallel to the semantics of the singular stems and thus classification is involved only insofar as these plurals act as plurals of the classificatory verb stems. Analyzing the data of multiple categorization one can distinguish two subgroups. The one is represented by the béésò example above: different objects (coin vs. banknote) are covered by the same noun, and the noun is disambiguated by the classificatory verb. In a second subgroup the same object occurs in different shape forms, e.g., a blanket may have both a "first choice" form and may be manipulated into different shape-forms (examples from Garrison 1974: 110-114): (3.6)

a.

beeldléí si-i-tsooz blanket spf-FFO 'a blanket lies there (plain)'

b.

beeldléí shi-jool blanket spf-NCM 'a blanket lies there (loosely bunched)'

c.

beeldléí si- 'g. blanket spf-SRO 'a blanket lies there (tightly bunched)'

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The same type of semantic co-operation can be observed in the following cases implying a person: in (3.7a) a person lies in the usual form under a blanket, in (3.22b, c) a person appears in a different than the usual "shape form" (examples (3.22.a, b) from YMM (1992: 514, 283), example (3.22c) from Garrison 1974: 301): (3.7)

a.

Beeldléí bee sé-t¡. blanket with it spf:lsg-AnO Ί lie with a blanket on.'

b.

Beeldléí bee shi-sh-jool. blanket with it spf-lsg-NCM Ί lie huddled under a blanket.'

c.

ashkii άήί'ϊα,α, dah boy fense up, at an elevation 'a boy sitting slounched over a fense1

si-tléé' spf-MM

In general, the verbal classification of Navajo has a well-defined set of features and offers the possibility to semantically contribute to compose the linguistic representation of objects. The object to be denoted in a certain situation is the source for the choice of both noun and classificatory verb. Depending on the noun available the classificatory verb is chosen to apprehend the object (cf. Barron 1980, 1982; Seiler 1986). And depending on the object and the noun the choice of a classificatory verb may also be a matter of how an object is conceived of by the speaker. In Seller's words, the system is highly predicative (Seiler 1986: 25). Rushforth 1991 speaks of the "literal" and "non-literal" use of classificatory verbs. Hoijer even suggests:"It is quite possible to conclude, then, that few, if any combinations of nouns plus classificatory verb are impossible—all of the nouns may conceivably function as topics or goals for any classificatory verb, if an appropriate occasion supplies the incentive (Hoijer 1971: 233). "Occasions" and their verbalization, whether a noun and a classificatory verb are matched in the more or less standardized or in a creative way, it is the transparency of the semantic system that makes the "non-literal" cases possible. It is interesting to compare this feature of verbal classification to other systems:

Verbal classification and number: A case study in Navajo

(3.8)

map

'one' classifier yi zhang yi fu

ditu ditu

yi yi

ditu ditu

ben ce

429

'a map' (as a flat object) 'a map' (as a broad band to be hung up) 'an atlas' (maps as a book) 'a booklet of maps' (several maps stitched together)

The data in example (3.8) show that numeral classification presents the same picture as the "béésò example": a noun is disambiguated with the help of classifiers and four different objects are denoted. But numeral classification does not usually allow for cases like (3.6) and (3.7), i.e., the predicativity of verbal classification is much higher than that of numeral classification (cf. Serzisko 1982, Löbel in this vol.). As for gender, the relationship between noun and gender is generally regarded to be fixed as a standardized one-to-one relation. Only a few nouns ("exceptions") would allow for gender variation. This is at least the synchronic picture of many systems (in the way they are described so far). Contrary to this general belief Leiss (in this vol.) offers a historical view at gender in German that assumes the possibility of the choice between genders as the rule rather than the exception for Old High German: different gender categories offer different perspectives on entities which are correlated to the categorial meanings of count nouns (masculines), collective nouns (feminine), and mass nouns (neuter). Likewise, Vogel (in this vol.) shows that gender in Modern German is chosen for certain subgroups of the nominal lexicon which are correlated to certain quantitative notions. The data contributed by Haase on Italian and by Braunmüller on Scandinavian languages (both in this vol.) also support this kind of viewing gender. Weber (in this vol.) has focussed her research on the function of gender: beyond agreement (being a formal property gender shares with categories like case and number), the crucial property which gender does not share with any other nominal category is perspectivization. The two perspectives of ±particularized objects of Webers research are corresponding to what Löbel (in this vol.) has found out for Vietnamese in her syntactictically based research of numeral classification.

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Basically, then, the relationship between noun and classificatory element seems to be a matter of choice in all systems. This principle of choice is a basic requirement of grammatical categories (cf. Leiss in this vol.).

3.5. Greenberg's "logical spectrum" Discussing numeral classifier languages, Greenberg (1974: 19-20) observed different relationships between nouns and numeral classifiers and arranged them as a "logical spectrum": 1. the first type is an "is a" relationship: a book IS A flat object; 2. the second type on the spectrum is a "has a" relationship: a hammer HAS A handle (cf. the Korean example (3.9 below); 3. the third type is a seemingly arbitrary relationship and a speaker can not explain his use of the classifier (e.g., Korean chae being a classifier for buildings, blankets and wheel-barrows, three unrelated objects, the common denominator of chae as their classifier is unclear); 4. the fourth type shows homophony between the noun and the classifier, i.e., the same lexical element occurs in two different noun slots and fulfills two different functions. Greenberg's example is Burmese qein ta-qein 'house onehouse', where the meaning of the classifier could be paraphrased as "qein as a classifier means 'the property of being a house'" (Greenberg 1974: 20); 5. the fifth type is a single general classifier for all nouns; Greenberg's example here is the classifier buquk in Cebuano, a Phillippine language. Underlying type three may be both IS A relations as well as HAS A relations, which are both typical of numeral classifier languages. Types four and five, though semantically different from type one, are still IS A relations (a house IS A house, anything IS A 'thing'), where the classifier is reduced to its syntactic function of being a "unit counter" (Greenberg 1974:21), expressing the uniteness of the noun and thus particularizing it (cf. Löbel in this vol.). In Navajo, the relationship between the noun and the classificatory verb is of the first type, i.e., an IS A relationship, cf. table 3.7. In addition to these clear cases there is the SFO category (slender flexible objects) with its subcategories. But also a matched pair, a variegated collection, valuable property and even the vague category "characteristics unknown" eventually follow this IS A pattern. Löbel (in this vol) has shown that the two basic relationships IS A and HAS

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A are integral parts of partonomy and meronomy which are grammatically used in Vietnamese to particularize nouns, i.e., to denote singularity. From the point of view of nominal classification in general it would be interesting to test these two fundamental relations also for noun classes and gender. Table 3.7. Taxonomical relationships in verbal classification an apple a pencil a newspaper a bunch of wool a bird a cup of tea butter

ISA ISA ISA ISA IS AN IS AN ISA

solid roundish object (SRO) slender/thin stiff object (SSO) flat flexible object (FFO) non-compact matter (NCM) animate object (AnO) open container with contents (OC) mushy matter (MM)

A special case of the relationship between the noun and the classificatory verb is the use of the solid round object category as a "wastebasket" category. This is the topic of the next section. 3.6. The category SRO solid roundish objects -φ and its "wastebasket" function (tangible entities) As a "wastebasket" category the category SRO solid roundish objects is said to take in any object "which does not strikingly seem to belong in any particular category" (Garrison 1974: 216), and therefore "in Navajo the category si$ is not just the 'largest' category in terms of the number of single items and/or kinds of single items which are categorized as its members, but ... it is by far the largest category" (Garrison 1974: 216). This means that the function of SRO si'ρ, "as a 'wastebasket' category depends at least in part on its pre-existence as the 'largest' and 'most generalized' category among the Navajo categories" (Garrison 1974: 216). This double function causes doubts about the label SRO:"The designation 'solid roundish' object class (SRO) is not, in fact, adequate as a common denominator underlying the multitude of varied and physically dissimilar objects to which applies as a classificatory stem, many of which are neither 'solid' nor 'roundish' (YMM 1992: 11). At first sight the SRO/"wastebasket"-category 'φ looks comparable to the so-called general classifier in a numeral classifier language. A general classifier has two main usages:

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a) it serves as a residual (semantically neutral) or "wastebasket" category for nouns which are not covered by one of the specialized classifiers, and b) it may be used alternatively to a specialized classifier, i.e., it may replace a specialized one referring to the same object. Adams (1989) calls it a "cannibalizing classifier (so described because it devours other classifiers in the system)" (Adams 1989: 177). But as long as a classifier "has not taken over the territory of other classes, ... it should not be considered a general classifier" (p. 180). A replacement is only possible when the object referred to can still be unambiguously identified, i.e., that a general classifier in these cases does not simultaneously fulfill both a syntactic and a specific semantic function. A semantically rather empty classifier has just a syntactic function in expressing the uniteness of the noun. Such a replacement is very common in classifier languages, e.g., in Korean: (3.9)

a. mangchi han hammer one

caru elf for things with a handle {caru) or slender stiff objects being handled

'a hammer' b. mangchi han hammer one 'a hammer' (3.10)

a. sagwa han apple one 'an apple' b. sagwa han apple one 'an apple'

kae general elf ("thing") al elf for solid roundish objects kae general elf ("thing")

Both classifiers, the specialized one and the general classifier, are well known to the speakers and they switch between them freely. As for Navajo, Garrison describes "the problem of the categorization of objects when no distinct criteria of categorization appear to be applicable or are known (by the speaker) to be applicable". Thus "the speaker does not know into what category such objects should properly be categorized and/or is uncertain about the values which

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433

should be assigned" (Garrison 1974: 215), and therefore might take refuge to the "wastebasket" category. However, "this generalization is based primarily on impressionistic evidence, as it is difficult to rigorously substantiate such a claim" (Garrison 1974:215). Unfortunately, Garrison does not give examples of difficult cases that might at least illustrate the problem. And in a linguistic research context, the elicitation situation may well contribute to produce a problem that a speaker would never have because in everyday life he does not fill words into a frame but freely associates his thinking with his language. The difficulties to substantiate the "wastebasket" function might exist for good reason, though. Trying to find "wastebasket" nouns in the lists in YM (1987) and in YMM (1992) I found bicycle not to fit into any class at the first glance. But bicycle can easily be explained as a proper member of the SRO class as representing a vehicle, the basic type of which, the waggon or car, clearly meets the criteria of three-dimensionality. A bicycle would be an extension of a lexical group which is already well established within the SRO category. Axelrod (1995: 2-3) describes a parallel case of extension for Koyukon: vehicles of all kind are extensions of the sled and the canoe, which are regarded as slender stiff objects. Thus cars, snow machines, and ships follow the sled and the canoe into the combined class of l-d/2-d +stc objects, ton in Koyukon (-# in Navajo). As the Koyukon case shows, the phenomenon is not restricted to the SRO class. More examples may easily be given. Extensions of this type are also well-known from numeral classifier languages:"But often some members of a class do not possess the shared intrinsic feature, but rather are included because they are associated on some other dimension with nouns already in the class. For example, in Garo [a Sino-Tibetan language] stone, ball, eye, coin, and fruit are all included in one class based on their roundness. This class also includes banana, although it is not round (like oranges, mangoes, etc.), because all other fruits are in this class" (Adams—Conklin 1973: 2). Extensions rule out the categorization according to shape. The similarity is here established on a different level: according to a function. It may well turn out that many if not all nouns denoting not clearly three-dimensional tangible objects, which are covered by the SRO stem, are extensions of lexical core groups already in SRO (the same holds for other categories).

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It should be noted that although extensions rule out shape they do not rule out the IS A relation. It is re-established within the lexical group: a bicycle IS AN instrument of transportation, be it in a 3-d or in a l-d/2-d class. It is difficult to find a noun which could independently be called a true SRO "wastebasket" noun. Navajo classificatory verbs supply categories for all three dimensions and it looks as if the three-dimensional world is best covered without tangible objects left over for a "wastebasket". At least for the time being extension (or class inclusion) seems to solve the problem. The problem arises outside the world of physical objects with the so-called intangible entities. Probably the frequent use of the SRO stem - 'ÇL for lots of intangible entities contributes to the overall impression of a "wastebasket" category and this impression feeds back into the world of the tangible objects. But although there are—at least for the time being—no clear tangible "wastebasket" cases, we should—if hypothetically—ask the question of the type of relationship between a noun and a "wastebasket" category in the sense of Greenberg's spectrum. Semantically this relationship would be rather empty, the name of the object would not be composed of the two components, viz. the noun and the classificatory verb. If it does not contribute to semantically represent the object, its function would be entirely grammatical and much is to be expected from a syntactic study. It would be logical if it had a grammatical function corresponding to the basic function that was detected of other classificatory systems: to transfer the ontological uniteness of a discrete object onto the linguistic level. It has to be tested whether this basic pattern also holds for verbal classification. 3.6.1. The wastebasket function of-φ: intangible entities The term "intangibles" was used by Haile in a description of the category of "solid matter" which "classifies a variety of tangibles and intangibles" (.i.Haile; 1950: 17 quoted from .i.Garrison; 1974: 56). Note that the label SRO was not yet coined. Haile's "solid matter" is "one round or convenient object" to Reichard (1951: 339) and she speaks of "idioms based on" the this stem (p. 342). Verb forms listed there are glossed as, e.g.,:

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(3.11) Reichard (1951: 342) - permit - prohibit from ...ing - forgive ..., turn ... over to..cancel obligation - accuse ... - take .. .'s land away from ... - plot against

- carry news - bring news back in - put into words, speak out - explain - tell a story, say (the same thing), predict -tell to ..., say to ... - answer ..., inform ..., tell to ... - misinterpret; round-obj.-is-out-of- emulate..., try to be like - get a habit place - there's a chance for ....... has a chance - start to speak; give a piece of one's - try to make up one's mind to do mind something desperate, serious - hire - be irritable - be ill, sick, afflicted - give in in a fight - be discontended - give up ..., quit... Although they are based on the SRO stem these intangible meanings are co-based, so to speak, on thematic prefixes in position VI. These prefixes are remnants of a classificatory prefix system ("gender"). The above examples show the intangibles to be abstract notions expressed in verbal form. It is mainly the -ho and the -di prefixes (cf. YMM 1992: 12, 851-852) that contribute to produce the abstract notions: When a round, solid object verb has as pronominal goal the prefix ho-, referring to times, places, affairs, or decisions, we find such forms as nihó'aah ('he puts, e.g., a decision, down') 'he comes to a decision, he lays down a rule or prohibition, he decides (to do) it' (Hoijer 1971: 230). The round, solid object verb, when coupled with an adverbial prefix dithat refers to noise, song, or speech, yields a series of verb forms that mean sing or speak (Hoijer 1971: 231). A ¿/-prefix occurs e.g., in the following verbforms (cf. Hoijer 1971: 231): (3.12)

a.

hadi'aah 'he sings' (literally 'he moves a song out of an enclosed space')

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b.

'aiyidì'aah 'they dispute, argue with each other' (literally 'they take words, speech from each other')

c.

di'aah 'he forgives us' (literally: 'he gives words to us')

Clearly the SRO stem does not have an SRO meaning here. All the cases are "idioms", as Reichard has called them. Idiomatization even may have the same results in Navajo and "better understood languages": desire, a true intangible, in Navajo, German and English equally may be "the something" one "gets into one's head", in German "sich etwas in den Kopf setzen", cf. the Navajo example from YM (1951/1994: 74): (3.13)

a. sitsiits'iin bii' si-'g. my head in it si/pf-SRO 'my one desire is to' (lit. sets in my head') b. Chidi car sitsiits'iin my head

nahideeshnihígíí the one I want to buy bii' in it

t'éiyá only

si-'φ si/pf-SRO

'All I can think of is getting a car.' The ideas of uniteness and idiomatization have been overruled by the geometrical aspect of systematizing the world of physical objects. These approaches will most certainly be revitalized when the intangibles will be investigated on a larger scale and in all their aspects. The intangibles are quite a large group of the SRO usages and one may finally ask the question: aren't the intangibles the contents of the "wastebasket"? Possibly the intangibles are not only a large but even an increasing group of expressions, all sorts of nouns come in, partly those related to the ho- and di- thematics, partly nouns which do not need such "gender support" (cf. 3.13), all contributing to the diffuse impression of a "wastebasket". It appears that in one respect they are all alike: what is called "intangibles" in Navajo correlates with what is called abstracts in Indo-European languages. The fact, that they come along in verbal form in Navajo should not obstruct the view to

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437

the similarities. Like the intangibles of SRO, abstracts in gender languages have a special behaviour: many of them become only abstracts by the "support" of suffixes, e.g., in German verteilen - die Verteilung 'to distribute - the distribution', erlauben - Erlaubnis 'permit - permission' (cf. Reichard's examples in (3.11)). In German, these derived abstracts outnumber undireved abstracts like der Mut (masculine) 'the courage' (cf. Vogel in this vol.), as Navajo SROintangibles based on thematic prefixes outnumber those without thematic prefixes. Number also contributes to establish the intangibles as a separate group in that they typically do not allow for the use of number in the sense of pluralizing the concept the stem relates to. This again corresponds to the behaviour of the well-known abstracts in gender languages: typically, abstracts are not pluralizable. And if they pluralize, they typically cease to be abstracts and switch to a concrete meaning. Finally it should be added that intangibles are not a privilege of the category SRO, cf. fn. 6 on SFO. Although SRO is the most prominent category containing intangibles, they also occur in SFO slender flexible objects and in PlO-2 -jaa', the 3+unlimited plural category, as Garrison notes (1974: 217-226). He mentions songs and stories as intangibles under -jaa', and thought, truth, love "and other related concepts" (p. 220) for -là. He relates the intangible concepts to the semantics of the categories:"Nevertheless, the criteria used in the categorization of intangible entities seem to be interpretable as metaphorical-type extensions of the criteria used in the categorization of tangible entities" (p. 217). Seeing these data from a wider perspective of nominal classification in general, another connection might play a role: the connection between abstracts, collections and plurals as observed in gender systems (cf. Vogel and Weber in this vol.). What is synchronically the 1-d -stc category SFO -là in Navajo, has diachronically also been a true plural category and is so still today in many Athapaskan languages. Also -jaa'has a collective and plural semantics and extends into intangibles.

4. Quantificational aspects The close relationship between nominal classification and number is best known from gender languages. In Greenberg's Universal No. 36

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this connection is put like this: "If a language has the category of gender, it always has the category of number" (Greenberg 1963: 74). Numeral classification also has a close relationship to number in that numeral classifiers are an integral part of the syntactic process of particularization, i.e., the systematic expression of the singular. Verbal classification is also related to number. The clearest sign are the plural stems. 4.1. Plurals Athapaskan plural categories are not related to categories like shape or animateness. This is another parallel to other classificational systems: also in gender and noun class systems plural classes are typically based on semantic criteria not identical to those of the singular classes. In modern Navajo, there are two stems which serve relatively regularly as plurals of the classificatory verbs: -nil Plural Objects 1 (ΡΙΟI) -jaa' Plural Objects 2 (P102) The main difference, which can be observed both with neuter and active verb forms, seems to consist in the different number values the two plural stems show: P101 sinil denotes a so called "lesser plural" (Witherspoon 1971), which is defined as two on the lower limit but the upper limit must be left imprecise for the reason that it is not precisely marked by Navajo speakers. Typically, the upper limit for the "lesser plural" seems to be about seven or eight, but at times collections of up to twice that number may be characterized as being in the "lesser plural" (Garrison 1974: 164 based on Witherspoon 1971: 112).

YMM (1992: 434) describe it as "plurality of such magnitude that the objects involved are individually discernible and readily countable". A more usual term for the "lesser plural" would be "paucal". P102 shijaa' denotes a "greater plural" (Witherspoon 1971) which is defined as designating a quantity which may be equal but not less than three; the upper limit is left unspecified, and the assumption is made that indeed there is no upper limit (Garrison 1974:149; cf. Witherspoon 1971: 112).

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In the Navajo linguistic literature the two types of plural are usually written as 2+ and 3+, indicating 'two and above', 'three and above'. Compared to the the well-known Indo-European type of plural the two decisive criteria, i.e., a plural starting from two and being unlimited, are represented one in each Navajo category: the stem -nil is the 2+ plural, the stem -jaa' is the unlimited plural. Both types of plurals are deeply rooted in the language: The 2+ plural is also represented by the nominal suffix -ké which is used with nouns denoting persons, and in the pronoun system, thus solidly backing the notion of the 2+plural. The 3+ type is represented by the versatile pluralizing element da-, giving the notion of a 3+ plural a high frequency in the language. The suffix -ké is quite clearly a collective or occasionally a singulative marker. The prefix da- is very much dependent on the word form it co-occurs with, be it verbal or nominal. The intricacies of da- in Navajo are waiting to be thoroughly explored. To give an impression of the number context of the classificatory verbs, the features of -ké and da- are briefly (and tentatively) summarized in table 4.1 on the basis of YM (1980: 158-160; 1987: 62-64). Table 4.1. Features of the -ké- and the da-plural in Navajo -ké

da-

number value

2+

3+

position

suffixed

prefixed

with nouns

certain nouns [+human]

with certain nouns and mainly (only?) when used predicatively distributive plural (only?)

meaning with verbs to express nominal plurality meaning

with verbs to express verbal plurality meaning

collective, plural

can refer to any noun being the subject or object of the verb or to both subject and object distributive or plain plural meaning is correlated to (in)transitivity and to the number value of the stem with certain stems only repeated action

There is another subsystem in Navajo expressing nominal number: the number suppletive verbs. Certain verb stems are denoting the

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number of actors as 1, 2, or 3+ actors, e.g., 'to walk/go/ come': 1 actor -yá, 2 actors -'áázh, 3+ -kai; 'to die/become sick': 1 actor -tsá, 2 actors -ná, no form for 3+; 'to sit down/be sitting': 1 -dà, 2 -ké, 3+ -bin. Some others denote the number of objects, but with less regular number patterns, e.g., 'to lead it/them' has different stem forms for one and 2+ objects, 'to throw it/them' for one vs. more than one objects. Number suppletive verbs do not show the number pattern of the classificatory verbs, i.e., a regular 2+ and 3+ plural. 4.1.1. The features ordered vs. unordered, coalesced vs. separated Although "there is a large area of overlap" between the two categories (YM 1980: 369), Garrison names some additional features that keep the plurals separate when referring to objects being located or at rest. He calls these features ordered vs. unordered, and coalesced vs. separated (cf. Garrison 1974: 142-176, 386): items in the category sinil are more likely to be ordered, and they are more likely to be less close to each other. Items in the category shijaa' are unordered and closely coalesced. These features "function relative to each other, rather than as absolutes" (Garrison 1974: 165), and, one should add, they cease to play a role when the number of objects exceeds the limits of the lesser plural -nil. These features seem to be born out of the history of these two verbs: The stem -nil has an underlying meaning of "to spill, to pour, to sprinkle, plural objects falling" (YMM 1992: 434). This feature seems to be preserved in the feature of "objects separated". In the stem -jaa' (cf. section 3.3.2 above), the semantic feature of the granular mass is correlated with the feature of "objects coalesced", i.e., objects being positioned relatively close to each other. 4.1.2. Collections In YM (1980: 369) -nil is said to relate to several objects "composing either a collective group that moves as a unit, or a number of indiviual items from which several are moved at a time" (Italics added B.U.). The stem -jaa' is described as plural with reference to the 3+ unlimited feature. YM (1987) does not give any hint to a collective notion. In YMM (1992: 255) -jaa'is related to a "simple plurality of objects" (Italics added - B.U.) and -nil is described as the 2+ plural.

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The idea of a group notion of the plurals was worked out by Witherspoon (1971) and further elaborated by Garrison (1974). Both verb stems produce what he calls a "(+single collective entity)" (Garrison 1974: 140) with the term 'collective' (or 'collection') emphasizing the fact "that a group of objects which is categorized as a member of the category shijaa' (or sinil - B.U.) is considered to be a single composite entity formed by a number of physically discrete items" (Garrison 1974: 143). This is illustrated by the following examples (cf. Garrison 1974: 150,165): (4.1)

a.

neeshch'íí' shijaa' pinon nuts spf-3+objects 'a pile of (many) pinon nuts is lying there' (coalesced collection)

b.

neeshch'íí' tseebíigo sinil pinon nuts eight spf-2+objects 'eight pinon nuts are lying there' (separated collection)

Different pluralizations underline the group notion, cf. the examples from Garrison (1974: 355) where -nil and -jaa' refer to a multitude of scattered piles of stones: (4.2)

a.

tsé naazjaa ' rock/stone here and there :spf-3+objects 'several (bigger) piles of rocks are lying there (here and there, scattered')

b.

tsé naaznil rock/stone here and there: spf-2+objects 'several (smaller) piles of rocks are lying there (here and there, scattered)'

Inserting the plural prefix -da increases the number of scattered piles from 'several' to 'many': tsé ndaazjaa', tsé ndaaznil. A multitude of scattered individual pieces is expressed with the classificatory stem (example from Witherspoon 1971: 114): (4.2)

c.

tsin naaztç log here and there:spf-SSO '(several) logs are lying there, each separately'

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Garrison applies the notion of the "(+single collective entity)" also to all active verb forms treated in his book in that he includes this feature in all figures summarizing the different handling actions. Neuter verb forms are morphologically relatively simple, but active verb forms occur in a great variety of different prefix arrangements. The following sentences are examples taken from YM (1987) to give an impression: (4.3) YM 1987: 135 a. Bilasáana nahainii'go apple I bought them bá for her

shimasání my grandmother

ats'áníjaa'. apart-3+

'When I bought apples I set them apart for my grandmother.' b.

Shicheii dibéyázhí ia' bá 'ats'ánínil. my grandfather lamb some for him apart-2+ Ί set some lambs apart for my grandfather.'

(4.4) YM 1987: 149, 346 a. 'Awéé' baa'diijaa' dóó baby from it I take off-3+ and Ί undressed the baby and bathed it.' b.

'Awéé' baby

bi'éé' its clothing

tááségiz. I bath it

baa diinil dóó from it I take off-2+ and

tááségiz. I bath it Ί took off the baby's clothing and washed it (the baby).' There are scores of active verb forms built on the stems -nil and -jaa' but the few examples may suffice to hint to the difficulty to decide between a simple plurality and a collective notion in the active verb forms. Collections (or collective plurals) and simple plurals are related by the concept of number. A multitude of objects is seen from two different perspectives: - the collection focusses upon the totality (entirety) of the objects, - the plural focusses upon the individual items.

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This difference can be visualized as follows (cf. Leiss 1994: 292):

Figure 4.1. Collection vs. plural

Putting something aside, as the apples for grandma, or separating one part of a greater whole, as some lambs from a bigger group of lambs or sheep, means the handling of contextually determined amounts of objects: the particular objects (which are separated). Undressing a baby means, of course, to take off all pieces of clothing and they together may also be regarded as a contextually defined collection. In all cases the English translation suggests simple plurals rather than collections. One can try to expand the verb forms by the plural prefix -da. In connection with stems lexically marked for number (as the plural stems -nil and -jaa') -da produces a distributive reading (cf. Jung 1995). Inserting -da (a 3+ plural) in the first pair of sentences would produce a clear collective reading both for the piles of apples and for the groups of sheep: setting apart apples in 3+ groups (each containing 3+ apples, -jaa'), setting apart sheep in 3+ groups (each containing 2+ sheep, -nil). In case of undressing the baby -da insertion would not make sense. An intensive study of number in the classificatory verbs has still to be carried out. The contribution of this paper is to draw the attention to the question of simple and collective plurals in active verb forms based on classificatory stems. 4.1.3. Plural Objects 1 vs. Plural Objects 2 As for the kinds of objects covered by the two stems there is more overlap than difference (cf. YM 1980: 369). Upto roughly a dozen of

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objects (the "lesser plural" of -nil) a difference in size plays a role: -jaa' is preferred for smaller items, -nil covers items of all sizes. As for animateness, -nil covers both persons and animals (of all sizes), -jaa' prefers small animals and is not used for persons (Liebe-Harkort (1984: reports that -jaa' was not used for animate objects). Both -nil and -jaa' are highly frequent in the language. The question arises whether there is a preference in the use of either -nil or -jaa'. The advantage of -jaa'is its unlimited plural and according to Garrison -jaa' is the preferred plural of the SRO category (Garrison 1974: 151) being "by far the largest category" (p. 216). As for -nil, despite of being the limited plural, "most single collections of plural objects, including most collections composed of only two objects, are now organized as members of the category sinil" (Garrison 1974: 194). The occurrence of the two stems can—at least cursorily—be checked with the help of the table of nouns and classificatory verbs given in YMM (1992: 828-837). This table, containing a total of 290 noun entries (=100%), lists 222 nouns used with -nil and 164 nouns used with jaa'. These figures include 153 nouns with both -nil and -jaa', 69 nouns only with -nil, and 11 nouns which are exclusively listed with -jaa'. Table 4.2. Percentage of -nil and -jaa' entries in YMM (1992: 828-837; 290 entries =100%) -nil

-jaa'

both -nil and -jaa'

0 nly

222 (76,9%)

164 (56,9%)

153 (52,7%)

69(22,4%)

-nil

only -jaa' 11(3,8%)

The overlapping of both categories is clearly visible: 52,7% of the nouns are registered under both plural stems. Although the list does not show a preference of the categroy -jaa' for members of the SRO category 11 the general preference for the category -nil can be stated as observed by Garrison: 22,4% of the nouns are given only with this plural as against 3,8% which are registered only for -jaa'. This dominance of -nil includes the fact, that due to its 2+ status -nil can absorb the nouns of the diminishing category of the matched pairs -Ια% (which is partly becoming obsolete). It should be added that these figures should be taken as tendencies and not as strict statements, of course. As the large area of overlap shows the use of the two stems is rather variable and a matter of choice, i.e., of perspectivization. Perspectivization is a matter both of

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the entity to be denoted and the speaker who denotes it and therefore one can understand the different entries in the lists in YM (1987) and YMM (1992): the entries for nouns shared by both lists are not congruent, in several cases the same nouns are given different plurals. Both stems are also used to form noun derivatives. Again a dominance of -nil is to be observed. In YMM (1992: 442-445) 104 noun derivatives are listed for -nil as against 17 for -jaa' (p. 261). The characteristics of the two plural stems are summarized in the following table. Table 4.3. Characteristic features of Navajo plural categories P101 -nil

P102 -jaa'

etymology:

to spill, to pour, to sprinkle, to handle granular substance plural objects falling or mass of small objects

quantitative value:

lesser plural: 2+limited + human + animal

greater plural: 3+unlimited - human + animal/small

[-animate]: smaller and larger objects

[-animate]: small upto a dozen, any size beyond a dozen

ordered/separated no spatial features

unordered/coalesced no spatial features

+

+

?

?

exclusive use

higher

lower

noun derivatives

many

few

objects covered:

spatial features: in neuter forms in active forms collective meaning in neuter forms in active forms

The plurals were called the "clearest sign" for number in verbal classification: they are unambiguously called plurals in all descriptions. As for the singulars, they are a rather hidden category which was detected only step by step. Singulars are the topic of the next section. 4.2. Singulars In early works it is usually only the SRO stem which is explicitely said to be singular. Reichard (1951: 339), e.g., stresses in her entry of

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SRO that this stem "refers to only one object as compared with plural objects, substance, material, etc." (Italics added B.U.)· In YMM (1992) the active verbforms of the categories SRO, SFO and AnO are explicitely said to denote "single" objects, the others contain descriptions using the indefinite article. It is this prominent rendering of "single" as against "an" object that causes the question of what the difference might be. The results of a test with numerals seems to allow for both "single" and "an" object to be put on an equal basis, i.e., they substantiate a "single object" reading or simply singularity in all cases, as the following examples illustrate: (4.5)

a.

naaltsoos shaa níitsóós paper to me you-FFO 'give me a/the/one sheet of paper'

b.

naaltsoos shaa t'áá á'ígo paper to me one 'give me one sheet of paper'

c. (4.6)

a.

b.

naaltsoos paper

shaa to me

naakigo two

níitsóós you-FFO níitsóós you-FFO

mósí shaa niteeh cat to me you-AnO 'give me a/the/one cat' mósí cat

shaa to me

naakigo two

niteeh you-AnO

The categories NCM (if not a discrete object), MM, and DM/GS represent a single object in the sense of a single quantity: (4.7)

YM (1987: 379): Tsinabççs bikáádgf shimá 'aghaa' wagon from top of it my mother wool

bá for her

hadááijool. I lowered down-NCM Ί lowered (put down, unloaded) the wool from the wagon for my mother (a single action, involving a single quantity).'

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(4.8)

YM (1987: 222): Shideezhi bee 'ádtttiahí ia' bñák'éétiéé'. my sister vaseline some I hand-MM Ί handed my sister a gob of vaseline.'

(4.9)

YM (1987: 783): Bee'eldççh bee'eldçç bikç' biih yishjaa'. gun gun powder into it I put-DM/GS Ί charged a muzzle-loading gun (lit. I poured gunpowder into a gun).'

The nouns are neutral in respect to number, they allow for the number interpretation imposed on them. Classificatory verbs are one of the grammatical instruments that may cause a singular or plural interpretation of a noun. Quite parallel to noun classes and gender the systematic encoding of number is bound to a classificatory system. And also parallel to typical features of other systems there are more singular classes than plural classes and they are based on different semantic criteria. 4.3. The relationship of singular and plural An arrangement of nouns under their respective singular categories reveals that no category consistently interacts with both plurals. It is a matter of individual nouns to choose either -nil or -jaa' (exclusive use), others may be used with both or none of them, cf. the examples in table 4.4. In sum, the singular-plural-behaviour of individual nouns reveals an interesting pattern of three groups: 1. In the first group, SRO, SFO, SSO, FFO, AnO, the -ra7-plural is the first choice with all nouns, -jaa' may be used but does not reach the frequency of -nil. The first group contains count nouns. 2. The second group is NCM and FFO -tzoosb, the container category of 2-d -stc. In NCM the majority of nouns takes neither -nil nor -jaa'. This fact puts this group in the vicinity to MM. However, in NCM there are several nouns which allow for the use of -nil and some allow even for the use of both -nil and -jaa' (cf. YM 1987: 251263). The more an item of non-compact consistence is shaped and structured, the more likely it can be pluralized. Thus 'cotton ball' or

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Table 4.4. The use of singular vs. plural with individual nouns (cf. YMM 1992: 828-837 and YM 1987: 251-263)12: category group 1: SRO

nouns

- apple, hammer, sled (child's) - axe, icecream (closed package), lamp, pail (bucket) SFO - rope (piece of), wick, spaghetti (boiled) - bacon (strip), belt, bow, cornhusk - feather (large), hot dog, rifle, spaghetti (raw) SSO - guitar, icicle, icecream in cone (focus on the cone as SSO) - coat, paper (sheet) FFO - blanket (flat), dollar bill -tZOOSA both life or dead: AnO [+human] - baby, man; doll [+animal] - ant, bug, butterfly, fish, fly, frog, lizard, bat, snake chicken, cat, kitten, (little) dog, prairie dog, lamb, sheep, porcupine - elephant, horse, meat (entire carcass) group 2: NCM - hay (loose), hair (tuft, wad), lettuce (shredded), moss, string (snarled pile of), wool (loose) - cotton candy, grass (tuft, wad of), paper (loose, wad), false beard - cotton ball, feather (downy - wad), rag (wadded), wig FFO - bag (small full), cornmeal (in sack), flour (in sack) -tZOOSft - water (in waterbag), wool (in bag), small group 3: MM - butter (chunk), mud, mashed potato, icecream (gob) DM/GS ashes, cement (powdery, loose), cornmeal (loose), pollen, sugar (loose) LiSB drink of water (uncontained) OC cup of coffee, basket of apples

2+

3+

-nil

-jaa'

+ + +

-

+

+

-

+

+

+

+

-

+

+

+

-

+

-

+

+

+

—

—

—

+

-

+

+

+

+

—

—

_

_

—

-

—

—

-

-

'wig' are rather individual objects as against 'loose hay' or 'shredded lettuce' which are masses. NCM is thus a transition category between count and mass. FFO -tzoosΒ behaves quite similar: the more the full container is a solid, compact object the more likely it is pluralizable. 3. The third group are mass nouns: MM does not make use of the plurals. The category which was called 'dry matter/granular substance' DM/GS would also belong here.

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The category OC open container with contents does not take part in the number distinction by classificatory plural stems. In verb forms based on the stem -kg, pluralization is only possible with prefixes like naa- and da-. But as can be seen from FFO -tzoos-Q in group 2 it is not the feature of containedness as such that is blocking the plural. This is also illustrated by the fact that the category LB Ρ selectively allows for plurals, cf. the following examples: Table 4.5. Plural forms of -y/LPB (cf. YM 1987 251-263, YMM 1992: 828-837) -nil container with contents:

large items not contained:

smaller items, conveniently handled:

-jaa'

beans (in bag)

+

trash (bag of)

-

-

wool in bag (large)

-

-

blanket (rolled or folded)

+

buffalo robe

+

-

rug (rolled)

+

+

burden (bundle)

+

+

medicine pouch medicine bundle

+ +

+ +

-

+/-

The bigger the contained entity, the less likely it is pluralized. Again we have to observe both the verbal and the nominal components involved: the larger the object the less likely it is handled, the more likely it is hauled. Hauling is clearly covered by the category LPB, but less so by the two plural stems. Tentatively it can be said that handling has a plural, hauling does not. Summing up the noun-related quantificational implications of the classificatory verbs one can state that this system includes the expression of singular, collection/plural and mass. As with other classificatory systems the use of the plural reflects a count and mass distinction. As far as material could be checked so far, the two plurals are not used for objects other than those covered by one of the singular stems. If this is true this paradigmatic relationship can be added to the criteria delimiting classificatory verbs.

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5. S u m m a r y 1. Verbal classification is comparable to other systems of nominal classification in several respects. It basically represents a count-mass system. It has more singular than plural classes, with the semantics of the plural classes being different from the semantics of the singular classes. A main part of the singular classes is based on shape (like noun classes and numeral classification). 2. Verbal classification is a system of nominal classification encoding classificatory information about the noun in certain verb stems. Verbal classification is thus a combination of a verbal and a nominal component with the classificatory verb stem expressing these two components in fused form. Verb forms built upon these verb stems represent two main predications: handling (active verb forms) and positioning (neuter or stative verb forms). 3. A verb stem is regarded a classificatory verb proper if it is praradigmatical in two respects: from the verbal point of view a certain noun class must be correlated to at least two types of predications one of which has to be positioning. From the nominal point of view these two predications must be expressed with distinct verb stems for at least two noun classes. 4. Twelve classificatory verb stems were analysed for Navajo. They represent a semantic system of singular categories based on - animacy - shape, ±stiff-/compactness, and partly on size; container categories based on shape, ±stiff-/compactness, and ±contents; mass categories based on the features dry, mushy, and liquid; plural categories based on different number values: 2+ limited and 3+ unlimited. This semantic system is summarized in the following table:

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Table 5.1. Semantic system of Navajo verbal classification animates shape/±stc

container

mass

plurals

AnO SSO SFO FSO FFO SRO NCM OC FFC LPB(FFC) DM/GS MM LiSB PlO-1 PlO-2 SFO-dual

life or dead 1-d +stc 1-d-stc 2-d +stc 2-d -stc 3-d +stc 3-d -stc all-d, +contents 2-d -stc ±contents, small 2-d -stc -contents, large dry mushy liquid 2+limited 3+unlimited matched pairs

-tí -tq. -là -tg -tsooz -jool -kg. -tsooz -Vf

-jaa' -tiéé' -ziid -nil -jaa' -là

5. Navajo nouns are neutral in respect to number. Verbal classification is an instrument to express a count-mass distinction. The plurals of verbal classification supplement three other ways of expressing number in Navajo which are: a) A set of number suppletive verbs which denote the discrete number of subjects or objects. This ancient system is inconsistent in many respects. b) The nominal collective suffix -ké which is used for kinship terms and a few other nouns related to a group or community, but not to nouns [+human] in general; -ké is a 2+ plural. c) The versatile plural element -da- which is a general 3+ plural and has a distributive component in certain contexts. In addition to supporting the 2+ and the 3+ notion of the -ké and the da- plurals the plural categories of classificatory verbs supply the notion of collectivity for nouns [±animate]. 6. Finally, for easy reference the set of the twelve verbs is again summarized in alphabetical order:

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Barbara UMerbeck

Table 5.2. Navajo classificatory verb stems, alphabetic order -'4

SRO solid roundish object

-jaa'

DM/GS dry matter/granular substance // PlO-2 plural obj. 3+ unlimited

-jool

NCM non-compact matter

-kg.

OC open container with contents

-là

SFO slender flexible object // matched pair

-nil

PLO-1 plural objects 2+ limited

-tsooz

FFO flat flexible object // FFC flat flexible container (±contents, small)

-tg

SSO slender stiff object // FSO flat stiff object

-tí

AnO animate object

-tiéé'

MM mushy matter

-yí

LPB(FFC) load, pack burden (flat flexible container, -contents, large)

-ziid

LiS Β liquid (small body)

Acknowledgements This paper owes a great deal to the co-operation with the Athapaskan linguistic community. I am grateful to Alyse Neundorf, Martha Austin, Bernice Casaus, and Ellavina Perkins for having discussed data with me at various stages of my Navajo research. I am grateful to Robert W. Young and Sally Midgette for the discussion of earlier versions of this paper, to Melissa Axelrod, Gary Donavan, and Bill Poser for supplying unpublished material. I would like to express special thanks to Keren Rice for the "3+ unlimited" occasions of contact, discussion and advise in a very friendly and effective co-operation. I alone am responsible for any mistakes and misinterpretations I may have made.

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Notes 1.

Note that the labels A to D are also used in the works of YM (1987) and YMM (1992), but in a different distribution: Davidson—Elford—Hoijer (1963) YM (1987: 251) and YMM (1992: 828)

2.

3. 4.

Β handle Β propel

C propel C fly/fall

D fly/fall D position

For the purpose of this paper it is convenient to use the first way since it more directly reflects the close allience of A and Β stems. The system of prefix classification in Haida does have classes based on secondary parameters, e.g., sgob= 'crooked looking', or st'a= 'dumb-bell shaped' (cf. Pinnow 1985), but classes of this type are not existent in verbal classification. I changed the hyphen in Garrison's notation stiff-compact into a dash: stiff/compact. The examples given suggest an equal distribution of the categories, but this is not the case. The number of nouns usually connected with these verb stems can roughly be deduced from the word lists given in YM (1987: 251263) and YMM (1992: 828-837): category SSO/FSO SFO (-/¿a) FFO (-tsoozfd SRO NCM

5.

A position A handle

dimension stiff/compact l-d/2-d +stc 1-d-stc 2-d -stc 3-d +stc 3-d-stc

YM (1987) total: 654 entries 119 64 39 265 36

YMM (1992) total: 290 entries 57 28 19 70 13

Can the two NCM categories be related? In Navajo the stem -zho resembles this Carrier stem: it occurs as ZHO χ 'furry, velvety, hairy', and ZHO2 which occurs in verbforms meaning 'moisten, dampen, (re-moisten, re-dampen object)'; 'become damp, moist, wet' (YMM 1992: 785). Thus both the phonology and the semantics of Navajo ZHO and Carrier -dzo are very close to each other, but the two Navajo ZHO are not classificatory. The phonological similarity of the three stems involved, -dzo, -zho, and -jool, is very suggestive to even bridge the three of them. This will be the easier the more the semantic components correspond. The Navajo classificatory stem for 3-d -stc -jool is related to the noun stem -jool 'ball'. A connection between -dzo and -zho to -jool would make sense: a nonindustrially produced ball was most certainly stuffed with the non-compact material covered by NCM: hay-like material (if -I is the old instrumental suffix it probably was something like 'the one with hay'). Different to many other stems for this one the reconstruction is only given as "probably" in YMM (1992: 276): "Probably from PA *dzhigh w iti: ball" (Krauss—Leer

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Barbara Unterbeck

1981: 108, 204). Furthermore, the stem -jool is mentioned in one of the themes also with a component [+liquid] when "describing the movement of substances such as smoke, dust, rain, a stench" (YMM 1992: 276). So several details might be puzzled out and probably help to find a new connection in the field of classificatory verbs. There is a size difference in the two predications of handling and positioning of 3-d objects. Whereas positioning may include big things like a house (SRO), handling tends to be delimited to objects that are more or less conveniently manipulable. With increasing size 3-d objects are more likely to be shifted to the LPB load, pack, burden category but the boundary is not clear cut. An important feature of this shift is also a shift in the type of action: the heavier and bulkier an object is the more likely it is hauled tinstead of handled (cf. Garrison 1974: 469-480). The subcategories of -la as analysed by Garrison (cf. table 2.1.) are no shape categories. So are the subcategories given in YMM (1992: 356) "-là is a classificatory stem describing (1) the handling of a slender flexible object (SFO) ..., (2) objects that come in pairs ...; and (3) a mass or conglomeration of plural objects such as a variety of foods, constellation, corn kernels, the words that constitute a language, a bunch of feathers, a tangled mass of fried onions, a set of tools or paraphernalia." After some "intangible" usages (e.g., hunger, thirst, hangover, adultery, payment) the final remark is added: "It can be used in reference to objects of unknown calss, including the objects of robbery or burglary". Compare this set to Garrison's subcategories: Garrison (1974) -lá A SFO -IÓB matched pairs variegated collection -là c -láo -làF.

7. 8.

characteristics unknown valuable property

YMM (1992) SFO (1) pairs (2) mass or conglomeration of (3) plural objects objects of unknown class

The subcategories -làa and -tóg, or (1) and (2), are correlated to the plural meaning this stem has in many Athapskan languages, but which is lost in Navajo except for the dual-meaning of the matched pairs, but even this is increasingly being taken over by the plural stem -nil (PlO-2). -là is specializing on the SFO meaning in Navajo, but carrying along a heritage of a long history as one of the oldest pieces in the classificatory puzzle in this language family. All the data deviating from the SFO and the 'matched pairs' meaning need to be treated from a diachronic point of view and are therefore left for a forthcoming paper. Data on personification cf. Hoijer (1971: 231). The predication of handling is crucial for the discussion of classificatory verbs. It has the two aspects which are the fundamental fusion of verbal classification: a nominal and a verbal aspect. The nominal aspect refers to the size of the objects, the verbal aspect to the action performed when moving these objects. The larger the object the more it is a hauling action. Any object conveniently manipulable is a handüng action and here classification

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455

is centered. The category LPB is mainly an object category [+large, +bulky] and mainly a verbal category of hauling. The size of the objects in handling actions is usually not specified, because handling implies relative smallness or medium size. So the whole handling system is more or less related to a feature of relative smallness or medium size. The intersection of handling and hauling in the stem -yf shows that both the size of the objects and the type of the action are not strictly separated for large and small but rather a continuum. The details have to be worked out in a diachronic study. As for value, note also the entries of noun derivatives in YMM that seem to hint to a diachronic relationship between the two categories -y\ and -là: entry under stem -là (YMM 1992:364-365) naalyé (=naalyéhé)

property, belongings, merchandise (they - objects of unspecified class - are carried about)

entry under stem -yf (YMM 1992: 716) property, chattel... (it is carried or hauled about)

naalyéhé

goods, merchandise, property (that which is carried or hauled about)

naalyéhé bá store, trading post (home for merchandise) hooghan

store, trading post (home or building for merchandise)

naalyéhé yá sidáhí

trader, storekeeper (the one who sits for merchandise)

jewelry, valuables (valuable goods or possessions)

'ílíigo naalyéhé 'ayeel (=yeel)

trader, storekeeper

fee, payment for services (as to a medicine man, doctor, lawyer), sacrifice, offering (as to medicine plants pr salt taken for ceremonial use) shield ... (it is customarily carried around), (= nagééd)

naagééh shield, ceremonial object 'ach '44h designed to ward off evil (lit. naalyéii the one that is carried in front of oneself) 'ádináályééí

10.

a ceremonial object used to fend off evil (lit. it is passed around oneself)

In a paper about verbs of eating, Landar describes the same type of easy cooperation. Obviously in a very natural way—though surprising to the author—"an informant, asked to list foods which commonly are implicated

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Barbara Unterbeck

by our seven verbs, listed series of foods belonging to a given class" (Landar 1964: 96). Several nouns which are registered under the SRO category are given only with the plural -nil (the nouns are given in English only): axe, baby (in cradle), bed, bicycle, boot (single), boot (pair), chain (coiled), egg (fried), icecream (closed package), jack (hydraulic), lamp, chimney, lettuce (head), nest, pail (bucket), pistol, reins, tent, tire (car), wheel. I follow the general usage of the table in YMM and give only the English forms.

References Adams, Keren Lee 1986 "Numeral classifiers is Austroasiatic". In: Craig (ed.) 1986. 241262. 1989 Systems of numeral classification in the Mon-Khmer, Nicobare se and Aslian Subfamilies of Austroasiatic. Pacific Linguistics. Series B. No. 101. Canberra: The Australian National University. Adams, Keren L.—Nancy Conklin 1973 Towards a theory of natural classification. In: Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS 9). 1-10. Chicago, Dlionois. Austin, Martha—Regina Lynch 1983 Saad ahqqh sinil. Dual Language. A Navajo-English Dictionary. Revised edition. Rough Rock, Arizona: Rough Rock Demonstration School. Axelrod, Melissa 1995 Gender and aspect in Koyukon. ms. Barron, Roger 1980 Das Phänomen klassifikatorischer Verben in nordamerikanischen Indianersprachen: ein typologischer Versuch, akup - Arbeiten des Kölner Universalienprojekts. 38. Universität Köln. 1982 Das Phänomen klassifikatorischer Verben. In: Seiler—Lehmann (eds.) 1982.133-146. Basso, Keith H. 1968 The Western Apacke classificatory verb system: a formal analysis. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 24.252-266. Braunmüller, Kurt [in this vol.] Gender in North Germanic: a diasystematic and functional approach. Broschart, Jürgen 1991 "Noun, verb, and participation (A typology of the noun/verb distinction)". In: Seiler—Premper (eds.). 65-137. Carter, Robin M. 1976 Chipewyan classificatory verbs. International Journal of American Linguistics. 42. 24-30.

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Cook, Eung-Do 1986 Athapaskan classificatory verbs. Amerindia. Revue d'Ethnolinguitique Ameridienne. 11.11-23. Corbett, Greville G. 1991 Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Davidson, William L.—W. Elford—Harry Hoijer 1963 Athapaskan classificatory verbs. In: Hoijer, Harry (ed.). Studies in the Athapaskan languages. University of California Publications in Linguistics (UCPL). 29. 30-41. Denny, J. Peter 1976 "What are noun classifiers good for?", in: Papers from the Twelfth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society. Denny, J. Peter—Chet A. Creider 1986 "The semantics of noun classification in Proto-Bantu". In: Craig (ed.). 1986. 217-239. Erbaugh, Mary S. 1986 "Taking stock: The development of Chinese noun classifiers historically and in young children". In: Craig (ed.). 1986. 399-436. Faltz, Leonard M. 1998 The Navajo verb. A grammar for students and scholars. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Garrison, Edward Ralph 1974 Navajo semantics: The classificatory verbs. Northwestern University. Ph.D. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963 Some universale of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements. In: Greenberg, Joseph H. (ed.), Universals of human language, Cambridge, 58-85. 1974 Numeral classifiers and substantival number. Problems in the genesis of a linguistic type. In: Heilmann, Luigi (ed.). Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Linguists. Bologna. 17-37. Haase, Martin [in this vol.] Reorganization of a gender system: The Central Italian neuters. Haile, Berard 1926 A manual of Navajo grammar. St. Michaels: St. Michaels Press. 1950 A stem vocabulary of the Navajo language. Navajo-English, Vol. 1. English-Navajo, Vol. 2. St. Michaels: St. Michaels Press. Henry, David—Kay Henry 1965 Koyukon classificatory verbs. Anthropological Linguistics. 7. 4. 110-116.

Hoijer, Hary 1945a 1945b

Classificatory verb stems in the Apachean languages. International Journal of American Linguistics. 11. 1.13-23. The Apachean verb, part I: Verb structure and pronominal prefixes. International Journal of American Linguistics. 11.4. 193203.

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Hoijer, Hary 1971

Patterns of meaning in Navajo. In: Zamora, Masio D.—J.M. Mahar—Henry Orenstein (eds.).Theme s in Culture. Essays in honor of Morris Opler. Quezon City: Kayemanggi Pubi. 227-237.

Jung, Dagmar 1995 Distributive in Jicarilla Apache: between aspect and number, ms. Krauss, Michael E. 1968 Noun classification systems in Athapaskan, Eyak, Tlingit and Haida verbs. International Journal of American Linguistics. 34. 3. 194-203. Krauss, Michael E.—Jeffrey Leer 1981 Athapaskan, Eyak and Tlingit sonorants. Alaska Native Language Center Research Papers 5. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Landar, Herbert 1964 Seven Navajo verbs of eating. International Journal of American Linguistics. 30. 1.94-96 1967 Ten'a classificatory verbs. International Journal of American Linguistics. 33.4. 263-268. Lawson, Virginia Kathryn 1972 Object Categorization and nominal classification in some Northern Athapaskan languages: A generative—semantic analysis. University of Iowa. Ph.D. Leiss, Elisabeth 1992 Die Verbalkategorien des Deutschen. Ein Beitrag zur Theorie der sprachlichen Kategorisierung. Studia Linguistica Germanica. 31. Berlin—New York: Walter de Gruyter. 1994 Genus und Sexus. Kritische Anmerkungen zur Sexualisierung von Grammatik. Linguistische Berichte, vol.152. 281-300. 1997 Synkretismus und Natürlichkeit. Folia Linguistica. 31. 1-2. 133160.

[in this vol.] Li, Fang-Kuei 1933

Gender in Old High German.

A list of Chipewyan stems. International Journal of American Linguistics. 7. 3-4.122-151. Liebe-Harkort, Marie-Louise 1984 A comparison of Apachean languages, exemplified by the verb stem system for handling verbs. In: Krenn, Herwig—Jürgen Niemeyer—Ulrich Eberhardt, Sprache und Text, Akten des 18. Linguistischen Kolloquiums Linz 1983. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. Löbel, Elisabeth [in this vol.] Classifiers vs. genders and noun classes. A case study in Vietnamese. Pinnow, Heinz-Jürgen 1985 Das Haida als Na-Dene-Sprache. Materialien zu den Wortfeldern und zur Komparation des Verbs. Nortorf: Abhandlungen der Völkerkundlichen Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Heft 43-46.

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Poser, William J. 1996 Noun classification in Carrier. Draft of paper presented at the Winter Meeting of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, 5 January 1996, San Diego, California, USA. Rice, Keren 1989 A grammar of Slave. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 1993 The structure of the Slave (Northern Athapaskan) verb. In: Phonetics and Phonology. 4. Studies in lexical phonology. Academic Press Inc. 145-171. Ruhlen, Merritt 1991 A guide to the world's languages. Volume 1: Classification. With a postscript on recent developments. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. Rushforth, Scott 1991 Uses of Bearlake and Mescalero (Athapaskan) classificatory verbs. International Journal of American Linguistics. 57. 2. 251266. Sasse, Hans-Jürgen 1993 "Das Nomen - eine universale Kategorie?", Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung (STUF) 46: 187-221. Seiler, Hansjakob 1986 Language, Object, and Order. The Universal Dimension of Apprehension (Language Universals Series, vol. l/III). Tubingen: Gunter Narr. Seiler, Hansjakob—Christian Lehmann (eds.) 1982 Apprehension. Das sprachliche Erfassen von Gegenständen. Teil 1: Bereich und Ordnung der Phänomene. (Language Universals Series, vol. 1/1). Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Seiler, Hansjakob—Franz Josef Stachowiak (eds.) 1982 Apprehension. Das sprachliche Erfassen von Gegenständen. Teil II: Die Techniken und ihr Zusammenhang in Einzelsprachen. (Language Universals Series, vol. 1/Π). Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Seiler, Hansjakob—Waldfried Premper 1991 Partizipation. Das sprachliche Erfassen von Sachverhalten. Tübingen: Gunter Narr (Language Universals Series vol. 5) Serzisko, Fritz 1982 "Temporäre Klassifikation. Ihre Variationsbreite in Sprachen mit Zahlklassifikatoren". In: Seiler—Lehmann (eds.). 147-159. Tichy, Eva 1993 "Kollektiva, Genus femininum und relative Chronologie im Indogermanischen." In: Historische Sprachforschung, vol.106,1-19. Unterbeck, Barbara (forthcoming) Nominal classification in Na-Dene languages. Vogel, Petra M. [in this vol.] "Nominal abstracts and gender in Modern German: a "quantitative" approach towards the function of gender".

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Wall, Leon—William Morgan 1958 Navajo-English Dictionary. Window Rock, Arizona: Navajo Agency. Division of Education. Weber, Doris [in this vol.] "On the function of gender". Witherspoon, Gary 1971 "Navajo categories of objects at rest". American Anthropologist. 73. 110-127. Young, Robert W. 1968 English as a second language for Navajos: An overview of certain cultural and linguistic factors. Albuquerque: The Albuquerque Area Office and Navajo Area Office. Division of Education, Bureau of Indian Affairs. 1987/1995 "An outline of Navajo morphology". In: Navajo language and linguistics. Navajo 401.350 Ling 554.365. 1995 Linguistic Institute. A packet of required reading material, compiled by Prof. Alyse Neundorf. 1995 "An Outline of Navajo Morphology", in: Navajo Language and Linguistics, A Packet of Required Reading Material. Compiled by Alyse Neundorf for the Navajo Course taught at the Linguistic Summer Institute of the Linguistic Society of America Summer 1995 in Albuquerque, University of New Mexico, 147 pp. Young, Robert W.—William Morgan (=YM) 1951/1994 Colloquial Navajo. A Dictionary. New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc. [Originally compiled 1951]. 1980 The Navajo language—A grammar and colloquial dictionary. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1987 The Navajo language—A grammar and colloquial dictionary. Revised edition. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Young, Robert W.—William Morgan Sr.—Sally Midgette (=YMM) 1992 Analytical Lexicon of Navajo. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Nominal abstracts and gender in Modern German: A "quantitative" approach towards the function of gender* Petra Maria Vogel

1. The function of gender In seeking an answer to the question about the function of gender, definitions such as the one by Lewandowski (1990: 354) are frequently given: "Die grammatische Funktion des G. [Genus] besteht in der Signalisierung der Kongruenz... ." [The grammatical function of gender is to signal agreement....] Even though it leads to the conclusion that gender as nominal classification should be defined by the existence of syntactical agreement (cf. Dixon 1968: 106; Corbett 1991: 4), this answer leaves some questions open. Greenberg (1978: 50) had already pointed out that gender and agreement are not necessarily linked. This is exemplified by languages (1) without gender and with agreement, as well as by languages (2) with gender and without agreement which automatically leads to a dividing of the nouns into classes. Compare, for example, Hungarian, which is not a gender language, but where there is agreement in case (examples following Greenberg 1978: 50): (1)

eb-ben a kert-ben in-LOC this garden-LOC 'in this garden'

By contrast, Classical Hebrew has sex gender, but nevertheless all nouns behave similarly with regard to definiteness marking:

462

(2)

Petra Maria Vogel

hay-yeled hattov DET-good son 'the good son'

vs.

hay-yaldah hattovah DET-good girl 'the good girl'

Leiss (1994: 290) underlines that there are other grammatical categories in gender languages, such as number and person, which also produce agreement, without the necessity for linguists to maintain that this is their function, ι She concludes that, unlike number and person, the function of gender is "covert" and has yet to be discovered (Leiss 1994: 290). The aim of this paper is to try to trace this covert function of gender within the realm of "quantity". This is done by investigating the behavior of nouns in a gender language, here nominal abstracts in Modern German (sections 2 and 3), and by comparing the results to the structures of other systems of nominal classifications (chapter 4).

2. Nominal abstracts and gender in Modern German Brinkmann (1954) was the first to point out that there are certain regularities for the assignment of a specific gender to a particular group of nominal abstracts that are formally and semantically specified. 2

2.1. Masculines (3)

der der der der der etc.

Anstrich Dreh Kampf Sieg Versuch

'the paint, painting' [the "turn"] 'the trick' 'the fight' [the "win"] 'the victory' 'the attempt'

These masculines are abstract nouns which may be characterized as being secondarily formed from verbs, in spite of the problems that the direction of synchronic derivation may pose (cf. Marchand 1964). Formally, they are characterized by having no additional affix marker, although there may be some internal modification such as apo-

Nominal abstracts and gender in Modern German

463

phony (cf. the verb anstreichen and the noun Anstrich). I will speak of them as externally unmarked nouns.3 Semantically, these masculines give the impression of distinctiveness and concreteness. This was already mentioned by Grimm ([1967]: 520) in his Deutsche Grammatik: Jene unabgeleiteten [= merkmallosen, P.M.V.] mase, erscheinen auch, um ein fühlbares, weniger abstract, als die abgeleiteten femmina, sie halten noch gleichsam in der mitte zwischen dem sinnlichen und dem abgezognen [sie!] begrif [sic!]." [Those underived [= externally unmarked, P.M.V.] masculines appear noticeably less abstract than the derived feminines, they seem to be between the idea of the concrete and the abstract.]

The notion of concreteness, distinctiveness, and singleness is typical for count nouns that, according to Langacker (1991: 63), designate a "bounded region" in some domain. Derived masculines lie on a par with examples like moment, instant, or period which Langacker (1991: 63) describes as designating bounded regions in time. They are conceptualized as temporally limited or "bounded" instances of actions. Often they represent instances of punctual verbs or short "Teilakte" [partial acts] of iterative verbs (Schippan 1967: 135). See for example: der Abfluß der Abwasch der Anstrich der Aufbruch der Auftritt der Besuch der Einstieg der Kampf der Schuß der Sieg der Stich der Tritt der Versuch der Wurf etc.

'the drain, draining away' 'the washing-up' 'the paint, painting' 'the start' 'the appearance' 'the visit' 'the entry, entering' 'the fight' 'the shot' [the "win"] 'the victory' 'the stab' 'the kick' 'the attempt' 'the throw'

These ad-hoc formations can be mentioned ((5a) cf. Wellmann 1975: 231):

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Petra Maria Vogel

(5) a. der Überstieg der Verpfiff

'the exceeding' 'the grassing on'

Or the spontaneous examples: (5) b. der Drück der Knutsch

'the hug' 'the smooch'.

Interestingly enough, many of these externally unmarked masculines can undergo a process of concretization, wherein the abstract noun becomes a concrete object taking the place of one of its original verbal arguments. In the cases of many masculine nouns the concretization has even become the common meaning (cf. for example Abfluß 'drain, Einstieg 'entry'). Compare for example: (6) a. Besuch 'visitor' s.o. who visits

agentive function

b. Anstrich 'painting' s.th. with which s.th. is painted

instrumental function

c. Abfluß 'drain' where s.th. flows off

locative function

d. Einstieg 'entry' where s.o. gets in

locative function

This process is called "reduction" by Iturrioz (1982: 62-64). The concretization is accompanied by the quantitive reduction of that verbal argument the place of which is taken by the concretized nominal abstract. As a consequence there is no other filling of this syntactic role. Cf., for example, the case of Besuch (cf. Iturrioz 1982: 62). Unnominalized verb: (7) a. Karl ;2 besuchte jj Karl visited 'Karl visited us.'

uns. we-ACC

Nominal abstracts and gender in Modem German

465

In the process of nominalization the verb of (7a) becomes subject of (7b) and subject of (7a) becomes attribute ("Genitivus subjectivus") to subject of (7b) (= nominalized verb). (7) b. Karl-s ¿2 Karl-GEN

war was

Besuch,1

bei

uns

visit

with

we-DAT

eine a

Überraschung. surprise

'Karl's visiting us was a surprise.' In the process of concretization the nominalized verb Besuch 'visit' becomes the subject of the verb besuchen 'to visit'. The verb is transferred into "its own subject", i.e., the verb's agentive argument. Cf. the concretized verb in (8a): (8) a. Wir we

zeigten

dem

Besuch ¿1= ¿2 [= Karl / 2= ql

showed

the-DAT

visit-DAT

die

Stadt.

the-ACC

town-ACC

'We showed the visitor around the town.' In this process the number of arguments is reduced and as a result the actual subject, namely K a r l cannot be added as a second subject. Thus, it is impossible for the former subject (7a), namely K a r l , to become the same kind of attribute as in (7b), namely "Genitivus subjectivus", in (8b). It is only possible to interprete it as "Genitivus objectivus" (< χ besucht Karl 'x is visiting Karl'): (8) b.

Wir

zeigten

*Karl-s j1= j2

Besuch¿1= ¿2

we

showed

Karl-GEN

visit-DAT

die

Stadt.

the-ACC

town-ACC

[We showed Karl's visitor around the town. (Karl = visitor)]

466

Petra Maria Vogel

2.2. Feminines

(9)

die Drehung die Schönheit die Tiefe die Vergeßlichkeit etc.

'the turning' 'the beauty' 'the depth' 'the forgetfulness'

Formally, these feminines are abstract nouns that may be characterized as being secondarily formed from verbs or adjectives, having an explicit marker, mostly -heitl-keit, -ung, -(at)ion. Semantically, these feminines do not resemble independent "instances" like the masculines. Rather, they are whole predications that become the primary subject of a second predication, "Vergegenständlichung eines Satzinhaltes vom Prädikat aus", as Porzig ([1962]: 263) put it. Nevertheless, some of these feminines tend to behave like masculines, in that they are able to undergo the process of reduction and concretization. In these cases the noun has an abstract as well as a concrete meaning. (10) a. a'.

die Schönheit Sie she

'the beauty'

besticht captivate-PRES

durch by

ihre her-ACC

Schönheit. beauty-ACC

'She is of captivating beauty.' a".

(10) b. b'.

b".

s.o. who is beautiful (= agentive function) Sie

ist eine

'She

is

a

Schönheit.

beauty.'

die Rechnung

'the calculation; the bill'

Die

Rechnung

geht nicht auf.

'The

calculation doesn't work out.'

s.th. where s.th. is calculated (= locative function) Ich brauche

eine

Rechnung

Ί

a

bill

need

dafür.

forthat.'

Nominal abstracts and gender in Modern German

(10) c.

die Bedienung

'the service; the staff

c'.

Die 'The

c".

s.o. who serves s.o. (=agentive function) Die Bedienung ist sehr freundlich. 'The staff is very friendly.'

(10) d.

Bedienung service

die Vertretung

467

ist sehr gut hier. is very good here.'

'replacement'

d'.

Eine Ά

Vertretung war replacement was

nicht möglich. not possible.'

d".

s.o. who represents s.o. (=agentive function) Sie fand keine Vertretung für she find-PAST NEG replacement for 'She didn't find a replacement for herself.'

sich. herself

2.3. Neuters (11)

das Laufen das Singen das Verstauchen das Böse das Gute etc.

'the running' 'the singing' 'the spraining' 'the bad' 'the good'

Formally, these neuters are abstract nouns that may be characterized as being syntactically transposed from adjectives or verbal infinitives. Semantically, these neuters characterize the action or property as such. They neither resemble independent "instances" like the masculines nor do they imply whole predications like the feminines. Compare for example: (12) a.

Die 'The

Verstauchung sprain

heilte langsam. healed slowly.'

468

Petra Maria Vogel

b.

*Das [The

Verstauchen "to sprain"

heilte healed

langsam. slowly.]

Processes of reduction are very rare among neuters: some examples are das Essen ("the eating" in the sense of 'foodstuff), das Schreiben ("the writing" in the sense of 'letter'). 2.4. Conclusion There seem to be formal and semantic regularities with regard to the assignment of gender to nominal abstracts in German. One result is that this affects the secondarily formed vocabulary. Another is that there seems to be a continuum from minimum abstract (even concrete) to maximum abstract, paralleled by the genders masculine, feminine, and neuter. In the next chapter we shall have a look behind this formal and semantic behavior of the three genders of nominal abstracts.

3. Nouns and quantity 3.1. Individuality vs. continuativity One basic differentiation of nouns is the opposition between count nouns and mass nouns. Every noun is inherently conceptualized and thus specified with regard to its lexical features as [-count] or [+count]. The distinctive features [+count] and [-count] belong to a concept of quantity which is part of the nominal lexicon. The concept of quantity is made up of two basic conceptualizations or representations. Let us call the two quantity conceptualizations count and mass. These quantity conceptualizations count and mass underlie two principles, namely "individuality" and "continuativity" as specific manifestations of the more general principles "individualization" and "generalization" (cf. Seiler 1986: 25). The feature [+count] is linked to the principle of individuality, whereas the feature [-count] is linked to the principle of continuativity. Thus, nouns are conceptualized as individual nouns or continuative nouns.

Nominal abstracts and gender in Modem German

469

Ontogenetically, individuality and continuativity as well as the features [+count] and [-count] are linked by the parameter of "divisibility". The feature [-count] is linked to [+divisible/divisibility] and the feature [+count] is linked to [-divisible/divisibility]. The parameter of divisibility can be traced back to Aristotle. According to him, a noun such as "water" is a representation of ^ d i visibility] because every part of water is water. By contrast, the noun "syllable" is a representation of [-divisibility] because a part of a syllable is no longer a syllable but a letter or a sound (Aristoteles, Metaphysik 4. 2. 1014a). Thus, count conceptualizations which are characterized by [+count] and [-divisible] can be represented as limited units or indivisible wholes. Mass conceptualizations which are characterized by [-count] and [+divisible] can be represented as unlimited continua or divisible wholes.

"syllable" [-divisible] whole

"water" [-«-divisible] whole

Figure 1. The parameter of divisibility

The various underlying quantity conceptualizations lead to a different formal behavior. Many constructions require count conceptualization and thus count nouns. These constructions always have to do with counting, because counting requires limited units or indivisible wholes. Counting is included, for example, by the use of the bare plural, or the use of the singular or plural in combination with numerals or indefinite pronominal adjectives, which signal an unknown quantity of items. (13) a. bare plural Häuser Katzen Tische etc.

'houses' 'cats' "tables'

470

Petra Maria Vogel

b. numeral + plural 5 Häuser 4 Katzen 5 Tische etc. c.

the indefinite article fas a special sort of numeral) ein Haus ein Tisch eine Katze etc.

d.

'5 houses' '4 cats' '5 tables'

'a house' 'a table' 'a cat'

pronominal adjectives such as jed-, viel-, all-, einig-, solch-, etc. jedes Haus viele Häuser alle Häuser einige Häuser ein solches Haus etc.

'every house' 'many houses' 'all houses' 'some houses' 'such a house'

When mass nouns appear in these constructions, the meaning has to be re-interpreted. Because mass nouns try to mutate the content of count nouns, this leads to a secondary individualization, and to the interpretation "kind", "sort" (Biermann 1982: 229) or "part". In fact, it is exactly this phenomenon which shows that these constructions presuppose non-divisibility, a demand that only count nouns but not mass nouns can satisfy. (13) a', bare plural Wässer/Wasser sondern dermasc or the monkey but the

Affe monkey

Affe. Also? monkey. Well?'

'Die Affe is definitely not right, because it is not (tig. Affe or das Affe but der Affe. Well?'

518

Heide

Wegener

E:

Dernom sjng, mase Affe nehm ich nicht mit. the monkey take I not with.' 'Per Affe I don't take with me.' [Correct form: den Affen1

I:

-Dernom, sing, mase A f f e the monkey 'Der Affe doesn't work either.'

Seht works

auch

either

nicht. not

E:

Mhm. Was geht denn dann ? uhm. what works then 'Uhm. What works then?'

I:

Mit Menace, sing, mase- AÍSO> with the. well 'Mit den. Well, say it again.'

E:

Denare S i ng , mase Affe fährt net mit oder so. the monkey rides not with or so 'Pen Affe doesn't ride along or so.' [Correct form: der Affe]

I:

Ja, yes

dann mußt then must

du you

sag say

sagen say

öernom,sing,mase A f f e fährt the monkey rides aber denâCc, sing, mase — m i í but the —with

nochmal. again

dernom, sing, masethe nicht mit, not with, "mitnehmen "—. "take with"—.'

'Yes, then you have to say: der. Per Affe doesn't ride along, but den—with 'take along'—.' E:

Warum muß jetzt immer des ich machen? why must now always this I make 'Why do I always have to do this now?'

The acquisition data show that for the learner the marking of case and/or number has priority since these categories are functional, that gender, almost stripped of any function, moves to the background. In the face of these difficulties it becomes clear that gender acquisition takes relatively long, it doesn't proceed steadily but in stages in

German gender in children's second language acquisition

519

which drawbacks can occur, it also reveals grave differences between the children with LI Turkish, a genderless language, and the children from Poland and Russia, who are acquainted with the category of gender as such, whereas Turkish children have to realize first that the three forms of the functors are not free variants.

2. Stages of gender acquisition Contrary to wide-spread belief, not only imitative learning strategies are used in the acquisition of gender assignment and gender marking but also—as in language acquisition in general—cogniti ve-analytic acquisition strategies. Several acquisition stages can be distinguished. On account of varying acquisition conditions8 these stages occur later and take longer for the Turkish children than for the emigrant children, so that we can observe the separate stages and identify the underlying acquisition strategies better in case of the former. 2.1. Stage 1: The lack of any marking All children start using nouns without using the article. They use no pronouns either; therefore, the lack of gender markers is complete. However, in contrast to adult learners of German as a second language, children leave out the functors for a short period only. (3)

Eu(R)2: Bär lß 'Bear ±

spielen play

Kasperltheater. puppet theater.'

Machen 'Make

Laterne-Laterne. lantern lantern.

Schon Already

fertig done

Laterne. lantern.'

In rudimentary utterances of this kind, which are by no means incomprehensible, gender marking is not possible because in German it requires a carrier system, that is, a system of supporting units.

520

Heide Wegener

The explanation for the delayed availability of this system is that children do not yet perceive, let alone classify, the gender-marking articles, as well as prepositions, etc... As segments—not carrying any content in their eyes—articles and other functors are ignored during this stage and thus filtered out. However, the child as L2-learner uses determiners earlier than a child in first-language acquisition; but gender is not yet realized through these forms while other semantic and syntactic functions are. 2.2. Stage 2: Semantic determining Yes — gender marking No Children now use articles according to their semantic-pragmatic function to indicate definite or indefinite reference, thus, they differ between der/das/die (masc/neut/fem) 'the' and ein/eine (mase, neut / fem) 'a'; a little later they use pronouns at least for the subject as well. While the semantic functions are recognized and realized, the differentiation of gender at the same time is too demanding for the children. All three forms of the functors are used like free variants; this leads to a large number of multiple starts and fluctuations; but errors occur only in the marking of gender and not in confusing the classes of functors. Example: (4)

Ne(T)13:

I:

Wer 'Who

N:

Diefem-L 'The -L

I:

Welches Kind 'Which child

N:

Äh, diefem uh, the

sagt das dann? says that then?' dâlmasc -L dkfem Kind. the-L the child.' [Correct form: das Kind]

äh uh

sagt says

"Nichtfrei!"? "Not free!"?'

diefem Kind dietim "nichtfrei" the child this "not free"

German gender in children's second language acquisition

sagt says

diefpm the

521

Kind. child

'Uh, the uh the child she says "not free" the child.' [Correct form: däl Kind] Ah -L 'Uh _L

aber ¿¿a¿>neut Kind, das. but this child, this.'

I:

Nochmal. Welches Kind sagt "nichtfrei"? 'Again. Which child says "not free"?'

N:

Mh, diefPm hm, she und dann and then

fangt, ah catches, uh sagt says

errase he

dasneut the

Kind, die ferri fangt, child, she catches

"nichtfrei". "not free"

'Hm, she catches, uh, the child, she catches, and then he says "not free".' [Correct forms: das. das. m ! 2.3. Stage 3: Reduction of the abundance of forms In order to master the abundance of available forms children now apply a strategy which does not increase the correctness but the clarity of their utterances: For the semantic function of the article to indicate definite or indefinite reference, they designate one or two forms in each case; however, they do never use all three forms parallel for the same function. Thus, since they cannot ascribe varying functions to the different forms; they reduce the multitude of forms occurring in the input. At this stage, overgeneralizations occur above all for the definite article and pronouns of the e-forms die 'the', sie 'she/they' and in the indefinite article ein 'a'; this can be explained with their high frequency in the input. So, on the one hand, the language production of the children is oriented towards the input in so far as their preference for specific forms depends on the frequency in the input, on the other hand, the children do not observe the forms of the input precisely, even if they are stressed:

522

Heide Wegener

(5)

Ne(T)18:

I:

Also, well,

schau mal, was look, what

Läuft walks N:

er he

noch? still

der Mann the man

macht. makes

Er...? he...?'

'Well, look, what the man is doing. Is he still walking? He ...?' Sie hat... 'She has ... ' [Correct form: er]

I:

Er kann nicht laufen. Was macht er? he can not walk what makes he 'He cannot walk. What is he doing?'

N:

Sie she

muß must

an on

dßlfern, dat/ mase, nom the

dasnçut the

Reißnagel (= mase) thumb tack Fuß (= mase) raustun. foot pull out

'She has to pull out the thumb tack from the foot.' [Correct forms: den Reißnagel, dem Fuß] These errors find their explanation in that the children—once they have found a form for a grammatical category like subject or for a semantic concept like that of indefinite reference—blithely ignore contradicting examples in the input. To indicate indefinite reference ein (nom/acc, neut or nom, mase) 'a' is overgeneralized to include feminine nouns, plural nouns, and mass nouns as well: (6)

Ne(T)10:

N:

Und ich kauf so, and I buy like this,

geh ich go I

kauf msing,mase,nom/ neut,nom or ace buy a

hin, there, Schokolade (= fem), chocolate

German gender in children's second language acquisition

ein Bonbons (= pi) und ein a candies, and a ein an

I:

Ν:

523

Tomaten (= pi), tomatoes,

Äpfel (= pi), apples

'And I buy like this, I go there, buy a chocolate, a candies, and a tomatoes, an apples.' [Correct forms: 0 Schokolade, 0 Bonbons, 0 Tomaten, 0 Äpfel] Äpfel 'Apples' Ein Äpfel, ja. 'An apples, yes.' [Correct form: 0 Äpfel]

In German, the rule according to which nouns are to be extended to the left with a determiner is obviously well established in Ne's grammar: It is applied to all nouns, plural nouns as well. This rule contains only one default value for this class of functors, ein. The example proves that for the child this article does not have the meaning "singularity". Thus, ein is not a quantifier, but a determiner which can open the NP and indicate indefinite reference. At this stage, articles do not have the function of gender indication for the children; instead, they exclusively serve their pragmatic-communicative function to indicate definite or indefinite reference. 10 It is remarkable that in this function confusions nearly never occur. The children become aware early that definite reference has to be realized with forms starting with d-, indefinite reference with forms starting with ein-. For this, the respective default value is sufficient. The advantages of this default value are obvious: With it, the child reduces the various forms of the indefinite article to one, and the forms of the definite article, the demonstrative pronoun, and the personal pronoun to two or only one each. The child thus achieves an enormous simplification of noun inflection; at an early stage this simplification provides the possibility a) to implement essential parts of the communicative intent because gender violation hardly ever leads to misunderstandings, and b) to acquire other functionally more important domains of morphology and syntax. Thereby, these tactics momentarily frees children from the formal constraints of inflectional

524

Heide Wegener

morphology in the target language. The consistent use of only those forms reserved for a specific function in children's grammars as default values, and their persistent defense against input evidence— against corrections as well—gives the impression that children set aside the problem of gender marking for the time being. The disadvantages of this strategy can hardly be ignored, of course: If children were equipped with the capacity of creative construction alone, I would assume, they could not acquire the German gender system. This hypothesis rests on the following considerations: Firstly, the gender category does not represent a grammaticalizable concept for children, nor can it represent that in any case. The syntactic functions of gender for the formation of complex noun phrases and for the production of text coherence can come into use only for the competent speaker in elaborated speech; for the language learner with rudimentary language knowledge they are not perceivable. Secondly, the distribution of gender in German, especially in the core vocabulary, is mostly arbitrary and has merely the classificational function of structuring the vocabulary into various inflection classes. Yet, classifications along the line of arbitrary criteria can naturally not be mastered with cognitive-analytic processing strategies. Even if the child could connect specific functions with the gender classes, he/she can hardly establish rules that allow him/her to comprehend the gender assignment of der Löffel (mase) 'the spoon', das Messer (neut) 'the knife', die Gabel (fem) 'the fork', or der Arm (mase) 'the arm', das Bein (neut) 'the leg', die Hand (fem) 'the hand'. 2.4. Stage 4: Establishing function values — grammatically motivated gender errors The forms of the functors are not used at random but functionally differentiated; actually, syntactic functions are assigned to the forms of the functors: Now r-forms are overgeneralized for subjects, sforms for direct objects; e-forms are used in plural NPs, but are undergeneralized in feminine NPs. This is the time when motivated gender errors occur, cf. the examples in the following section.

German gender in children's second language acquisition

525

2.4.1. Syntactic reinterpretation of gender markers as case markers Spontaneous data: (7)

Ne(T)13:

N:

Und dann and then

da there

dermm the

und and

essen eat

wir we

dann then

rnasc

Kuchen ( = mase) cake

ist _L is ±

dßSnom/acc, neut Kuchen. the cake

'And then there the cake is _L and then we eat the cake.' [Correct form: den Kuchen] (8)

Ne(T)16:

N:

Die the

Mama Mom

hat has

nicht not

dasnom/acc$ the

sj11gj neut

Eier (= pi) eggs

genommen. taken 'Mom has not taken the eggs.' [Correct form: di¿ Eier] Er bringt dasnomJa.cc, neut Wurst (= fem) Willis Mama. he brings the sausage Willi's mom 'He brings the sausage to Willi's mom.' [Correct form: die Wurst] Willi hat doinom/acc, neut viele Bonbons (= pi) gehabt. Willi has the many candies had 'Willi has had the many candies.' [Correct form: 0 viele Bonbons] Er hat dasaomjacc, neut anzieh, (das = Hemd und Hose). he has this put on (this = shirt and pants)' 'He has put this on' (this = shirt and pants).

526

Heide Wegener

Er zieht doínom/acc, neut Hose (= fem) an. he puts the pants on 'He puts the pants on.' [Correct form: die Hose] (9)

Ne(T)16:

I:

Und and

warum why

heißt is called

dasneut the

Rotkäppchen (= neut) Little Red Riding Hood

Rotkäppchen? Little Red Riding Hood 'And why is Little Red Riding Hood called Little Red Riding Hood?' N:

Warum why

sien0m, fem hat she has

zum to the

Kopf head

und und

so rotes Käppchen such red riding hood

dann ernnm mase hat then he has

und dann hat grn0Tn and then has he

masc

«¡n neu t a

rotes Kleid (= neut), red dress

so einneat Krawatte (= fem), such a tie

'Why she has such a red riding hood on the head and then he has a red dress, and then he has such a tie.' [Correct forms: es, es. es ] versus I:

Was macht der Wolf mit der Großmutter? what makes the wolf with the grandmother 'What does the wolf do with the grandmother?'

N:

£>nom, masc he

hat has

doineut that

gegessen... eaten...

German gender in children's second language acquisition

und and

dann then

dann then dasneut the

hat has

hat has

er

nom, mase ¿^neiit he that mase

he

im in the

auch as well

Bauch belly

527

gegessen, eaten

so so

Rotkäppchen ... Little Red Riding Hood ...

'He has eaten that... and then he has eaten that as well, then he has in the belly the Little Red Riding Hood ...' [Correct form: die ] The phenomenon of children's utterances being controlled by their interim grammar and also being resistant towards input can be observed more clearly yet in the data from a test, where children had to repeat orally given sentences and correct them if possible; the test focused on the positioning of the verb. (10) N(T)16: I:

Dasneut the

Rotkäppchen (= neut), Little Red Riding Hood

dasmui which

die the

Blumen flowers

pflückt, picks

will wants

die the

Großmutter grandmother

besuchen. to visit

'The Little Red Riding Hood, which is picking the flowers, wants to visit the grandmother.' N:

Diefpm the

Rotkäppchen Little Red Riding Hood

pflückt picks

die the

Blumen. flowers

528

Heide Wegener

Sie she

sucht looks for

ihre Großmutter. her grandmother

'The Little Red Riding Hood picks the flowers. She is looking for her grandmother.' [Correct form: das Rotkäppchen] (11) Ne(T)18: I:

N:

Die the

Mutter mother

sagt, says

daß that

dienomjaCc, pi the

Lutscher (= pi) lollipops

kosten cost

zu viel. too much

'The mother says that the lollipops cost too much.' DêLnom, mase Mutter (= fem) sagt, the mother says daß that

dernom the

Lutscher (= pi) lollipops

masc

kosten cost

zu viel. too much

"The mother says, that the lollipops cost too much.' [Correct forms: die Mutter, die Lutscher] I:

Er he kauft buys

will, wants

daß that

die nom/acc- fem Mutter the mother

á/enom/acc, pi the

Lutscher. lollipops

'He wants the mother to buy the lollipops.' N:

Er will, he wants

daß that

dernom> masc the

case > gender The children's acquisition order shows that they acquire grammatical categories in the order number > case > gender, just as it shows that the three categories are in conflict with each other in several instances and that they can obstruct one another in their acquisition. The difference in the acquisition of die/sie 'the/she, they' as plural marker and, in contrast, the acquisition of the same forms as gender marker—the children realize the number function much earlier than the gender function15—clearly shows the complexity of gender acquisition. Of course, it is not surprising that the children recognize the clear and unambiguous semantic concept of plurality early and implement it not only with suffixes on the noun itself but also relatively early with correct articles and pronouns despite the fact that these serve other functions as well. It is more surprising that the children recognize the abstract grammatical relations "subject" and "object" much earlier than the genders. But, considering that the distinction of

German gender in children's second language acquisition

537

grammatical relations is of much greater communicative relevance than the gender distinction, this order of acquisition is not surprising after all. The syntactic hypothesis developed by the children that r-forms are used for subjects and s-forms for objects is false, yet, this process is of interest because the gender markers are plainly changed into case markers. The errors originating from this hypothesis show that gender acquisition and case acquisition come into conflict with each other, and that case acquisition has priority over gender acquisition. On account of their cognitive-creative acquisition strategy, the children can assign differing syntactic functions to the different forms, but they cannot assign differing gender functions—in any case not until much later. The priority of number and case over gender acquisition can be seen in the fact that numerous errors occur which call for the explanation that children want to mark case and number, for example * dersing ^ masc Tasse (= fem), if it is one cup, * case > gender. Number markers are acquired first, then the markers for case, and finally, sometimes with considerable delay, gender markers. The acquisition order can be explained functionally—num-

German gender in children's second language acquisition

541

ber differentiation has direct semantic weight, case differentiation is syntactically relevant for the distinction between subject and object—therefore, both comply with important functions of language processing and communication. Gender differentiation—the division of vocabulary into gender classes—is mostly nonfunctional in German, indeed, a "grammatical burden" precisely at a time (the early stage of language acquisition) when the contribution of the genders to the formation of noun parentheses and pronominal references can hardly be of any importance. Notes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8.

9.

I would like to thank Regina Wenzel and Stefanie Haberzettl for the translation. Every singular noun. Plural nouns do not have gender. In German, the definite articles der, die, das can be used as pronouns as well. The count is based on the basic vocabulary of Oehler 1966. Since the majority of all core nouns are monosyllabic, I call this rule monosyllable rule. Apart from the indefinite article ein. Due to reasons of protection of the individual against infringement of his/her rights through storage of computerized data, the names of the children are abbreviated; the numbers give the duration of their residence in Germany in months; the capital letter in parentheses indicates whether the child comes from Turkey (T), Poland (P), or Russia (R). "I" is the interviewer. The emigrant children are descendants of German families who emigrated to Poland and Russia 200 years ago. Many of these families are now remigrating to Germany and, of course, feel a great need for integration and assimilation. The Turkish families came to Germany originally for a limited time for economic reasons. In contrast to the emigrants, they often maintain their ethnic and cultural identity. The four emigrant children are taught by German teachers from the very beginning of their residence in Germany; some of them go to a child care center after school, so that from the beginning they hear and speak German at least in the mornings at school; also, in their families German is spoken increasingly. Contrary to this, the six Turkish children spend their school-, and unfortunately also their free time, exclusively together with Turkish children; at home they speak mostly only Turkish; during the first and second year of school they have 6 hours of lessons in varying subjects taught in German, during the third and fourth year 16 or 19 hours are taught in German. The symbol ± indicates a pause.

542 10.

11. 12.

13.

14.

15.

Heide

Wegener

I cannot go into the different meanings and communicative achievements of the definite and the indefinite article here (indication of what is known to the listener, individualization, identification, localization in space and time versus indication of what is not known to the listener, undetermined aspects, introduction of new information, quantification, etc.); Bisle-Müller (1991: 29-49,100-116) gives an overview of this problem. For this term see Slobin 1966; to its effect on plural forms see Wegener 1994. These errors appear in the use of definite articles and pronouns only, for indefinite articles this is not the case. The assignment of gender features to specific nouns is not applied to the indefinite articles - see example above: er ist einefem Junge (= mase) 'he is a boy'. It will take a long time until the children construe the correct gender-specific paradigms (see also Müller in this volume). The findings of my study are in opposition to Mills 1986 about Llacquisition and to Müller 1990 about bilingual language acquisition; both contest such a semantic priority. In my opinion, their claim that the schwarule is developed first, is based on false conclusions from the numerous overgeneralizations of e-forms in the third stage. Overgeneralization of die/sie is based on their frequent occurrence in the input, the frequency then again is based on the fact that they serve as feminine markers and plural markers at the same time, for nominative as well as accusative. When the child uses *die Hase (= mase) 'the rabbit', this is neither evidence for feminine-gender assignment nor for the development of the schwa-rule. Only when the child 1) does not use e-forms for other nouns anymore, i.e. does not use *die Hund (= mase) 'the dog' and *die Messer (= neut) 'the knife' at the same time - , 2) avoids e-forms for nouns not ending in -e as *der Hand (= fem) 'the hand' and *der Gabel (= fem) 'the fork', can we consider the schwa-rule as established. There is no evidence for this in the data, however. For a different view, see Müller in this volume. Column 2 gives the number of items (N); column 3 gives the expected gender (G) according to Kopeke (1982); columns 4-8 the percentage of correct assignment by the children: TC = Turkish children, EC = Emigrant children, GC = German children). This does not only show in the relative early and consequent use of these forms on and for plural nouns, but also in the fact that the pronoun of the third person is produced already with weakened intonation and with schwa as se, but the same pronoun is pronounced correctly as sie when it is used for singular nouns.

References Augst, Gerhard 1984 Kinderwort. Der aktive Kinderwortschatz (kurz vor der Einschulung) nach Sachgebieten geordnet. Frankfurt/ Main: Lang.

German gender in children's second language acquisition

543

Bates, Elisabeth—Brian MacWhinney 1987 "Competition, variation, and language learning", in: MacWhinney (ed.), 157-193. Bisle-Miiller, Hansjörg 1991 Artikelwörter im Deutschen. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Braine, Martin D.S. 1987 "What is learned in acquiring word classes - a step toward an acquisition theory", in: MacWhinney (ed.), 65-87. Corbett, Greville 1991 Gender. New York: Cambridge UP. Durrell, Martin 1977 "Zur morphologischen Struktur der deutschen Nominalphrase", Deutsch als Fremdsprache, 14.1:44-51. Eisenberg, Peter 1989 Grundriß der deutschen Grammatik. Stuttgart: Metzler. Heibig, Gerhard—Joachim Buscha 1986 Deutsche Grammatik. Ein Handbuch für den Ausländerunterricht. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie. Klein, Wolfgang 1991 "SLA theory: prolegomena to a theory of language acquisition and implications for Theoretical Linguistics", in: Thom Huebner—Charles A. Ferguson (eds.), Crosscurrents in SIA. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 169-194. Kopeke, Klaus-Michael 1982 Untersuchungen zum Genussystem der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Kopeke, Klaus Michael—David A. Zubin 1983 "Die kognitive Organisation der Genuszuweisung zu den einsilbigen Nomen der deutschen Gegenwartssprache", Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik, 11: 166-182. MacWhinney, Brian (ed.) 1987 Mechanisms of language acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: LEA. Maratsos, Michael P.—Mary Anne Chalkley 1980 "The internal language of children's syntax: The ontogenesis and representation of syntactic categories." In: Keith E. Nelson (ed.), Children's language. New York: Gardner, 127-214. Meisel, Jürgen M. 1986 "Word order and case marking in early child language. Evidence from simultaneous acquisition of two first languages: French and German", Linguistics, 24:123-183. Mills, Anne E. 1986 The acquisition of gender. Berlin: Springer. Müller, Natascha 1990 "Developing two gender assignment systems simultaneously", in: Jürgen M. Meisel (ed.), Two First Languages. Early grammatical development in bilingual children. Dordrecht: Foris, 193-234. Oehler, Heinz (ed.) 1966 Grundwortschatz Deutsch. Stuttgart: Klett.

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Heide

Wegener

Pfaff, Carol W. Development of form and function of nominal inflections in the 1991 first and early second-language acquisition of Turkish and German. [Ms.]. Pinker, Steven Language learnability and language development. Cam1984 bridge/London: Harvard UP. Slobin, Dan I. "The acquisition of Russian as a native language", in: Frank 1966 Smith—George A. Miller (eds.), The genesis of language. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 129-148. "Cognitive prerequisites for the development of grammar", in: C. 1973 A. Ferguson—D. I. Slobin (eds.), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 175-208. Slobin, Dan I. (ed.) 1985 The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition. Vol. 1. Hillsdale-London: Erlbaum. Tracy, Rosemarie 1984 "Fallstudien: Überlegungen zum Erwerb von Kasuskategorie und Kasusmarkierung", in : Hartmut Czepluch—Hero Janßen (eds.), Syntaktische Struktur und Kasusrelation. Tübingen: Narr, 271313. Wegener, Heide 1992 Kindlicher Zweitspracherwerb. Untersuchungen zur Morphologie des Deutschen und ihrem Erwerb durch Kinder mit polnischer, russischer und türkischer Erstsprache. [Habilitationsschrift Universität Augsburg, to appear at G. Narr, Tübingen: 1996.] 1994 "Variation in the acquisition of German noun plurals." In: Rosemarie Tracy—E. Lattey (eds.), How tolerant is Universal Grammar? Problems of learnability and variation in language acquisition. Tübingen: Niemeyer. 1995 Die Nominalflexion des Deutschen - verstanden als Lerngegenstand. Tübingen: Niemeyer.

How many gender categories are there in Swedish? Erik Andersson

The relation between form and meaning is crucial in grammar, and a central task for grammatical research is to study the differences between syntactic and semantic categories. Quite often, a somewhat vague semantic distinction seems to be reflected in a sharper, more grammaticalized syntactic distinction. The philosophical, semantic distinctions between essence, quality, and action (of different types), for instance, seem to be sharpened in the syntactic distinction between the word classes noun, adjective, and verb. The linguist should ask: How do the pragmatic and semantic needs of speakers interact to motivate the syntactic categories of a language? And what are the exact syntactic criteria for the categories, drawing more easily recognizable borderlines in the semantic continua? The relation between tense and time categories in Swedish shows that there is no one-to-one-correspondence between form and meaning. A present tense form can be used to express various semantic time categories: it can signify an action that is carried out at the moment of speech, in the future, at some past time, or at any time. On the other hand, e.g., a future action can be expressed in several ways, with a special future auxiliary as an alternative to the present. There is a similar difference between mood and modality: a mood like the Swedish subjunctive, e.g., sprunge 'ran', is only one way of expressing the modality of imagined action, and modal verbs offer other expressions, e.g., skulle springa, kan springa, cf. (1; next page). The Swedish preterite form, e.g., sprang, is not a pure tense category — it often stands for the time category past, but it can also have a modal meaning. The Swedish systems for tense and mood seem to be merging into just one formal system with the categories present, preterite, imperative, subjunctive, and optative (the last two being rather marginal categories).

546

ErikAndersson

imagined action

FORM

past action

skulle springa

sprunge

sprang

modal auxiliary

subjunctive

preterite tense

The fact that one word can have both a temporal and a modal meaning is the main argument for the establishment of a single tensemood system (still partly separate from the auxiliary system, where the same ambiguity occurs): (2) The Swedish tense-mood system MEANING

FORM

time

modality

tense-mood

auxiliary verbs

How does this relate to gender? In many gender systems, including the Swedish one, there is a similar but still somewhat different opposition between form and meaning. There is a difference between lexical gender (utrum vs. neutrum, e.g., en stol 'a chair' - ett bord 'a table'), and referential gender (animate, comprising human beings and higher animals and further divided into masculine and feminine, vs. inanimate, e.g., en pojke 'a boy', en flicka 'a girl', en mask 'a worm; a masque'). Terms like grammatical gender and semantic gender have also been used, since the terms lexical and referential gender are somewhat misleading. Lexical gender is dependent on a lexical property of the word, and referential gender is dependent on the animacy of the referent, but the borderline between animate and inanimate is lexicalized to a certain degree and dependent on metaphorical thinking, for instance when some words like klockan 'the clock' and also some other words with the typically feminine ending -a favour feminine gender. These abstract gender categories are reflected on the surface in various morphemes expressing gender, morphological gender. Although lexical gender is formal in the

How many gender categories are there in Swedish?

547

sense that it is associated with lexical items with a form, it is comparable to semantic categories like time and modality in the sense that it triggers morphological gender in a balance with referential gender (cf. the triggering of tense-mood by time and modality): (3) The Swedish gender system MEANING

referential gender lexic

morphological gender

FORM

In a recent publication, Roger Källström (1995) is approaching the question to what extent the categories in these classifications should be called genders. His summary of five different views on the gender categories of Swedish can be recapitulated in (4): (4) Alternative Swedish gender categorizations A.Traditional school grammar maskulinum

femininum

reale

neutrum

karl

kvinna

stol

bord

'man'

'woman'

'chair'

'table'

B. Beckman 1904 neutrum (-t)

utrum (-n)

maskulinum

han

femininum

hon

reale

den

det

548

Erik Andersson

C. Noreen 1904 speciesdeklination

utrum

genus

neutrum

^^Jinim

sexus

maskulinum

inanimat

femininum

D. Modern Standard lexikalt genus

neutrum

utrum

referentiellt genus

animatum

maskulinum

inanimatum

femininum

animatum

maskulinum

inanimatum

femininum

E. Källström 1993 neutrum

utrum

genus

semantiska faktorer

animatum

maskulinum

inanimatum

femininum

animatum

maskulinum

inanimatum

femininum

In early traditional grammar, the difference between lexical and referential gender was not recognized, and four genders were established for Swedish: karl 'man' (maskulinum), kvinna 'woman' (femininum), stol 'chair' (reale), bord 'table' (neutrum). Natanael Beckman (1904) created a hierarchical system, merging the three first categories into the gender utrum, since they differ mainly in the

How many gender categories are there in Swedish?

549

choice of anaphoric pronouns {han, hon, den, cf. neuter det), not in the choice of other agreement markers (e.g., karl-en, kvinna-n, stolen, cf. bord-et). Noreen (1904) clearly distinguished between lexical and referential gender, but since he interpreted gender as rank, he called the first category speciesdeklination. The term genus 'gender' was restricted to the animate-inanimate distinction, since the difference between maskulinum and femininum was not a difference in rank, but in sexus. According to the modern standard analysis of Benson (1957), Andersson (1980), Teleman (1987), lexical gender and referential gender are two separate gender classifications, competing with each other to trigger morphological gender. The classifications can be schematized as in Table (5). Tingbjörn (1979) and Källström (1993) are very close to the modern standard analysis, but do not want to use the term gender for referential gender, instead speaking of the 'semantic factors' animation and sexus. I would like to give a short motivation for the modern standard view that there are at least two gender classifications in Swedish. Firstly, both lexical gender and referential gender govern the same gender morphemes. Utrum and animate are associated with -0, -(e)n, neutrum and inanimate with -t, and these morphemes are sometimes lexically triggered, den goda maten, det goda käket 'the good food', sometimes referentially triggered, den goda 'the good woman', det goda 'the principle of goodness'. Secondly, there is a development going on in Swedish. Referential gender control has increased, taking over agreement that used earlier to be controlled by lexical gender: for instance, barnet 'the child' - det is sometimes replaced by barnet - han/hon. Thirdly, there is a considerable overlap between lexical and referential gender in two prototype cases: Lexical utrum words are available in the language when you need a term for an animate referent, but very few lexical neuter words like barn. Likewise, terms for certain inanimate referents such as substances tend to be lexical neuter words. Exceptions tend to be eliminated: bronsen 'the bronze' is often replaced by bronset. Fourthly, this close grammatical connection between lexical and referential gender is a universal tendency (Corbett 1991). Therefore, I see no point in restricting the term gender to lexical gender only, as Källström does, or to animateness, as Noreen did. Such a terminology would blur the fact that lexical gender and referential gender classifications have

550

Erik Anders son

very similar functions in the grammar, that there is a balance, a division of labour between lexical and referential gender, that can change over time. (5) Standard gender analysis referential gender animate lexical gender

utrum

neutrum

inanimate

masculine feminine lärare 'teacher' elev 'pupil' medborgare 'citizen' stadsbo 'urban citizen' pojke "boy' flicka 'girl' make 'husband' fru 'wife' kung 'king' drottning 'queen' statsrâd 'cabinet minister' affitrsbiträde 'shop assistant' vitine 'witness' fruntimmer 'woman'

stol 'chair' bok 'book'

bord 'table' häfie 'booklet'

The division of labour concerns different types of agreement. We can roughly distinguish between NP-internal and NP-external agreement, the first including preposed pronominal modifiers (e.g., articles) and adjectival attributes, the second including predicate complements and anaphoric pronouns: (6) Types of agreement NP-external

NP-internal modifiers

attributes

pred. complem.

anaphoric pronouns

denna bil

en liten bil

bilen är liten

bilen, den är liten

denne pojke

en liten pojke

pojken är liten

pojken, han är liten

detta hus

ett litet hus

huset är litet

huset, det är litet

detta statsrâd

ett klokt statsrâd

statsrädet är klok

statsrädet, han är klok

How many gender categories are there in Swedish ?

551

Modifiers, like denna 'this', en 'a', are here separated from attributes: they take gender agreement in both definite and indefinite NPs, while adjectival attributes, like liten 'small', take gender agreement in indefinite NPs only. In definite NPs, the α-form is used for both genders: denna lilla bil, detta lilla hus. One explanation is that modifiers do not agree in definiteness since they themselves control definiteness, possessing it as an inherent category. Therefore, they are free to agree in gender. Thus, there is an agreement hierarchy in Swedish, defining the order of application for different types of agreement: (7) Agreement hierarchy Number (Plural) > Species (Definiteness) > Gender (Utrum) Only one type of agreement can occur at the same time. That is, if plural agreement is applied to an attribute, the ending -a is used, tjocka böcker 'thick books', and other types of agreement are blocked. Singular is the unmarked case, with no number agreement. Therefore, definiteness agreement can apply here: the ending -a is used, or optionally -e if the referent is masculine, den lilla flickan, den lilla/lille pojken 'the little girl, the little boy', and normal gender agreement is blocked. Gender agreement therefore only takes place in indefinite singular forms of adjectives: en liten pojke, ett litet barn 'a little boy, a little child'. But since pronominal modifiers lack definiteness agreement, gender agreement can apply to definite as well as indefinite modifiers in the singular: denna pojke, detta barn 'this boy, this child'. As we have seen, referential gender can be optionally reflected in the definiteness agreement. The hierarchy shows that this type of 'secondary' gender agreement should be distinguished from gender agreement proper. Predicate complements agree in number but not in species, and therefore they show gender agreement with any controller in the singular: stolen/en stol är hög, bordet/ett bord är högt 'the/a chair is high, the/a table is high'. The same is true for anaphoric pronouns: den är mälad, det är málat 'it is painted'. But special anaphoric pronouns, han, hon, are used of animate referents (in the singular, where plural agreement does not apply). Here, referential gender is stronger than the lexical gender of the antecedent. We can now observe that NP-internal agreement is governed by lexical gender, while NP-external agreement can be governed by ref-

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erential gender. Referential gender is important for animate referents only (statsràdet är klok - han), while for inanimate referents, lexical gender is allowed to control agreement (bilen är liten - den, huset är litet - det). The fact that lexical and referential gender have different weights in different structures (and for different controllers) is really what enables us to distinguish between them. Otherwise we would have only one gender classification - probably influenced by semantic factors strictly speaking outside the gender system, as Källström suggests. The split between lexical and referential gender was in fact present in Old Swedish, too. Here, independent adjectives and pronouns without an antecedent (e.g., deictic pronouns) could not, of course, follow any lexical gender and had to be governed by referential gender: (8) a. b.

Aengin (mase) dör affhözlom. 'No one dies from threats.' Thaet (neut) feta wil alt uppe flyta. 'Fat things want to float on top.'

Masculine or feminine forms are here used for animates, neuter forms for inanimates. Note that referential gender triggering is obligatory here in modern Swedish, too, for both animateness and sexus: den blinde 'the blind man', den blinda 'the blind woman', det onda 'the evil'. Predicate complements and anaphoric pronouns always followed the lexical gender of the controller in Old Swedish. However, linguistic change led to a merger between many morphological gender forms at the end of the Middle Ages, and masculine and feminine forms could not always be discriminated. But merger did not occur for the anaphoric pronouns han, hon. These pronouns have no neuter or plural form and therefore have to be supplemented by that, the in those cases. Now, recall that han, hon could also be used without an antecedent, and were then controlled by referential gender. When the lexical gender of antecedents got less obvious in the language through merger, it was a natural development to make also the anaphoric uses of the pronouns dependent on referential gender. The rule for supplementing missing forms with thät already existed, and was simply extended to the form thän. Stolen - han 'the chair - he'

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was replaced by stolen - then. In the standard language, the development was completed around the year 1700, but the old system still remains in some dialects. A natural consequence of the semanticization of han, hon is the fact that the pronouns are not only restricted to animate referents, but also extended to some new animate referents, i.e., to grammatical neuters like statsrâd 'member of the goverment', fruntimmer 'woman', hembiträde 'maid', ombud 'agent', vitine 'witness', fyllo 'drunkard', luder 'whore', barn 'child'. The next step is to make predicate complement agreement dependent on referential gender. This process is not yet entirely completed. Words at the beginning of the list most easily combine with utrum forms, but intuitions probably vary a lot between speakers and regions. The general tendency seems to be that it is somewhat easier to have a lexically triggered predicate complement than a lexically triggered pronoun: (9) a. Statsràdet är utgàngen/?utgànget, han/*det är tillbaka om en timme. 'The cabinet minister has gone out, he will be back in an hour.' b. Ett sânt fruntimmer blir aldrig nöjd/nöjt, hon/??det skall bara ha mer. 'Such a woman is never content, she always wants more.' c.

Det här barnet är sjukt/*sjuk, det/hon/han har säkert mässlingen. 'This child is sick, she/he has probably got the measles.'

There are several possible explanations to the differences between individual words. One is that high status leads to referential agreement (overt treatment as a person). Low status referents do not force speakers to change their speaking habits, and they then preserve the old system, using a metaphor that equates äbäken 'big, clumsy persons (or things)', fyllon, luder, and barn (at the absolute bottom of the hierarchy) with non-persons. Another explanation focusses on stylistic differences: statsràd is used in contexts where it is normal to use a more developed or normative form of language (with referential triggering). A third explanation could state that frequent words preserve the old lexical agree-

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ment as exceptions to the general rule. A fourth one could use gender variability: since vitine, ombud, barn can have either sex (and their sex is seldom important), the difficulty of choosing between han and hon could favour preservation of the old det. But this is not a perfect generalization, since fruntimmer and luder prefer lexical gender, too, although they are always feminine, and since statsrâd and fyllo do not behave in the same way, although both used to be masculine. (Of course, modern developments in gender equality have partly eliminated that restriction.) Anyway, it seems that no single factor can offer a complete explanation. It also seems that development is going on: Hultman (1992) has observed that pupils nowadays often use han and hon with reference to barn in their essays, maybe more often than before. There is also a development towards a reduced agreement. Some indefinite subjects, which earlier used to trigger number and gender agreement, do not do so any more, which leads to the use of the unmarked neuter form, also used for infinitives and sentences: (10) a.

??Ärter är goda. Ärter är gott. 'Peas are delicious.'

b.

?Salt sill är god. Salt sill är gott. 'Salt herring is delicious.'

c.

Lângskaftade stövlar är moderna /moderni nu. 'Longlegged boots are fashionable now.'

d.

Rökningförbjuden. ?Rökningförbjudet. 'Smoking prohibited' Cf. Att röka är förbjudet. Att du röker är trakigt. 'It is a pity that you smoke.'

The sentence Rökning förbjudet, which used to be a negative target for language planners and school teachers in my youth, is nowadays accepted by many professional linguists. Gender agreement is little by little restricted to nouns referring to individual entities only. These developments have lead linguists to state that Swedish gender agreement is in a state of flux. On the other hand, there is little indication that referential agreement is spreading inside the NP.

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Rather, the old optional referential agreement for modifiers and attributes is disappearing, since young people do not always restrict the e-form to male referents. There is a possibility that a system is being stabilized, where NP-internal agreement is lexical, and NP-external agreement is referential for animates, but lexical for inanimates. As I mentioned above, lexical gender tends to correlate with referential gender—nouns for animates are often utrum, nouns for substances often neutrum. For subparts of the lexicon, these tendencies for determining lexical gender have become rules. Birds' names are all utrum. Among geographical names, aquatic names have gender utrum (unless they contain an appellative lending them lexical gender): Rehn är vacker, 'the Rhein is beautiful' (but Lângvattnet är stort 'the Long Water is big'). Names of mountains and nations have neuter gender: Aavasaksa är inte sâ högt 'the Aavasaksa is not so high', ett nytt Sverige 'a new Sweden'. As a rule, culture names (Sw. bebyggelsenamn) have neuter gender (even when they contain an appellative utrum): det moderna Helsingfors 'modern Helsinki'. Names of newspapers, books, musical pieces are normally treated as utrum: den oberoende Dag ens Nyheter 'the independent Dagens Nyheter'. However, there is a tendency to treat certain culture names, notably names of nations, as utrum. They are then conceived of as social collectives rather than geographical areas. Sverige är bereit att förhandla 'Sweden is prepared to negotiate' is transformed by many youngsters into Sverige är beredd att förhandla. Other collective nouns follow the same trend: Facket är villig till eftergifter 'the labour union is open to compromises' (Hagâsen 1992). But this is just a small adjustment of the borderline between animate and inanimate in a very reasonable direction. The lexical gender is still neuter: ett neutralt/det neutrala Sverige 'a/the neutral Sweden'. Sverige is then treated in the same way as other animate nouns like statsrád. We can ask ourselves whether lexical and referential gender are the only subsystems in the Swedish gender system. Another candidate is the system of plural declensions for nouns. These declensions do not trigger the same gender morphemes as lexical gender, but there is a strong correlation between declension and lexical gender:

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(11) Declension and lexical gender utnim

1.

-or

2.

-ar

3. 4.

-r -er

5.

-η

6.

-0

flick-or—flicka-n (utrum ending in -a ) pojk-ar—pojke-n (utrum, e.g., ending in -e) ko-r —ko-n (utrum) mask-er—mask-en (utrum)

magiker—magiker-n möss—mus-en (utrum ending in -ande, -are, -er, or a few with Umlaut)

neutrum

parti-er—parti-et (neuters in a stressed vowel); länd-er—land-et (a few neuters with Umlaut) bi-n —bi-et, äpple-n—äpple-t (neuter in vowel) hus—hus-et (neuters ending in consonant)

Similarly, there is a special set of definiteness endings in the plural, strongly correlating with declensions and genders. The ending -en is used for the neuters and the few utrum words with Umlaut in declension 6: hus - hus-en 'the houses', möss - möss-en 'the mice', and the ending -na is used otherwise: flickor-na 'the girls', pojkar-na 'the boys', kor-na 'the cows', masker-na 'the masks', partier-na 'the parties', länder-na 'the countries', magiker-na 'the magicians', and optionally for neuters in declension 6 ending in -er, mönster-na, mönstr-en 'the patterns'. It seems to be shortened to -a after -n-\ bina 'the bees', äpplen-a 'the apples', but this can be said to be the consequence of a rule deleting the consonant of the plural ending before the definiteness ending (a deletion not visible in writing for the other declensions, but present in speech). In dialects, however, the ending -en is more extensively used: the rural dialect of the Âland Island that I learned as a child tended to generalize -en to declensions 4-6, especially if the resulting form was bisyllabic. It would be possible to treat declensions or plural 'gender' as a parallel gender system with a very restricted domain of agreement: its influence does not cross the boundaries of the word. We would then get a system with three types of agreement and three corresponding types of gender: word-internal agreement and gender (declensions, plural gender), NP-internal agreement and gender (lexical

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gender), and NP-external agreement and gender (referential gender). However, this system is still under development and has not yet become fully operational. The plural endings of nouns can be seen as agreement phenomena within the word, although the modifier triggering the ending, the numeral, is located outside the word: de tvâ bil > de tvà bil-ar-na 'the two cars'. An unspecified numeral modifier is deleted, like a definite article immediately preceding the noun, leaving behind the agreement morphemes as the only signals of number and species, bil-ar-na. Here, we do not follow the rule that only one type of agreement can apply, since we can have both a plural ending and a species ending—but on the other hand, these endings have different triggers. There is considerable overlap between declensions and lexical gender, and a division of labour: lexical gender is applied within the word for the definite article in the singular, where plural declension is not applicable. There is still more overlap between lexical gender and referential gender, and a division of labour to the extent that lexical gender is applied outside the NP for inanimate referents, where referential (animate) gender does not apply. This gives us an astonishingly symmetric system, with lexical gender as a kind of default gender type, which is sometimes (i.e., in the unmarked categories singular and inanimate, respectively) extended from the NP domain to the word domain, and to the NP-external or free domain. (12) Swedish gender agreement word internal agreement

NP internal agreement

NP external agreement

plural: declinations

lexical gender

animate: referential gender

singular: lexical gender

inanimate: lexical gender

It is possible that declinations have developed from NP-internal gender classes, if plural endings long ago developed out of separate words. If so, it is interesting to note that these old gender classes are preserved in the marked category plural, while a later NP-internal gender distinction is allowed to control the unmarked case of word-

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internal agreement. As a contrast, when a new referential gender attacks the old lexical gender in NP-external agreement, it is in the marked category animate that the expansion takes place. It is unclear what implications this has for grammaticalization theory. A possible conclusion is that the present historical development of Swedish gender can be seen as a restriction of the central domain of lexical gender agreement from NP-agreement in general to NP-internal agreement. But it is hard to predict whether this loss of lexical agreement in the marked category animate will spread to the unmarked category inanimate.

References Andersson, Erik 1980 "Balansen mellan grammatiskt och semantiskt genus i svenskan." Folkmâlsstudier 26: 27^8. 1993 Grammatik frân gründen. En koncentrerad svensk satslära. Ord och Stil 24. Uppsala: Hallgren & Fallgren. Beckman, Natanael 1904 Svensk spräklära. Stockholm: Bonniers. Benson, Sven 1957 "Om genuskategorier och genuskriterier i svenskan." Arkiv för nordisk filologi 72: 61-70. Corbett, Greville 1991 Gender. Cambridge text books in linguistics. Hagâsen, Lennart 1992 "Sverige var intresserad och facket ska vara obunden - en typ av neutruminkongruens", in: Widmark (1992): 60-74. Hultman, Tor 1992 "Barnet - han eller den? Om genuskongruens vid ordet barn i gymnasisters sprâkbruk", in: Widmark (1992): 75-150. Källström, Roger 1993 "Kongruens i svenskan." Nordistica Gothoburghensia 16. Göteborg. 1995 "Om svenskans genussystem. En diskussion av nägra analysalternativ." Meddelanden frân Institutionen för svenska sprâket (MISS) 9, Göteborgs universitet. Noreen, Adolf 1904 Vârt sprâk. Nysvensk grammatik i utförlig framställning. Femte bandet. Lund: Gleerups. Teleman, Ulf 1987 "Hur mânga genus finns det i svenskan?" In: Teleman (ed.), Grammatik pâ villovägar. Skrifter utg. av Svenska spräknämnden 73. Stockholm: Esselte, 106-114.

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Tingbjöm, Gunnar 1979 "Kontrastiv minigrammatik", in: Hyltenstam, Kenneth (ed.), Svenska i invandrarperspektiv. Lund: Liber, 41-78. Widmark, Gun 1992 Svenska i harmoni. Fyra uppsatser om kongruens. Ord och stil 23. Uppsala: Hallgren & Fallgren.

Gender categories in early English grammars: Their message to the modern grammarian^ Anne Curzan

In Thomas Wilson's The Arte of Rhetorique, one of the first books on rhetoric ever written in English and certainly the most popular vernacular treatment of the subject at the time, going through eight editions between 1553 and 1585, the author complained: Some will set the Carte before the horse, as thus. My mother and my father are both at home, even as thoughe the good man of the house ware no breaches, or that the graye Mare were the better Horse. And what thoughe it often so happeneth (God wotte the more pitte) yet in speaking at the leaste, let us kepe a natural order, and set the man before the woman for maners Sake (as quoted by Bodine 1975: 134).

In this guide to English eloquence, Wilson's exhortation to set the man before the woman and maintain the proper order of things both in the social and linguistic realm was breaking no new grammatical ground. This hierarchical ordering in language had been treated as natural since the early classical grammars, which contained such paradigmatic statements as: "The Masculine gender is more worthy then the Feminine, and the Feminine is more worthy then the Neuter." 2 Statements of this kind, common in the early grammars, which blatantly confuse sex and gender as well as conflate social worthiness and linguistic merit, may strike the modern reader as naive, sexist, and outdated. But, in fact, modern grammars still do not always satisfactorily disentangle sex and gender, and while their rhetoric may be less naive and significantly less transparent, the ideas behind the rhetoric (e.g., generic masculine) may be no less sexist (see Sklar 1983: 348-358).3 The earliest English grammars are often discounted as amateurish and hopelessly Latin-dependent, and while undeniably so afflicted, they are also potentially instructive when viewed in their historical context—a time in which English was just emerging from its debase-

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ment as a "rude" and "barbarous" tongue, Latin was still the ideal, and the perceived division between men and women blurred distinctions of sex and gender. If modern grammarians are willing to listen, these voices from the past can contribute to a new understanding of the relationship between cultural definitions of gender for speakers and semantic categories of gender in their language, a connection which is still too often ignored in current linguistic theory. While most modern treatments of English gender recognize that the gender of a noun does not necessarily correspond to the biological sex of the referent, the next positive step in defining the modern gender system has proved more difficult. Emotive and affective factors can override the biological classification of nouns, but attempts to specify the mechanisms involved or the patterns created in this process have met with limited success. In tackling the question of gender's status in Modern English, few scholars have adopted a diachronic perspective; while recognizing that the modern system includes fluctuations of gender for many nouns, they do not address the fact that the modern system itself may have fluctuated over time. The system of "natural" gender in English is clearly semantic and is, therefore, dependent at least to some extent on speaker attitudes or ideas. It then logically follows that gender categories will alter through time with shifts in cultural values and beliefs, including among other factors advances in scientific knowledge. By the Early Modern English period, English nouns and their modifiers had lost almost all inflectional endings for case and all distinctive inflectional endings for gender. The third-person singular pronouns were the only grammatical forms still to mark gender and their agreement was semantically as opposed to formally determined; by this time, the modern gender system with its notional categories and strong correspondence between nominal gender and biological sex was firmly established. This period also witnessed the first explicit articulations of English gender categories with the publication of the earliest grammars of English (written both in Latin and in English). They were composed primarily to help foreigners learn English or to help schoolchildren learn Latin, the latter of which remained the goal of much primary and secondary education. These grammars cannot be taken as representative of spoken Early Modern English, but they can lend insight into what the early English grammarians thought the gender categories in English were, since these early grammars tended to be more descriptive than prescriptive.4 The

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limits of these grammars have been the focus of most scholarly attention over the years; this paper will concentrate instead on the gems of wisdom and of oddity contained in these books to see what lies beyond the quirkiness. The earliest English grammarians found themselves in wholly uncharted territory not only because they were among the first to attempt to describe the English grammar, but also because they were trying to describe a language that had undergone a dramatic restructuring over the previous five centuries. This restructuring, which encompassed the loss of inflectional endings and the loss of grammatical gender, had rendered English grammatically anomalous among the other European tongues. The early English grammarians were "beginners", stumbling through English grammar with only Latin grammar and its terminology as their guide; despite the obvious inapplicability of many Latin categories for English, they often retained them in the English grammars either because they wished to adhere to tradition or because they could not conceive of other possibilities. The grammarians' first descriptions of gender categories, therefore, reflect an ignorance, confusion, and honesty which make them at once both questionable and informative for a study of gender in the language. Vorlat (1975) has written the most thorough and systematic survey of these grammars and their classical roots; this study will springboard from hers, diving selectively into the highlights and eccentricities of the grammarians' treatment of this one grammatical feature. The following comments make no claim to being systematic or comprehensive on early treatments of gender. They will focus primarily on four of the earliest (pre-1650) grammars—three written in English and one in Latin—that discuss gender in detail. The first, Joshua Poole's The English Accidence (1646), translates the Latin system into English with little or no effort to interpret or apply it; the other three, William Bullokar's Bref Grammar for English (1586), Alexander Gil's Logonomia Anglica (1619), and Ben Jonson's The English Grammar (1640), all use the Latin system but manipulate it to correspond more closely to English structure. Two other early grammars prove of no value because neither Paul Greaves in Grammatica Anglicana (1594) nor Charles Butler in An English Grammar (1634) mentions nominal gender at all. Although it is chronologically last, Poole's description in the English Accidence is the most logical place to begin because he translates almost exactly from the Latin gender system of Lily's

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popular Latin grammar, a gesture that reveals a remarkable lack of attentiveness or interest in the true nature of the English gender system: There be seven Genders of Nounes, the Masculine, the Feminine, the Neuter, the Common of two, the Common of three, the Doubtfull, and the Epicene. A word is of the Masculine Gender, when it can onely bee joyned with Adjectives of the masculine gender. A word is of the Feminine gender when it can onely bee joyned with Adjectives of the Feminine gender. A word is of the Neuter gender, when it can onely bee joyned with Adjectives that are of the Neuter gender, that is, neither masculine nor feminine. A word is of the Common of two, when sometimes it is joyned to an Adjective of the Masculine gender, and sometimes to an adjective of the Feminine gender. A word is of the Common of three, when sometimes it is joyned to a word of the Masculine, sometimes to a word of the Feminine, and sometimes to a word of the Neuter. A word is of the Doubtfull gender, when at any time it may bee joyned to an adjective of the masculine, or an adjective of the feminine. A word is of the Epicene gender, when it is joyned onely to an Adjective of the Masculine, or onely to an Adjective of the Feminine gender; and yet the word doth signifie both the hee and shee (Poole 1646 [1967]: 5).

After listing the seven genders, Poole defines each by its concord with an adjective of the corresponding gender. For Early Modern English, a language in which adjectives no longer had any genderdistinctive forms, Poole's definitions of gender categories are clearly inapplicable. In his eight long sentences of description, therefore, Poole has actually provided no information about the gender classification of nouns in English. Luckily, some of the other grammars prove more enlightening. The ardent spelling reformer William Bullokar, in his Bref Grammar, acknowledges the non-classical nature of the English gendermarking system, which sets him apart from the grammarians who blindly applied the Latin grammatical categories. He highlights semantic criteria as primary in determining gender and recognizes that this gender is manifested grammatically in the pronominal system. However, his categories and labels still show the heavy influence of Lily and the Latin tradition: As-toching Genderz of a nown, we hau liti ned of distinguishing of them, in respect of gouerning of an adjectiu or participi whoo ar un-declyned: but in respect that a substantiu maeneth the mal or the femal, or neither of them, and som tym maeneth both mal and femal, al which ar signified by thaez pronownz, He, She, It, They, uzed som tym demonstratiuly, som tym rela-

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tiuly: ye must not that the Mai mor-proprly reqyreth He: and caled the Masculin-Gender. The Femal reqyreth She, and caled the Feminin-Gender. And maening neither mal nor femal reqyreth It, and caled the NeuterGender. But maening both mal and femal reqyreth som tym He, som tym She, and may be caled the Dobl-Gender, som tym mad manifest by the expresing of he, or she, according too the substantiu shewed, or antecedent rehaerced by any of them; it, being mor-proprly applyed too a thing not hauing lyf... When the gender iz Doutful, az in spaeking of a swyn, a fowl, and such lyk, we uz mor-proprly, It (Bullokar 1586 [1977]: 10-11; diacritics omitted).

Bullokar adds a sixth gender for adjectives—the Common Gender— which includes the masculine, feminine, and neuter. These six categories clearly parallel those of earlier Latin grammars, but Bullokar has moved the categories into a more natural gender model, abandoning inflectional endings as gender markers and relying almost entirely on semantic criteria, or in other words, sex. This shift represents a crucial step for English grammarians: the recognition that English gender must be defined on different terms (even if only slightly so) than that of Latin. Some thirty years later, Alexander Gil pushes the reformulation of English gender categories one step further. Strongly influenced by the grammar of Petrus Ramus (Vorlat 1975: 136-137), Gil reduces the number of genders in the language to the familiar three: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Not all of his description, however, seems as familiar: Genera sunt tria; Masculinum, Foemininum, Neutrum. Masculinum genus comprehendit omnes mares, & quae sub mascula specie intelliguntur; ut, angelos, viros, equos, hos canes, &c. solem etiam, syderaque omnia quae Latinis mascula sunt: ut, Aries, Saturnus, Arcturus, &c. Genus foemininum mulleres complectitur, & foeminas quascunque, equas, vaccas, haes canes, Lunam etiam, Venerem, Virginem, Cassiopeam, &c. Per προσωποποιιαν autem venti masculi intelliguntur; insulse, regiones, urbes, foeminae: fluuij, quà masculi, quà foeminae; ut hic Isis Ouz, haec Tama Täm, hic Abus Humber, haec Sabrina Severn, &c. Omnia inanimata Neutra iudicantur (Gil 1621 [1968]: 40).

Although Gil never explicitly defines gender as a formal or semantic category, his descriptions tend toward the semantic, basing gender on sex distinctions and "those things understood as under the masculine species", etc. He also includes a list of inanimate nouns whose gender assignments are based on what he describes as "personification", including winds, islands, countries, cities, and rivers. In rela-

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tion to this list, the last sentence of the description ('Everything inanimate is judged to be neuter') is worth noting, because it implies that the nouns listed before it (e.g., winds, rivers, cities, etc.) are not considered inanimates, an intriguing notion that will come up again in the discussion of Jonson's grammar.5 A similar list of inanimate exceptions, also classified as gender through personification, appears in Ben Jonson's English Grammar, which is eclectic enough to warrant close examination. To modern eyes, Jonson seems to have taken a step backwards from Gil's grammar (published some twenty years earlier) when he reverts to the more traditional six categories of gender. In creating his lengthy gender paradigm, Jonson pulls from a variety of sources, including Lily, Ramus, and Gil (Vorlat 1975: 137-139), with the following result: Of the Genders there are sixe. First, the Masculine, which comprehendeth all Males, or what is understood under a Masculine species: as Angels, Men, Starres: and (by Prosopopoeia) the Moneth's, Winds, almost all the Planets. Second, the Feminine, which compriseth Women and femal species: I'lands, Countries, Cities, and some Rivers with us: as Severne, Avon. &c. Third, the Neuter, or feined Gender: whose notion conceives neither Sexe; under which are compriz'd all inanimate things; a ship excepted: of whom we say, shee sayles well, though the name be Hercules, or Henry, (or) the Prince. ... Fourth, the Promiscuous, or Epicene, which understands both kinds: especially when we cannot make the difference; as, when we call them Horses, and Dogges, in the Masculine, though there be Bitches, and Mares amongst them. So to Fowles for the most part, we use the Feminine; as of Eagles, Hawkes, we say, shee flies well. Fift, the Common, or rather Doubtful gender, wee use often, and with elegance: as in Cosin, Gossip, Friend, Neighbor, Enemie, Servant, Theefe, &c. when they may be of either Sexe. Sixth, is the Common of three Genders: by which a Noune is divided into Substantive and Adjective. For a Substantive is a Noune of one only gender, or (at the most) of two. And an Adjective is a Noune of three Genders, being always in the infinite (Jonson 1640 [1972]: 57).

Vorlat (1975: 137-138) condemns Jonson's paradigm as a "slovenly" mixture of previous grammatical treatments, and calls Jonson himself a "poor grammarian". Viewed from a different angle, however, Jonson's efforts at gender categorization can be interpreted not as regressive, but as honest and insightful within an extremely constrictive format: the Latin model from which grammarians were unwilling or perhaps unable to stray far. He elaborately, if not carefully, combines material from several different classical models to create a

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new description of English gender. Rather than viewing Jonson's work as an elaborate attempt to mold English into available Latin categories, it is more enlightening to see it as an attempt to mold available Latin categories into English usage. Perhaps Jonson's claims to have written the grammar from his observations of the language are truthful admissions. Jonson's gender categories are for the most part semantically based, and he too includes lists of conventionally gendered nouns which cross the biological boundaries of animacy and sex. It is problematic to argue that Jonson's lists of "irregularly" gendered nouns are the result of unquestioned copying from the Latin since his lists do not correspond exactly to those of the Latin grammarians or of earlier English grammarians. For example, Jonson omits certain nouns that were previously listed as grammatically gendered, such as trees, which Ramus cites as feminine. In addition, Jonson shifts the gender of some of these inanimate nouns. Ramus lists rivers as masculine and Gil states that they can be either masculine or feminine. Jonson writes that some rivers take feminine pronouns, but nowhere does he indicate that they can take masculine ones. Jonson, like Gil, categorizes dogs and horses as masculine if the sex is unknown, but he alters the paradigm for birds, which he lists as feminine. While these examples may seem trivial, Jonson's shifting of nouns from one gender to another reflects a conscious process, and it is only logical to connect that process with actual phenomena in the language. For example, if in Early Modern English stars and horses were not reasonably regularly referred to with masculine pronouns and rivers and birds with feminine ones, Jonson would have no reason not to copy the Latin model, or to drop these nouns from the lists entirely, implying a neuter classification. His unique reference to the word ship as feminine bolsters the idea that he was attempting to describe actual gender usage in the language. Searches of the Helsinki Corpus confirm that gendered references to inanimate objects were not uncommon in the late Middle and Early Modern English periods, and the references reveal a pattern very similar to that described by the early grammarians. The sun, the wind, planets and horses are commonly referred to as masculine, ships as feminine. Nevalainen—Raumolin-Brunberg (1994: 183184) have also found the words tree and water—as well as names for various human body parts—treated as masculine through at least the

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first half of the Early Modern English period.6 Chaucer's Astrolabe, in the Middle English period, is full of examples: (1) for whan the sonne entrith into eny of tho signes he takith the propirte of suche bestes... (Chaucer 1350-1420: 668.C2) (2) yf that eny planete ascende at thatt same tyme in thilke forseide degre, than hath he no latitude fro the ecliptik lyne, but he is than in the degre of the ecliptik which that is the degre of his longitude. (Chaucer 1350-1420: 671.C1) And such references continue in Early Modern English works like Thomas Blundeville's Briefe Description of the Tables (1597): (3)

For betwixt that part of the Horizon where the sun riseth, mounting still untili he come to this Circle... (Blundeville 1597: 154)

and in Jeremy Taylor's The Marriage Ring (1673): (4) for Man and Wife in the family, are as the Sun and Moon in the firmament of Heaven; He rules by Day, and she by Night, that is, in the lesser and more proper Circles of her affairs... and shines only by his light, and rules by his authority, and as the Moon in opposition to the Sun shines brightest, that is, then, when she is in her own circles ... (Taylor 1673: 22) Gervase Markham fills his work Countrey Contentments (1615) with references to horses as he, and there are innumerable references to ships and sometimes cities as she throughout the Corpus (for a bibliography of the corpus data, see Kytö 1996).7 The consistency of these references goes beyond prosopopoia, to use the terminology of the early grammarians themselves; clearly a level of systematicity underpins these fluctuations in gender. Three of the four grammars discussed above list the "common gender", but none of them adequately addresses what this means in terms of practical usage. Jonson simply states that the gender of the noun will conform to the sex of the referent, but he does not state what a generic English speaker does or should do if he or she does not know the sex of the referent. Mühlhäusler—Harré (1990: 231)

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and Β odine (1975: 131-133) both report that they was the common generic form in speech at this time, but all the early grammars are bursting with a different answer, at least for the written, published form of the language: the generic human being is male and any reference to "him" is masculine. For example, Poole writes in his introduction: "And the true ground of all is, that an over-hastie desire in the Parent of his Childs proceeding; and in the Master, of satisfying that desire, out-runs the capacity of the Child; and will needs have him over the stile (as we say) before hee comes at it" (Poole 1646 [1967]: A2). At this time, most schoolchildren were young boys, which may explain the prevalence of the masculine in such a sentence, but the single parent is also masculine, and Poole's more generic references to children are masculine: "That a Child must first learne to goe, before hee can bee taught to dance" (Poole 1646 [1967]: Β1). In The English Schoole-maister (1596), Edmund Coote writes: And as thy scholer is in saying his lesson, marke what words he misseth. ...Tell them [the parents] from me that they need buy no moe, and then they shall saue much by the bargaine. But they will reply, that his little yong child will haue torne it before it be hälfe learned. Then answer him, that a remedie is prouided for that also (Coote 1596 [1968]: A3).

Although Coote explicitly directs his book towards both men and women in the introduction, when Coote's reader becomes singular, he becomes male. 8 And although the two parents of the young scholar are clearly of both sexes, only the masculine form of the parent stands alone in the grammar to care for his child's education. The masculine is the unmarked in these grammars, and it is difficult to view this fact in isolation from the classical gender hierarchy mentioned earlier (and recorded in Poole's grammar): if the sex of the referent is unknown, select the more worthy gender of pronoun, i.e., the masculine he. Greater flexibility in pronoun selection for certain inanimates in Early Modern English more subtly demonstrates the stereotyped perceptions associated with the gender hierarchy in other parts of the grammars, notably in Jonson's chapter on orthography. For example, triphthongs (a term which Jonson never defines) are masculine for any triphthong is "rather to be fear'd then lov'd: and would fright the young Grammarian to see him. I therefore let him passe, and make haste to the notion" (Jonson 1640 [1972]: 52). The letter h, the

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"Queene mother of Consonants", is sometimes neuter, sometimes feminine: But, be it a Letter, or Spirit, we have great use of it in our tongue, both before, and after Vowells. And though I dare not say, she is, (as I have heard one call her) the Queene mother of Consonants: yet she is the life, and quickening of them. What her powers are before Vowells and dipthongs, will appeare in hai. heale. hill. hot. how. hew. holiday. &c. In some it is written, but sounded without power: as host, honest, humble (Jonson 1640 [1972]: 48, 51).

The most wonderful example comes later in the alphabet. For the first sixteen letters of the alphabet (save h), Jonson consistently uses it, but the situation becomes more complicated with q: β is a letter we might very well spare in our Alphabet, if we would but use the serviceable k, as he should be, and restore him to the right of reputation he had with our Fore-fathers. For, the English-Saxons knew not this halting Q, with her waitingwoman u. after her ...Til custome under the excuse of expressing enfranchis'd words with us, intreated her into our Language... And hath now given her the best of k's possessions (Jonson 1640 [1972]: 47).

The letter k is neuter until it enters into direct comparison with q, at which point it becomes masculine due to its (his) clear superiority. The letter q, sitting at the bottom of the orthographic ladder, does not remain neuter either, but drops to the feminine, which would suggest that Jonson (and others) did not necessarily consider the feminine more worthy than the neuter in all circumstances. 9 The hierarchy expressed here has clear extra-grammatical implications: Jonson's gratuitous reference to q's equally unworthy partner in crime m as a "waiting-woman" fairly explicitly moves his ideas of worthiness out of the realm of the purely grammatical and into the social manifestations of a similar hierarchy. All of these examples from the early grammars and the Helsinki Corpus, which reveal the flexibility of pronominal reference and the gendering of inanimate objects, should force the modern grammarian to question exactly how all nouns are categorized in the system. The Early Modern English gender system has traditionally been treated as biologically "natural", which it is in many respects: male human beings are of the masculine gender, females of the feminine, and most inanimates of the neuter. But these early grammarians explicitly describe how the constraints of the natural gender system can

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be broken by the use of the masculine or feminine for certain inanimate nouns. Their categories construct the masculine as representing the "male sex and that of the male kind" and the feminine as the "female sex and that of the female kind", and clearly various inanimates fall into these gendered "kinds". Personification, residual confusion, and classical allegory are not sufficient explanations, as many scholars now recognize in discussions of similar fluctuation in the Modern English gender system. An alternative explanation is that what the early grammarians label "kind" is synonymous with what today is labeled "gender"; in other words, "kind" refers to the socially constructed attributes assigned to a given sex. 10 Nevalainen— Raumolin-Brunberg (1994: 182-184) note that animacy distinctions in the Early Modern English period were different than those of today: for example, higher animals were only rarely seen as neuter. This point can be pushed one step further by asking which gender such "animate objects" were then assigned. In short, which gendered characteristics were they thought to possess? If the choice between personal and nonpersonal gender is determined by whether a being or object is felt to possess characteristics associated with a member of the human race (Nevalainen—Raumolin-Brunberg 1994: 184), then a similar postulate should specify the personal gender that a being or object is assigned. And this assignment of gender, theoretically based on characteristics associated with members of a particular sex, will be telling of contemporaneous gender constructions.il In his survey of gender systems across the world's languages, Corbett (1991: 32) wisely cautions that for all semantic systems, "it is important to bear in mind that the world view of speakers determines the categories involved, and that the criteria may not be immediately obvious to an outside observer." This caveat holds true both for the comparative linguist studying an unfamiliar language and for the language historian studying a familiar language's previous states. Laqueur (1990: 134-142), in his history of the body and gender, points out that sex as defined in sixteenth- and seventeenthcentury England showed greater similarities to what would today be called gender, because biological, anatomical differences between men and women were inextricably intertwined with gendered characteristics. One of the two was not necessarily seen as more fundamental or "biological" than the other. He summarizes the point as follows:

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Renaissance doctors understood there to be only one sex. On the other hand, there were manifestly at least two social sexes with radically different rights and obligations, somehow corresponding to ranges or bands, higher and lower, on the corporeal scale of being. Neither sort of sex—social or biological—could be viewed as foundational or primary, although gender divisions—the categories of social sex—were certainly construed as natural (Laqueur 1990: 134).

This lack of a distinction between essential gendered traits and biology could provide one explanation for how certain inanimate nouns were classified as masculine or feminine in Early Modern English. Although these inanimates did not have any biological sex, they could exhibit a sufficient number of characteristics associated with one sex to be "naturally" classified under that gender. With animate nouns, biology was primary for gender classification within the language, generally overriding any conflicting gendered traits, provided that the biological nature of the subject was known or apparent. And just as the male body was the biological standard in science, so the masculine gender was the grammatically unmarked. Modern scholars of English gender recognize that the definition of natural gender does not rest entirely on biological sex. 12 As all Modern English speakers know, there are still animals and inanimate objects that can be talked about with he and she as well as if.13 Current work on the subject maintains that pronoun selection depends on speaker attitudes and involvement as well as cultural prototypes; the facts in this paper suggest that all of these factors in turn rest on the same foundation: the concepts of sex and gender held by language users and the society in which they express themselves. The way in which language users make distinctions between male and female and between masculine and feminine in their culture will be reflected in the distinctions they make between masculine and feminine in their language, as long as the gender system is a semantic one. Like gender in society, gender in the English language represents a set of constructed categories, categories whose boundaries will change over time, reflecting the evolution of ideas about sex and gender. The criterion of animacy is now more heavily weighted so that gendered characteristics are often subsumed under non-personal reference, but they still surface in the well-documented gendered references to inanimate nouns throughout the spoken language and occasionally in the written language as well. They depend on the context and register of discourse as well as the attitudes of speakers, all of which are affected and in many ways determined by social con-

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cepts of sex and gender. These gendered references that cross biological lines are not exceptions to an underlying, "real" system of natural gender in English; they are part of a natural gender system, which is natural because it corresponds to speakers' ideas about gender in the world about which they speak. Notes 1.

2. 3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

I would like to thank Frances McSparran, Mako Yoshikawa, and the participants in the International Symposium on Grammatical Gender for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and Darren Keefe for his assistance with translations of the Latin passages. This translation of the traditional Latin rule is taken from Poole (1646 [1967]: 21), who closely translates Latin rhetoric throughout most of his English grammar. These grammars seem to follow the conservative line of the OED, which recognizes the sengender distinction as neither fundamental nor necessary in its definition of gender: "In modern (especially feminist) use, a euphemism for the sex of a human being, often intended to emphasize the social and cultural, as opposed to the biological distinctions between the sexes" [my italics - A.C.], The unique trilingual situation in England from the Norman Conquest through the Renaissance is primarily responsible for the relatively late start of a prescriptive movement for English. French was regarded as the most prestigious European vernacular, Latin as the language of any important literary work and of education generally, and English as "rude" and "barbarous". It was not until the end of the sixteenth century that English began to be praised for its eloquence and later still before studies of rhetoric gave way to calls for language reform and standardization. For more details on the historical context of these grammars, see Jones (1953: 68-141), Barber (1976: 65-142), and Vorlat (1975: 1-41). One interesting consequence of Gil's reduced gender system is its elision of any space for gender confusion or flexibility. The common and doubtful genders have been erased, implying that all nouns have a single proper gender which is known, inflexible, and seemingly "natural". The work I have done with third-person pronouns in the Peterborough Chronicle indicates that star was a resilient masculine noun and cities resilient feminine ones in the early Middle English period, a time when many other inanimate nouns came to be referred to with it. Unfortunately the tagging of the Corpus does not facilitate searches of this kind. It is possible to perform a proximity search for a string such as star and he within a certain number of characters. But the effectiveness of this type of search in finding masculine and feminine pronouns with inanimate antecedents is limited, and one can only make educated guesses about which inanimate nouns to select.

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8.

9.

10. 11.

12.

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Anne Curzan

In the introduction, Coote writes, "[A]nd the same profit doe I offer unto all other both men & women, that now for want hereof are ashamed to write unto their best friends: for which I haue heard many gentlewomen offer much"(Coote 1596 [1968]: A2). One page later, he adds, "I am now therefore to direct my speech vnto the vnskilfull, which desire to make vse of it for their owne priuate benefit: And vnto such men and women of trades (as Taylors, Weauers, Shop-keeper, Seamsters, and such other) as haue vndertaken the charge of teaching others" (Coote 1596 [1968]: A3). There may be social motivations behind this reordering of the hierarchy. Frances McSparran has also suggested that the similar forms of the neuter and masculine possessive (his) and earlier of the dative (him) could have influenced the status of the neuter in this hierarchy (personal communication). Coote, in his dictionary at the end of the grammar, defines sexe as "kinde", but as Laqueur (1990: 134-142) suggests, Early Modern English concepts of sex are more similar to modern concepts of gender. Almost four decades ago, Ervin (1962: 253) recognized the correlation between semantic gender in a language and perceptions of gender in a culture: "Taking gender as an example, there is an anatomical distinction, but we assign sex by these ultimate criteria only at birth or with animals. Most of the time we judge human sex on the basis of secondary, imperfectly correlated contrasts such as size, type of clothing, hair style, and voice. Finally, cultural experience, and verbal practice differentiate the sexes and the masculine or feminine nouns which refer to them. We may therefore expect to find three different bases for meanings which might be generalized: (a) sexual symbolism associated with anatomical differences or sexual relations; (b) physical properties varying in their correlation with sex, such as size; (c) cultural associations such as contrasts in beauty, slowness, laziness, and stability. Within a given culture, we can predict systematic contrasts in meaning between masculine and feminine words with no animate referent." Nevalainen—Raumolin-Brunberg (1994: 182-184) refer to the English gender system as notional gender in an attempt to move away from the misconceptions bound up with the description natural gender. But it is possible to retain the description natural gender with the understanding that its definition rests not purely on biological sex but instead on social concepts of sex and gender, and the flexibility in reference that this system allows speakers is natural and highly patterned. Whorf ([1956]: 90) attempts a preliminary catalogue of irregularly gendered inanimate nouns in Modern English, which he views as primarily random: "[No] knowledge of any 'natural' properties [would] tell our observer that the names of biological classes themselves (e.g., animal, bird, fish, etc.) are 'it'; that smaller animals usually are 'it'; larger animals often 'he'; dogs, eagles, and turkeys usually 'he'; cats and wrens usually 'she'; body parts and the whole botanical world 'it'; countries and states as fictive persons (but not as localities) 'she'; cities, societies, and corporations as fictive persons 'it'; the human body 'it'; a ghost 'it'; nature 'she'; watercraft with sail or power and name small craft 'she'; unnamed rowboats, canoes, rafts 'it,' etc." For more recent studies on gender variability in English, see Marcoux 1973, Morris 1993.

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References Barber, Charles 1976 Early Modern English. London: André Deutsch. Bodine, Ann 1975 "Androcentrism in prescriptive grammar: singular 'they', sex-indefinite 'he', and 'he or she'", Language in Society 4: 129-146. Bullokar, William 1586 [1977] Bref grammar for English. London. Facsimile edition. Delmar, New York: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints. Butler, Charles 1634 [1910] An English grammar. London. [Reprinted in: Albert Eichler (ed.), Charles Butler's English Grammar.(Neudrucke frühenglischer Grammartiken 4: 1.) Halle: Niemeyer.] Coote, Edmund 1596 [1968] The English schoole-maister. A Scolar Press facsimile. Menston: Scolar Press. Corbett, Greville 1991 Gender. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. Ervin, Susan 1962 "The Connotations of gender", Word 18: 249-261. Gil, Alexander 1921 [1968] Logonomia Anglica. London. A Scolar Press facsimile. Menston: Scolar Press. Greaves, Paul 1594 [1969]Grammatica Anglicana. A Scolar Press facsimile. Menston: Scolar Press. Jones, Richard F. 1953 The triumph of the English language. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Jonson, Ben 1640 [1972] The English grammar. A Scolar Press facsimile. Menston: Scolar Press. Kytö, Meqa (comp.) 1996 Manual to the diachronic part of the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts: Coding conventions and lists of source texts. 3rd. ed. Helsinki: De- partment of English, University of Helsinki. Laqueur, Thomas 1990 Making sex: Body and gender from the Greeks to Freud. Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press. Marcoux, Dell 1973 "Deviation in English gender", American Speech 48: 98-107. Morris, Lori 1993 Gender in Modern English: The system and its uses. [Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Université Laval.] Mühlhäusler, Peter—Rom Harré 1990 Pronouns and people: The linguistic construction of social and personal identity. Oxford: Blackwell.

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Nevalainen, Terttu—Helena Raumolin-Brunberg 1994 "Its strength and the beauty of it: The standardization of the third person neuter possessive in Early Modern English", in: Dieter Stein—Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (eds.), 171-216. Poole, Joshua 1646 [1967] The English accidence. London. A Scholar Press facsimile. Leeds: Scolar Press. Sklar, Elizabeth S. 1983 "Sexist grammar revisited", College English 45.4: 348-358. Stein, Dieter — Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade (eds.) 1994 Towards a standard English, 1600-1800. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Vorlat, Emma 1975 The development of English grammatical theory 1586-1737, with special reference to the theory of parts of speech. Leuven: Leuven University Press. Whorf, Benjamin L. 1945 [1956] "Grammatical categories", Language XXI: 1-11. [Reprinted in: John B. Carroll (ed.), Language, thought, and re- ality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 87-101.]

Elementary gender distinctions1 Osten Dahl

1. Introduction In Dahl (in this vol.), building mainly on data presented by Greville Corbett in his recent survey of gender systems (Corbett 1991), I made a number of claims about gender systems in human languages, among others the following: (1) (2)

(3) (4)

In any gender system there is a semantically based principle for assigning gender to animate nouns and noun phrases.2 The domain of the principle referred to in (1) may be cut off at different points of the animacy scale (animacy hierarchy): between humans and animals, between higher and lower animals, or between animals and inanimates. All animates above the cut-off point may either be assigned to the same gender or there may be further divisions. If the principle referred to in (1) distributes animate NPs among different genders, sex is the major criterion.3

In my previous paper, these generalizations were intended to hold of gender systems as wholes. Here, I want to take a further step and consider the possibility of seeing them primarily as characterizing the minimal building blocks that gender systems are made up of. I shall refer to these building blocks as elementary gender distinctions. As a point of departure, let us look at some minimal gender systems in order to see how the principles above are implemented there, proceeding then to more complex cases.

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2. Minimal gender systems Consider the well-known two-gender system. In French, NPs may be either masculine or feminine. Animate NPs, or rather what Corbett calls "sex-differentiable nouns", are assigned gender depending on whether they denote males or females. Thus, oncle 'uncle' is masculine and tante 'aunt' is feminine. (Counterexamples exist but fairly clearly have the character of exceptions.) For other NPs, no general semantic principles exist (although there are various tendencies and sub-regularities). For instance, livre 'book' is masculine but lettre 'letter' is feminine. We thus have a general semantic rule that applies to nouns above a certain cut-off point on the animacy hierarchy with sex as the determining criterion. If we accept the common assumption in most analyses that feminine is the marked gender, we could say that the rule applies to animates but picks out females for special treatment. Many systems have no sex-differentiation, but rather a general assignment of all nouns above the cut-off point to one gender, as in Algonquian languages that differentiate animate and inanimate gender (although often with considerable leakage from the inanimate to the animate). For this kind of distinction, there seems to be no point in distinguishing what it applies to and what it picks out. The cut-off point on the animacy hierarchy may also vary. In the Dravidian languages, for instance, animals tend to go with inanimates, whereas they are treated as animates, e.g., in the Algonquian languages (sometimes together with trees).4 A further source of variation is in the treatment of NPs below the cut-off point. There is usually one "default" low-end gender. If there are two high-end genders, as in sex-differentiated systems, it is common for the low-end gender to be identical to one of these. This gives rise to systems like that found in Diyari (Australian; Corbett 1991: 11), where all non-sexed entities are masculine, or Kolami (Dravidian), where they are feminine. There may also, like in French, be what Corbett calls leakage from the NPs below the cutoff point into both high-end genders. The classical Indo-European three-gender system, as found, e.g., in Latin, Greek and the Slavic languages, may be seen as having a default low-end gender (neuter) and leakage into both high-end genders. We shall see later, however, that the Indo-European system may also be seen as a complex one.

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gender distinctions

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A gender system for which the above characterization is more or less exhaustive can be seen as containing just one elementary gender distinction. As we proceed to more complex systems, we shall see how they can be decomposed into building blocks that look like the simple gender systems we have just looked at.

3. "Serial" combinations of elementary gender distinctions There are a number of different ways in which elementary gender distinctions may interact to form a complex gender system. The first type to be considered is the one where the elementary distinctions are combined "serially", that is, they are applied one after the other, the later ones taking care of the earlier ones' output. In the simplest cases, there are two such distinctions, yielding a system within all three genders. An example would be Nzakara (Ubangian, NigerCongo; Corbett 1991: 14; original data from Tucker—Bryan 1966: 146-147 and Claudi 1985: 136), where humans go into one gender, animals into a second, and inanimates into a third. We can see that this is reducible to a combination of one first distinction that puts all humans in one gender and leaves the rest to a second distinction that makes a further division into animates (i.e., animals) and inanimates. There is, however, also leakage in the sense that inanimates may also belong to the second gender. Another system described by Corbett (1991: 18; the original account is found in Schmidt 1985: 151-68) is that of "Young People's Dyirbal", a variety of Dyirbal (Australian) spoken by the generations where a shift to English has already begun. Corbett gives the following assignment rules for gender in this language (the numbers of the genders are motivated by the correspondences to traditional Dyirbal): female humans are assigned to gender II; other animates are in gender I; the residue is in gender IV. We can see that the main difference to Nzakara is that the first distinction picks out female humans rather than humans. Furthermore,

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there is no leakage in this variety of Dyirbal; assignment is wholly semantic. The traditional Dyirbal system, on the other hand, as described in Dixon (1972), contains a considerable number of inanimate nouns in the human genders; it also has a further inanimate gender whose semantic core is said to be "non-flesh food"—this is clearly a part of the system that is not "decomposable" into elementary gender distinctions as we have defined them. (In general, this seems true of gender choice for inanimates in the more complex gender systems found, e.g., in Bantu and Australian languages.) Young People's Dyirbal, then, had the two serially combined distinctions "female humans" and "animates". Suppose we put in "human" instead of "animate". This actually yields a three-gender system like the one found in English (for the pronouns), with feminine (female human), masculine (non-female human), and neuter (inanimate). It would also be an alternative description of the semantic core of the traditional Indo-European system in general, rather than seeing it as one elementary distinction as was suggested above. One argument for this is that the rules for applying feminine and masculine gender are not always wholly commensurate. In Swedish, for instance, there is a clear tendency to use the masculine pronoun han of animals of unknown sex; this means that the system is tending toward something more like the Dyirbal s y s t e m . 5 Four-gender systems, which are common in many parts of the world, often display a layered structure with masculine, feminine, animal (i.e., residual animate) and inanimate genders. Examples mentioned by Corbett are Zande, which is a close relative of Nzakara, mentioned above, and various North-East Caucasian languages (Corbett 1991: 26). In most of these languages, there is leakage—in general from the inanimate genders to the others. Thus, in Zande, there is leakage into the "animal" gender; in the North-East Caucasian language Dido, there is leakage into genders II and ΠΙ (female and animal). (The tendency seems to be for leakage in general to be easier into the "lower" genders.)

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4. "Parallel" combinations of gender distinctions So far, we have looked at "serial" combinations of elementary gender distinctions, that is, one distinction may be said to feed another. In a fairly large number of cases, a system contains two or more such distinctions that work "in parallel", that is, each distinction applies to a different part of a paradigm. Perhaps the most common case is when there are distinct systems in the singular and the plural. (In fact, given the frequency of languages that distinguish gender only in the singular, systems that have the same distinctions in all numbers may well be a minority.) Romanian nouns (Romance (Indo-European); Corbett 1991: 150) belong to three agreement classes, 'masculine1, 'ambigeneric' and 'feminine'. The following table shows the adjective endings for these three classes in the singular and the plural: singular

plural

masculine

bärbat 'man'

0/-U

-i

ambigeneric

scaun 'chair'

0/-U

-e

feminine

fata 'girl-

-a

-e

We can see that there are only two contrasting forms in each of the two numbers, but there is a difference between the columns in that ambigeneric goes with masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural. Corbett accordingly analyzes Romanian as having three "controller genders" and two "target genders" in each number. From our point of view, however, what matters is that we can see Romanian gender agreement as being built up of two elementary gender distinctions, one in the singular and one in the plural. The two systems are overlapping but differ in the gender assignment for a subset of inanimate nouns (which can be seen as leaking into the masculine in the singular and into the feminine in the plural). A similar but somewhat more complex system is found in Telugu (Dravidian; Corbett 1991: 153). In singular verb agreement, feminine and neuter nouns go together; in the plural, neuter goes with masculine. In pronouns, all three genders are distinguished, yielding an English-like system. This would mean in at least three elementary gender systems.

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Singular and plural gender systems often differ in the number of distinctions made: in structuralist terms, some distinctions may be "neutralized" in the plural. Khinalug (NE Caucasian; Corbett 1991: 120-123) and Tsakhur (NE Caucasian; Ibragimov 1990) are cases in point. They are usually described as having four genders, with a system which is quite similar to that of Dido as described above, except that there is leakage only into gender III. The four genders postulated in the grammar are really valid only in the singular, however; gender choice in the plural reduces to one elementary gender distinction. Thus, in Khinalug gender I and II ("human/spiritual") are opposed to gender III and IV ("non-human") in the plural. In Tsakhur genders I, II and III ("animate") are opposed to IV ("inanimate"). The important point is again that the singular and plural systems can each be seen as a well-behaved gender system consisting of one or more elementary gender distinction. A further possibility is that different parts of the vocabulary follow different principles for gender assignment. Thus, in Russian, foreign words ending in a vowel are indeclinable and follow gender assignment rules of their own. Strictly speaking, the nouns that need special rules are the non-human ones—nouns denoting humans are masculine and feminine according to the ordinary rules (but see the discussion of declensional types below). The rest follow the following principle (Corbett 1991: 40-41): Nouns denoting animates (i.e., animals since humans have been taken care of) are masculine; others are neuter. It is easy to see that this is a well-behaved elementary gender distinction, which is added to the "normal" gender system.

5. "Sub-genders" A variety of "serial" combinations of elementary gender systems is found in the cases called "sub-genders" by Corbett (1991). Sub-genders are "agreement classes that control minimally different sets of agreement, that is, agreements differing for at most a small proportion of the morphosyntactic forms of any of the agreement targets".

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The primary kind of example (actually, it seems, the only one) of sub-genders provided by Corbett is the animacy distinctions in Slavic languages, which typically determine accusative marking in nouns and adjectives, that is, animate accusatives tend to be identical with genitives with respect to endings and agreement. The term seems to be geared to cases like Serbo-Croat, where animates and inanimates are only distinguished in masculine nouns. In other Slavic languages, however, the sub-genders may apply also to, e.g., feminine nouns, which makes the term less well motivated. What is notable in this context is that taken by themselves, animacy distinctions such as the one found in Russian, are well-behaved elementary gender distinctions in their own right. More specifically, they look like "Algonquian-style" gender systems. Furthermore, in some languages such as Polish and Sorbían, animacy distinctions are made differently in the singular and the plural. In the singular, the distinction is really between animates and inanimates, in the plural, it is only (masculine) nouns denoting persons where the accusative equals the genitive. Thus, the ordinary threegender system feeds into two different elementary gender distinctions.

6. Declensional types Inflectional differences between members of a part of speech are of course an extremely frequent phenomenon. Sometimes, such differences look very much like gender distinctions, in that, for instance, nouns denoting males tend to belong to one declensional type and nouns denoting females to another, as in most Indo-European languages that preserve the three-gender system, e.g., Latin, Greek and Slavic. Quoting with approval Hockett's definition, in which gender is said to be "classes of nouns reflected in the behaviour of associated words", Corbett (1991: 3-4) takes agreement to be a determining criterion of gender. This would seem to let declensional types out of the discussion, and Corbett accordingly treats them as a separate phenomenon. However, Andersson (1980), in his discussion of Swedish gender, suggests to treat the choice of endings as a case of agreement, and if we substitute "morphemes" for "words" in

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Hockett's definition there seems to be no obstacle to treating some inflectional distinctions as gender. Indeed, in a case like the Swedish definite article, which may show up both as an independent word in the beginning of the noun phrase and as an ending on the head noun, as in det stora huset 'the big house', it appears rather arbitrary to say that we are dealing with agreement only in the former—all the more in view of the fact that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the free and the bound forms. For our purposes, the most important consequence of extending the notion of gender in this way is that we can find additional examples of grammatical sub-systems that conform to the characterization of gender systems we have presented. Let us look at a nice example, viz. the genitive endings of masculine consonant stems in Polish. (Czech works roughly in the same way.) There are two possible endings, -a and -u. The choice is partly idiosyncratic, but the following regularities can be noted: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Nouns denoting animates take-a. Diminutives in -ek and -ik take -a. Abstract words, mass nouns and collectives take -u. Loanwords denoting inanimates take -u.

Thus, what we have here is really two sub-systems for native and foreign words. For native words, there is a general rule assigning -a to animates. Inanimates are assigned either -a or -u; this may be described in terms of a default inanimate ending -u with considerable leakage to the animate ending -a. The foreign system would then really be the same except that there is no leakage. To all this we have already seen exact parallels in gender systems of the more traditional kind. The morphology of Polish nouns is a particularly rewarding place to look for gender-like distinctions. In the nominative plural, there are at least three different endings for masculine nouns: -/, -y, and -owie. The distinction between -i and -y is straightforwardly one between humans and non-humans, except for a group of pejoratives that take -y in spite of being animate. However, a number of animate nouns take -owie instead of -/, notably kin terms, proper names, some ethnonyms and "nouns referring to people of social importance", i.e., titles such as król 'king' and generai 'general'. Note the

Elementary gender distinctions

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striking similarity between this system and the Teop gender system described in fn. 3. Let us now return to the question of the relationship of inflectional types and gender in the traditional Indo-European system. In Russian, for instance, most nouns fall into one of three declensional types, each of which is highly correlated with one of the genders masculine, feminine and neuter. Traditional grammars are often vague on the question what is basic, declensional type or gender. Corbett explicitly derives gender from declensional type, when it is not semantically determined. What such an account misses, however, is that declensional type, like gender, is partly semantically determined. By and large, animate nouns have the "right" declensional type, that is, one that corresponds to the gender predicted by their semantics. There are mismatches but there is a clear asymmetry in that whereas male-denoting nouns may belong to the "feminine" declension, specifically female-denoting nouns (as opposed to sexneutral nouns such as vrac 'doctor') are never found in the "masculine" declension.6 This is particularly striking with proper names. A proper name used of a female goes into the "feminine" declension, if it ends in -a; otherwise, it is undeclinable. Thus, in the Russian sentence El'ein celuet Klinton, the absence of the accusative ending -a on Klinton suggests that Yeltsin is kissing Hillary rather than Bill. Here, then, the sex of the referent determines not only gender proper but also declensional type, which demonstrates the close affinity between these phenomena.

7. The Swedish system I shall now try to apply the ideas presented above to the analysis of gender in Swedish. In Swedish, adjectives and adjectival pronouns agree with nouns in gender and number. There are two sets of endings that I shall refer to as strong and weak in accordance with the tradition in historical Germanic grammar. Strong endings distinguish two genders in the singular, nowadays usually called uter and neuter. As for the weak endings, there is in addition to the "standard" ending -a, as in det gamia huset 'the old house' an optional choice of -e for nouns denoting male humans, as in den gamie mannen 'the old

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man'. Gender is further relevant for the choice of third person pronouns: han and hon are used for male and female humans and sexdifferentiated animals, respectively; sometimes han is also be used of other animals; otherwise the uter pronoun den and the neuter pronoun det are used depending on the gender of the antecedent (or a basic level noun suitable for the referent, if there is no antecedent). What is confusing with the Swedish system is the partial discrepancy between the (strong) "adjectival" system, with the sole distinction uter:neuter, and the "pronominal" system, with its four possibilities han, hon, den, det. Traditional Swedish grammar postulated the existence of four genders: masculine, feminine, uter (earlier called "reale"), and neuter. More recent treatments have assumed that there are in fact two separate systems—or categories—referred to either as gender vs. sex or as grammatical vs. semantic (natural) gender J Recently, however, Källström (1996) has revived the traditional four-gender analysis, partly motivating this step by the general findings about gender systems presented in Corbett (1991). The issue is thus far from settled. The identification of "(grammatical) gender" and the uter:neuter distinction, on one hand, and "sex" or "semantic gender" with the pronominal system, on the other, is from the theoretical point of view dubious since it appears to confuse gender systems with the factors that determine them—it presupposes a one-to-one relationship between grammatical and notional categories. The empirical claim behind this identification is that the uter:neuter distinction is, in the words of Teleman (1987), "basically semantics-free". This is of course in direct contradiction to the generalization made by Aksenov (1984) and quoted by Corbett (1991: 8) that all gender systems have a semantic core. As noted by Källström (1996), the claim about the non-semantic character of the utenneuter distinction is in fact false. That there is a semantic core also to this gender system shows up among other things in the following: •

animate nouns strongly tend to be uter, more precisely this goes for — • all non-pejorative, classificatory nouns denoting adult human beings • a qualified majority of all other human nouns • a majority of all other animate nouns;

Elementary gender distinctions

• • •

587

uter indefinite pronouns used without a noun are interpreted as referring to animates (cf. Jag sâg nâgon Ί saw someone' vs. Jag ság nágot Ί saw something'); in NP-external agreement, uter forms are preferred with human referents even if the head noun of the NP is lexically neuter; as pointed out in Fraurud (in this vol.), the gender of proper names is heavily dependent on the ontology of their referents.

The first two points suggest that there is in fact a general rule assigning uter gender at least to human nouns and noun phrases referring to persons, with exceptions that are probably no more serious than in most gender systems. Maybe this rule can be extended to animates in general. Assuming that neuter is the default gender for inanimates and that there is leakage from inanimates to uter gender completes the picture of the uter:neuter distinction as a well-behaved elementary gender distinction. In the strong adjectival system, this distinction acts on its own; in the pronominal system, it is only a component. The pronominal system is probably best analyzed as consisting of three serially combined elementary distinctions: • • •

the first applies to humans, assigning hon to females; everything else is sent on to the second system; the second system applies to humans and optionally to other animates, assigning hart to them all; everything else is sent on to the third system; the third system assigns den and det according to the gender of the noun in question.

The -a:-e distinction in weak endings has a somewhat marginal status and correspondingly gets somewhat marginal attention in grammars. Traditionally, -e is seen as a masculine ending. It is fairly clear, however, that the rules that govern the use of -e and the other exponent of masculine gender, the pronoun han 'he', are not identical. The ending -e is in general more restricted in its use than han; it is for instance hardly ever used with nouns denoting animals. In our approach, it is best seen as a separate elementary gender distinction ("Diyari-type" gender, opposing male humans to everything else) working in parallel with the uter:neuter distinction in the adjectival system.

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8. Conclusion In his 1991 book, Greville Corbett refers to multiple gender systems as a "rare situation", and tries to re-analyze the examples that he finds—from the Mba group of Niger-Congo—so as to show that they can really be treated as single systems. In the same vein, Källström (1996) treats gender in Swedish as a single four-member system. In this paper, I have consciously tried to do something that amounts to the opposite—I have tried to reduce complex gender systems to combinations of simple components. I have also tried to find gender distinctions in as many places in grammar as possible. Neatness, economy and generality are traditional virtues in linguistics. But linguists quickly become aware that there are more than one way of maximizing these virtues in describing languages. Corbett and Källström are led by their methodological instincts to look for the gender system of a language, although they are aware that they pay a price in complexity (cf. the discussion of "the maximalist problem" in Corbett 1991: 161-188). I go in another direction, looking for maximally simple and cross-linguistically uniform building-blocks. The price I pay is in the proliferation of gender distinctions in each language. However, if the whole issue were only about descriptive elegance and economy the discussion would not really be worth conducting, in my view. What I want to argue is that the approach I am advocating here tells us something empirical about the ways in which the things we call gender work in human languages, and maybe it tells us something about those languages in general. At this point we have to go back to basics and ask ourselves what gender is in the first place. We may remember that Hockett defined genders as "classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words". Turning this definition around, we may say that as soon as a choice in the way utterances are constructed depends on the identity of a noun in the grammatical context, we may be dealing with gender. Thus, we find in French that we have to use le as a definite article with some nouns and la with others. In one and the same language, such choices may show up in many different parts of the grammar. In French, for instance, we have to choose between il and elle when we want to use a third-person pronoun. There is no a priori necessity that all such choices have to be made according to the

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same principles. What actually happens is that they sometimes are and sometimes are not. Consider, e.g., the relations between gender in the singular and in the plural, in those languages that have numbers—as we saw above, it seems at least to be equally common for the systems to differ as for them to be the same. On the other hand, we may agree with Corbett (1991: 188) that it is hard to find examples of gender distinctions in one and the same language that are wholly independent of each other. However, the question that immediately arises is whether gender distinctions are ever wholly independent, given that they all follow the principles listed in the beginning. We may note that within one language, the variation is not very much smaller than between languages. Looking at the Swedish strong adjectival system with its distinction animate:inanimate and rather heavy lexical leakage from the latter to the former, there is nothing that predicts than the weak adjectives distinguish male humans from everything else. The study of grammaticalization processes has shown that grammatical distinctions tend to develop by the gradual change of individual lexical morphemes, words and phrases into grammatical markers or constructions. The important word here is "individual". What we think of as a grammatical category or sub-system may consist of several layers of items that have grammaticalized at different points in time and are located at different points along a path of grammaticalization. The existence of a grammatical distinction in a language is often no obstacle to the rise of a new one with an apparently very similar function. For instance, one and the same language may display several future markers of different age and degree of grammaticalization (e.g., shall, will vs. be going to in English, or the inflectional future vs. the aller construction in French) (Bybee—Dahl 1989, Bybee et al. 1994, Dahl (forthcoming)). Another related conclusion to be drawn from the results of recent typological research is that we should not expect that a given distinction is always made in the same way in a language. That case systems are often different for pronouns and nouns has of course been known for a long time, but the frequency of "splits" in systems with respect to accusative and ergative markings has probably not been appreciated. Likewise, tense and aspect markings may be very different for adjectival and verbal predicates. Conversely, semantically analogous distinctions may show up in very different parts of a

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grammar, as when case marking in Slavic and Finno-Ugric languages is partly determined by aspectual considerations. There is often an implicit assumption that the traditional "grammatical categories" will correspond to neat modules in grammar. However, for the reasons just mentioned, we cannot expect to find, e.g., the case or tense/aspect system of a language in the sense of one well-integrated system of oppositions. What I want to argue for in this paper is that gender is no different. The study of the diachronic development of gender distinctions has so far mainly been limited to the investigation of individual languages, and almost nothing has been done in an explicit grammaticalization perspective. It is obvious, however, that many of the cases of complex gender systems discussed above are not only synchronically decomposable into elementary gender distinctions as defined here but can also be seen as consisting of different historical layers. Thus, we know that the animacy distinctions in Slavic treated as "sub-genders" by Corbett developed relatively late and were added to the traditional Indo-European three-gender system without affecting its functioning in any fundamental way. Likewise, further back in time, this three-gender system seems to have arisen in two steps, one yielding the distinction between feminine and the other two genders, one separating masculine and neuter. We have seen that many four-gender systems are "layered" in the sense that the first two genders are for male and female humans and the third takes care of the rest of the animates, i.e., animals and sometimes plants. From the grammaticalization point of view, it is tempting to assume that the historically oldest distinction is that between animate and inanimate (in the strict sense)9 and that the first two genders have arisen later. This is in fact the story told for some North East Caucasian languages. Ibragimov (1990: 56) gives the following account of the rise of the Tsakhur gender system. The oldest distinction was between animate and inanimate (genders I-III vs. IV); then the male human nouns were differentiated from the others (gender I) and finally the female nouns formed gender II. In the closely related languages Kryz and Budukh the final step of this process has not taken place (in Kryz) or is only beginning (in Budukh, where only NPs referring to unmarried women are in gender ΙΠ). I do not want to claim that all gender systems with multiple genders are layered in this way. In particular, a set of classifiers may

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presumably develop all at once into gender markers. Such developments probably account for a large part of the multi-gender systems in, e.g., the Bantu and Australian languages, which, as mentioned above, do not seem to let themselves be reduced to elementary gender distinctions. Although this restricts the applicability of the decomposability hypothesis argued for in this paper, it still seems to remain true that elementary gender distinctions that follow the generalizations made above form the core even of those systems. Summing up, then, I hope to have shown the usefulness of the notion of an elementary gender distinction for the analysis of gender in the grammars of human languages. Notes

1. 2.

3.

I am indebted to Kari Fraurud for valuable comments on this paper. In the following, I shall be talking about the gender of NPs, rather than of nouns. The problem of the 'locus' of gender is discussed in Dahl (in this vol.), like the distinction between referential and lexical gender, which will be avoided here, since it is not directly relevant to the issues discussed in this paper. I provided no specification of how to determine what a "major"criterion is. It is fairly clear that other, more or less semantic criteria, exist. Diminutives and augmentatives often behave in special ways, as do sometimes pejorative nouns. It is also clear that there is a diachronic path from diminutives to feminine gender (Corbett 1991: 100-101) and that during this process various intermediate stages may be observed where the criteria are unclear. Mosel and Spriggs (ms.) claim that Teop, an Austronesian language spoken in Papua New Guinea, is an exception to the claim that sex is always the major criterion, since there are two human genders, one which (called 'gender I-E') comprises kin terms, proper names and "nouns referring to people of social importance" (e beerà 'a chief). (In fact, Tryon 1974, quoted by Corbett 1991, 140, gives Ngangikurrunggurr (Australian) as an example of a language where kin terms are in a different gender than other animate nouns.) Without denying the status of Teop as counterexample, one can still point to two facts of some importance. To start with, the distinction between the two human genders shows up only with articles, not in the other major locus for gender agreement in Teop, adjectives. This is relevant because the classes of nouns that go into the I-E gender behave in special ways in many languages with respect to determination: they may either have no articles at all or special ones. These phenomena are not however seen as pertaining to gender in traditional descriptions. What makes the Teop system seem more like gender is that there are at least five non-human nouns (the nouns for 'volcano', 'earthquake', 'dog', 'cat' and 'pig') that have 'leaked' into the I-E gender in Teop.

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4.

5.

6. 7. 8.

9.

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The other interesting circumstance is that proper names and kin terms have been seen as being higher on the animacy hierarchy (or some other closely related hierarchy) than other human nouns. Arguably, then, the Teop system is analyzable as consisting of two elementary gender distinctions (as characterized in the main text), one of which would be special in having its cut-off point farther up than is usually the case. Cf. also the discusión about Polish nominal inflection in section 6. The term "animacy" may be understood as referring more generally to the animacy hierarchy or more specifically to the distinction between human beings and animals on one hand and everything else on the other. For the latter distinction, I shall add "in the strict sense" whenever there is a risk of misunderstanding. Of course, there is in many languages considerable fluidity as to the actual cut-off points of animate genders. Thus, pets and other higher animals are often referred to by "human" pronouns in, e.g., English. In Swedish, the feminine pronoun hon may also be used in this way; the point made here is that the rules for using the masculine pronoun han about animals seem considerably more liberal. Possible exceptions are masculine-looking diminutives in -ik. Note that this does not coincide with the distinction between gender and sex in social science! There may be a statistical correlation between gender and number as grammaticalized phenomena—at least several of the language families where gender is wide-spread are also characterized by having grammatical number. A word of warning is in place here. What I say here does not mean that animacy in the strict sense is in any way more basic that other ways of dividing the animacy hierarchy. It does not even mean that the distinction in NE Caucasian started out as a distinction between animate and inanimate; such distinctions may well be the result of the expansion of an earlier human or even male human gender—this is in fact the way the Slavic animate "sub-genders" arose (Corbett 1991: 99).

References Aksenov, A.T 1984

"K problème èkstralingvisticeskoj motivacii grammaticeskoj kategorii roda", Voprosy jazykoznanija 33:14-25.

Andersson, Erik 1979 "Balansen mellan grammatiskt genus och semantiskt genus i svenskan", Folkmâlsstudier 26: 27^t8. Bybee, Joan—Osten Dahl 1989 "The creation of tense and aspect systems in the languages of the world", Studies in Language 13: 51-103.

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Bybee, Joan—Revere Perkins—William Pagliuca 1994 The evolution of grammar. Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago—London: University of Chicago Press. Claudi, Ulrike 1985 Zur Entstehung von Genussystemen: Überlegungen zu einigen theoretischen Aspekten, verbunden mit einer Fallstudie des Zande: Mit einer Bibliographie und einer Karte. Hamburg: Buske. Corbett, Greville 1991 Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dahl, Osten [in this vol.] "Animacy and the notion of semantic gender". [forthc.] "The grammar of future time reference in European languages", in Osten Dahl (ed.), Tense and aspect in the languages of Europe. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Dixon, Robert M. 1972 The Dyirbal language of North Queensland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Fraurud, Kari [in this vol.] "Proper names and gender in Swedish". Hockett, Charles F. 1958 A course in modern linguistics. New York: Macmillan. Ibragimov, Garun Xalilovic 1990 Caxurskij jazyk. Moskva: Nauka. Källström, Roger 1996 Om svenskans genussystem. En diskussion av nâgra analysalternativ. April 1995. Meddelanden frân Institutionen för Svenska Sprâket. Mosel, Ulrike—Ruth Spriggs ms. "The interaction of gender, number and possession in Teop (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)". Schmidt, A. 1985 Young People's Dyirbal: An example of language death from Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Teleman, Ulf 1987 "Hur mânga genus finns det i svenskan?", in: Ulf Teleman (ed.), Grammatik pâ villovägar. (Skrifter utgivna av Svenska spräknämnden). Stockholm: Svenska spräknämnden—Esselte Studium, 106-114. Tryon, Darreil 1974 Daly Family languages, Australia. (Pacific Linguistics, C32). Canberra: Australian National University. Tucker, Α. Ν.—Bryan, Μ. Α. 1966 Handbook of African Languages. London: Oxford University Press.

Grammatical gender and its development in Classical Arabic Jaakko

Hämeen-Anttila

1. Background The Common Semitic system of genders was relatively simple, as is shown by, e.g., Akkadian, and the same binary system also lies at the heart of the Classical Arabic1 system. In brief, Classical Arabic has two genders, which are traditionally called masculine and feminine. The gender of inanimate nouns is purely conventional, with no reference to any natural gender features. The feminine is usually either formed from the masculine by adding a suffix (+at- being the most frequently used) or expressed by a different word, with or without a feminine suffix. E.g.,

a. b. c. d. e. f.

masculine

feminine

kalb-2 kabi:rgamal'abqamar0

kalb+atkabi:r+atna:q+at'umm0 shams-

'dog·/'bitch' 'big, old', masc./fem 'camel', masc./fem. 'father' / 'mother' 'moon', masc. 'sun', fem.

This system dates back to Proto-Semitic and possibly derives from a more complex system in Proto-Afroasiatic, where grammatical gender may have been part of a larger system of nominal classes.3 In the sound plural, the feminine gender marker merges with the plural marker, lengthening of the final vowel:

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(2) a. b.

Hämeen-Anttila

singular

plural

muslimmuslim+at-

muslim+u:n4 muslim+a:t-

'Muslim', masc. 'Muslim', fem.

More complicated systems of natural gender (sex) are also met on the lexical level, but grammatically they are reducible to the binary system of genders (masculine—feminine); e.g., in the field of camelbreeding the vocabulary is naturally very specific and we can find more complicated systems such as ibil- 'camels', collective, syntactically feminine, ba'i:r- 'camel; mount', sex-indifferent, syntactically feminine, as against the sex-specific form gamal-/na:q+at- 'camel', masc./fem. Animate masculine words which have the morphological form of a feminine are syntactically masculine despite their form (khali:f+atkabi:r- 'old Caliph'; 'alla:m+at- kabi:r- 'old very-learned [man]'), whereas in inanimate nouns the marked form of the feminine is always grammatically feminine (maqbar+at- kabi:r+at- 'large cemetery').5 Besides clearly defined masculines and feminines there are certain words which may be of either gender (e.g., tari:q- 'road'; 'asal- 'honey') as well as a certain amount of dialectal variation even in the earliest documented period, i.e. pre-600 (A.D.). Adjectives denoting a specifically feminine state usually make do without any feminine marker (e.g., mur zawg- 'husband'—zawg+at- 'wife'), but Classical Arabic is very conservative in retaining unmarked, inanimate feminines, cf., e.g., the following pairs in Arabic and Akkadian: 'ard—(')er$+et- 'earth', nafs nap(i)sh+t- 'soul'. The Akkadian forms are historically attested up to three millennia before the Arabic ones, yet they are typologically newer, as is shown by comparative evi-

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dence. In these cases, it is Akkadian which conforms with the general tendency of a "shift to a more explicit form" (Ibrahim 1973: 81), but some reverse cases can also be found. E.g., in the case of Arabic qaws Akkadian qash+t- 'bow', the comparative evidence would favour a biradical *qash+t- as the oldest formi 9 (cf. also the Arabic irregular20 plural qisi:y- which is understandable only on the basis of a singular *qVs+(t)?-). In this case, Arabic may have dropped the formal marker of the feminine although the word has syntactically remained a feminine. Another interesting reinterpretation is to be found in the word for 'night'. In Proto-Semitic this word seems to have been a reduplicated *laylay, masc., which later developed phonetically into *layla:. The following discrepancy between the form — which could be analysed as containing a feminine marker (layla:—layl+a:) — and the original grammatical gender (masc.) was solved in different ways. In, e.g., Akkadian and Ge'ez, the change of gender was confirmed by the addition of the feminine suffix (li:la:+t-, le:li:+t-), but in Ugaritic, Epigraphic South Arabic, and also partly in Hebrew and Arabic, the form was changed to conform with masculine forms and the gender was retained (layl- and cognate forms, masc.). Biblical Hebrew is a rare instance where the discrepancy was tolerated, with the form layla:, masc.,21 in addition to the shortened layil. In Arabic we have the shortened form layl- (usually masc.) as well as the word lay 1+at- (fem.), which is either a direct descendant of *layla: or, more probably, was secondarily derived from layl- as a unit noun. Whatever its origin, lay 1+at- later received a unit noun meaning (layl- 'night-time in general'; layl+at- 'one night'). The suffix +at- also has other, possibly related usages which make the conventional label "feminine" problematic. It is used, first of all, as a purely derivational element, maktab- 'bureau'— maktab+at- 'bookshop',22 in inanimate nouns with no reference to any underlying natural gender. It differs from other derivational suffixes only in that it has an effect on the agreement: (7)

a.

maktab+at- kabi:r+at-

'a large bookshop'

b.

ginn+i:y- kabi:r-

'an old Jinni' (not: ginn+i:y- *kabi:r+i:y-)

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Arabic

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In other respects, it is identical with the other derivational suffixes (as well as prefixes). +at- is also used as an intensifying morpheme, as a collective formative and, most importantly, as a unit noun marker. The intensifying morpheme +at- is in theory gender indifferent, e.g., 'alla:m+at- 'very learned', masc./fem. (no feminine *'alla:m+at+at-), though it is rarely met with in the feminine (e.g., ragul- faru:q+at- 'a very scary man' vs. imra'+at- faru:q+at- 'a very scary woman').23 Note that in other cases Arabic can tolerate several derivational morphemes as well as a combination of these with the feminine marker ('arab+i:y+at- 'a female Arab'; nadm+a:n+at'repentant', fem.), although there is a certain tendency to avoid combinations of several suffixes. The intensifying use of +at- seems to be connected with the very common phenomenon of masculine personal names which are formally feminine (e.g., Talb+at-, Mu'a:wiy+at- etc.).24 Sometimes, too, the femininely marked masculine owes its existence to semantic shifts (e.g., hadr+at- 'presence1, fem. > '(His) Excellency', masc., possibly also khali:f+at- 'Caliph', masc.) but these are usually late and marginal phenomena. Other derivational elements containing +(a)t- are also found, but they remain obscure, cf., e.g., vocative 'abati which is obviously to be analysed as 'my father' 'ab+at+i(:) ({'ab 'father'}+aí+poss. 1. sg. suff.). +at- is also used as a collective formative, especially with the socalled nisba (individualizing or adjectival morpheme), e.g., khura:sa:n+i:y- 'Khurasanian', masc. sg., khura:sa:n+i:y+at- 'the Khurasanians', coll., but syntactically masculine plural in this sense.25 Often this seems to arise from feminine adjective usage: e.g., (al-)muctazil+at- 'the Mu'tazili theologians' obviously comes from al-firq+at- al-mu'tazil+at- 'the Mu'tazili group' or from some similar construction. A special case is the use of the morpheme +at- as a marker of a unit noun (hama:m- 'pigeons', coll.— hama:m+at- 'one pigeon').26 The resulting singular (hama:m+at-) has no reference to natural gender and it denotes as well a male as a female pigeon, but grammatically it is feminine (hama:m+at- kabi:r+at- 'an old pigeon, male or female'). The corresponding collective is usually taken as syntactically masculine, though feminine agreement is also found (namlkathi:r- or kathi:r+at- 'many ants', coll.).27 When the masculine is to

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be expressed, this has to be done analytically (dhakar- al-hama:m'the male of pigeons'; al~hama:m+at- adh-dhakar- 'a pigeon, a male [one]'). This leads to an unbalanced situation: (8) a. kalb-

kalb+at-

'dog'/'bitch' masc./fem. (male/female)

b. /iama:m-

hama:m+at-

'pigeons'/'pigeon' (group/individual)

c. baqar-

baqar+at-

'cattle'/'cow' (group/individual)

The use of a masculine derived from a different stem sometimes resolves this imbalance. Thus, baqar- (collective)—baqar+at(originally a sex-neutral unit noun)—thawr- 'bull' leads to baqar+atbeing reanalysed as 'cow' (instead of 'one head of cattle'). The unbalance may also be solved, especially in the postClassical language, by reserving the unit noun for the female and reanalysing the collective both as collective and singular masculine (see Drozdik 1974: 45), despite the vehement protests of the mediaeval grammarians, who were adamant in insisting that one has to say, e.g., ha:dhihi batt+at- 'this (fem.) is a duck' even when speaking of a drake. Cases where there is a different word for the male (e.g., baqar+at thawr-) have certainly made it easier to analyse the unit noun as female.28

4. Broken plural and gender One of the most conspicuous features which differentiate Arabic and other South Semitic languages from the rest of the Semitic languages, is the development in Arabic of a new29 system of plurals, viz. the so-called broken plural, which led to an interesting development in the gender system. In Pro to-Semitic, the plural was formed by adding a suffix (which merged with the gender marker). The Akkadian plural system represents this phase:

Grammatical gender and its development in Classical

(9) a. b.

singular

plural

sharrsharr+at-

sharr+u:sharr+a:t-

Arabic

603

'king' 'queen'

In Arabic there developed another system of the plural, and by the time the documented period of Arabic begins, this so-called broken plural has become the majority type. The broken plural is formed by changes in noun pattern: (10) a. b.

masc. fem.

(11) a. b.

masc. fem.

singular

sound plural

muslimmuslim+at-

muslim+u:n muslim+a:t-

singular

broken plural

kalbqirb+at-

kila:bqirab-

'Muslim' 'Muslim', fem.

'dog' 'water-skin'

The development of this system led to the collapse of the older plural system, which was restricted to certain nouns (e.g., participles); the vast majority of plurals in any given text will undoubtedly be broken plurals. The new broken plurals were analysed syntactically as collectives, a class which had hitherto been in marginal existence, and this caused a major development in the gender system, as the broken plurals tend to behave syntactically as feminine singulars (when not denoting male humans). The femininity of broken plurals is left unmarked. It should be noted that the nominal patterns of broken plurals are by themselves in no way gender marked: a broken plural pattern, which is grammatically feminine singular, does not formally differ from singular noun patterns, which may be masculine. E.g., (12) a. b.

singular

broken plural

pattern KiKa : Kkita:b- 'book', masc.

kila:b- 'dogs', fem.

pattern KuKu:Kqudu:m- 'arrival', masc.

qulu:b- 'hearts', fem.

604

Jaakko

Hämeen-Anttila

Only in the case where we have a pattern solely reserved for the broken plural, could we theoretically speak of a femininely marked pattern, e.g., ' aKKuK-. In the broken plural, the morpheme +at- has no effect on agreement, and it is in fact at its commonest, for some reason, in words denoting masculine human beings, which are grammatically masculine plurals. E.g., gaba:bir+at- (sg. gabba:r- 'tyrant'), gaba:bir+atkathi:r+u:n 'many tyrants'; bamal+at- (sg. ha:mil- 'porter': note that in the sense 'pregnant', the plural of ha:mil-, fem., is hawa:mil-)\ mala:bid+at- (sg. mulfid- 'heretic'); fala:sif+at- (sg. faylasu:f'philosopher') etc. In some of these cases the morpheme +at- is simply used for compensatory lengthening (e.g., tilmi:dh- 'student', pi. tala:mi:dh- or tala:midh+at-).3° When there are singular patterns with and without the feminine marker +at-, these often merge in the plural (maka:tib- plural of both maktab- 'bureau', masc., and maktab+at- 'bookshop', fem.). The ending -I-at- is syntactically irrelevant in the broken plural— the broken plurals are syntactically feminine whether they have the ending +at- or not, except for words referring to male human beings which are masculine whether they have the ending +at- or not—and there is in fact no other reason to connect it with the feminine marker except the identical form. The gender of the singular has no influence on the grammatical gender of the broken plural, and there is no distinction between masculine and feminine inanimate nouns in the broken plural: qi$a$(sg. qi$$+at- 'story', fem.) and 'akhba:r- (sg. khabar- 'story', masc.) have identical agreement {qi$a$- gadi:d+at-, 'akhba:r- gadi:d+atboth 'new stories', but in the singular qi$$+at- gadi:d+at- vs. khabargadi:d-) with one major exception, viz. the agreement with numerals. In Classical Arabic, as in almost all the older Semitic languages, the system of numerals and their agreement is very peculiar. The main rule, which interests us here, is that the cardinal numbers from three to ten have an inverse agreement with the qualifying noun: (13) a.

b.

thala:th+atmuslim+i:n three (fem.) Muslims (masc.) 'three male Muslims' thala:thmuslim+a:tthree (masc.) Muslims (fem.) 'three female Muslims'

Grammatical gender and its development in Classical Arabic

605

In the case of the broken plural, this rule is based on the gender of the singular (thala:th+at- 'akhba:r- vs. thala:th- qi$a$-) and this forms the only case where the grammatical gender of the singular noun exercises any influence on the grammatical gender of the broken plural. Notes 1.

2.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8. 9.

It may not be superfluous to begin by defining the somewhat problematic tenn "Classical Arabic". By Classical Arabic is meant the language of Arabic literary texts written in the Middle Ages. Its grammar was more or less fixed by the grammarians at the end of the 8th century, and the language is to some extent artificial; Classical Arabic has never been spoken by anyone, except for scholars. It was based on the spoken language of the early 7th century, and the voluminous mediaeval grammatical literature has preserved a regrettably tangled mass of evidence concerning the early spoken language. The hyphen at the end of the word stands for the case markers. In accordance with general usage, these are left unmarked. Thus kalb- stands for kalb-un (nominative), kalb-an (accusative) or kalb-in (genitive). The sound masculine plural marker +u:n(a) has been transcribed as +u:n. This view seems to be the most common one, and it is given as a fact in the standard handbook of Moscati et al. (1980: 84-86), although the volume is by no means famed for innovative spirit. The long vowel of +u:n derives from the nominative case marker (muslimun). Cf. (Ibrahim 1973: 54). This rule often holds true also for inanimate nouns which are feminine but lack a specifically feminine marker, but note that the plural of 'ard- 'earth', feminine, is 'ar(a)d+u:n (sound masculine plural!). Standard grammars of Semitic languages derive all words from a normally triconsonantal root (KKK) but this is merely a convention of grammarians, not accurate linguistic description. In Semitic languages, root means the consonantal skeleton, usually consisting of three consonants, which defines the general semantic field; whether a thematic vowel should be included in the root, is a matter of controversy. Pattern means the form which specifies the meaning of the word. Thus, e.g., ka:tib- 'scribe; writer' can be analysed as root KTB (general meaning: 'writing') pattern Ka : K i K - 'active participle'. The third, "residue", group of pronouns, particles etc. need not concern us here. The term adjective is used by many Semitists, but I believe that it fits Arabic only in this modified sense and it should be avoided, being a category which does not follow the natural structure of Semitic languages.

606

10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

15. 16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21.

Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila

Analysed as QBR (root 'burying') χ ma-KKaK+at - (pattern: 'place of action') = maqbar+at- 'burial place, cemetery'. Analysed as KHRG(root: 'going out') χ Ka : KiK- (pattern: 'active participle') = khairig- (fem. kha:rig+at-) 'out-going', masc./fem. Not analysable.—In standard grammars this would, though, be analysed as GML χ KaKaK-, but this has no linguistic justification. In Classical Arabic, a new pattern maKKu : K- was developed and it has partly replaced the older form, but there are still ample remnants of the older pattern. Thurmul+at- itself contains the feminine marker but this seems to be a later development. The form without +at-, thurmul-, is rare and obscure (see, e.g., Ibn Manzür 1408/1988, 2: 94b). Similar development is very common in Classical Arabic, cf., e.g., labu'+at- 'lioness' (cf. 'asad- 'lion', mase.; no *labu'-), silq+at- 'female wolf (cf. dhi'b- 'wolf, masc.; the rare silq- 'male wolf is most probably a back formation from silq+at-). In all these cases, the feminine is doubly marked, both lexically and morphologically, and it seems probable that the lexical marking is the original one. In many other cases, mainly domesticated animals, the female is expressed lexically, without the feminine marker, e.g., 'ata:n- 'donkey', fem. (cf. hima:r- 'male donkey'). The word for 'camel', fem., na:q+at-, is a case of substantivization, as it originates from within the root system (< *yana:q+at-, from YNQ, 'to suckle'—the verb itself has become obsolete in Arabic but it is well known in other Semitic languages). Fleisch (1961: 319-324) has argued for + i (< *+i:) as another feminine marker, but his arguments are not convincing. This is a secondary development. See also Drozdik (1973: 243). Cf., e.g., the Hebrew system with +a: in the status absolutus and +at [at] in the status constructus. Diachronically, though, the marker +t- seems to be as old as (or perhaps even older than) +at- and the changes in the noun pattern with +t- are mostly secondary. E.g., Common Semitic had the pair *bin- 'son'—*bin+t 'daughter'. Later, the masculine lost its vowel in some forms of Old Arabic (although the vowel has been preserved in many dialects which are the basis of the present-day dialects, which often still retain bin) and it has been codified in this form in Classical Arabic, i.e. (i)bn- (the first vowel is an auxiliary one and is not retained in context forms). The feminine bin+t- was, on the contrary, not subject to any phonetic changes and thus the pair *bin—bin+t- developed into (i)bn- -bin+t- with a seeming change of pattern. The system-oriented character of Arabic may be seen in the word (i)bn+atwhich has been secondarily formed to match the latecomer (i)bn-. Contra Ibrahim (1973: 81). The overwhelming evidence from different Semitic languages makes it very difficult to reconstruct *qash- without the feminine marker. The regular plural 'aqwa:s- is an obvious neologism. This form can also be analysed as layl+a:, with the Hebrew feminine marker +a:. I am very sceptical about taking the final -a: as a remnant of an accusative marker, as has been suggested.

Grammatical gender and its development in Classical Arabic

22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

27. 28.

29.

30.

607

Analysed as KTB (root: 'writing') χ ma-KKaK ( + a t ) - (pattern: 'place of action'). This example is taken from as-Suyütx (1406/1986, 2: 206). Note also that a sound feminine plural is used for these names: Talh+at-, pi. Tal(a)h+a:t-. But khura:s:an+i:y + at- 'one Khurasani woman' is, of course, grammatically feminine singular. This has been briefly studied by Drozdik in a still valuable article (1974). It might be mentioned in passing that the morpheme +at- is functionally equivalent to the so-called nisba +-i:y- (fem. +i:y+at-). In this meaning, the morpheme +at- is used solely for non-humans whereas nisba is mainly used for humans: hama:m- 'pigeons', coll. > fjama:m+at- 'a pigeon' vs. carab'Arabs', coll. > 'arab+-i:y- 'an Arab1. Fischer (1972: 49). Note that collectives, especially when referring to nonhuman beings, are usually syntactically feminine if no unit nouns can be derived from them by the addition of +at-. I cannot quite agree with Drozdik (1973: 225), who sees in the pair thawr— baqar+at- a gender division based on inflectional and lexical means. Synchronically—and his study is purely synchronic—this view can naturally be defended, but adding a diachronic dimension shows the secondary character of this pair as a male / female pair. Older scholars and even many contemporary ones tend to look at Arabic as the most conservative of the Semitic languages—as it indeed is when it comes to the phonological system—and consequently see the broken plural as an archaic feature, but their efforts to find "remnants" of this plural in other Semitic languages have not been very promising. The very rare similarities in other Semitic languages to the broken plural are better seen as sporadic parallel developments. See also Fleisch (1961:458^59).

References Drozdik, Ladislav 1973 "Grammatical gender in Arabic nouns", Graecolatina et Orientalia 5: 217-248. 1974 "Collective and unit nouns as sex—gender pairs in Arabic", Asian and African Studies 10:41-48. Fischer, Wolfdietrich 1972 Grammatik des klassischen Arabisch. Porta Linguarum Orientalium, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. Fleisch, Henri 1961 Traité de philologie arabe. I: Préliminaires, phonétique, morphologie nominale. Recherches publiées sous la direction de l'Institut de lettres orientales de Beyrouth 16. Beyrouth: Imprimerie catholique.

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Ibn Man zur 1408/1988

Lisän al-'arab [The language of the Arabs]. Ed. fAiï ShM. 1-18. Bayrüt: Dar ifjyä' at-turäth al-'arabî. Ibrahim, Muhammad Hassan 1973 Grammatical gender. Its origin and development. Janua Linguarum, Series Minor, 166. The Hague—Paris: Mouton. Moscati, Sabatino et al. 1980 An introduction to the comparative grammar of the Semitic Languages. Porta Linguarum Orientalium. (3rd edition.) Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. as-Suyûtï 1406/1986 al-Muzhir β 'ulüm al-lugha [The radiant (book) on linguistic sciences]. Ed. Muhammad Ahmad Gad al-Mawlä Beg et al. 1-2. Saydä —Bayrüt: al-Maktaba al-'açnya.

Gender in French: A diachronic perspective Juhani Härmä

I would like to start by presenting briefly the main topics which have been discussed in connection with the question of gender in French. Perhaps the bulk of the studies deal with morphological and semantic issues related to the forms of nouns, both as far as Modern French and the previous stages of the language are concerned. Diachronically speaking, there is of course the question of the outcome of the Latin neuter gender, that is, what happens to Latin neuter nouns, since (Old) French only preserves the masculine and the feminine. Nouns have also changed gender from Latin to French or from Old French to Modern French; masculine could become feminine, or the reverse. E.g., poudre 'powder' became feminine; Lat. pulvis 'dust' was masculine; amour 'love' used to be feminine, but is nowadays normally masculine (e.g., Brunot—Bruneau 1961: 195198). Certain nouns have preserved both genders in French; e.g., délice 'delight' is masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural. Some nouns are a constant source of hesitation and discussion, even though (or because) they are not very commonly used, e.g., effluve(s) 'fragrance, exhalation'. The gender of borrowings is also of topical interest; e.g., most anglicisms are masculine, though not all. The Finnish borrowing sauna was and is still often considered feminine, but officially it is masculine. This relates also to psycholinguistic experiments where gender assignment by children or native speakers in general is tested (is an "unknown" word like sauna more likely to be masculine or feminine?). Several homonyms can be distinguished thanks to gender. This is actually one of the rather few obvious advantages of the gender system, though the advantage is not remarkable. If the preferred gender of le sandre 'pike-perch' is nowadays masculine, it is probably in part so that no confusion can arise with la cendre 'ash'.

610

Juhani Härmä

As one can see, there is not nor can there be much systematicity in studies of these kinds, since they are mostly concerned with individual words (with some exceptions, as the gender of borrowings in Modern French, which I just mentioned - even there the picture is not clear-cut). On the other hand, there seems to have been lately a kind of shift in the interest shown towards questions of gender in French, and more emphasis has now been laid on the neutralization of gender in French, to which I will come back. One issue which relates more to gender assignment and gender marking as a system, as well as to neutralization, is the conflict between sex and gender when it comes to animate or human nouns, like la sentinelle 'sentry' or la basse 'bass singer', where the feminine form looks rather improbable, but where there is no hesitation nowadays as to the grammatical gender of these nouns (e.g., Riegel— Pellai—Rioul 1994: 172-173). Finally, a very hot topic since at least the 80s is the problem of the feminine forms of certain masculine nouns. Auteur 'author' is traditionally only masculine, with no feminine, though in Canada, the form une auteure is currently used. Also the form autrice has been suggested, not to speak of auteuse. The same problem arises with other professional nouns like docteur, écrivain or ministre, with different possible morphological solutions (Bierbach—Ellrich 1990: 254). I would like to take a somewhat different approach here and make some tentative suggestions as to the possibility of examining gender in French more from a syntactic and textual viewpoint. Gender can be considered as one of the phenomena which ensure syntactic and textual cohesion. From a diachronic point of view, the major changes in the French gender system took place with the birth of the Romance languages from Latin. I will not go into that here, since these historical changes have been discussed often enough. The formal changes include, as far as French is concerned, the practically total loss of the Latin declension and case system, and as I mentioned, the loss of the neuter gender. The masculine and the feminine were preserved and shared between themselves the neuter nouns, whereas no changes worth mentioning took place as far as number was concerned. Gender and number are indeed closely connected in French and are often impossible to dissociate. However, it is clearly easier to break gender agreement and gender assignment rules than those concerned with number, and this is indeed what has been done through-

Gender in French: A diachronic perspective

611

out the history of French. This is one of the issues I will address in this paper, and it relates to neutralization, which I have already mentioned. I would like to outline a comparison of the gender marking and agreement systems in Modern French and Old French. This is perhaps not exactly what is meant by a diachronic perspective; maybe it is rather a superimposition of two synchronic systems, but I will also refer to Middle French, the transitional stage between the two. Some salient features of the Modern French gender system should perhaps be briefly mentioned here. In contemporary French, gender is considered to be a property of the noun which the noun transmits, via agreement, to other categories, namely the determiners, the adjective and sometimes the past participle, as well as to the pronouns which represent the noun. The rules governing this agreement are somewhat intricate, at least when it comes to the agreement of the past participle, but they are well established and codified nevertheless. It would be much more complex to give a systematic presentation of the morphemes and lexemes which show and which do not show overt gender, since none of the categories just mentioned (noun, determiner, adjective, past participle and pronoun) always show gender - far from it. In addition to that, the rules governing the choice of the items showing gender, or the rules governing gender resolution, are rather complex too. French speakers themselves consider their gender system to be clear and rigorous, while speakers of other languages might be tempted not to agree with them (cf. Le Bidois—Le Bidois 1971: 44). It has been said that the evolution of the French gender system from the period of Old French up to contemporary French only bears on details in the system, and, as I mentioned earlier, the major changes are said to have taken place before the period of Old French (Picoche—Marchello-Nizia 1994: 219). (Old French stretches from the 9th century to the beginning or the middle of the 14th century, and thus theoretically covers 500 years, but in practice we have texts from a period of about 300 years.) What characterizes the Old French system, in this case as well as in others, is its instability and lack of clear-cut grammatical rules. One of the most salient features of the Old French gender system is the use of masculine forms to replace feminine ones (Bonnard— Régnier 1989: 43-44; Moignet 1973: 38). This is usually not totally systematic in any single text, but can be fairly frequent nevertheless.

612

JuhaniHärmä

It is mostly a typical Northern dialect feature, and can appear both in the article and in the pronoua That is, instead of the feminine definite article la, we find the corresponding masculine form le, in instances such as en le maison 'in the house', es canbres le roïne entrèrent 'into the rooms of the queen they entered' or le file a la borgoise 'the daughter of the woman'. In this last example, we have two nouns referring to women, and the first one is determined by the masculine form, the second one by the feminine one. This kind of replacement occurs with the definite article, not with the indefinite. (The examples given here are from a fairly early poem, Le Lai de Graelent [late 12th or early 13th century], and this feature is totally pervasive in this text.) The other category showing this kind of vacillating gender assignment or marking is the personal pronoun of the 3rd person, both the subject and the object form. Instead of the expected elle(s) as subject, we can find il(z), and instead of the object form la, we may find le. One of the complex features of both the Old and the Modern French systems is the fact that gender is neutralized in several forms; the third person has distinct masculine and feminine direct object forms in the singular (le, la), whereas there is only one unstressed plural form les. These same forms, le, la, les, are also used as definite articles, as we know, and so gender is neutralized in the plural article too, both in Old and in Modern French. However, gender marking is not always neutralized in the third person object forms, since there are also stressed and indirect object forms where the distinction is made. To discuss the system in detail here would unfortunately be too complex. See the following example: (1)

Li rois Uterpandragon (...) avoit si la dame en son euer k'il ne le pooit oublier en nule maniere du monde. (Tristan en prose, 13 th century.) 'King Uterpandragon loved the woman so much that he could not forget him (= her) in any way.'

The masculine form used to refer to a woman is less frequent with subject pronouns in Old French, whereas the situation is different in Middle French (see below). The features I have mentioned do not show up in every text, but they are indicative of a tendency to neutralize the overt distinction between the two genders. When one examines medieval texts, it is

Gender in French: A diachronic perspective

613

fairly easy to see that it is the article and the personal pronoun which are the main carriers of the gender distinction, even though, e.g., other determiners and adjective agreement also participate in that task. This is fairly similar to the situation in Modern French. Overt gender marking could probably be quantified on the basis of a study of several texts, both medieval and contemporary, and this would allow one to see what differences there are in the use of overt marking. Here I can only present brief tentative remarks. What is clearly different in Old French compared with Modern French is the fact that 3rd person subjects need not be overtly marked, subject to certain rules. The same also goes for articles. I will not list here the conditions governing the omission of the 3rd person subject or the article. Examples can be found in any text, and they of course reduce overt gender marking in the texts, though they do not necessarily contribute to a lack of gender cohesion. Gender marking is so pervasive, even though unsystematic, that even if, e.g., the definite article is missing, it usually shows in the noun ending, in the attributive adjective or in a coreferential pronoun. Nevertheless, this is obviously totally different from Modern French, where subjects and articles can practically never be omitted, contrary to other Romance languages. I would like to give here an example where the referential relations can appear somewhat fuzzy, due to a partial lack of subject pronouns, even though there are other clues as to the identification of the two referents, a man (indicated in this excerpt with an M) and a woman (F). (2) Mais el (F) Γ (M) a par la renne pris, aterre _ (F) l'(M) a ariere mis. Puis _(F) li (M) distqu'il(M) η'i peut passer, ja tant _(M) ne s'en sara pener; (F) commande li (M) que _ (M) voist ariere. Ele (F) se met en la riviere, mais il (M) ne puet mie soupir que de lui (M) _ (M) le (F) voie partir. En l'eve _ (M) entre tout a ceval, l'onde Γ (M) enporte contreval, départi Γ (M) ade son destrier. (Lai de Graelent, 669-680)

614

Juhani Härmä

'But she (F) took him (M; epicene form) by the reins, and _ (F) drew him (M; epicene form) to the ground. Then _ (F) told him (M; epicene form) that he (M) cannot cross however much _ (M) may try. _ (F) tells him (M; epicene form) that _ (M) should go back. She (F) enters the river, but he (M) cannot tolerate that from him (M) _ (M) would see her (F; masc. form) depart. Into the water _ (M) enters on horseback, the stream carries him (M; epicene form) away, and deprived him (M; epicene form) of his horse.' Generally speaking, missing subject pronouns tend to reduce textual cohesion by blurring anaphoric or referential relations. This is fairly common in older texts, where one may have to make efforts to sort out the anaphoric chains relating to various textual referents. These were just a few examples of the differences between the Old and Modern French systems. Next I will give a few brief remarks on Middle French, a shorter period of less than 200 years, stretching from about 1350 to the end of the 15th century. A pervasive and somewhat surprising syntactic-textual feature in Middle French is the use of the masculine form il(z) for the corresponding feminine plural elles (Marchello-Nizia 1979: 175). This is not the nowadays normal neutralization situation, where the masculine plural can stand for both genders, when it refers, e.g., to a group consisting of men and women. In this instance, the masculine form simply replaces the feminine one, with more regularity than the Old French instances which I just mentioned, though it cannot be found in all texts. One example is the following: (3)

Il est vray et vérité, sire, que je les y ay assommees, [- les brebis] tant que plusieurs se sont pasmees maintes fois, et sont cheues mortes, tant fussent els saines et fortes; et puis je luy faisoye entendre, affin qu'il ne m'enpeust reprendre, qu'ilz mouroyent de la clavelee. (Maistre Pierre Pathelin, 1091-1098; mid-15th century.)

Gender in French: A diachronic perspective

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'It is quite true, mylord, that I stunned them (= the sheep; epicene form), so that several fainted many times, and dropped dead, even though they (F) were in good health and strong; and then I told him so that he could not blame me, that they (M) died of sheep disease.' This is a feature pertaining to the rather brief period of Middle French, but it is nevertheless in line with the phenomena observed in Old French (cf. Martin—Wilmet 1980: 149). Missing subjects and articles become less common in Middle French, and this can be interpreted in principle as adding to cohesion—but these are of course just a few factors contributing to this. Apart from that, Middle French even tends to show what has been called hyperdetermination (hypercharacterization), which is expressed by the use of gendermarked relative pronouns/adjectives instead of determiners or personal pronouns (Malkiel 1957). This means that the unmarked, selfevident determiner, which does not necessarily express gender at all, is very often replaced by a marked form whose main characteristic is to show overt gender. (4)

Lesquelles paroles par Madame dittes 'Which (fem.) words said by the lady' (Antoine de la Sale, Jean de Saintré 50/3; ca. 1450)

The relative adjective here (lesquelles) is in the feminine form, which would not be apparent, e.g., in the definite article {les) or the demonstrative adjective (ces) in the plural. This is also a very typical feature of Middle French. There is thus a tendency in Middle French towards increasing overt gender marking compared with Old French. Even in this respect, Middle French is a transitional period, bridging the "gap" between Old French and Modern French. I have already presented briefly the main characteristics of the gender system in present-day French. One major question which I have mentioned several times, but which probably requires more discussion, is the phenomenon of neutralization, or gender resolution, when it comes to choosing which form (masculine or

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feminine) to use (Corbett 1991: 279). In French, the masculine forms have also taken over the functions of the neuter or the unmarked gender; that is, whenever the referent is somehow neutral or genderfree, and whenever both sexes need to be referred to with the same form, it is the masculine which should be used. (This was in principle the situation already during the older stages of the language.) This means that if we have a group consisting of, say, one hundred women and one man, it is still the masculine form, e.g., the plural subject pronoun ils which must be used to refer to them. Incidentally, and this is of course one of the peculiarities of the Modern French system, not all of the third-person forms would make the distinction: the unstressed direct and indirect object forms in the plural (les, leur) do not show any gender, just the number. Gender is also very often neutralized in speech, as opposed to written language, but I will not go into that here, though it is one major characteristic which distinguishes French from other Romance languages. This means that gender, which shows overtly in writing, may not be heard in speech; e.g., les jolies roses 'the beautiful roses', where one can see that the adjective has feminine marking, but which is heard only in some regional varieties, not in standard French. On the other hand, this noun phrase nevertheless has indirect gender marking, since nouns ending in -ose are usually feminine. This piece of information is probably not known to most French speakers, who would know the gender of rose in any case, nor to foreigners. The gender of most French nouns can indeed be deduced from their endings, but this presupposes some theoretical knowledge of the language and its morphology. One should note in any case that even those nouns which do not have clearly feminine suffixes (cf. maison 'house' as opposed to maisonnette) very often carry indirect or implicit information on their gender. To conclude this paper, I will discuss the question of gender resolution. "Normal", grammatically accepted neutralization of gender takes place in examples like the following one: (5)

Ils avaient cessé de causer depuis une minute environ, et tous deux regardaient le feu (Guy de Maupassant, La bûche) 'They had stopped talking a minute ago, and both were watching the fire'

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The larger context is missing, but the two persons mentioned here are a man and a woman, and they are twice referred to with a masculine form. In a certain number of textbooks on French, where its evolution is discussed, one finds a type of example supposed to illustrate gender neutralization which is somewhat similar to Old or Middle French. Examples like Ma femme (il) est jaloux 'my wife (he) is jealous' are said to belong to a very casual spoken register, called français populaire 'popular French' (cf. Frei [1982]: 145). I suspect that these constructions, though documented in the speech of the so-called lower classes at the turn of the century, are not very common nowadays, even though they are quoted even in recent textbooks. Obviously French speakers do make inadvertent morphological mistakes of this kind, where the adjective complement, which should be in the feminine, remains in the masculine. A woman might say: J'étais confus Ί was embarrassed (mase.)', instead of confuse (Ager 1990: 119). But this is a question which is not related to any loose and uneducated discourse. Obviously not just any adjective can remain in the basic form; e.g., it would be very difficult to imagine a French speaker saying *Ma femme est beau 'my wife is beautiful (masc.)'. But spoken language would "allow" one to make other mistakes inadvertently which have even been grammaticalized elsewhere in Romance. One might thus use incorrectly the uninflected form of the past participle in a sentence like La lettre que j'ai écrit... 'the letter I wrote'. In Italian it is more common nowadays not to inflect the past participle in the feminine, and one can wonder whether this might not be something which could take place in French in a more remote future. As to the pronoun il which appears in examples like the previously mentioned Ma femme il est jaloux, it is also not so likely to occur in oral discourse to refer to a feminine referent. There is perhaps a more common way to avoid overt hyperdetermined gender marking, as in this example, and that is to use the neuter indefinite pronoun f a , as in Les femmes ça parle toujours beaucoup 'women "it" always speaks a lot'. It can also be used to refer to masculine referents and non-humans, but the interesting use here is the one where the referent is indeed human. In this instance, textbooks often neglect to emphasize this use, which is probably spreading (the form ce can also be used: L'art moderne, c'est pas très intéressant 'modem art, it's not very interesting').

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Textually speaking, there would probably be a kind of sylleptical tendency in French to go over to using a masculine, i.e., a neutral pronoun even when the antecedent is initially feminine. This can easily occur when, e.g., the noun phrase les personnes (feminine plural) is used to refer to a group consisting of representatives of both sexes. It would be logical to start using ils as the anaphoric pronoun after a first (or a second) occurrence of the noun phrase. When one studies French texts, it is easy to notice that there are very few sentences without any gender marking at all. Gender marking is undoubtedly a pervasive phenomenon of the French language, and this has always been the case. On the other hand, it is also apparently random; one can think of noun phrases like la belle bicyclette verte 'the beautiful green bicycle', where the feminine gender is overtly marked in all the words, and of others like ces deux livres rouges 'these two red books', where there is no gender marking at all. Adjectives would need an extended discussion, which I cannot do here (cf. Picoche—Marchello-Nizia 1994: 219; Riegel—Pellat— Rioul 1994: 358-360); due to the differences between speech and writing and to the existence of epicene adjectives, like rouge, adjectives exhibit three different marking possibilities (elle est jolie (marking only in writing) / charmante (writing and speech) / moche (no gender marking)). As to the differences between Old and Modern French, they are perhaps not so great from the point of view of the whole system, but in spite of that, there are several of them, and the two gender systems clearly do not coincide. The situation is far from clear-cut in Modern French. On the one hand, the language might be moving towards an increasing use of the neutralized or masculine form in the anaphoric pronominal system, though this has obviously no effect on the use of, e.g., articles as gender markers. On the other hand, dislocated or detached constructions, like the one given above, Ma femme il est jaloux, may be becoming more and more frequent in the spoken language (since they have even been considered as a source of a possible basic word order change in French). This would then mean that the use of 3rd person subject pronouns would increase, and in that case it would mean more use of both the masculine and the feminine forms - once again, a kind of hyperdetermination.

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References Ager, Dennis 1990

Sociolinguistics and contemporary French. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bierbach, Christine—Beate Ellrich 1990 "Sprache und Geschlechter", in: Günther Holtus—Michael Metzeltin—Christian Schmitt (eds.), 248-266. Bonnard, Henri—Claude Régnier 1989 Petite grammaire de l'ancien français. Paris: Magnard. Brunot, Ferdinand—Charles Bruneau 1961 Précis de grammaire historique de la langue française. (5th edition.) Paris: Masson. Corbett, Greville 1991 Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Frei, Henri 1929 La grammaire des fautes. Paris-Genève: Bellegarde. [1982] [Reprinted Genève-Paris: Slatkine Reprints.] Holtus, Günther—Michael Metzeltin—Christian Schmitt (eds.) 1990 Lexikon der romanistischen Linguistik. Vol. V, 1. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Le Bidois, Georges—Robert Le Bidois 1971 Syntaxe du français moderne. Vol. I. (2nd edition.) Paris: Picard. Malkiel, Yakov 1957 "Diachronic hypercharacterization in Romance", Archivum linguisticum IX: 79-113. Marchello-Nizia, Christiane 1979 Histoire de la langue française aux XlVe et XVe siècles. Paris: Bordas. Martin, Robert—Marc Wilmet 1980 Manuel du français du moyen âge. 2. Syntaxe du moyen français. Bordeaux: Sobodi. Moignet, Gérard 1973 Grammaire de l'ancien français. (2nd edition.) (Initiation à la linguistique Β 2.) Paris: Klincksieck. Picoche, Jacqueline—Christiane Marchello-Nizia 1994 Histoire de la langue française. (3rd edition.) Paris: Nathan. Riegel, Martin—Jean-Christophe Pellat—René Rioul 1994 Grammaire méthodique du français. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.

On the phonology of gender in Modern German* Raymond Hickey

1. Introduction Among the various distinctions which the grammar of a language may evince is that of gender. It represents an axis along which a word class, that of nouns, can be divided into different types. The category of grammatical gender is one which is, however, largely semantically redundant. In this respect it can be contrasted with other grammatical categories which are semantically relevant. By this is meant that they have some extra-linguistic significance. For example the distinctions in tense made among verbs by and large reflect different chronological stages outside of language, the distinctions of aspect in, say, Russian reflect the different attitudes or standpoints of speakers describing actions, etc. The distinctions with grammatical gender in a language have no such extra-linguistic correlates (unless they overlap with natural gender). They represent a purely formal distinction in the language and are as such semantically irrelevant. In some instances, however, the category of gender may be used retrospectively to make a formal distinction between semantically separate words (see examples in 1.2 below). One should be careful here not to misinterpret the role of gender. It is not true to say of a language which occasionally uses formal distinctions of gender to reflect a semantic distinction that gender has the function of making semantic distinctions. The question which arises when reflecting on grammatical gender is how it arose (Greenberg 1978). This question will be dealt with presently (see 2 below). Before doing so it is appropriate to stress the afunctional nature of grammatical gender, especially when examining a language such as Modern German which has this category and where gender assignment is only partly predictable. Here it is necessary to distinguish between categories which are formally redundant

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in a language and those which are semantically redundant. An example of the formal redundance is the type of double marking found frequently in the verbal system of a language for instance. Thus in English the -s inflection of the third person singular is formally redundant as the pronoun accompanying the verb always delimits it sufficiently from the remaining forms of the verb which vary in person and number. Looking at Swedish, for example, one sees that the third person singular of the verb is not marked but that person and number are sufficiently distinguished pronominally. Similar instances could be cited for German where the complex morphology of the verb provides many examples of formal redundancy. It is a valid point (Trudgill, forthcoming) that languages develop features which have little or no function. To understand how this occurs it is important to grasp that languages are not designed, they evolve. Were they human artefacts then a conscious decision might be made to reject grammatical gender on the grounds of afunctionality. But in language evolution agreement between noun and determiner may simply arise and—importantly—because children can acquire systems with grammatical gender effortlessly, this category will be perpetuated, especially in those languages which from their type support complex morphology, e.g., German or Russian. The question as to why languages allow gender to arise is thus out of place; the point is that speakers, in morphology-based languages, do not undertake any steps to remove incipient grammatical gender from their language, should this arise. Note that complex morphology is a necessary but not sufficient condition for grammatical gender, witness Finnish with an extensive agglutinating morphology and no grammatical gender. Here one should stress furthermore that languages cannot have just a little bit of grammatical gender: if agreement arises between different determiners and the nouns they accompany then this principle will become absolute in the language or it is dropped by later generations, particulary if phonetic indistinctiveness of determiners does not lend support to the system. For instance, it is scarcely conceivable that a language would have grammatical gender for, say, 30% or 70% of its lexicon only. Furthermore, when a language loses grammatical gender, as English did after the Old English period, then it loses it entirely.

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1.1. Redundancy of gender Grammatical gender is largely semantically redundant for the reasons outlined above. It is simply a formal property of present-day German. This assertion is obvious and yet it would seem necessary to stress it as many traditional grammarians of German, such as Erben (1980: 132f.), and even more so Brinkmann (1954: 411), tend to interpret gender functionally. For example Brinkmann, when looking at verbal derivations, states Wir können durch Genus und Suffix bei Verbalbegriffen vier Möglichkeiten unterscheiden: 1) das Masculinum begrenzt einen Vorgang auf einen bestimmten Fall; 2) das Femininum zerlegt ein Geschehen in wiederholte Aktionen; 3) das Neutrum kann als substantivierter Infinitiv den Vorgang als unbestimmten Verlauf geben, der keine räumlichen und zeitlichen Grenzen hat; 4) das Neutrum faßt verschiedene Aktionen zu einem Gesamtvorgang zusammen. Beispiele sind: Lauf - Lauferei - Laufen - Gelaufe, ... (Brinkmann 1954:41 lf.). [By means of gender and suffixes we can distinguish four options with verbal structures: 1) masculine gender restricts an action to an individual case; 2) feminine gender breaks an event down into repeated actions; 3) neuter gender, deriving from an infinitive used as a noun, indicates an indefinite course without any spatial or temporal limits; 4) the second type of neuter unites different actions into a whole. Examples are: Lauf- Lauferei Laufen - Gelaufe,... (translation mine, R.H.)]

As a description of the aspectual connotations associated with each type of verbal derivation this is entirely correct. However, the mistake which Brinkmann makes is to imagine that the particular connotation of a derivation is a property of the gender it takes. Rather the lexical items just mentioned have these connotations in themselves and in addition show a large degree of regularity in their grammatical gender due to their form. To be precise: gender assignment in the above cases is a matter of phonology: deverbal monosyllables are nearly always masculine (more on this below). In fact the few exceptions to this rule show clearly that gender and connotation are not causally connected: die Hast 'hurry, haste' and das Lob 'praise' are both deverbal monosyllables and despite the fact that neither is masculine they are parallel to formations like der Stoß 'thrust', der Halt 'stop; moral sustenance', der Spott 'disdain', etc. and carry the same connotations. With regard to the remaining types of verbal derivation one can also postulate

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gender assignment as being phonological: -ei is an ending which always requires feminine gender, irrespective of meaning, cf. die Auskunftei 'information bureau', the change from verb to noun by conversion (no formal change) always results in a neuter noun, cf. das Singen 'singing', etc. Verbal derivations formed by adding the prefix Ge- and deleting the -n of the infinitive are always neuter, cf. das Gedränge 'rush, push'. A further case of gender difference cited by Erben and which at first sight appears to be a case of semantic distinction by means of gender can be seen with the following forms: der Fluß 'river', das Floß 'raft'; der Schluß 'conclusion', das Schloß 'lock'. Erben maintains here "Zuweilen scheidet es (das Genus, R.H.) auch den Tätigkeits- vom Gegenstandsnamen" (1980: 132). But one can equally maintain that the semantic distinction is achieved here by the different vowel in the sets of related forms (/u/ versus loi or /o:/). The validity of distinguishing between activity and object in the manner Erben suggests is doubtful anyway as there are many instances where the object associated with an action is masculine, cf. sprießen 'to sprout' and der Sproß 'sprout, sprig'. When one considers further examples the matter would definitely appear to be phonological, cf. sprechen 'to speak' with der Spruch 'saying' and die Sprache 'language' where the monosyllable is masculine and the derivation with a final -e is feminine. The distinction in gender between der Fluß and das Floß would then seem to be a secondary development due to the possibility of consonant-final monosyllables being either masculine or neuter. 1.2. Gender and semantic distinctions The sole area where grammatical gender does have a semantic function is where the only formal distinction between words of different meaning is to be found in the article they take. There is a limited set of such word pairs where two articles can occur with the same form to yield different meanings, e.g., der Leiter 'leader, manager', die Leiter 'ladder'; der Band 'volume of book', das Band 'twine; close relationship'; der Stift 'pencil', das Stift 'monastery, institutional home'. A three-way gender distinction among native words is nonexistent (though see 5.4 below for instances among English loans). Furthermore there is no connection between a particular gender and a

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particular meaning (see remarks in 2.2.1 below). This fact is evidence of the retrospective functionalisation of gender in the cases just cited. Consider additionally the following sets of forms: der Gehalt 'contents', das Gehalt 'salary'; der Verdienst 'salary', das Verdienst 'merit'. Here the meaning 'salary' is achieved in one case by the use of the neuter article and in the other by that of the masculine article. Of course different articles can also be used with identical forms without a semantic distinction being involved. This applies to a small set of native words in German such as der/das Kehricht 'sweepings'. It also applies to native words when viewed diachronically (see 4.2. below). But it is in the sphere of loan-words that ambiguous gender assignment is most common. A related situation is where a word has an alternative phonological form which also takes a different article. An instance of this is the case with der Randal ~ die Rondale both meaning 'riot, row' (MüllerThurau 1983: 150). Contrast of this kind is still to be seen in die Ecke : das Eck 'corner', the latter form surviving in place names such as Deutsches Eck (confluence of the Rhine and the Mosel). For the present article this type of alternation is particularly interesting as it shows a change in gender which is determined by the phonological shape of a word. Before looking at the phonology of gender in German, however, some remarks on the development of gender in general are called for. 1.3. Later utilisation Although grammatical gender does not serve a primary function of semantic distinction, it has been utilised in German for deictic purposes. Here one can see that from a synchronic point of view gender fulfills a role which is not realisable in English. Common in German is the use of gender for anaphoric reference (this point is also made by Eisenberg 1989: 175) as in Ich habe ein Fahrrad und einen Wagen aber ich benutze ihn (d.h. den Wagen) recht selten Ί have a bicycle and a car but I only use it (lit. 'him', the car) occasionally'. Analytic languages like English are forced to repeat the noun being referred back to or to employ deictic adjectives like 'the former' or 'the latter'.

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This kind of reference tracking may be thought to be a reason for maintaining grammatical gender in a language like German. But in fact its importance is exaggerated. Given the fact that there are only three genders in German and that in many cases reference tracking among two or more antecedents may involve those which have the same gender, or different genders but not distinguished in the grammatical case used (e.g., with the masculine and neuter in the genitive and dative), then its value as a disambiguation device should not be overestimated. As Trudgill (forthcoming) rightly points out, it would be necessary to have many more gender types to make reference tracking by gender a viable means of unambiguous anaphoric reference in a language like German. Apart from the purpose of anaphoric deixis, there is a degree of exploitation of gender in German, simply because the possibility is there. For instance it is possible to have the following noun with each gender: das Mehl, der Mehl, die Mehl. The first is simply the word for the substance 'flour'. The second refers to a male individual whose surname is Mehl and the third to a female with the same name. This type of behaviour is very common in spoken German and shows the exploitation of gender differences for personal reference. Gender can also be found as an aid in identifying the meaning of a clipping. For instance the word Information is feminine but it is often clipped and used in the neuter in which case the reference is taken to be to a sheet of paper providing information: das Info = das Informationsblatt 'sheet of paper containing information'. Another instance would be die Boot for die Boot-Messe 'boat fair' (Boot itself is neuter). 1.4. The aim of the present paper The main question for the present paper remains: how predictable is gender from a phonological point of view? This is relevant to first language acquisition and to the native speaker competence of adults which is used when assigning gender to new formations or loanwords. It should be noted here that, despite its redundancy, gender is not a category which German speakers have difficulty with. In this respect it is a typical instance of a closed class, such as plural types or verbal endings or prepositions, in that it is internalised quite early and does not present difficulties later on. Gender is acquired fully by

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all non-pathological speakers of the language; uncertainty in this area is due to the fact that some loans and occasional native words have not settled down in terms of gender. For instance speakers vacillate in their use of gender with der / das Bonbon 'sweet' and der / das Gummi 'rubber'; all such instances are loanwords. The variation found in gender is not due to a lack of mastery of the gender system by native speakers. This is in marked contrast with second language learners who continually have difficulty with gender assignment. Gender does not vary across class; it is sociolinguistically irrelevant,1 though in some few cases there are regional differences particularly between south German / Austria and the rest of the Germanspeaking area as with der Butter (southern form) as opposed to die Butter (general). Nor is gender a matter which is undergoing any significant change—for instance it is not an issue in Braun (1987). The only exception to this statement is the area of recent loans, most of all from English (more on this presently).

2. Remarks on the development of gender It is obvious that grammatical gender has its origins in natural gender according to which objects in the world are divided into classes depending on whether they are masculine, feminine or, when they are neither or are unspecified, neuter. It is essential at the outset to grasp that grammatical gender has little to do with natural gender. The latter is a semantic universal which requires that a language provide some means of distinguishing between males and females and after this between animate and inanimate objects. Grammatical gender is a category which is not guided by semantic needs; if it were, why would one have languages like Swedish which (now) do not distinguish between masculine and feminine in grammatical gender, but between neuter—neutrum—and masculine and feminine together— utruml It is perhaps appropriate to stress that gender is just one of the axes along which objects of the natural world can be divided in language. Many more parameters could be, and have been taken, to attain further divisions, consider for example the well-known noun classes of Bantu languages such as Swahili (Brauner—Herms 1982:

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27ff.)· Given that gender is originally a specification of sex (or in the case of 'neuter', of its non-applicability) it is not surprising that it is foremost a property of nouns. By extension, it also applies to pronouns and adjectives and may apply to certain verb forms, cf. Russian past tense forms which are distinguished for gender or participles used adjectively, cf. the gender distinction among past participles in Italian. However, the marking of gender with forms belonging to another word class than that of nouns is always determined by the noun which the given form is governed by. A consequence of this is that forms from word-classes such as those of adjectives, pronouns or verbs vary in their gender marking while noun forms are to a very large extent fixed with respect to gender. Furthermore the notion of declensional class which is partly bound up with gender does not apply to gender-inflected forms from word-classes other than that of nouns. Thus the number of surface distinctions made for gender in non-nominal word-classes is always smaller than with nouns and pronouns. For example, in Irish the number of adjective types distinguished for gender is smaller than that of nouns. At most the number of adjectival distinctions can be the same as that for determiner types, the situation in German (der : die : das, guter : gute : gutes). Internal distinctions in a language, e.g., special forms of adjectives, determiners, exclusive forms for nouns, etc. are characteristic of grammatical gender. This situation is very different from that of a language with only natural gender. Take English as an example of the latter. Here gender is confined (apart from personifying references to technical objects such as cars, ships, etc.) to the sex of the noun and is only evident pronominally. The lexicostylistic distinctions of gender (cf. certain adjectives putatively for women only such as pretty, cute, sweet) are optional and vary greatly among speakers. In a language with grammatical gender the distinctions are obligatory. The development of grammatical gender from natural gender becomes obvious when all nouns of a language are specified as belonging to a particular category of the gender system (masculine or feminine; masculine or feminine or neuter; masculine/feminine or neuter, etc.). The point here is that gender specification is mandatory. But when one leaves the sphere of natural gender what value does it have to talk of an object, say Tisch 'table', as being masculine in a language like German? The term 'masculine' and 'feminine' are labels

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of traditional grammar which stand for sets of MATCHING RELAWhat is meant by saying that Tisch is masculine is that its use in syntactic constructions must be matched by the use of certain other elements, e.g., of der as a definite article in the nominative case, of ein as an indefinite article in the nominative case, of dem as a definite article in the dative case, etc. The matching relations extend to inflectional specifications as well, to take the example of Tisch in German again: it must have -es in the genitive singular, indefinite adjectives in the nominative singular must have -er, etc.2 While these features were originally accompanying attributes of nouns with natural masculine gender they are the only linguistic attributes of nonanimate nouns with grammatical gender because, seen semantically, non-animate nouns cannot be assigned a natural gender value. This fact should be borne in mind as the terms 'masculine' and 'feminine' are, when referring to grammatical gender, purely labels of convenience. In a way these terms are like the designations 'strong' and 'weak' used, for example, to classify verb conjugational types or adjectival/nominal declensional types: they are the impressionistic characterisations of traditional grammar. When referring to gender the terms 'masculine' and 'feminine' retain a degree of justification in that the types of matching relations between non-animate nouns and determiners are similar to those between animate nouns and determiners, the latter, of course, being based on natural gender. Another way of saying that sets of matching relations exist in a language is to talk of agreement between forms in syntactic constructions. The term 'agreement' is felicitous as it allows a subdivision which is necessary when considering grammatical gender. This subdivision is that between CONCORD and GOVERNMENT. Grammatical gender in French for instance is a matter of government as nouns are not phonologically marked for gender, this only becoming clear from the government of a certain determiner or adjective by a given noun. Grammatical gender in Italian, however, is a matter of concord as gender is (normally) evident from the forms of the noun and from that of adjectives and determiners. There are of course further distinctions in the manifestation of grammatical gender in various languages. In French for example the pronominal gender distinction is not levelled in the plural (ils # elles) whereas in English and German it is. Furthermore, gender may not always be equally obvious in every grammatical case. In German gender distinction is maximal in the nominative and accusative (singular) but is reduced TIONS.

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to a two-way distinction (masculine/neuter and feminine) in the genitive and dative (singular). The mention of case here leads to that of another aspect of grammatical gender: it is not identical with DECLENSIONAL TYPE, though there is a frequent correlation between the two categories. Masculine and feminine nouns can be found in one and the same declensional type (nominal paradigm) in German and in other languages (in Irish, for example). This is due to the fact that such forms show similarities in phonological shape. After all, the system of declensional types is based on phonological similarities in the case forms of groups of nouns. In a discussion of the phonology of gender the question of declensional class cannot be ignored, however. From the phonological shape of a word and its gender the declensional class can usually be deduced. In German, masculine nouns which end in -e belong either to the so-called mixed declension type (genitive singular in -ns, cf. der Friede : des Friedens 'peace'-NOM SG : 'peace'- GEN SG) or to the so-called weak declensional type (genitive singular in -n, cf. der Junge : des Jungen 'boy'-NOM SG : 'boy'-GEN SG).

2.1. Gender as an inherited grammatical category It is clear from a cursory examination of different language families that grammatical gender in individual present-day languages is a result of inheritance from the original parent language. There would seem to be no instances of a language developing a system of grammatical gender when there is no precedent for this in the language family to which the language belongs. One can then characterize whole language families as showing grammatical gender or not. For instance, the Finno-Ugric and the Altaic language families do not have grammatical gender, the Semitic family does (Ibrahim 1973: 39ff.). Considering the Indo-European language family, it can be seen that one of the most notable remnants of the Indo-European ancestral language is the system of gender which to a varying extent is present in nearly all languages genetically related to this original. However, grammatical gender has had a chequered career in the descendant languages of Indo-European. Within the Germanic group it has survived unevenly. English with its almost exclusively natural gender is one extreme; German with three genders and four cases is

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another, while Swedish with its two-way distinction between neuter (neutrum) and non-neuter (utrum) ranges somewhere in between. Irish as a Celtic language has a two-way system also though its members are divided along a masculine—feminine axis. As with all the present-day languages which have a system of less than three distinctions the systems of Swedish and Irish have arisen due to formal syncretism of two of the original three categories, masculine, feminine and neuter. Conversely, the survival of gender distinctions in a language presupposes only slight change in its inflectional system during the language's development. Thus the formal distinctions among the elements of the determiner paradigms of German have been instrumental in the retention of the three-way gender distinction. The gender system matches the typological profile of German as a whole: it is still highly inflected, with a series of nominal, adjectival and pronominal declensional types and a high degree of formal distinctions in the sphere of verbal conjugation. The remaining present-day Germanic languages and many of the German dialects (such as North Rhenish) have a simpler morphology and, hand-in-hand with this, a simpler gender system. In summary one can say here that gender can decline due to phonetic attrition and loss of distinctiveness (English and German dialects). It can be regularised due to the application of a dominant pattern, Middle High German weak masculines like Blume 'flower' becoming feminine, see 4.2 below.

2.2. Predictability of gender When considering the forms of words in those Indo-European languages which still maintain a gender distinction the question arises, not least for the learner of such a language, whether or not the gender of a word is derivable from the phonological shape of a word. Two types of language can be recognised here. The type where gender is obvious from the final segment of a word and that where it is not. The former type is represented by Italian where all nouns in -o are masculine, all in -a are feminine with the exception of a small class of masculine agentive nouns in -a (cf. poeta 'poet' and the like). This type is also represented by Russian where (practically) all nouns ending in a consonant are masculine, (practically) all nouns ending in

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-o, -e, -jo are neuter and (practically) all nouns ending in -a are feminine with a small class of masculine nouns denoting persons in -a (cf. sluga 'servant'; d'ad'a 'uncle'). In Russian, however, predictability is diminished as those (monosyllabic) nouns which end in a palatal consonant are either masculine or feminine, cf. den ' 'day' (masculine), bol' 'pain' (feminine). But the situation can be very much worse than in Russian. German is notorious for the lack of predictability of gender. There are only a few guidelines for non-suffixed monosyllables and many exceptions to these. Worse still, the suffixes of disyllabic forms which normally give an unambiguous clue to the gender of a word can in some cases take all three genders, cf. -el in the following forms: der Spiegel 'mirror' (masculine), die Regel 'rule' (feminine), das Siegel 'seal' (neuter). With Mangel the difference in gender is exploited semantically: the masculine form means 'lack, want' and the feminine form means 'wringing machine'. This situation will be the object of attention in various sections below. 2.2.1. Are exceptions semantically linked? Grammatical gender is a category which leaks. Its divisions are not absolute but rather a matter of more or less. To illustrate this fuzziness take the case of nominalised infinitives which are neuter in the vast majority of instances, cf. das Lesen 'reading', das Singen 'singing', das Essen 'eating; food'. This applies even if the verb form is no longer present in the language: das Wesen 'person, being'. The few that are not do themselves form a semantically coherent group, thus one has der Husten 'cough', der Schnupfen 'cold (medical condition)', both referring to illness. This semantic commonality among the exceptions is certainly a feature which facilitates their acquisition by native speakers. It is a valid question whether there is a general principle involved here, namely that exceptions to a dominant formal pattern belong to a single lexical class. Another example to support such a contention would be the words das Malz 'malt', das Salz 'salt', both of which are neuter and refer to ingredients, whereas monosyllables ending in sonorant + affricate are normally masculine, e.g., der Pelz 'fur', der Filz 'felt', der Sturz 'fall', der Falz 'fold' (the latter two are deverbal formations).

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2.2.2. The notion of default gender The number of exceptions in any group of words with quasi-productive gender assignment is usually small. This fact would seem to justify the notion of DEFAULT GENDER. Consider river names which are nearly always feminine: die Elbe, die Isar, die Weichsel, die Weser, die Mosel. The masculine exceptions, like der Nil, der Rhein, would appear to be lexicalised. Another example is seen with the ending -tum which usually requires neuter gender: das Eigentum 'property', from eigen 'own' (adj.), das Heldentum 'heroism', from der Held 'hero'. There are a few exceptions here as with der Reichtum 'richness' and der Irrtum 'mistake'. These cases must be treated as lexicalised and the neuter gender as the unmarked case. Evidence for this comes from new formations in which only neuter gender is found: das Amigotum 'financial favours among cronies' as in Das Amigotum wird die CSU noch ihre absolute Mehrheit in Bayern kosten 'This business of backhanders will result in the loss of the absolute majority for the conservatives in Bavaria'.

3. Criteria for gender assignment In languages with a gender distinction every noun must be assigned to one (and usually only one) determiner paradigm. It is clear from scanning the lexicon of a language with grammatical gender like German that in certain cases the gender of a noun is predictable. The most obvious case of gender predictability is where natural gender is involved. Thus in German all nouns denoting males are masculine, those denoting females are feminine. This can be taken to apply globally to the language. There are only a few instances where phonology wins out over natural gender: die Wache 'sentry' is disyllabic with final /-a/ (which is almost always feminine); das Mannequin 'fashion model' is neuter with a usually feminine referent (Helbig 1996: 63); das Weib 'woman (obsolete or abusive)' is also neuter. Nouns of the type das Mädchen are different because here the gender requirement of the suffix (all diminutives in -chen are neuter) overrides natural gender, at least with regard to the article and

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usually to the relative pronoun when it immediately follows the noun it refers to. 3.1. Gender and lexical class If natural gender is irrelevant, the two features which are responsible for gender affiliation are PHONOLOGICAL and/or LEXICAL. Of these two categories, the phonological one is by far and away the more powerful: the sound shape of a word, particularly if it consists of more than one syllable, is a strong indicator of gender. However, one should mention lexical gender assignment. This occurs with a small group of tightly knit lexical classes. Seasons, months and days of the week are masculine for example (cf. der Frühling 'spring'; der März 'March'; der Donnerstag 'Thursday'), this strict rule having led to analogical gender re-assignment with der Mittwoch 'Wednesday' from die Mitte 'middle' + die Woche 'week' 3 . It soon becomes evident, however, that such semantic classes are not consistent in the gender they require. For example the names of trees are usually feminine, cf. die Zeder 'cedar'; die Buche 'beech'; die Pappel 'poplar', but a few are masculine, e.g., der Ahorn 'maple', der Flieder 'lilac', der Holunder 'elder' (granted, the latter two are bushes, not trees).4 Other examples of such lexical classes with default gender are flowers, ships and aeroplanes (feminine); mountains, alcoholic spirits (masculine); names of countries and cities (neuter). In many such instances the gender is derived from the generic word, e.g., hotels and cinemas are neuter because one has das Hotel and das Kino, cars are masculine, deriving from der Wagen (and not from das Auto). Here neuter for cities, e.g., Das Berlin meiner Jugend 'The Berlin of my youth' is a noticeable exception. In keeping with the somewhat fluid borders of gender as a grammatical category, instances are found where a mixture of lexical and phonological criteria obtain with one or the other prevailing. Thus -e is generally feminine, unless denoting a person in which case natural gender is dominant der Page 'page (boy)', der Matrose 'sailor'. 3.2. The use of neuter gender While certain lexical sets or phonological patterns may have a default gender (see discussion above) it is also true that for productive,

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transparent word class conversions there is a default gender, the neuter. For instance one has das Ich 'ego', das Du 'the familiar address form', das Nein 'no', das Wenn und Aber 'if and but' as pronouns and conjunctions do not have grammatical gender and hence cannot be assigned masculine or feminine. This interpretation of neuter as the gender chosen when masculine or feminine does not or cannot apply is confirmed by its use for the young of animals 5 and humans: das Fohlen 'foal', das Kalb 'calf, das Ferkel 'piglet'; das Kind 'child'. Occasionally it is generic - das Schwein 'pig' - with gender differentiation possible with special terms - der Eber 'boar', die Sau 'sow'. Occasionally a neuter may be the default with a masculine form a marked case as with das Huhn (along with die Henne) 'hen' but der Hahn 'cock'. In those cases in which sex is not a very obvious feature, the gender may be determined by phonological shape as with die Spinne 'spider' or die Schnecke 'snail'. There is a generic masculine suffix -erich which can be used with a limited amount of productivity, i.e., Tauberich would be understood as an explicit reference to a male pigeon. Sommerfeldt—Starke (1992: 98) see a function of the neuter in its pejorative sense as with das Ekel (rather than specifying natural gender with der or die).

4. Generalizations on gender phonology in German When considering the phonology of gender in a language one must start by characterising the (possible) phonological forms of words. The first distinction in this respect, which is necessary for German, is that between DERIVED and NON-DERIVED forms. Derived forms are those which have had a word-formational affix appended. Such instances are nearly always predictable for gender. For instance the suffixes -heit, -keit, -schaft are used for nominalisations and always take feminine gender as in schön 'beautiful' - Schönheit 'beauty'; heiter 'cheerful' - Heiterkeit 'cheerfulness'; Freund 'friend' - Freundschaft 'friendship'. Care should be taken here to distinguish between affixes and syllable rhymes of stems. Thus one has die Auferstehung 'resurrection' (from auferstehen 'to rise from the dead') but der

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Sprung 'leap; crack', the latter being masculine because it is a nonsuffixed deverbative (Helbig 1996: 63). Non-derived word forms can be divided into two types: MONOSYLLABLES and EXTENDED MONOSYLLABLES. It is true of noncompounded nouns of native origin in German that they tend to be monosyllabic with a few exceptions, such as der Ahorn where neither syllable can be interpreted as an affix (Kluge—Mitzka 1975: 10). One should be careful not to be dogmatic about the monosyllabicity of native non-compounds. It is tempting to do so, with Wurzel (1970: 25ff.) for instance, but the language data do not allow such a simplified view. It is true that there are words in which the stem extension can be deleted, for example with a change of word class: Tropfen 'drop' but es tropft 'it is dripping', tropfnaß 'soaking wet'. Other disyllabic nouns do not lose their extension, e.g., Regen 'rain' with es regnet (with syncope) 'it is raining' and regennaß 'wet from rain'; Winter 'winter' with überwintern 'spend the winter somewhere' and winterfest 'prepared for winter'. What one can say of these extensions is that they show a characteristic phonological form, they all end in a sonorant, and that they have no lexical content of their own. This puts them in a different category from those extensions which are lexically transparent and quite productive such as the prefix in Betrieb (be+trieb) 'factory; work' or the suffix in Feigling (feige+ling) 'coward' or both as in Gebilde (ge+bild+e) 'form, shape'. The opaque stem extensions - seeing as how they are non-deletable - must be regarded as an integral part of the stem. This means that a word like Regen is analytically a stem-extended monosyllable but it is so already in the lexicon and the extension cannot be introduced as a stage in the derivation of the surface phonetic form. These words with sonorant stem-extensions are noteworthy as their gender is unpredictable (see below for further remarks).

4.1. Syllable structure In the phonological assignment of gender further considerations are of importance. The first of these concerns monosyllables. 6 Here it would seem to be the rhyme of the syllable which is relevant to gender assignment, if any part of the word is significant.7 For example, monosyllables in /-o:n/ are always masculine, irrespective of what

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the syllable onset consonant or consonant cluster is. Take the word Hohn 'scorn' as an instance. Syllabically it can be analysed as follows: (1)

σ

/ onset

\ rhyme / \ nucleus coda

[h

o:

n]

Other words with a similar syllable rhyme are: der Lohn 'wages', der Mohn 'poppy'. An example of a rhyme which demands feminine gender is /-unft/. Here one sees that, although a monosyllable may be prefixed or part of a compound noun, its syllable rhyme is decisive for gender assignment: die Zunft 'guild'; die Vernunft 'reason', die Zukunft 'future'; die Zusammenkunft 'meeting'. Two other instances of a rhyme with a definite gender are /ur, yr/ which both signal the feminine: die Kur 'stay at spa', die Kür 'selection', die Tür 'door'. In accordance with the principle that it is the end of a word which is decisive in phonological gender assignment, a prefix can never alter the gender of a word (der Fall 'case'; der Befall 'infestation') with one exception: the prefix Ge- which is used to form verbal derivations which are neuter. With it a final -e may or may not co-occur: die Rede 'speech', das Gerede 'senseless talk'; der Berg 'mountain', das Gebirge 'range of mountains'. This statement refers to the present-day language and to derivations which are still transparent. The original motivation here was the fact that collective nouns are always neuter. If one were to allow derivations which are opaque today then the change of gender on prefixation would have to include the prefix Be- given such word pairs as der Stecken 'stick' (obsolete, chiefly used in the phrase Dreck am Stecken haben 'not to have a clean shirt') and das Besteck 'cutlery'. As the relationship of such word forms to each other can only be arrived at by a consideration of the history of German they, and sets like them, will be ignored here. The question remains, however, to what extent is gender predictable with monosyllables? Although there are monosyllable types such as the two discussed above, /-o:n/ and /-unft/, which can only have one gender in Modern German this fact is incidental: it so happens to be that all monosyllables in /-o:n/ and /-unft/ are masculine

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and feminine respectively. But they are not necessarily so. Indeed there is a general principle of gender assignment which applies not only to German. Before offering a formulation of this principle the term monosyllable must be replaced by word-stem. While it is true that in German nearly all native words are monosyllables (inasmuch as they contain no affixes) the term "word-stem" is more appropriate when referring not only to German because other languages with grammatical gender (such as Italian and Russian, see below) have polysyllabic stems. The condition on gender can now be formulated as follows: (2) Absolute gender assignment with word-stems does not occur. If one reflects on this statement it turns out to be quite obvious. Take the examples of Russian and Italian. Both have a far higher degree of gender predictability than German. But in both languages predictable gender holds for EXTENDED word-stems only. Consider the Italian examples in (3). (3)

a. b. c. d.

dono città fonte carne

(mase.) (fem.) (mase.) (fem.)

'gift' 'city' 'fountain' 'meat'

All of these are extended word-stems. What is important is that gender predictability arises in (3a, b) from the stem extension, i.e., from the final /-o/ or /-a/; the monosyllable /don-/ is not predictably masculine, nor is the monosyllable /tfitt-/ predictably feminine. From (3c, d) one sees that the stem extension /-el is not unambiguous in respect of gender (for further details of Italian gender exceptions, see Battaglia—Pernicone 1971: 65ff.). Examples of Italian disyllabic stems are: alber-o 'tree', fratell-o 'brother', etc. If one now considers Russian it can be seen that the situation with regard to gender is not, however, quite so straightforward (see also Nikunlassi, this volume). (4)

a. b. c. d.

zeml'a okno pole stol

(fem.) (neut.) (neut.) (masc.)

'earth' 'window' 'field' 'table'

On the phonology of gender in Modem German

e. f. g·

caj put' tetrad'

(masc.) (masc.) (fem.)

639

'tea' 'pathway' 'exercise book'

From (4a-c) one can rightly deduce (i) that nouns in /-a/ are feminine (except a few names of males, see Unbegaun 1969: 38) and (ii) nouns in /-o/ or /-e/ are neuter. The forms in (4d-g) are problematic however. Take (4e) to start with. Here one can postulate that the nonsyllabic off-glide [j] after [a] is phonemically /-j/ as suggested by the transliteration, but not by the Cyrillic alphabet (Hickey 1985), so that nouns of the type in (4e) can be treated like those in (4d), i.e., as nouns ending in a consonant. Note further that /j/ does not, unlike other Russian consonants, form a palatal # non-palatal pair. What is disturbing about the noun type in (4d) is that it seems to contradict the principle put forward in (2). But this is only apparently so. At this point one can compare Russian and Italian, different as they are in other respects. In both languages the five basic monophthongs / i f , Id, laJ, loi and lui exist. All five vowels occur as stem extensions. In Italian l-ol, I-al cause a definite gender to be associated with the word-stem they are suffixed to. The vowels /-i/ and /-e/ occur as plural markers of those stems which have l-ol and /-a/ in the singular, /-e/ has a secondary role as the gender marker for certain singular nouns which may be either masculine or feminine. Contrast this situation with that in Russian. The latter language has the same set of five vowels. Here /-a/ on the one hand and Id, l-ol on the other have fixed gender associations (see (4a-c) above). The vowel /-i/ occurs as in Italian as a plural marker, but in Russian due to the levelling of the gender distinction in the plural only /-U occurs as a plural marker (with a small class of nouns where the plural (all cases) ends in a stressed /-a/). In Italian the vowel l-ul is peripheral as a stem extension and can for all practical purposes be ignored. In Russian l-ul is used to indicate the masculine and neuter genitive and the feminine accusative of nouns and does not occur natively as a stem extension in the nominative. What this means is that there is no vowel which is associated with masculine gender in the singular in Russian. Masculine gender is indicated, however, by the absence of a vocalic stem extension. Thus the masculine gender of words of the type in (4d) does not result from the phonological structure of the monosyllable but from the simple fact that they are not suffixed.

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Finally the words in (4f, g) need to be commented on. Here palatality of the final consonant cannot be treated as a kind of stem extension. However, it is a feature of many consonants of Russian and one which has not become associated definitely with a single gender. What is significant with the palatal-final stems in Russian is that the choice of gender is between masculine and feminine. A possible account of this would be as follows: neuter is clearly indicated by /-e/ or /-o/. Masculine nouns are marked by the lack of a stem extension, i.e., by ending in a final non-palatal consonant. Thus to have a palatal-final stem masculine would not amount to suffixing the noun. On the other hand the final palatal consonants may, as with nouns in -a in several languages, not only in Russian, be perceived subjectively by native speakers as being feminine. This would tie in with the fact that palatal consonants are non-linguistically referred to as 'soft' and non-palatal consonants as 'hard'. A comparison with Irish is also of value in connection with palatal final stems. In this language, stems which end in palatal consonants are mainly feminine, while nouns in non-palatal consonants are mainly masculine. However, these last remarks are speculative and would require corroboration from a series of languages before being free from doubt. Returning to German one can now examine word forms to ascertain whether (2) holds good. For the predictability of gender it is very relevant to determine whether or not this is the case as the monosyllable is the basic quantitative unit of the native German lexicon. To prove or disprove (2) one must look at German monosyllables from the point of view of PHONOLOGICAL REGULARITY. Here the phonological elements of the syllables must be seen as classes of elements. Thus a word like Stier 'bull' consists of the following elements: fricative+plosive+vowel+sonorant. This classification is phonological, i.e., such phonetic details as the vocalization of the syllable-final /r/ in this word are irrelevant to its phonological classification as a sonorant. In connection with the analysis given in (1) above it was maintained that the syllable rhyme could be taken as the relevant unit for gender assignment with monosyllables. It would be possible of course to consider merely the coda of the syllable as decisive. A syllable coda in German can consist of a single consonant or a consonant cluster. Codas of one consonant have various genders so that predictability does not exist. Take the consonant /-s/ which is found with nouns of all three genders der Spaß 'joke', die Laus 'louse', das

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Moos 'moss'. The same is true, for example, of codas in l-\J: der Hut 'hat', die Tat 'action', das Boot 'boot'. The situation is somewhat better with complex codas. In German these can be of four types, consisting of one of the following combinations: (1) fricative + stop, (2) two stops, (3) sonorant + obstruent (fricative or stop), (4) sonorant + fricative + stop. Certain combinations are fairly watertight with regard to gender: nouns in /-It/ are usually neuter: das Pult 'desk', das Zelt 'tent'; nouns in /-nd/ (= [-nt]) are usually masculine: der Strand 'strand', der Sund 'sound, strait', der Mond 'moon'. But although complex codas are more regular than simple codas in this respect predictability is never complete, for example nouns in /-ft/ are overwhemingly feminine, cf. die Kluft 'cleft', die Kraft 'strength', die Luft 'air' but there are masculines like der Schaft 'shaft'; nouns in /-IxJ are usually masculine, cf. der Dolch 'dagger', der Molch 'salamander', but die Milch 'milk'. The last examples suggest that gender predictability might be due to syllable rhyme structure as originally proposed. Starting on the level of rhyme one could maintain that nouns in /-olx/ (= [oljç]) are masculine while those in /-ilx/ (= [iljç]) are feminine. This would account for the words cited. But even the larger unit of the syllable rhyme will not account for many gender assignments, cf. die Wand 'wall', die Hand 'hand' but das Land 'land'; die Nacht 'night', die Schlacht 'battle', die Macht 'might' but der Schacht 'shaft'. The conclusion to be drawn then from the examination of syllable codas and in particular of syllable rhymes is that while there is usually a preferable gender for a given syllable structure, assignment of gender is in the final analysis arbitrary and as such lexically stored by speakers and not productively derived. 4.2. Stem extension in Germán When referring above to the second phonological type of word form which occurs in German, apart from simple, non-suffixed monosyllables, the term 'extended monosyllable' was used. This is intentional. What is meant is that a monosyllabic stem can be extended by the addition of phonological substance. The term disyllable (or polysyllable) instead of extended monosyllable would imply that this addition was always syllabic. From words like die Fahrt 'drive' from fahren 'to drive' and die Jagd 'hunt' from jagen 'to hunt' it is clear that

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monosyllables can be extended by adding only a consonant (here: /t/) to yield a noun whose gender is predictably feminine. Note that to say that a monosyllable is extended is not supposed to imply that native speakers are conscious of the derivation of words like Fahrt by deletion of /-an/ from the infinitive and suffixation of /-t/. While such consciousness may be present with Fahrt it is progressively more unlikely in word pairs like schlagen 'beat, defeat', die Schlacht 'battle'; sehen 'to see', die Sicht 'sight, view'; ziehen 'to draw; rear', die Zucht 'brood'. The term EXTENDED MONOSYLLABLE refers to the analysis of the phonologist and does not necessarily coincide with the awareness of the native speaker of derivational word formations. The level of gender predictability is much higher with the extended monosyllable than with the simple monosyllable. There would seem to be a correlation also between the nature of the extension and gender predictability. Consider the following principle. (5) The predictability of gender increases proportionally with the lexical concreteness of the suffix which extends a syllable. To illustrate this consider a series of suffixes. The first group consists of monosyllable extensions which do not have a fixed meaning: -en, -el, -er. These occur with nouns which are masculine. -em

-el:

-er:

der Boden 'ground'

der Schlüssel 'bowl'

der Kiefer 'jaw'

der Regen 'rain'

der Deckel 'lid'

der Koller 'rage'

der Magen 'stomach'

der Hebel 'lever'

der Fehler 'mistake'

In none of the above cases is gender predictable. When these extensions represent a concrete meaning, however, then the gender assignment is automatic, for example where -en is an ending denoting a substantival verb the gender is nearly always neuter (see above): das Fahren 'the driving', das Schießen 'the shooting', etc. When -er is an ending denoting an agent noun then the gender is always masculine:

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der Geiger 'the violinist', der Maurer 'the mason', der Bauer 'the farmer'. Where -er is not the extension for an agent noun the gender may be masculine as in (6) or it may vary, cf. die Butter 'butter', das Wetter 'weather', das Zimmer 'room', das Lager 'camp'. As the ending -el cannot be lexically concretised it occurs with all genders with no degree of predictability, cf. der Schlüssel 'key', die Trommel 'drum', das Segel 'sail'. It would seem from the above remarks that predictability is little better than with monosyllables with a phonologically fixed type of syllable rhyme. This applies to the 'sonorant suffixes' of (6). There is a further kind of lexically empty suffix in German, however, which shows a definite connection with gender. This is the vocalic suffix in -e. Note that it is the only vocalic suffix with German native words (apart from women's names in -a such as Jutta, Helga, Uta and some east German names like -a Gera, Gotha, Jena) and so offers the only point where German can be compared with languages like Italian and Russian. The association of the vocalic suffix -e in German is with feminine gender. This goes back in the history of German at least to the Middle High German period when many former masculine nouns in -e either changed their gender to the feminine or lost the vocalic suffix, cf. die Blume 'flower', die Fahne 'flag', die Luft 'air' all of which are former masculine nouns (Tschirch 1975: 149). Only a very few nouns in -e have remained masculine into the present-day language: der Buchstabe 'letter of the alphabet', der Same 'seed' (Mettke 1978: 154f.). The upshot of the apocope of -e and/or of gender change is that loan-words in -e are consistently feminine (see below). Mixed forms also give way to the pressure to assign feminine gender to nouns ending in -e, for example the word Pauschale 'lump-sum, flat payment', which is a native stem (from Bausch 'bulge') with a Romance ending, was originally neuter on its formation but has now given way to the feminine (Duden 1975-1981: 1963). There are also cases where in the present-day language two words are distinguished solely by the suffix -e as in the following pair: der Spalt, 'crack, split' and die Spalte 'column in a newspaper'; der Sproß 'sprout, sprig' and die Sprosse 'rung of a ladder'; das Dock 'dock' and die Docke 'hank, bundle'; der Rat 'type of civil servant' and die Rate 'rate (of backpayment)'. The last two pairs involve a native and a loan-word. Where two native words are involved there does not have to be an etymological connection between them, e.g., der Kohl

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'cabbage' and die Kohle 'coal' are similar in form by accident of phonological development. There frequently can be a fine-edged semantic differentiation which is observed by speakers but not ever formulated. The best illustration of this is from the field of expletives where different connotations are realised by gender difference. (7) a. b.

Jetzt sitzen wir in der Scheiße. (general situation) 'We're up to our ears in shit now.' Mach' keinen Scheiß. 'Stop bullshitting'

(result of direct action)

There are further cases of contrast solely among loan-words which have two phonological forms (and two accompanying genders), each with a separate meaning, cf. der Ruin 'ruin (figurative meaning)' and die Ruine 'ruin (building)'. Both are from French ruine (Duden 19751981: 2194), the feminine form having later developed from the masculine with the lexical distinction given. The above situation is to be found with quite a number of other Romance loan-words which have one form with masculine or neuter gender and a further form with feminine gender, cf. das Tablett 'tray' and die Tablette 'tablet, pill'; das Etikett 'label' and die Etikette 'etiquette' (Duden 1989: 165f.). Such manipulation of a formal category to produce a lexical distinction is attested in another area of German as well, cf. die Spende 'donation', ultimately a Latin loanword (Duden 1975-1981: 2441), which has a verb form with the native verb suffix -en: spenden 'donate (e.g., blood)' and a form with the Romance suffix -ieren: spendieren 'give generously, treat someone to something'. Nor is this manipulation confined to the history of German. A very recent case of the exploitation of this formal difference between verb suffixes is provided by the two verbs schockieren 'to shock in a moral or sexual sense' and schocken 'to shock (in an unspecified sense)', the former being the original form and the latter a new formation with the native German verb suffix -en. Before leaving this section on the phonology of gender with native words in German it is necessary to comment on the many lexically concrete suffixes which are associated with a single gender. Because of the types of word-formation typical of German (see Erben 1975: 57ff.; Fleischer 1976: 81ff.) many complex word forms

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are composed of a stem with a series of affixes, for example Auferstehung 'resurrection' which consists of /auf/ + /er/ + //te:/ + /ug/. What is of interest here is the suffix /ug/. It has the effect of imposing a fixed gender on the stem it is added to, irrespective of the gender of the stem on its own. In this case the gender imposed is feminine. Lexically concrete stem-extending suffixes form sets with given genders, for example all words showing one of the following suffixes are masculine: /-Iig/, /-er/ PERSONAL NOUN, /-(e)riç/ MALE OF ANIMAL SPECIES. All those belonging to the following are feminine: /-hait/ /-kait/; /-/aft/ NOUNS OF QUALITY, /-ug/ DEVERBAL NOUNS OF ACTION.

It should be remarked at this point that the predictability of gender has nothing to do with the distinction between phonological stem suffixation (as with the 'sonorant suffixes' in (6) above) and derivational suffixation as with the feminine suffixes just quoted. Predictability of gender is bound to the lexical specificness and hence the productivity of a given affix (prefix or suffix). This point can be illustrated quite simply with the prefix Ge-. In those words where it has a specifiable lexical content it has a definite gender, i.e., where it denotes the object connected with the action of a verb or the nominalisation of the action typical of a verb, with a further pejorative element when an -e suffix is added, cf. schenken 'to give a present' and das Geschenk 'present', schmieren 'to smear' and das Geschmiere 'smearing; scrawl (handwriting)', both nouns being neuter. Masculine gender is used for those nouns which show ablaut in their derivation: der Gesang 'song' from singen 'to sing'; der Geschmack 'taste' from schmecken 'to taste'; der Geruch 'smell' from riechen 'to smell', etc. However, there are a couple of words in Gewhich are feminine; these are all derivationally opaque, or at least unproductive, and thus unpredicatable in their gender: die Geschichte 'story', die Geschwulst 'swelling, lump'. The second type of suffix set without absolute gender assignment is marked by the distribution across two genders being more even, e.g., nouns ending in /-nis/ (another suffix denoting the property associated with a verb) can be either feminine or neuter: die Erlaubnis 'permission', die Erkenntnis 'knowledge, understanding'; das Wagnis 'risk', das Verhängnis 'catastrophe'. When looking at suffixes such as the above type a distinction between different kinds has to be made which is relevant to gender assignment. Consider the following principle:

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a. b.

Only lexically concrete suffixes can be productive. All productive suffixes involve absolute gender assignment.

The first part of (8) merely specifies that the various lexically empty stem extensions (such as the sonorant suffixes in (6) above) are nonproductive. The second part really just states the obvious. If a suffix can be used by a speaker to form new words at will then it is selfevident that the gender of these words must be predictable. Thus the suffixes /-nis/, /-turn/ for example are not productive. Apart from the native suffixes listed above there are sets of foreign suffixes available to the German speaker. Paradoxically, while the vast majority of new loan-words in German are from English there is not a single English suffix used derivationally in German. All suffixes are French or Classical (Latin or Greek), cf. the following examples : /-e:r/ (French) AGENT: der Aktionär 'share holder'; /-and/ (Classical) AGENT: der Doktorand 'doctoral student'; /-ismus/ (Classical) PROPERTY NOUN: der Realismus 'realism'. It is evidence of the degree of integration of French and Classical loan-words into German that they can effortlessly form compounds with native German words, whereas this is practically unknown with English loan-words, cf. in Eigenregie ( < eigen 'own' + Regie 'management, direction') 'on one's own'; ein Zweietagenhaus ( < zwei 'two' + Etage 'storey' + Haus 'house') 'a two-storeyed house'. A further aspect of French and Classical suffixes in German is that they have absolute gender assignment and that all of them are productive. 4.3. Gender and declensional class German is well-known for the multitude of plural types which are still present in the language. True, many of these are restricted to small lexical sets and are never used with loanwords, but the statistical occurrence of core vocabulary items with a non-productive type can be considerable, for instance with umlaut plurals among common terms for animals, humans and parts of the body. There would appear to be a correlation between declensional class and gender assignment for native words. Take the case of der Dorn 'thorn' and das Horn 'horn'. Both words are monosyllabic and have identical syllable rhymes. However, they show different plural patterns. Dorn takes a weak plural in /-an/ (without umlaut) while Horn

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takes an umlaut with an /-ar/ plural. Now monosyllables with r-plurals are generally neuter: das Dorf 'village', das Kind 'child', das Wort 'word', das Buch 'book', see Wiese (1996: 136-143). Synchronically one cannot say that gender determines declensional class or vice versa, but the correlation would appear to facilitate the acquisition of otherwise unpredictable gender assignment and plural formation. When a child learns Dorf as a neuter then he/she automatically knows that it takes an r-plural. Furthermore this kind of plural will cause umlaut, providing the root vowel can undergo umlaut: it does not apply to Kind for instance, but does to Haus 'house' (plural Häuser). Bittner (1994: 70) has pointed out the correlation between plural ending and gender. She examined both loans and native words. With the former those feminine words in final /e:/ have /-n/ but neuters with the same ending show /-s/: die Allee 'avenues' - die Alleen but das Kommittee 'committee' - die Kommittees. Furthermore feminine words with stem-extending suffixes have a plural in /-n/ while corresponding masculines do not, e.g., die Fabel-η 'fables', die Mauer-n 'walls' but die Hebel 'the handles', die Sprecher 'speakers' (both masculine).

4.4. Notional interpretations of gender assignment Before leaving the area of native German words one should mention that some authors have offered an interpretation of gender assignment which rests on semantic components embodied in the meaning of words with a specific gender. This view is not very wide-spread and would be regarded as overtly subjective by most linguists. Nonetheless Kopeke and Zubin in their investigatation of -mut as an ending claim that the masculines are more extrovert as in der Übermut 'high spirits, adventurousness', der Hochmut 'arrogance'. The feminine forms are conversely more introverted (1991: 94). According to these authors this notional division would also appear to apply to the ending -nis with instances like die Besorgnis 'anxiety, concern' which is feminine but das Wagnis 'risk, daring action' which is neuter.

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5. Loan-words, the test case for gender assignment The mention of loan-suffixes leads naturally to the question of loanwords. In Modern German by far and away the largest number of loan-words come from English with some still from French and a handful from other languages. The majority of English loan-words have come into the language in this century.8 There are a couple of older English loan-words which are recognisable by the fact that their spelling has been adapted to German, e.g., Dschungel 'jungle'. The process of borrowing from English is very widespread in German; in specialist areas such as in the natural sciences or medicine borrowing is particularly extreme. For the present examination only such loan-words will be looked at which occur in the language in general, although trying to determine exactly what represents 'the language in general' is admittedly impracticable. But for a further reason English loan-words in specialist areas can be neglected: gender assignment is usually automatic. In medicine for instance gender assignment is rarely a matter of debate: the loan-words are given the gender of the nearest lexical equivalent; where the loanwords are of classical origin the suffixes have fixed gender assignment anyway.

5.1. The principles of gender assignment As gender is obligatory in German every loan-word must be assigned one of the three genders. Before a word is integrated into German it can be used consciously as a foreign word in which case it takes the neuter. An example of this is das "Desktop" 'highest-level work area on a computer'. This is so specialised that it has not been integrated into the language nor can a German noun act as a guide in gender assignment. Such words are furthermore written in inverted commas as a sign that they are deliberately regarded as foreign. This situation will be ignored in the following examination. The use of the neuter is not a specific gender assignment but is simply due to the fact that any word completely foreign to German is used with the neuter determiner for want of an established gender. This should not be confused with the situation where loanwords have been established with neuter gender, e.g., das Statement 'statement'.

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5.1.1. Lexical and phonological analogy The assignment of gender to loan-words can follow one of two basic principles which I term LEXICAL ANALOGY and PHONOLOGICAL ANALOGY respectively. It is important to note here that in gender assignment very often a mixture of these two principles is involved. However, one can still see relatively clear cases of one principle operating as opposed to the other. Lexical analogy works by assigning the English loan-word the gender of the German noun which is closest to it in meaning. This principle has also been dubbed that of "the closest lexical equivalent" (Carstensen 1980: 15ff.). Obvious examples of this are die Crew 'crew' (cf. die Mannschaft), die Story 'story' (cf. die Geschichte). If assignment was always by means of lexical analogy then there would be no need for this section in the present article. But it is obvious that phonological analogy plays a role in gender assignment too. The clearest example is with English suffixes which are found in German. While these are never productive (see remarks above) they follow the productive suffixes of German in gender assignment, for instance the ending -ness is feminine in phonological analogy to the ending -heit, -keit in German: die Fairness 'fairness', die Fitness 'fitness'. The analogy does not incidentally have to be between an English suffix and a native German one; in many cases a Romance suffix acts as a model, cf. die Action /'ekjan/ 'action' on the basis of -ion as in die Reduktion 'reduction'. This case has incidentally led to a secondary contrast within German, cf. the Romance loan-word die Aktion /aktsi'o:n/ 'excessive trouble, effort; special offer'; another such set is die Promotion /promotsi'o:n/ (Romance loan-word) 'doctoral degree' and die Promotion /pro'rno^an/ (English loan-word) 'promotion (in the sense of an advertising campaign)'. The analogy operating with suffixes can furthermore be partly phonological, partly lexical as in die Publicity (with the suffix /-ti/) 'publicity' on the basis of such Romance loanwords as die Stabilität (with the suffix /-te:t/) 'stability'. In the following the operation of phonological analogy is to be examined with the exclusion of those loan-words where lexical analogy is obviously operative. This of course involves the assumption that it is possible to separate the two forces in gender assignment. However artificial the separation may seem, the attempt will still be

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made in the hope that light can be cast on the role of phonological considerations in gender assignment with loan-words. 5.2. Gender of vowel-final nouns Although the number of French, or more generally Romance, loanwords which have entered German since the war is far slighter than that of English loan-words there is a substantial number of Romance loan-words from the not so distant past which form a suitable point of departure for a discussion of loan-word phonology. The simplest type of Romance loan-words is that ending in a vowel. The vowels which can occur in word-final position in these loan-words are /-i/, /-e/, /-a/, /-o/ and /-u/. For these vowels fairly stable guidelines for gender assignment can be established: (9)

a.

/-e/ /-o/ /-a/

feminine neuter (masculine) feminine

b.

I-ti /-u/

— masculine

The first vowel /-e/ presents no difficulties for gender assignment. All loan-words ending in /-e/ are feminine: die Garage 'garage', die Pille 'pill', etc. (note that this refers to the phonological shape and not the spelling of the loan-word: Cottage from English is neuter in German, Duden 1975-1981: 471). However, one must distinguish between two types of loan-word in this connection: those in which the final vowel is stressed and those where it is unstressed. The loanwords just cited are of the latter type. Loan-words of the first type are only found when the vowel is /-e/; this /-e/ goes back to /-e/ in French whereas the /-e/ as in die Sabotage 'sabotage' derives from French /-a/. But in German final /-a/ is interpreted phonologically as (unstressed) /-e/ (and so pronounced in North German) so that it is justified to denote nouns of the die Garage type as having final /-e/ in German. Examples of stressed /-e/ in German loan-words are: das Entrée 'entrée', das Separée 'room with separate entrance'. The spelling of such words may differ according to the French original, cf. das Portrait 'portrait', but it is the pronunciation which is decisive.

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Lexical analogy or natural gender may demand a different gender in a few cases: die Matinée 'matinée' (cf. die Veranstaltung 'event', die Vorführung 'performance'); der Chevalier 'gentleman' (archaic or ironic, more normal is a German form der Kavalier /kava'li:r/). In one case gender contrast is to be found with nouns with final /-e/ (stressed vs. unstressed): das Café 'café' and der Kaffee 'coffee' where the masculine gender of the latter word is probably an analogical formation to der Tee 'tea'. Nouns in /-o/ in German are mostly of two types, (1) originally Italian words or (2) abbreviations of longer Romance loan-words. The first type can be seen in the following forms: (10)

a. b. c.

das (Violin)Cello das Konto das Fresko

'cello' '(bank) account' 'fresco'

The tendency for nouns in /-o/ to be treated as neuter has led to gender fluctuation with older Italian loans (originally masculine), cf. der/das Saldo 'balance (of bank account)'. The masculine gender may be retained because of lexical analogy as in der Gusto 'gusto', cf. der Geschmack 'appetite', der Tango, der Bolero would appear to have analogical gender on the basis of der Tanz. It may be present because of the origin of the word, cf. der Sakko 'man's jacket' which is not an Italian loan-word but is derived from the native word der Sack 'sack'. Der Amigo shows natural gender prevailing again. Many Romance (or Classical) loan-words in German can be abbreviated leading to an internal l-o-l becoming final, for instance die Demonstration 'demonstration' > die Demo; die Diskothek 'discothèque' > die Disko. In a few cases a gender change can be observed on abbreviation: die Photografie 'photograph' > das Photo {Foto) (probably in lexical analogy to das Bild 'picture'), die Information 'information' > die / das Info where the neuter usually implies an information sheet or brochure and could be in lexical analogy to das Blatt 'page' or das Heft 'booklet'. Where the abbreviation is arrived at by simplification of a compounded noun the original gender is retained: der Espresso 'expresso coffee' from der Espressokaffee, der Dispo 'credit on current account' from der Dispositionskredit. Words which only occur in an abbreviated form or Latin loans in /-o/ are always neuter: das Ufo 'unidentified flying object'; das Veto 'veto', das Ego 'ego'.

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Caution is required in this area. What might look like an interesting case of abbreviation with gender change may turn out to be a case of two different albeit related words. Thus das Lotto 'lottery' which is semantically related to die Lotterie involves an Italian loan and a French loan which co-exist in German and not an abbreviation made after the borrowing of the longer word. Although there are no native words ending in -a (disregarding place and person names), the assignment of feminine gender to nouns in -a is a general feature of German. A glance at women's names shows that /-a/ is a very common ending here irrespective of whether the name is of native German or Romance origin: Erika, Gisela·, Maria, Sylvia, Angelika. Examples of loan-words in /-a/ are: die Kamera 'camera', die Aula 'aula'; phonological analogy usually wins over lexical analogy with this ending: die Villa 'villa' (cf. das Haus 'house'); however der Wodka 'vodka' has its gender from der Branntwein 'brandy' and the word for 'panda' is masculine (der Panda) in analogy to der Bär. There are occasional instances of neuters in /-a/ such as das Sofa 'sofa', das Komma 'comma' (possibly from das Zeichen 'sign'). In cases where the word comes from outside the group of European languages lexical analogy may be the guideline, as with das Lama (cf. das Tier) or simply neuter because there is no obvious analogy, e.g., das Nirvana (analogous to das Gefühl 'feeling'?). Natural gender is overriding with the kinship terms die Oma 'granny', der Opa 'granddad' which derive from Großmama and Großpapa respectively. Among native words the ending /-i/ is for all intents and purposes restricted to diminutive or endearing forms of words such as Vati from Vater 'father', Mutti from Mutter 'mother'. The l-il suffix can occasionally be used with terms of disrespect (the reverse of terms of endearment): die Tussi 'stupid woman' (ultimately from Thusnelda), der Heini 'idiot' (from Heinrich). Only in specialist areas does l-il represent an original Italian plural and can then be neuter (a collective noun), cf. das Tutti 'tutti (all instruments of an orchestra together)'. The use of l-il as a loan-plural for those singular nouns in l-ol from Italian is virtually non-existent; a plural such as die Konti from das Konto would be affected; Italian loan-words in l-ol all take the plural suffix/-s/, occasionally l-nl (Wurzel, 1984: 125ff.). An additional use of l-il is with clippings in which case the gender is that of the word from which the abbreviated form is derived. The l-il is frequently not contained in the full form so that it can be classi-

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fied as a pseudosuffix, e.g., der Pulli (from der Pullover), der Kuli (from der Kugelschreiber 'ball-point pen'), der Krimi (from der Kriminalroman 'detective novel'). The most infrequent final vowel in German is /-u/. It only occurs in morphologically opaque forms as part of the stem, the latter having gender by lexical analogy, e.g., das Gnu 'gnu' (cf. das Tier), der Uhu 'eagle-owl' (an onomatopoeic formation, gender probably from der Vogel). In a few loans from French /-u/ occurs as part of a monosyllabic stem which is masculine in German: der Clou 'highlight'; the vowel may also occur in an abbreviation: der Akku 'wet battery' from der Akkumulator. Among German native words monosyllables in /-u/ are relatively common, usually with masculine gender: der Schuh 'shoe', der Schmu 'cheat, swindle'. 5.3. Double gender and gender change Among the English loan-words in German since the Second World War many have changed their gender or are available with two genders, for example the word for 'gang' was originally masculine and is now feminine (Zindler 1959: 18 in Carstensen 1980). With many of these words it is a case of lexical analogy winning out over phonological analogy. With der Gang /geg/ one can see the phonological analogy to German words like der Gang /gag/ 'walk', der Gesang /gs'zag/ 'song', etc. The change to the feminine is obviously motivated by lexical analogy with die Gruppe. With the word for 'slang' only the masculine is available der Slang (the neuter found in some dictionaries, see Carstensen 1980: lOf. is a left-over from the stage when the word was not integrated into German). In connection with lexical analogy it is interesting to note that Slang is not attested with feminine gender in analogy to die Sprache', it could have the masculine from der Dialekt, der Jargon. Double gender with loan-words may also be due to differences within the German-speaking region. Thus in Austria Service is usually neuter (Carstensen 1980: 6) but in Germany it is masculine (in lexical analogy to der Dienst), Dress is feminine in Austria but masculine in Germany. This variation is not surprising given that there is a degree of variation in gender and declension with native words within the German-speaking area, for instance Butter is feminine in Central and Northern Germany but masculine in the South

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and in Austria; the word for 'stomach' der Magen and 'car' der Wagen have a plural with Umlaut (die Mägen·, die Wägen), but only in the South. The differences between the Federal Republic of Germany and the former German Democratic Republic are minimal going by such works as Küfner et al. (1982). The problem in this connection is that many words common in the West are not included in Küfner et al., possibly because they belong to a milieu which officially did not exist in the East (at the time of compilation for Küfner), examples of this are der Joint 'joint', der Deal 'deal' (both referring to drugs).

5.4. Functional multiple gender Among the many English loan-words are a number which have two or possibly three genders with a semantic distinction between them. In all these cases the borrowing was originally with one meaning and presumably with one gender. The later borrowing of an additional meaning led to the distinction being made via the determiner paradigm as in die Coach 'coach (type of horse-drawn waggon; probably phonological analogy with die Kutsche)' vs. der Coach 'coach (sports trainer)'. In rare cases all three genders are represented with a single form: der Single 'single, unmarried person', die Single 'single, type of disc', das Single 'single, game of tennis', all pronounced [zigl].

5.5. Idiosyncratic gender The purpose of this final section is to see whether in the assignment of gender to loan-words from English there might still be reason for maintaining that monosyllables show typical determiner paradigms depending on their phonological shape. The justification for this assumption can be found in changes of gender which are apparently unmotivated but on which there is complete agreement among native speakers. Take the following change on clipping as an example: die Frustration 'frustration' > der Frust. What is peculiar here is that the gender change to masculine on abbreviation cannot be due to lexical analogy and so would appear to be phonological. But what type of native syllable structure could have served as a model here? Most nouns in /-ust/ are feminine: die Lust 'desire, wish', die Brust 'breast'. Nouns which have the syllable rhyme /-ost/ are usually masculine

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however: der Frost 'frost', der Rost 'rust'. Two phonological possibilities for the gender change of die Frustration to der Frust can be offered, neither of which is satisfactory. The first is that the syllable onset of Frost acted as a model; the second is simply that the gender change was idiosyncratic. Now while gender assignment is usually idiosyncratic with monosyllables, gender C H A N G E is usually determined by analogy of one kind or other. Unfortunately, cases like that of der Frust are not as rare as one might like to believe. In German the word 'shift' exists as a masculine loan-word: der Shift. Here one can exclude lexical analogy as the native German word for 'shift' is die Verschiebung. But native German words in /-ft/ are overwhelmingly feminine: die Kraft 'strength', die Luft 'air', etc. (see the discussion of syllable rhymes above). Again the question poses itself: why should the gender of the loanword be so unexpected? A tentative answer can be offered if a principle is revised which has been held to hitherto. In (1) above the syllable rhyme was regarded as frequently determining the gender of native words, albeit not absolutely. Certainly the rhyme of a monosyllable is responsible in many cases for declensional class assignment. But for monosyllabic loan-words it just might be that the syllable rhyme and the syllable onset are responsible for gender assignment. Tliis would account for the masculine gender of Frust as it has /fr-st/ in common with the masculine Frost. It would also account for the masculine gender of Shift as this has /-ft/ in common with masculine native nouns in /-ft/ like der Schaft 'shaft, handle' (again see above). Note that the phonologically determining factor, if at all, must be the syllable onset and the coda together as there are any amount of nouns in /fr-/ or /fr-/ which are not masculine. There is, however, a more satisfactory account for masculine gender with Frust and Shift which approaches the matter from a different angle and which is in keeping with the typological profile of the language. The suggestion here is that the reason for the change is morphological. In German nouns which are derived from verbs by stripping them of their endings are invariably masculine. Such monosyllable masculine nouns from verbs are very common in the language (note that a prefix to a verb does not affect its classification as the root is still monosyllabic).

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verb

deverbative noun

knallen laufen gehen weifen drehen aufstehen versuchen hinweisen durchblicken

der Knall der Lauf der Gang der Wurf der Dreh der Aufstand der Versuch der Hinweis der Durchblick

'blast' 'run' 'walk' 'throw' 'turn' 'rebellion' 'try' 'reference' 'understanding'

The assumption here is that on the clipping of Frustration German speakers were guided by default gender for nouns of the above type and somehow treated the change as a case of frustrieren > der Frust by deverbal derivation. This strict observation of morphology is consonant with German as a whole which keeps to strict morphological agreement even in the face of semantic interpretations to the contrary, cf. Die Polizei ist (not sind) gekommen 'The police have arrived'.

6. Conclusion Surveying the area of gender in German one can maintain that the area with least regularity is that of monosyllables which is also that of all native roots of the language. Various linguists have been tempted to see gender as due to the sound structure of the nouns which they govern. For instance Corbett (1991: 33) believes that phonological criteria must be operative as a null hypothesis. Rocca (1989: 20ff.) deals with the phonology of Spanish gender with respect to gender assignment and final vowel type. Such approaches would appear to be insufficient for the complexities of German gender. Here both phonological and lexical principles are at work. There is a large degree of predictability but the unpredictable instances can only be accounted for by assuming lexicalisation, that is the gender is stored with each word as part of the entry in the mental lexicon of native speakers. In some instances there are lexical classes (days, months,

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seasons; numbers) which share a single gender. These groups should not be accorded undue weight as they are quite rare in the language and are fossilised, i.e., no new groups have arisen. With loans the situation is somewhat more illuminating as lexical analogy would seem to play a significant role in gender assignment. Finally the linking of loan-words to established morphological processes such as deverbal noun derivation shows the extent to which new lexical items are integrated into the grammatical system of the language and how little the typological makeup of German has been disturbed by the large influx of recent English loanwords. Notes *

I am indebted to my Munich colleague Elke Ronneberger-Sibold (now Eichstätt) who took time and great pains to suggest improvements to this article from the point of view of the Germanist and who saved me from many a pitfall. If I have nonetheless fallen into some there is no one to blame but myself.

1.

What is sociolinguistically relevant is the manner in which generic reference is realised across the sexes in German. The former practice of using the masculine form as default has come increasingly under attack so that a sentence like Sie arbeitet als Lehrer an der Realschule would now contain Lehrerin as the reference to profession. Indeed in many cases foims are rejected which, while grammatically feminine, are felt as too dependent on the corresponding masculine form, e.g., Amtsfrau has all but replaced the earlier Amtmännin (Hentschel—Weydt 1994: 151). Adjectives are perfectively regular with regard to the formal realisation of gender. Typical of nouns is that their classes leak. While the vast majority of masculines take -(e)s in the genitive, there are a few 'weak' masculines (nasal declensional type) such as der Mensch 'person' cf. des Menschen-

2.

GEN SG.

3.

4. 5. 6.

In general periods of the year with a religious significance are feminine, e.g., die Ostern 'Easter' and die Pfingsten 'Whitsun' but the word for 'Christmas' is occasionally used as a neuter: die Weihnachten alongside frohes Weihnachten. Genzmer (1995: 150-164) offers a comprehensive list of words whose gender is predictable from phonological form. Meineke (1996: 145-150) deals with the question of gender motivation with special reference to animals. Eisenberg (1989: 170) notes that about 90% of the monosyllables in German are predictable in gender. He postulates that the more consonants are to be found at the beginning or end of a word, the more likely it is to be masculine. All his examples are monosyllables. Indeed he should have spec-

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ified that none of these can be feminine (the latter would require a stem-extending /-a/ as with die Decke, which of course can be lost by apocope as with die Tür from die Türe). The choice is hence between masculine and neuter. Kopeke and Zubin (1984: 29) think that kn- is a masculine beginning for words. This may be a coincidence as those words which show this beginning end in /-pf/ and are all masculine given this ending: der Knopf 'button', der Topf 'pot', der Zopf'pietà, der Kopf head'. The masculine gender of der Knecht 'servant' can be adequately accounted for by the fact that the word denotes a male. Loans from English are touched upon in Barbour—Levinson (1990: 257261), Section 8.6.2. Examples of English influence on German.

References Altmann, G.—V. Raettig 1973 "Genus und Wortauslaut im Deutschen", Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 26: 297-303. Arndt, W.W. 1970 "Nonrandom assignment of loanwords: German noun gender", Word 26: 244-253. Barbour, Stephen—Patrick Stevenson 1990 Variation in German. A critical approach to German sociolinguistics. Cambridge: University Press. Battaglia, Salvatore—Vincenzo Pernicone 1971 Grammatica italiana. Turin: Loescher. Beardsmore Baetens, Hugo 1971 "Gender problems in a language contact situation", Lingua 27: 141-159. Becher, Johannes 1982 "Grammatical gender in Europe: an areal study of a linguistic category", Papiere zur Linguistik 26: 23-34. Bethke, Inge 1990 Der, die, das als Pronomen. München: Iudicium Verlag. Bhaldraithe, Tomás de 1953 "Nua-iasachtai in nGaeilge Chois Fhairrge", Éigse 7:1-35. Braun, Peter 1987 Tendenzen in der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Brauner, S.—I. Herms 1982 Lehrbuch des modernen Swahili. 2nd edition, Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie. Brinkmann, Hennig 1954 "Zum grammatischen Geschlecht im Deutschen", Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae ("Emil Öhmann zu seinem 60.Geburtstag"). 1971 Die deutsche Sprache. 2nd edition. Düsseldorf: Schwann.

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Carstensen, Broder 1980 "The gender of English loan-words in German", Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 12: 3-25. Clyne, Michael G. 1969 "Inhalt, Klangassoziation und Genus in der deutschen Sprache bei Ein- und Zweisprachigen", Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 22: 219-224. Corbett, Greville G. 1990 Gender. Cambridge: University Press. Correa-Zoli, Y. 1973 "Assignment of gender in American Italian", Glossa 7: 123-128. Duden 1976-1981 Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 5 vols. Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut. 1989 Herkunftswörterbuch. 2nd edition. Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut 1995 Grammatik der deutschen Sprache. 5th edition. Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut. 1997 Fremdwörterbuch. 6th edition. Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut. Eichler, Wolfgang—Karl-Dieter Bünting 1976 Deutsche Grammatik. Form, Leistung und Gebrauch der Gegenwartssprache. Kronberg/Ts.: Scriptor Verlag. Eisenberg, Peter 1989 Grundriß der deutschen Grammatik. 2nd edition. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. Eisenberg, Peter—Karl Heinz Ramers—Heinz Vater (eds.) 1992 Silbenphonologie des Deutschen. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. Engel, Ulrich 1996 Deutsche Grammatik. 3rd edition Heidelberg: Julius Groos. Fisiak, Jacek 1975 "Some remarks concerning the noun gender assignment of loanwords", Bulletin de la Société Polonaise de Linguistique 33: 5963. Fisiak, Jacek (ed.) 1980 Historical morphology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Flämig, Walter 1991 Grammatik des Deutschen. Einßhrung in Struktur und Wirkungszusammenhänge. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Fleischer, Wolfgang 1976 Wortbildung der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. 4th edition, Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut. Fleischer, Wolfgang —Irmhild Barz 1995 Wortbildung der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. 2nd edition, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. Fodor, I. 1959 "The origin of grammatical gender", Lingua 8: 1-41.

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Genzmer, Herbert 1995 Deutsche Grammatik. Frankfurt: Insel Verlag. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1978 "How does a language acquire gender markers?", in Greenberg (ed.) 47-80. Greenberg, Joseph H. (ed.) 1978 Universals of language, Vol.3: Word Structure. Stanford: University Press. Gregor, Bemd 1983 Genuszuordnung. Das Genus englischer Lehnwörter im Deutschen. Tübingen: Narr. Heibig, Gerhard 1996 Deutsche Grammatik. Grundfragen und Abriß. 3rd edition. München: Iudicium Verlag. Heller, K. 1966 Das Fremdwort in der deutschen Sprache der Gegenwart: Untersuchungen i m Bereich der Gebrauchssprache. Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut. Henning, J. 1963 "Zum grammatischen Geschlecht englischer Sachbezeichnungen im Deutschen", Zeitschriftßr deutsche Wortforschung 19: 54-63. Hentschel, Elke—Harald Weydt 1994 Handbuch der deutschen Grammatik. 2nd edition. Berlin: de Gruyter. Heringer, Hans Jürgen—Bruno Strecker—Rainer Wimmer 1980 Syntax. Fragen - Lösungen - Alternativen. München: Fink. Hickey, Raymond 1985 "The status of diphthongs in Irish and Russian", Zeitschrift ßr Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 39: 97-105. Humbley, J. 1974 "Vers une typologie de l'emprunt linguistique", Cahiers de Lexicologie 25: 46-70. Ibrahim, M. 1973 Grammatical gender. The Hague: Mouton. Jarnattowskaja, V.E. 1968 "Die Kategorie des Genus der Substantive im System der deutschen Gegenwartssprache", Deutsch als Fremdsprache 5: 213ff. Jung, Wolfgang 1980 Grammatik der deutschen Sprache. 6th edition. Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut. Keller, Rudolf 1970 The German language. London: Faber and Faber. Kienle, Richard von 1982 Fremdwörter Lexikon. Hamburg: Xenos. Köhler, Klaus 1977 Einßhrung in die Phonetik des Deutschen. Berlin: Erich Schmidt.

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Kopeke, Klaus-Michael 1982 Untersuchungen zum Genussystem der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Tübingen: Narr. 1988 "Schemas in German plural formation", Lingua 74: 303-335. 1993 Schemata bei der Pluralbildung im Deutschen. Versuch einer kognitiven Morphologie. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. 1994 Funktionale Untersuchungen zur deutschen Nominal- und Verbalmorphologie. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. Kopeke, Klaus-Michael—D.A. Zubin 1983 "Die kognitive Organisation der Genuszuweisung zu den einsilbigen Nomen der deutschen Gegenwartssprache", Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik 11:166-182. 1984 "Sechs Prinzipien für die Genuszuweisung im Deutschen: Ein Beitrag zur natürlichen Klassifikation", Linguistische Berichte 93: 26-50. Küfiier, R. et al. 1982 Großes Fremdwörterbuch. 4th edition. Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut. Lang, A. 1976 "The semantic base of gender in German", Lingua 40: 55-68. Liebsch, H.—H. Döring 1980 Deutsche Sprache. 3rd edition. Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut Mackensen, Lutz 1982 Deutsches Wörterbuch. 10th edition. Köln: Vehling. Martin, H. 1977 "Zum Geschlecht englischer Wörter im Auslandsdeutschen: Hinweis auf eine kanadische Spielart", Muttersprache 87: 321-325. Meineke, Eckhard 1996 Das Substantiv in der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. Mettke, H. 1978 Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik. Laut und Formenlehre. 4th edition. Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut. Müller-Thurau, Claus Peter 1983 Lass uns mal 'ne Schnecke angraben. Sprache und Sprüche der Jugendszene. 7th edition. Düsseldorf: Econ Verlag. 1985 Lexikon der Jugendsprache. Nikunlassi, Ahti [in this vol.] "On gender assignment in Russian". Polenz, Peter von 1967 "Fremdwort und Lehnwort, sprachwissenschaftlich betrachtet", Muttersprache 77: 65-80. Poplack, Shana—A. Ponsada 1982 "Competing influences on gender assignment: variable process, stable outcome", Lingua 57:1-28.

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Reed, Carol E. 1942 Roca, Iggy M. 1989 Russ, Charles 1978 1994 Sachs, E. 1953

"The gender of English loanwords in Pennsylvania German", American Speech 17: 25-29. "The organization of grammatical gender", Transactions of the Philological Society ST. 1: 1-32. Historical German phonology and morphology. Oxford: Clarendon Press. The German language today. A linguistic introduction. London: Routledge.

"The gender of English loanwords in the German of recent immigrants", American Speech 28: 256-270. Schulz, Dora—Heinz Griesbach 1980 Grammatik der deutschen Sprache. 1 Ith edition. München: Hueber. Seiler, Hansjakob 1962 "Laut und Sinn: Zur Struktur der deutschen Einsilber", Lingua 375-387. Siebs, Eduard 1967 Deutsche Aussprache. 20th edition. Berlin: de Gruyter. Sommerfeldt, Karl-Ernst—Günter Starke 1992 Einflihrung indie Grammatik der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. 2nd edition. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. Spitz, E. 1965 "Beitrag zur Genusbestimmung der deutschen Substantive", Deutsch als Fremdsprache 2:41Stevenson, Patrick 1995 The German language and the real world. Sociolinguistic, cultural, and pragmatic perspectives on contemporary German. Oxford: University Press. 1997 The German-speaking world. A practical introduction to sociolinguistic issues. London: Routledge. Surridge, Marie E. 1982 "L'attribution du genre grammatical aux emprunts anglais en français canadien: le rôle des homologues et des monosyllables", Glossa 16: 28-39. Talanga, Tomislav 1987 Das Phänomen der Genusschwankung in der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. PhD thesis. Bonn: Thiel, R. 1969 "Über die Geschlechtsgebung bei Fremdwörtern", Muttersprache 69: 263-266. Trudgill, Peter (forthcoming) "Language contact and gender assignment".

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Geschichte der deutschen Sprache. 2 vols. 2nd edition. Berlin: Erich Schmidt. Tucker, R.—W.E. Lambert —A.A. Rigault 1977 The French speaker's skill with grammatical gender: an example of rule-governed behaviour. The Hague: Mouton. Urbanová, Α. 1966 "Zum Einfluß des amerikanischen Englisch auf die deutsche Gegenwartssprache. Ein Beitrag zur Frage sprachlicher Kontakte", Muttersprache 76:97-114. Vater, Heinz 1992 "Zum Silben-Nukleus im Deutschen", in: Eisenberg, Ramers and Vater (eds.) 100-133. Vennemann, Theo 1982 "Zur Silbenstruktur der deutschen Standardsprache", in: Vennemann (ed.) 261-305. Vennemann, Theo (ed.) 1982 Silben, Segment, Akzente. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Welna, Jerzy 1980 "On gender change in linguistic borrowing (Old English)", in: Fisiak (ed.) 399-420. Wienold, Götz 1967 Genus und Semantik. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain. Wiese, Richard 1996 The phonology of German. Oxford: University Press. Wittstock, Otto 1979 Latein und Griechisch im deutschen Wortschatz. 3rd edition. Berlin: Verlag Volk und Wissen. Wurzel, Wolfgang 1970 Studien zur deutschen Lautstruktur. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Studia Grammatica 8 Zindler, H. 1959 Anglizismen in der deutschen Pressesprache nach 1945. PhD thesis. Kiel: Zubin, David A.—Klaus-Michael Kopeke 1981 "Gender: A less than arbitrary grammatical category", in: Hendrick, Roberts A.—Carrie S. Masek—Mary Frances Miller (eds.) Papers from the 17th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, Chicago, Illinois: Chicago University Press.

Noun classification in African languages Arvi

Hurskainen

1. Introduction Several attempts for classifying African languages have been made. In this paper the classification of Greenberg (1963) is taken as a basis for discussion. In addition, recent improvements in lower level grouping have been taken into account. Therefore, following Greenberg, African languages form four major groups: Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan and Khoisan languages. I shall first discuss the Niger-Kordofanian branch, since in it the features relevant to this paper are most prominent and show a high degree of variation and complexity. Then a brief overview is made of other language families. Noun classification is discussed here under two major categories: gender systems and noun class systems. Although the term 'gender' is often used for signifying noun classification in such languages where nouns fall in more than one inflectionally distinct groups, here this term is reserved for such noun marking systems where sexual gender is transparent, although not necessarily all-encompassing. In Africa, gender systems in this sense are in the minority. The most widespread system of classifying nouns is of a different type; it is generally called 'noun class system1 in African linguistics. It is important to make a distinction between gender systems and noun class systems since there are languages which apply both of these systems simultaneously. Unfortunately scholars do not use these terms uniformly, and therefore one has to read with care reports on the noun classification systems. Heine—Vossen (1981: 423-425), however, use the term 'Nominalklassensystem' [noun class system] as a cover term, which includes 'Genus- und Klassensprachen' [gender and class languages]. They call these systems 'geschlechtsorientierte und naturorientierte

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Nominalklassensysteme' [gender-oriented and nature-oriented noun class systems]. Because gender-based systems have to be treated separately from nature-based noun class systems, the value of grouping them together and calling them 'noun class systems' is questionable. Nevertheless, the problem is minimal, as long as we know what we are talking about. Africa is a continent of noun class and gender systems. About two thirds of African languages belong to this type, and such systems are found in all four major language families.

2. Noun class systems Noun class systems are found mostly in Niger-Kordofanian languages (Figure 1). In fact this is a distinct feature in this language group. Niger-Kordofanian

Kordofanian

Niger-Congo

Western Mande

Gur

Plateau

Kwa

Benue-Kongo Adamawa

Jukunoid

Cross-River

Bantu Tiv Bitare Figure

Bantoid

Batu

Ndoro

Mambila

1. Niger-Kordofanian languages according to Greenberg (1963).

Bute

Noun classification in African languages

667

2.1. Niger-Congo Languages Perhaps the best known grammatical feature of Niger-Congo languages is the system of noun classification, which is found in all branches of the family. In some branches it appears in fully developed forms, while others have gone through extensive change leaving only vestiges of the system. Noun classifications in these languages have a semantic motivation, although languages with pure semantic categories are, in practice, non-existent. In fact, at least partial semantic correlates of noun classes have been preserved in all branches of the family. Nevertheless, there are also reduced systems which have reanalyzed and regularized the older more complex systems and as a consequence maintain a high degree of semantic correlation. Emergence of noun class systems There is a widely accepted view that there was a semantic motivation for the emergence of the noun classification in these languages. It had a semantic basis in the oldest reconstructed layer, the so-called pre-Niger-Congo languages, but it had already become grammaticalized and developed into more formal systems in the intermediate layer, the proto-Niger-Congo (Williamson 1989: 32). There is great variation in the way the noun class marking is realized. Most commonly the classes are marked by affixes on the noun, and on such elements in the sentence which are governed by the noun, such as the verb, noun substitutes and noun modifiers. In some languages nouns have apparently lost the affixes, and the marking is retained in constituents depending on the noun. There are three types of noun class marking in this language family: prefixes, suffixes, and prefixes plus suffixes (also called circumfixes). This great variation calls for explanation. According to one view the proto-language had prefixes and suffixes (Weimers 1973: 209). The contemporary variation could be explained by some languages having retained prefixes, some suffixes, while some others retained elements from both. Greenberg (1977), based on comparative material, proposed that it was demonstratives that developed into noun class markers. In the proto-language the demonstratives could either precede or follow the noun (as, e.g., in Latin). The demonstratives would then be trans-

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formed into pre- and post-nominal definite articles (as, e.g., in Romance languages). The definite article would then have become more widely used as a 'non-generic' article, and then developed into markers of nominality attached to a noun in all contexts, except in some cases where definiteness or indefiniteness is predictable. After having lost their semantic feature 'definite', or having become phonologically eroded, they may have been renewed by new definite markers which are attached to the eroded marker or at the opposite side of the noun from it. As a consequence, an old prefix may have been renewed by a suffix, and vice versa. These new morphemes were in their turn subject to the same laws which caused the phonological and semantic weakening of the original morphemes. The strength of Greenberg's postulation is that it explains away the redundancy inherent in the double-affix hypothesis. However, it does not satisfactorily explain the fluctuating position of the demonstrative pronoun or the article. If proto-Niger-Congo had an SOV word order, it should be expected that modifiers, including pronouns, would precede the noun and then produce prefixes, and not suffixes. Further support for the primacy of prefixes is available from Atlantic languages. Childs (1983) shows how the change from prefixing to suffixing languages has taken place in several stages in different Southern Atlantic languages, and Doneux (1975) has proposed similar processes for the Northern Atlantic languages. It has been suggested that for a prefix to change into a suffix, there has to be an element termed 'binder' (Sapir 1971: 71), a determiner which terminates the noun phrase and which has a morpheme referring to the preceding noun. Such developments have been observed, for example, in Idoma, Tiv, Akweya and Yoruba (Armstrong 1989), where relative clauses often end with a demonstrative 'binder'. Similar phenomena have been observed in Kru (Marchese 1989) and Gur (Naden 1989). A shift to suffixing may also be motivated by animate concord, which tends to be dominant in determining agreement pattern, irrespective of the original class of the noun. Williamson (1989: 34) states: The process begins with a suffix, built in the binder, marking the animate plural and then spreading to other plural classes. As the prefixes suffer erosion, the suffixes take over the marking of the noun classes, and spread to

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singular classes as well. Finally, all prefixes are lost and the result is a purely suffixing language.

Nouns with genuine prefixes and suffixes have been attested in a number of languages of the Eastern Grusi group. These nouns are few in number, and they differ from one language to another. Some of the prefixes can be explained as a result of borrowing from neighbouring prefixing languages, but not all. According to Manessy (1965-66), the prefixes have to be attributed to the nominalization process of verbs where prefixes and suffixes were added. One could as well claim that suffixes were built on a binder, and prefixes were eroded except in a small number of common nouns in the Tem group. However, the co-occurrence of noun prefixes and suffixes in most of the Gur languages can be explained in one of two ways: The prefixes are either (1) class-marking pronouns with a definite meaning, or (2) nouns meaning 'thing', 'place', etc., which have been compounded with a verb while the whole compound noun bears a suffix.

2.1.1. Subgroups

of

Niger-Congo

Most Western Atlantic languages have noun class systems, some of which have similarities with Bantu languages. The concord systems are often quite complex, having up to 25 noun classes with accompanying concord markers. Serer has 16 noun classes, which are marked by prefixes and suffixes, while Wolof has a concord system but without class markers in nouns. The number of classes in the Kobiana group is reported to be as large as nearly 40 (Sapir 1971: 71-102). Doneux (1975) has reconstructed part of the proto-Western Atlantic noun class system and suggested that it had prefixes augmented with pre-prefixes. The augmentation was possibly repeated at the end of the noun, at least in nouns not in the plural. Gur languages have a noun class system and most of them have also a concord system. The number of classes is 11 in the average, and classes are marked usually by suffixes. Some languages have both prefixes and suffixes. In some of the languages adjectives do not show concordance with the governing noun, and some languages have separate class markers for singular and plural (De Wolf 1981: 55).

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The Kwa group with over 80 languages, including such important languages as Ewe, Yoruba, Ijo and Igbo, is different from most other groups in that it contains isolating languages with only minimal or no noun class marking. Ijo has a gender system, which distinguishes sex and animateness. In the most developed form the system has such categories as human/non-human and masculine/ feminine/ neuter. Among nouns considered animate are human beings, animals, and supernatural beings, while inanimate nouns include everything else. Female human beings are marked as feminine nouns, and male human beings and all animals are masculine. Inanimate nouns fall into the neuter class, and also human beings whose sex is unknown or ignored (Jenewari 1989: 114). Figure 2 shows schematically the five possible combinations of nouns in the Nembe dialect: Animateness system

Sex-gender system

Figure 2. Noun classification in Nembe according to Jenewari (1989).

The Benue-Congo group includes Bantoid languages, which are discussed separately below. Here we treat the other groups briefly. The Plateau languages have noun class systems very similar to the Bantu ones. The Cross-River languages have subgroups with noun class systems closely resembling those of the Bantu (e.g., Bendi group), as well as languages with no noun classes (Ogoni group), and also languages with reformulated noun classes and limited concordance (Abua-Ogbia group) (De Wolf 1981: 60-61). The Jukunoid group has languages with class prefixes, and the eastern languages mark the class by suffixes. In Niger-Congo languages we can find examples of all possible types of affixes and their combination as noun class markers. In Figure 3 these types and their distribution in various language groups (individual languages or subgroups in parentheses) are shown

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671

in a tabular form. Five types of systems, each representing a distinct phase in the development process of noun class marking, are distinguished. By far the largest number of Niger-Congo languages fall into group A with a conservative noun class system. Note also that in C there is gender marking as an additional feature. TYPES OF AFFIXING Prefixes only Older prefiSuffixes only xes, innovating suffixes A. Conservative noun class system Kordofanian Northern Gur (most lanAtlantic (Bak, Atlantic guages) Tenda groups) Gur (E. Grusi Kwa (Ega) group) Benue-Congo Benue(Southern Congo (Tiv, Bantoid) Kom Kagoro) B. Reduced noun class system Kwa BenueEastern Kru (Comboé, Congo Adamawa Gbe) (Central (Bua group, Benue-Congo Jukunoid) Tula, Longuda) (Lower Cross) C. System restructured on basis of [animate]/[human] Southern Western Kru Atlantic (Grebo, Kuwaa) Mande (Bobo) Dogon D. System as in C, plus gender Ijoid Western Kru (Wobe, Nyabwa) E. No noun class or gender system Benue-Congo BenueMande (most (Eleme) Congo languages) (Yoruba) (Jukun) Adamawa (Igbo) (Mumuye) Ubangi (Gbaya)

Older suffixes, innovating prefixes Gur (Gurma group)

No affixes

—

—

BenueCongo (Mambila?)

—

—

BenueCongo (Gokan a)

Figure 3. Types of nominal affixes in Niger-Congo. (Adapted from Williamson 1989: 36)

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2.1.2 Bantoid languages A total of twenty noun classes can be reconstructed for Bantoid languages, yet variation is great, some having up to nineteen classes and others none. In general, Southern Bantoid languages are more homogeneous than the Northern ones in retaining the noun class system. Northern Bantoid languages A characteristic feature in Northern Bantoid languages, which have more than 200,000 speakers in Central Eastern Nigeria, in Adamawa, and in the central provinces of Cameroon, is the absence of noun class systems. The total number of languages is 17. None of the largest languages, Mambila and Vute, have noun classes. Konja has the noun prefixes ma-, ta-, and ti-, but they do not constitute a noun class system (Hedinger 1989: 426-427). Southern Bantoid languages Under this heading are discussed Southern Bantoid languages with the exception of Narrow Bantu, which have a separate heading below. All languages of this group studied so far have noun classes, except Yamba and Mfumte, which have only a singular/plural system. The number of classes in individual languages ranges from five to nineteen. Prefixes predominate, but nominal suffixes are found at least in Beboid, Momo and Ring. Tiv is a special case. It has suffixes in six classes, and three of these also have prefixes simultaneously with suffixes. Bantu languages The largest single language group is Bantu (or Narrow Bantu), with over 200 million speakers in the area south of the Sahara, its northern boundary stretching approximately from the southern areas of Nigeria to the south of Chad, the Central African Republic, the Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The number of languages ranges from about 360 to over 600, depending on the definition of language and dialect. Bantu languages were among the first in sub-Saharan Africa to be studied in any detail. Typical of this language group is the noun class

Noun classification in African languages

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system, which, with a few exceptions, is found in all Bantu languages. The early scholars (Bleek 1862/69; Meinhof 1899, 1906) established a numbering system for the classes, and it is still generally used, especially in comparative studies. The class is usually marked by a prefix. Some languages have only suffixes, and very few have both prefixes and suffixes. It is important to note that singular and plural forms of the same stem belong to different classes. Class numbering follows, whenever possible, singular/plural pairings, beginning with 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 etc. The marker of the noun form normally indicates the noun class. When noun markers are homographs, i.e., the same affix applies to more than one noun class, the class of the noun can be determined from the grammatical concord of the constituents it governs. In a number of languages, animacy causes a conflict between noun form and concord, the noun having a non-animate affix but concord behaving according to the animate classes. Thus semantic function overrides formal noun classification. The number of classes safely reconstructible for Bantu is 21, although additional classes with only limited distribution would increase the number. The list of reconstructed Bantu class markers in Figure 4 is based on Meeussen (1967), Weimers (1973: 165) and Hinnebusch (1989: 466): 1 mu2mu5ji7 ki9 nlldu12 ka14 bu15 ku16 pa17 ku18 mu 19 pi24 i-

Figure 4. Reconstructed noun class markers of proto-Bantu

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Note that the left column refers to the singular markers, and the right column to the plural. The classes on the same line form a singular/plural pair. Class 6a includes liquids and does not have a singular. Class 11 is associated to class 10, and classes 14 and 15 to class 6. Possibly also classes 19 and 13 are connected (Hinnebusch 1989: 466). Classes without pairs are: 6a, 16, 17,18, and 24. In individual languages some of the classes have merged and others have disappeared. In Swahili, for example, classes 11 and 14 have merged, obviously through loss of the initial consonant. As a consequence, the following combinations occur: 11/10, 11/6, and 11/0.

Although the reconstructed prefixes have the general pattern CV, some languages have a vocalic element preceding the prefix. The resulting constructions have the form VCV, where the initial vowel tends to be in harmony with the latter vowel. Hence: umu-Zaba-, umu-/imi- etc. Vowel harmony is not, however, an absolute rule. There are prefixes such as orna-, omu-, oshi- etc. Nouns in Bantu languages may also have combined class markers, so that a noun is marked by more than one class marker. Examples of Swahili show that the formation of combined prefixes has semantic motivation, e.g., m-ti (tree) > ji-ti (big tree) > maji-ti (big trees) > ki-jiti (a small stick); m-tu (man) > ji-tu (giant) > maji-tu (giants) > kiji-tu (dwarf). The combined class markers seem to be restricted to augmentation (ji-/ma-) and diminution (ki-M-). Noun classes are sometimes divided into groups according to whether they are inherent, derivational or locatives (Givón 1972). Inherent nouns are lexical, while derived nouns have their lexical basis in some other word class, such as verb or adjective. Classes 16, 17, and 18 indicate location in various degrees of specificity, while class 15 is the class of nominalized verbs. Semantic motivation of noun classes It is generally accepted that noun classes in Bantu languages have semantic motivation. Philosophical constructions have been devised on this principle (Tempels 1959, Kagame 1976, Jahn 1958). But only part of the classes are 'clean'. Classes 1/2 are exclusively human; class 15 includes only nominalized verbs; class 16 indicates definite location, class 17 indefinite location, and class 18 inside

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location. These are the only semantically 'pure' classes. Other classes can be given semantic labels, some several, but it is not possible to give an exclusive definition for them. Figure 5, based on Hinnebusch (1989: 466-467), Weimers (1973), and Creider (1975), outlines briefly semantic roles of various classes. 1/2

names of human beings

3/4

- non-human living beings ('semi-animates'): trees, plants, spirits, natural phenomena, e.g., fire, smoke, river; - objects associated with these things; - things made of wood, etc.

5/6

paired objects, fruits, etc.

14

abstract nouns

6a

liquids

15

infinitives, i.e., verbal nouns

7/8

artifacts, defective humans

15/6

some paired body parts

9/10

animals, special kinds of people

16,17,18

locatives

11/10

long thin objects

19/13

diminutives

12/13

diminutives

Figure 5. Semantic roles of noun classes in Bantu languages

Another way of analyzing noun classes is assigning them semantic labels and ordering these labels hierarchically (Creider—Denny 1975). Thus we can classify them first as 'mass' and 'count'. The former can be further divided into 'solid' and 'liquid'. 'Count' words are divided into those that have spatial configurations and those that do not. Spatial configurations are either 'solid shape' (classes 3/4 and 5/6) or they are 'outline shape' (classes 9/10 and 11/10). More refined distinctions can be also made under these labels. Finally we get the following types of distinctions: 1/2

+count, +animate, +human

3/4

+configuration, +solid figure, +extended, +unit (cl. 3), +collection (cl. 4)

5

+configuration, +solid figure, +non-extended, +unit

When we get considerably divergent results from one single language, it is an indication of the complexity involved in semantic roles. A detailed study of semantic roles of noun classes was made by Contini-Morava (1994) on Swahili. The study was made by

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extracting nouns (a total of 4784) from A Standard Swahili-English Dictionary (Johnson 1939) and by marking semantic properties of each noun, such as human, animal, plant, shape, size, affect, force of nature, and number. Each of these have a number of subcategories. The main result of this study was that, contrary to counter proposals, Swahili noun classification has a clear semantic motivation. It was also discovered that the way the human mind categorizes is different from the 'objective' categorization. For example, artifacts, even big ones, may fall into class 7/8, which includes diminutives. At the same time fruits are classified into class 5/6, the class of amplification. From the human viewpoint artifacts are manageable and therefore small, while fruit is out of man's control and often part of huge trees; hence big. In another study Contini-Morava (1996) argues, contrary to the standard view, that agreement markers of Swahili have a semantic motivation and content. Studying the deictic (including deixis and anaphora in narrow sense) use of agreement markers she comes to the conclusion that they are linguistic signs with semantic content, which serve a speaker's communicative goals and help the hearer to identify a referent. With this approach she is able to explain the 'irregular' agreement marking, usually treated as exceptions. Figure 6 (next page) summarizes the semantic categories of noun classes in Swahili found by Contini-Morava (1994). An interesting question is the class assignment of new words, and contradicting hypotheses have been presented. Zawawi (1979: 127) proposes that loan nouns in Swahili will be first categorized into class 9/10 and later shifted to class 5/6, which facilitates the marking of plural through a class prefix. Eastman (1991: 61), based on data from up-country Kenya, claims the exact opposite. She maintains that new words entering the language will first be located in class 5/6 and then, when they have gained wider acceptance and use, shifted to semantically more relevant classes. Extensive tests made with the Helsinki corpus of Swahili texts shows, however, that the most prominent class for new words is not 5/6 but 9/10, where they stay (Hurskainen 1994: 12-13). The quantitative data of ContiniMorava (1994), based on dictionary entries, produced similar results. On the other hand, the discussions of the Tanzanian Parliament in the corpus show a tendency to allocate new words to class 5/6. Nevertheless, the arguments of Eastman are obviously justified, but

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they portray local usages and probably spoken language rather than the general trend in written language. KIND 1/2 3/4

5/6

6a 7/8

9/10 11/14

SHAPE

SIZE

long rigid

(large)

-fruits curved 3-dimensional objects large things revered/feared things

round solid or hollow

large

-leaves curved flat objects things with broad parts curved outlines aggregates utilitarian objects small enough to hold in hand: -small entities in general small artifacts small animals immature beings pieces/parts of things -concrete object associated with verb miscellaneous (incl. animals), most loan words essences -sap thick liquids 2-dimensional surfaces -fibers long thin flexible things -abstractions

curved & broad

human entities with vitality: -supernatural phenomena -natural phenomena -plants, esp. trees -active body parts -exceptional animals -human collectives plant offspring:

—

AFFECT

impressive ungainly

—

—

small

cute; insignificant; not whole

spreading flat; long flexible

Figure 6. Semantic categories of Swahili noun classes (compiled from ContiniMorava 1994)

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Note that class 11/14 in Contini-Morava's schedule should be understood as a merger of old Bantu classes 11 (bu-) and 14 (lu-). They both include singular forms of nouns, and their class prefix as well as the concordial agreement required by them are identical. Therefore, in modern Swahili grammars only class 11 exists and all nouns of those two classes are grouped under it. Some nouns in class 11 take a plural, and it is formed according to classes 10 and 6. 2.2. Kordofanian languages The noun class system is one of the characteristic features in Kordofanian languages, which are spoken around the Nuba hills in the Sudan by small minorities in the vicinity of other groups who speak languages classified into the Nilo-Saharan family. The distinct features led Greenberg to give them an independent status as a major branch of Niger-Kordofanian languages. Similarities with NigerCongo languages concern the phonological features of noun class markers as well as the groups of nouns belonging to each class. The possibility of independent development is ruled out, and also borrowing is very unlikely (Schadeberg 1981a: 117-124, 1989: 71-72). Nouns in some languages of the Heiban, Talodi and Rashad groups have a paired prefix system, singular and plural having different prefixes. Proper nouns, when applicable, and kin terms have suffixes. Tegali dialects of the Rashad group seem to have lost prefixes in the singular, but have a vowel prefix and/or a suffix - Vn in the plural. Concord marking accompanies these noun class systems, but its extent varies in different languages. In some Heiban languages and in Utoro the most developed concord systems are found, and in other languages concord appears only in some of the constituents governed by the noun (Schadeberg 1981a: 121-122).

3. Gender in African languages In this paper I use the term 'gender' for denoting those systems where sex is at least partly a basis for classification, distinct from semanti-

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cally based noun class systems discussed above. Gender systems are found in all families of the Afro-Asiatic languages, such as Semitic, Cushitic, Chadic, Berber, and Egyptian. Gender systems are also found in Nilotic (Nilo-Saharan), and Central Khoisan (Khoisan) languages. While noun class systems are characteristic of the NigerKongo languages, gender systems are found in the three remaining large language families of Africa. Gender systems are different from noun class systems in that while the latter may have up to forty classes, the former have a maximum of six categories, whereby singular and plural are treated as separate groups. If there is a category in addition to masculine and feminine, it is termed as neuter, communalis, diminutive, or locative. Masculine denotes male sex, and feminine female sex respectively. When classifying non-human entities, masculine normally denotes big and strong objects, while feminine is used for small and weak objects. 3.1. Afro-Asiatic languages Afro-Asiatic languages have a gender system as a typical feature, although gender is not always marked in nouns. In this otherwise incoherent language group, gender stability seems to be a feature extending to the whole area. Gender marking may have great variations, but the gender of core nouns is the same in different languages. This means, for example, that if 'tree' is masculine in one language, it is this also in another. Semitic languages have masculine and feminine genders, but masculine in nouns is not marked. Feminine gender has a suffix marker -(a)t, e.g., malik-at (queen) < malik (king), but in certain groups of nouns feminine is not marked either (Sasse 1981b: 236). Part of Chadic languages have retained a gender system, others having lost gender markers also in pronouns. Hausa nouns are either masculine or feminine in the singular, but have a common plural. Gender and plural are marked by suffixes and/or by tonal structure. Gender marking appears in Hausa also in genitive and possessive constructions, whereby -n marks masculine and -t (and its allophone -r) feminine. The following examples are from Wolff 1981b: 250).

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(a)

masculine

gídáa ná Audù gída-n-sá

'Audu's house' 'his house'

(b)

feminine

góonáa tá Audù góoná-f-sá

Audu's farm his fami

The prefix ma- in deriving certain classes of nouns from verbs is widespread in Chadic languages. Examples below are from Hausa: (a)

hàifâa

'beget, give birth' > máháifíi m. > máháiflyáa f. > mâhàifâa pl.

'father' 'mother' 'elders'

(b)

dâfàa

'to cook'

> mádáfáa

'kitchen'

(c

bùudèe

'to open'

> mábúudíi

'key'

Berber languages distinguish masculine and feminine genders. In a number of Berber dialects nouns begin with a prefix (a-, i-, u- in Masc. and ta-, ti-, tu- in Fem.). In addition to having a ¿-element in the prefix, feminine nouns may also end in -t (Wolff 1981a: 179). When the noun is in a certain syntactic connection with the preceding word, it has a special form, status annexus, distinct from the free form, status absolutus. E.g.: masculine

st.abs. st.ann.

argaz urgaz, w0rgaz

man

feminine

stabs. st.ann.

taserdunt ts0rdunt

'female hinny'

Gender classification is typical of Cushitic languages. Most languages are dualistic, having masculine and feminine, as is the case with Afro-Asiatic languages in general. The gender is often not marked by an affix in the citation form of the noun. It can be identified in the accompanying dependent constituents, such as adjectives, demonstrative pronouns and verb-forms, and also through tone. The grammatical gender is not necessarily in conformity with sexual gender. Rather it is based on semantic dichotomy, masculine

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meaning big, powerful and significant, and feminine meaning small, weak and insignificant (Sasse 1981a: 205-206). Number in Cushitic languages may be marked by tone, suffix, or internal changes, and often it is not marked at all. In some languages there are two classes of nouns, one with regular plural forms, and the other with identical singular and plural forms. Usually there are at least seven to eight ways of forming a plural, and often more than twenty. In some languages plural constitutes a third gender. In some languages, such as Somali and Rendille, there is gender polarity, so that plural forms of masculine nouns are formed according to the feminine gender and vice versa. Rendille (Heine—Vossen 1981: 425) has developed this 'crossing' system still further, so that masculine singular may have masculine and feminine plurals, and masculine plurals may have masculine and feminine singular forms, as illustrated below: Singular

Plural

Masculine

Masculine

Feminine

Feminine

Figure

7. Gender polarity

3.2. Nilo-Saharan 3.2.1. Nilotic

languages

languages

Eastern Nilotic languages have a fully developed gender system, while Western and Southern branches of Nilotic languages do not. It has also been suggested (Schuchardt 1912), that originally all Nilotic languages had a gender system, but that Western Nilotic languages have lost it whereas others have retained it. In Eastern Nilotic languages, there is a distinction between masculine and feminine. In the Teso-Turkana group there is a third category which also includes diminutives. Gender is marked by prefixes, which are different in singular and plural (Schadeberg 1981b: 275-276). Singular and plural are marked differently by transformation in the stem or by a suffix. The marking is not uniform in that plural

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would be marked and singular not. In the same language (e.g., Maasai) sometimes singular, sometimes plural is the marked category. The number of ways of distinguishing singular from plural is so great that grammarians usually try to order nouns into distinct classes. 3.2.2. Maasai as an example of gender languages Maasai is an Eastern Nilotic language with three genders: masculine, feminine, and locative. The last one has only one noun e-wueji/i-wuejitin 'place/places', and the rest of the nouns fall into the other two categories. Gender is marked by a prefix, which is different in the singular and plural. In addition, nouns are doubly marked so that they have different endings in the singular and plural. Gender prefixes are: o-, ol- (m.sg.); i-, il- (m.pl.); e-, en-, em-, enk- (f.sg.); i-, in-, im-, ink- (f.pL). Depending on the stem vowels, the prefix vowels may be closed or open. It is obvious that a large number of nouns do not have a clear basis for semantic categorization on the masculine/feminine axis. But where such a motivation exists, it is utilized. In fact this dual distinction is applied to two semantic dichotomies, masculine sex/feminine sex, and big/small. Nouns naturally denoting maleness fall into the group of masculines, and those referring to femininity to the other group. Similarly nouns denoting big size or strength are masculine, while those signifying small size or weakness are feminine. Gender marking is not always stable in Maasai. Part of the nouns can be manipulated so that gender is changed to its opposite to get a certain effect. For example: ol-ayiónì 'a boy' > enk-ayiónì 'a small boy'; ol-tim 'a certain kind of tree' > en-tîm 'small tree, forest'. Similarly gender may be changed to denote sex: ol-kitók 'male elder' > en-kitók 'female elder'; ol-tàsàt 'very old male' > en-tâsàt 'very old female'; ol-kiténg 'bull' > en-kíténg 'cow'. Whether such nouns should be considered as a different class, a kind of 'common class', is not clear. At least they are not examples of gender ambiguity, because gender marking has semantic consequences. Rather they show the power and flexibility of a semantically loaded gender marking system.

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3.3. Khoisan languages Gender systems are found also in a number of Khoisan languages. Northern and Southern Khoisan languages do not have gender distinction. Instead they have vestiges of noun class systems, which become manifest in pronouns. Khoikhoi and Central Khoisan languages, on the other hand, mark gender in nouns as well as in constituents governed by them. Masculine in Central Khoisan languages denotes long objects and feminine round objects (Heine—Vossen 1981: 423-424). Central Khoisan has also a dual form in addition to singular and plural. Independent pronouns in Central Khoisan have prefixes to show the person, central elements to show gender (singular, plural, and communis), and suffixes to mark number and person. A similar gender system is found in the distant languages Sandawe and Hadza in central Tanzania, and the latter has retained also the dual category (Winter 1981: 329-374). There is an old hypothesis that the gender system in some of the Khoisan languages is a proof of the Semitic origin of these people. The hypothesis was supported by the fact that the Khoikhoi were primarily cattle pastoralists, as were the Hamites in the north. This hypothesis has now been virtually rejected, and the Khoisan are thought to have developed their pastoralist culture and gender systems in languages independent of the Hamites proper.

4. Summary One of the characteristic features of African languages is noun classification. It is found in two thirds of the languages of the continent. Most widespread is the noun class system, where nouns are classified into distinct marked groups, often with semantic motivation. Class membership is marked by prefixes, suffixes, and circumfixes. Partial marking and zero marking is also found. When there is no marking in the noun, class membership is identifiable in concord marking in constituents governed by the noun. The noun class system is a central feature of Niger-Kordofanian languages, the largest language family of Africa.

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The gender system is the second principle of classifying nouns, found in all major language families, but it is not a characteristic feature of any of them, with the exception of the Afro-Asiatic languages, where it is as common as nounclass systems in NigerKordofanian languages. In gender systems often only masculine and feminine are distinguished, but sometimes also a third gender is found. Sexual gender is often the basis of classification, and when this is not applicable, semantically based criteria may be used. Research has shown that marking systems have not only developed from complicated and coherent to simple and less coherent, but also the reverse may happen. A language may adopt new markers when the old ones have deteriorated for some reason. Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Professor Ekkehard Wolff for a number of valuable comments, especially concerning gender in African languages. Thanks also to Professor Ellen Contini-Morava for making available a couple of her studies pending publication. References Armstrong, Robert G. 1989 "Idomoid." In: John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, 323-336. Bleek, Wilhelm H.I. 1862/69 A comparative grammar of South African languages. London: Trübner. Reprinted by Gregg International Publishers, 1971. Childs, G. Tucker 1983 "Noun class affix renewal in Southern West Atlantic." In: J. Kaye et al (eds.), Current approaches to African linguistics 2. Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 17-29. Contini-Morava, Ellen 1994 Noun classification in Swahili. Publications of the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia. Research Reports, 2nd Series. 1996 '"Things' in a noun class language: semantic functions of grammatical agreement in Swahili." In: Edna Andrews and Yishai, Toben (eds.) Towards a calculus of meaning: studies in markedness, distinctive features, and deixis. A m s t e r d a m /Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

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Creider, Chet A. 1975 "The semantic system of noun classes in proto-Bantu". Anthropological linguistics 17: 127-138. Creider, Chet—J. P. Denny 1975 "The semantics of noun classes in proto-Bantu." In: R.K. Herbert (ed.), Patterns in language, culture, and society: Sub-Saharan Africa. The Ohio State University working papers in linguistics 19: 142-163. Doneux, Jean Léonce 1975 "Hypothèses pour la comparative des langues atlantiques". Africana linguistica 6:41-129. Eastman, Carol M. 1991 "Loanwords and Swahili nominal inflection." In: Jan Blommaert (ed.), Swahili Studies. Essays in honour of Marcel van Spaandonck. Ghent Academia Press. 57-77. Givón, Talmy 1970 "Some historical changes in the noun-class system of Bantu, their possible causes and wider applications." In: C.W. Kim and H. Stahlke (eds.), Papers in African linguistics. Edmonton: Linguistic Research. 33-54. Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963 The languages of Africa. The Hague: Mouton. 1977 "Niger-Congo noun class markers: Prefixes, suffixes, both or neither". Studies in African Linguistics, Supplement 7: 97-104. Hedinger, Robert 1989 "Northern Bantoid." In: John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger Congo languages. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, 421-429. Heine, Bernd—Rainer Vossen 1981 "Typologie." In: Bernd Heine—Thilo C. Schadeberg—Ekkehard Wolff (eds.), Die Sprachen Afrikas. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. 407-444. Hinnebusch, Thomas J. 1989 "Bantu." In: John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, 450-473. Hurskainen, Arvi 1994 "Quantitative analysis of Swahili noun classes." University of Trondheim Working Papers in Linguistics 22:1-16. Jahn, Janheinz 1958 Muntu. Umrisse der neoafrikanischen Kultur. Düsseldorf: E. Diedrichs. Jenewari, Charles E.W. 1989 "Ijoid." In: John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, 105-118.

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Johnson, Frederik 1939 A standard Swahili-English dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press. Kagame, Alex 1976 La philosophie bantu comparée. Paris: Présence Africaine. Manessy, Gabriel 1965-66 "Les langues à préfixe et suffixe dans les langues voltaïques." Journal of African Linguistics 4: 170-81 and 5: 54-61. Marchese, Lynell 1989 "Kru." In: John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, 119-140. Meeussen, A.E. 1967 "Bantu grammatical reconstructions". Annalen van het Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika 61:79-121. Africana linguistica 3. Tervuren. Meinhof, Carl 1899 Grundriss einer Lautlehre der Bantusprachen. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer (Emst Vohsen). 1906 Grundzüge einer vergleichenden Grammatik der Bantusprachen. Berlin. Naden, Tony 1989 "Gur." In: John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, 141-168. Sapir, J. David 1971 "West Atlantic: An inventory of the languages, their noun class systems and consonant alternations". Current Trends in Linguistics 7: 45-112. Sasse, Hans-Jürgen 1981a "Die kuschitischen Sprachen." In: Bernd Heine—Thilo C. Schadeberg—Ekkehard Wolff (eds.), Die Sprachen Afrikas. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. Pp. 187-215. 1981b "Semitisch." In: Bernd Heine—Thilo C. Schadeberg—Ekkehard Wolff (eds.), Die Sprachen Afrikas. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. 225-238. Schadeberg, Thilo C. 1981a "Kordofanisch." In: Bernd Heine—Thilo C. Schadeberg—Ekkehard Wolff (eds.), Die Sprachen Afrikas. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. 117-128. 1981b "Nilosaharanisch." In: Bernd Heine—Thilo C. Schadeberg— Ekkehard Wolff (eds.), Die Sprachen Afrikas. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. 263-328. 1989 "Kordofanian." In: John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger-Congo languages. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, 67-80.

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Schuchardt, Hugo 1912 "Bari und Dinka". Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 26: 11-41. Tempels, Placide 1959 Bantu Philosophy. (Published originally as La philosophie bantoue by Lovania at Elizabethville, also in Paris by Présence Africaine, 1949). Paris: Présence Africaine. Watters, John R.—Jacqueline Leroy 1989 "Southern Bantoid." In: John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The NigerCongo languages. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, 431-449. Weimers, William E. 1973 African language structures. Berkeley: University of California Press. Williamson, Kay 1989 "Niger-Kongo overview." In: John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger-Congo Languages. Lanham, New York and London: University Press of America, 3-46. Winter, J.C. 1981 "Khoisan." In: Bernd Heine—Thilo C. Schadeberg—Ekkehard Wolff (eds.), Die Sprachen Afrikas. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. 329-374. Wolf, De, Paul P. 1981 "Das Niger-Kongo (ohne Bantu)." In: Bernd Heine—Thilo C. Schadeberg—Ekkehard Wolff (eds.), Die Sprachen Afrikas. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. 45-76. Wolff, Ekkehard 1981a "Berber." In: Bernd Heine—Thilo C. Schadeberg—Ekkehard Wolff (eds.), Die Sprachen Afrikas. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. 171-185. 1981b "Die Tschadischen Sprachen." In: Bernd Heine—Thilo C. Schadeberg—Ekkehard Wolff (eds.), Die Sprachen Afrikas. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. 239-262. Zawavi, Sharifa 1979 Loanwords and their effect on the classification of Swahili nomináis. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

Grammatical gender from east to west Juha Janhunen

1. Preliminary remarks on class and gender Grammatical gender is here understood primarily in the broad sense, referring to all the various types of phenomena which divide nominal parts of speech into grammatically distinct classes. A subtype of this sphere of phenomena is formed by grammatical gender in the narrow sense, which involves a more or less explicit correlation between nominal classes and biological gender (sex). In both the broad and the narrow sense grammatical gender is a category which incorporates a conceptualization of extralinguistic distinctions into the linguistic structure and substance. From the point of view of linguistic evolution, it seems that class systems normally develop first in the lexicon, and then in the gram mar. Lexicalized class distinctions, including distinctions correlating with biological gender, are often manifested by area-specific cases of heteronymy. For instance, European languages, irrespective of whether they possess the category of grammatical gender or not, tend to make a lexical distinction between 'rooster' and 'hen', as in Finnish (a non-gender language) kukko vs. kana and Russian (a gender language) petux vs. kurica. By contrast, most East Asian languages merge these concepts, as in Mandarin ji H and Mongol takiya/n 'fowl (in general)', though they are able to make the same distinction by using analytic constructions, as in Mongol ere takiya/n 'male fowl' vs. eme takiya/n 'female fowl'. As a grammaticalized category, gender is typically manifested at two different levels, which may be termed referential and morphological, respectively. The referential level is most often reflected by the presence of separate pronouns for different nominal classes, as in English he vs. she. Diachronically such referential distinctions in a language are often either the last trace or the first token of a more

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elaborate gender system. The latter case is illustrated by Japanese, which, under the influence of European languages, has adopted a referential distinction between kare 'he' vs. kano-zyo 'she', to replace the older and more transparent distinction between ano+hito 'that man' vs. ano+ko 'that girl' (Martin 1983: 1074-1075). Referential distinctions are probably the most widespread manifestations of gender in the languages of the world. Even languages which show no difference between masculine and feminine personal pronouns normally have separate pronominal stems referring to human vs. non-human, or, alternatively, animate vs. non-animate. This seems to be most often the case with the interrogative pronouns for 'who' vs. 'what', as in Finnish kuka vs. mikä, or Classical Chinese shui gfi vs. he m . A distinction between the personal-demonstrative pronouns for 's/he' vs. 'it' is also common, though certainly not universal, cf., e.g., Finnish hän 's/he' (human, dialectally also animate) vs. se 'it' (non-human or non-animate), but Mandarin ta ffc 'he' = ta M 'she' = ta % 'it' (graphically different but phonemically identical). Structurally the most complicated level of manifestation for gender and related phenomena is connected with morphological distinctions, including both inflective and derivational morphology. This sphere of distinctions comprises all the various types of nominal and pronominal class affixes, class-based declensional and conjugational systems, as well as class-dependent patterns of morphosyntactic agreement. Morphological class distinctions will also be the focus of the following survey, the material for which comes mainly from languages and language families normally not considered (or not known) to be gender languages.

2. Analytic numeral classifiers in East Asia It is well known that Chinese has a system of classifiers, each of which is used in connection with a certain group, or class, of nouns. Just how many such classifiers and, consequently, how many nominal classes Chinese has, is no trivial question, since both the shapes and functions of these elements vary greatly within the geographical and chronological realm of the multitude of modern and historical idioms collectively known as Chinese. Generally, the number of

Grammatical gender from east to west

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classifiers seems to have increased through most of the recorded history, though in relatively recent times there has been a reduction of the system in some of the most widely spoken varieties of Chinese, notably Northern and Northwestern Mandarin (Norman 1988: 115-117). We may identify the Chinese classifiers as Sinitic in type, for their system is intimately connected with the Sinitic language type, as represented by both Chinese and a wide range of other (both related and unrelated) languages in East and Southeast Asia. A typical feature of the Sinitic type of classifiers is that the nouns themselves show no external markers for class, a circumstance congruent with the general lack of morphology in Sinitic languages. From the point of view of grammatical analysis, the Sinitic type of classifiers may therefore be recognized as basically analytic. Diachronically all classifiers seem to derive from ordinary significant nouns, but synchronically most of them have lost their original meaning, becoming purely grammatical elements. The Chinese classifiers, also known as numeral classifiers or "measure words", most commonly occur in combination with numerals. In such cases, the classifier specifies the class of the noun of which individual samples are counted, e.g., Mandarin yi-ben shu —'^Hr liang-tiao yu M f ^ ^ l san-tou niu H3M4 1

[one-volume book] 'one book', [two-strip fish] 'two fish', [three-head cattle] 'three cows'.

Since the use of classifiers is obligatory, we may conclude that all normal nouns in Sinitic languages primarily denote uncountable concepts, which can only be individualized by using a classifier. Additionally, especially when used in combination with monosyllabic nominal stems (as in the examples above), the classifiers diminish the impact of homonymy, otherwise potentially disturbing in many Sinitic idioms. There is no doubt that the constructions with numeral classifiers are historically secondary to sequences of a simple numeral and a noun. Examples of the type san ren

HA

[three man] 'three men'

are still common in early Classical Chinese. The evolution then seems to have taken place in three stages. In the first stage, an antici-

692

Juha

Janhunen

pation of the noun to be counted must have appeared before the numeral, resulting in constructions of the type *ren san-ren

ΑΞ A

[man three-man] 'three men'.

In the second stage, the selection of the nouns occuring after the numeral decreased, yielding a limited paradigm of fully grammaticalized classifiers, as in ren san-ge

ΛΞί@

[man three-piece] 'three men'.

In the third stage, the order of the constituents was reversed, placing the head noun last, which finally resulted in the modern constructions of the type san-ge ren

ΗΊ® A

[three-piece man] 'three men'

(cf. Hashimoto 1977: 74-75). From their cooccurrences with numerals, the Sinitic classifiers have easily spread to other contexts, notably to constructions involving demonstrative or interrogative pronouns. In such constructions, the numeral may still be present, as in zhe liang-ben shu zhe yi-ben shu

ΜΜΨβ

JÌE—^β

[this two-volume book] [this one-volume book] 'this

However, in most cases the numeral 'one' can be omitted as superfluous, resulting in constructions of the type zhe-ben shu

Jjt^flr

[this-volume book] 'this book'.

It may be seen that the pronoun here fills structurally the same slot as is occupied by the numeral in the original classifier construction. From these general presuppositions, the use of the classifiers in modern Chinese seems to be developing in two directions. On the one hand, there is the trend towards a continuously decreasing number of distinct classifiers, which dialectally has resulted in the origination of a single general classifier, as most typically exemplified by

Grammatical gender from east to west

693

Mandarin ge fH . Such a general classifier can be used in combination with any noun, irrespective of class, e.g., Mandarin yi-ge shu —fHfll liang-geyu MfÜl^ san-ge niu

[one-piece book] 'one book', [two-piece fish]'two fish', [three-piece cattle] 'three cows'.

Although the other classifiers also survive in the language, the general classifier tends to increase its frequency at their expense. The final goal of this development would seem to be a uniform grammatical particle or suffix, distinguishing the attributive forms of numerals from the corresponding predicative or absolute forms. On the other hand, there is a tendency to use the classifiers before nouns without any preceding numeral or pronoun, e.g., ben shu ge shu

flitS

[volume book] or [piece book] 'a book'.

In this usage, the classifiers become functionally more or less identical with the indefinite article or articles in languages like English or German. Examples where a distinction is made between several different classifiers, depending on the class of the noun, may be analyzed as cases of the referential manifestation of class. The inherent class identity of a noun, though not visible from the external shape of the noun itself, is manifested by the choice of the classifier-article. From this specific point of view, a class language of the S initie type differs in no significant way from a conventional gender language like German.

3. Synthetic numeral classifiers in Northeast Asia The Sinitic system of numeral classifiers is also present in the Sinitic components of Korean and Japanese. Particularly in Japanese, a typical numeral construction contains Sinitic elements for both the numeral and the classifier, though the head noun can be expressed by a native Japanese word. The order of the constituents normally preserves the older stage of Chinese, with the head noun being followed by the numeral and the classifier, as in Japanese

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usi san-tou [cattle three-head] 'three cows'. Alternatively, a construction with a connective element (genitive suffix) may be used, as in Japanese san-tou-no usi [three-head's cattle] 'three cows'. Additionally, Korean and Japanese have numeral constructions in which either the numeral or the classifier, or both, are expressed by native words, as in Korean caig sei-kwen [book three-roll] 'three books' (with a native numeral but a Sinitic classifier), Japanese tori ici-wa [bird one-wing] 'one bird' (with a Sinitic numeral but a native classifier), or Korean so dwu-mari [cattle two-head] 'two cows' (with a native numeral and a native classifier). Similar examples are also known from other languages spoken in the northern periphery of China, though the use of classifiers is normally optional, as in Mongol gurban debter nom [three volume book] or simply gurban nom [three book] 'three books'. It could be easily presumed that the numeral constructions in the languages of Northeast Asia are due to Chinese influence, even when they are composed of entirely native elements. However, there is also a native model available in the expressions denoting measurable quantities or clusters in terms of "counters" or "numeratives", as in Japanese mesi hito-sara [rice one-bowl] 'one bowl of rice'.

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Indeed, from the syntactic point of view, it would be possible to treat the classifiers merely as a special type of counters, alongside with other types of units and measures (cf. Martin 1992: 179-185). On the other hand, from the lexical point of view, there is a clear distinction between the closed paradigm of classes and classifiers, and the diffuse category of other units and measures (cf. also Bugaeva 1979: 206-211). What is more important, however, is that the languages of Northeast Asia also show examples of a considerably less transparent and, obviously, much more ancient type of numeral classifiers. Since most of the languages concerned belong to the typological complex traditionally termed Altaic (a term not to be understood in a genetic sense), we may also identify the classifiers in these languages as Altaic in type. In difference from their Sinitic counterparts, the Altaic classifiers are synthetic, being represented by pure derivational suffixes, which normally show no obvious relationship with any freelyoccurring nouns. This structural feature corresponds to the predominantly suffixal morphology of the Altaic type of languages. The number of nominal classes embraced by the native synthetic classifiers of the Altaic type is not large in any single language. The most widespread concept counted in this way are days. Modern Japanese, for instance, has native synthetic expressions for periods of 2 to 10 days: hu.c.u-ka mi.q-ka yo.q-ka i.cu-ka mu.i-ka

'two days' 'three days' 'four days' 'five days' 'six days'

nan.o-ka yo.u-ka kokono-ka tou-ka

'seven days' 'eight days' 'nine days' 'ten days'

(with expressions for 20 and 30 days also surviving in the language in certain special uses). Modern Korean has analogous expressions for periods of 5 to 9 days: das.s-a(i) yes.s-ai ir.h-ei

'five days' 'six days' 'seven days'

yed.ur-ei ah.ur-ai

'eight days' 'nine days'.

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Even Ainu (typologically a non-Altaic language) has expressions for periods of 2 and 3 days (& = root reduplication): tu&t-ko re&r-ko

'two days' 'three days'

In all of these cases, it is possible to establish the segmental identity of the suffix denoting the class of 'day'. Similarly, Japanese has suffixally marked expressions for counting persons, though only for the numbers 1 and 2: hi.t.o-ri hu.t.a-ri

'one person' 'two persons'.

The rest of the system is Sino-Japanese: san-nin [three-man] 'three persons', corresponding to early Chinese san-ren H A

, etc.

The usage of all of these expressions follows the pattern exhibited by the Sino-Japanese classifier constructions, which means that they can be combined with any noun belonging to the class of 'person'. Both of the two possible word orders occur: e.g., Kodomo hutari [child two-persons] or hutari-no kodomo [two-person's child] 'two children', cf. kodomo [child three-persons] or 'three children'. sannin-nosannin kodomo [three-person's child] (It may be noted that the noun ren A is not attested as a classifier in Chinese, but it must at least have been developing in this direction at the time when it was adopted into Sino-Japanese.) Although the synthetic numeral classifiers of the Altaic type are etymologically opaque as far as the class suffixes are concerned, there are reasons to assume that they are diachronically based on or-

Grammatical gender from east to west

697

dinary nouns, which were once attached to the numeral stems in very much the same way as the Sinitic classifiers. An example showing a class suffix in the making is offered by Ewenki, which has suffixally marked expressions for counting households, e.g., ila.n-nu 'three households'. It is relatively safe to derive the classifier in question from the freelyoccurring noun juu/g 'tent, house, household', e.g., < *ïla.n+juu/g 'three tents'. Obviously, the principle of suffixal agglutination in all languages of the Altaic type favours the origination of new suffixally marked categories, including categories connected with class distinctions. The most elaborate system of suffixally marked numeral classifiers is present in Ghilyak. Altogether 24 classes are distinguished, as exemplified in the following by the synthetic expressions for 'two': mé.n m. or mé.vr mé.x mi.k mé.qr mé.rax mé.vsq mé.c mi. m mi.rh mé.o

[human beings] [animals] [places] [oblong objects] [small objects] [large objects] [thin objects] [paired objects] [boards] [boats] [sledges] [fishing tackles]

mé.vor mi.u mé.rhqé mé.l mé.fat mé.lai mé mé.ma mi. ghie mé.r mé.ngaq mi.ghvi

[seines] [meshes of seine] [lines of meshes in a seine] [harpoon shafts] [traps for sea mammals] [strands of fibre] [fathoms] [spans] [thickness units of bear fat] [bundles of dried fish] [strings of fish] [bundles of dog food].

The details concerning the occurrence of the Ghilyak classifiers with different nouns and numerals vary (cf. Kreinovich 1932, Table), but generally they are very similar in function to analytic classifiers of the Sinitic type.

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4. Obscured nominal class suffixes in North Asia Having come thus far, we will not be surprised to find even more examples of class and gender in the languages of East Asia and adjacent regions. As a matter of fact, it is a well-established fact that the Tungusic languages show traces of a system, in which several nominal classes are marked by derivational suffixes. Unlike the synthetic numeral classifiers, as exemplified in Tungusic by the Ewenki suffix for 'households', these other suffixes do not occur in referential combinations with numerals. Rather, they are explicit markers of class in the composition of the nominal stem. Although no longer productive in the living languages, the Tungusic class suffixes are well preserved in the comparative material, suggesting that they must have been at least close to productive in ProtoTungusic. Most of the extant examples seem to fall within one or the other of two major classes, denoting unspecified masses of uncountable materials, on the one hand, and single members of groups of countable objects, on the other. These classes are marked by the Proto-Tungusic suffixes *-C-sA and *-C-tA, respectively (Benzing 1956: 68-73). It may be noted that it is not a question of plural suffixes, though an element (*)-.sA- does occur in the composition of the secondary plural suffix (*)-sA-l, used in some Tungusic idioms. Typical examples of nouns denoting unspecified masses of uncountable materials in Proto-Tungusic are: *se-g-se *na.n-sa *ximö-g-se

'blood' 'leather' 'fat'

*sile-g-se *xïma.n-sa

'dew' 'snow'

Examples of nouns denoting single members of groups of countable objects are: *ji.g-te *xüi-g-te *usï-g-ta *bosa-g-ta

'berry' 'tooth' 'fingernail' 'kidney'

*ora-g-ta *üööri-g-te *xoosï-g-ta

'grass' 'hair' 'star'

Although these lists could easily be increased, the use of the suffixes concerned is selective, in that not all nouns that would seem to fill

Grammatical gender from east to west

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the semantic criteria are marked in this way. A good example is offered by the word for 'water', Proto-Tungusic *möö, which, unlike the names of many other liquids and fluids, is not marked as belonging to the class of uncountable materials. The Tungusic class system has a close parallel in Mongolie, where the two classes are marked by the two endings (*)-s. U/n and (*)-d.U/n, respectively. Compared with Tungusic, however, the Mongolie suffixes are considerably less easy to detect in the language material, which explains why they are normally not mentioned in treatments of Mongolie comparative morphology. The ending (*)-s. U/n, for instance, is conventionally identified as a general nominal derivative suffix with a diffuse "concretizing" function (Ramstedt 1952: 225-227). The class connection of this element becomes obvious only if we confine our analysis to bisyllabic nouns, the most simple stem type occurring with this suffix. The same is true of the suffix (*)-d. U/n. In bisyllabic nouns, the Mongolie ending (*)-s. U/n has very clearly the function of a class suffix for uncountable materials, especially liquids or liquifiables (including water): Proto-Mongolic *u-s.u/n *cï-s.u/n *rii-s.u/n

'water' 'blood' 'nasal mucus'

*ca-s.u/n Ho-s.u/n *(ii)s.ii/n

'snow' 'oil, fat' 'milk'

Similarly, the suffix (*) -d.U/n marks either groups of countable objects or members of such groups: *ni-d.iiln *si-d.iiln *pö-d.ü/n

'eye/s' 'tooth/teeth' 'feather/s'

*so-d.u/n *mo-d.u/n *(x)o-d.u/n

'quill feather/s' 'tree/s, wood/s, forest' 'star/s'.

As in Tungusic, the class suffixes in Mongolie are not plural markers. However, the segments *-d and *-s do function as plural suffixes, suggesting a diachronic connection between class and plurality (cf. Vietze 1969: 491). There is also a material parallelism between Mongolie *-s vs. *-d and Tungusic *-C-tA vs. *-C-sA, a detail that might imply some areal or even genetic relationship (Janhunen 1996: 213-216). A comparison between the class systems of Mongolie and Tungusic shows many interesting similarities and dissimilarities. One of the

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most peculiar cases is offered by the words for 'bone', Mongolie *yas.u/n and Tungusic *gïra.m-sa, which in both groups of languages belong to the class of uncountables. On the Tungusic side, this class identification is confirmed by Manchu, which, for reasons yet to be clarified, regularly replaces the Proto-Tungusic class suffix *-C-sA by -ng.gi, so also in gira-ng.gi 'bone'. Among the differences between Mongolie and Tungusic, the words for 'fingernail' and 'hair' may be mentioned: while the Tungusic items belong to the class of countable and individualizable objects, their semantic counterparts in Mongolie, *pü-s.üln and *kvnus.u/n, are, at least formally, uncountables (Table 1). Table 1. Contrastive examples of similarities and dissimilarities in the occurrence of the obscured class suffixes in Mongolie and Tungusic. Mongolie

Tungusic

Manchu

'tooth'

*si-d.ü/n

*xiii-g-te

> wei-he

'star'

*(x)o-d.u/n

*xoosï-g-ta

> usi-ha

'blood'

*ci-s.u!n

*se-g-se

se-ng.gi

'oil, fat'

*to-s.u/n

*ximö-g-se

(n)ime-ng.gi

'snow'

*ca-s.u/n

*xïma.n-sa

nima-ng.gi

'dew'

[not relevant]

*sile-g-se

sile-ng.gi

'bone'

*ya-s.u/n

*gïra. m-sa

gira-ng.gi

'hair'

*pii-s.U/n

*üööri-g-te

[not relevant]

'fingernail'

*kimu-s.u/n

*usï-g-ta

> wasi-ha

Apart from their significance as manifestations of class and gender in the languages of North Asia, the class suffixes in Mongolie and Tungusic have also many other consequences to the understanding of the diachrony of these languages. One of the most important issues concerns root structure. The most common type of nominal root ( V ) in both Mongolie and Tungusic is V(C)V(C)CV. Additionally, Mongolie has the type V(C)VC, while Tungusic has a few examples of the type V(C)V0V (long vowel). However, when we dissect the bisyllabic nouns containing class suffixes, we find several roots of the maximally simple type V(C)V, as in Mongolie V*cí and Tungusic ·>J*se 'blood'. The fact that such roots are no longer used as productive stems, suggests a considerable age of the class system in both groups of languages, especially Mongolie.

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5. Traces of grammatical gender in Central Asia All of the phenomena dealt with above correspond to the definition of class, in general, but not to that of grammatical gender in the narrow sense. Both the numeral classifiers of the Sinitic and Altaic types, and the obscured class suffixes in Mongolie and Tungusic, are based on the classification of external properties of objects and concepts, such as category, type, size, form, and countability. The distance to the grammaticalization of gender in the narrow sense is, however, not necessarily long. In fact, among the languages discussed so far, Mongolie shows traces of a system with two classes that may be identified as unmarked general and marked feminine. Unfortunately, virtually all that is known of gender in Mongolie is based on fragmentary information from two historical idioms known as Middle Mongol and Preclassical Mongol. Gender was, consequently, a receding category, which was finally more or less completely lost during the formation of the present-day Mongolie languages. There are, however, reasons to assume that gender had a more important role in the prehistorical forms of Mongolie. This is, in particular, suggested by the fact that most of the manifestations of gender in historical Mongolie represent the relatively advanced stage of morphological distinctions. Most typically, the feminine gender is marked in the endings of a few finite and infinite forms of verbal conjugation. The feminine verbal forms in Middle Mongol and Preclassical Mongol are mainly distinguished by adding the marker -i (Poppe 1955: 251-275 passim). The process cannot be described as fully agglutinative, since it is only in some forms that this -i is simply suffixed to the unmarked ending, as seems to be the case in the nomen futuri, unmarked -ku vs. feminine -ku-i. In other forms, the regular suffix vowel is changed to -i, as in the praesens imperfecti, unmarked -yu vs. feminine -yi, and the praeteritum perfecti, unmarked bA(-i) vs. feminine -bi. A kind of double marking is observed in the praeteritum imperfecti, for which both vowels of the complex ending jUxU(-i) are changed, yielding the feminine variant -jixi. There are also examples of what would synchronically seem to be cases of referential manifestation of gender. Most importantly, the numeral 'two' has two lexically distinct variants in Middle Mongol: unmarked qoyar and feminine jirin. It is, however, possible that the

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feminine variant actually contains the feminine marker -i- in its second syllable, while the root V/ïr seems to have been the original numeral irrespective of gender. The feminine marker -i- might also be contained in the suffixes (*)-gcin and (*)-jin, which refer to the color and age of female animals, as in

vs.

kara-gcin kara

'black' [female] 'black '[in general]

vs.

gu-na-jin gu-na-n

'three years old' [female] id. [male]

(Poppe 1955: 239-244). These suffixes are, incidentally, the only gender-related features that survive in the living Mongolie languages. The whole issue of gender in Mongolie is poorly studied. As is evident from the above examples, even the segmentation of the relevant forms can be questioned. Also, the rules of agreement are not clear. Basically, the feminine verbal forms refer to female subjects, as in Middle Mongol a-jixi '[she] was' vs. a-juxu '[he] was', but there are also examples of agreement with a female object, as in oki katu oluyi je ci 'thou wilt certainly find girls and women' (Poppe 1955: 264). Finally, we are free to look for other manifestations of gender at the level of internal reconstruction. It is, for instance, tempting to analyze some of the most important animal names in Mongolie in terms of two genders: cf., e.g., mori/n

'horse'

koni/n

'sheep'

meci/n

'monkey'

with the ending -In : plural -d [unmarked or masculine?], and taula-i moga-i

'hare' 'snake'

noka-i gaka-i

'dog' 'pig'

with the ending -i : plural -5 [marked feminine?]. A similar suffixal marking between genders is present in Tibetan, as in

vs.

rgyal-po rgyal-mo

[unmarked] 'king' [marked feminine] 'queen'

Grammatical gender from east to west

vs.

rta-pho rta-mo

703

[marked masculine] 'stallion' [marked feminine] 'mare'

(Beyer 1992: 124-126). While most of the languages adjacent to Mongolie lack grammatical gender in the narrow sense, there is one language family with a welldeveloped gender category of almost Indo-European proportions. This family is Yeniseic, today represented by the two closely-related idioms of Ket and Yug, but historically comprising a wider range of separate languages. All the Yeniseic languages reveal a class system with a distinction of masculine vs. feminine in the singular, and animate vs. non-animate in the plural (Werner 1995: 91-94). Gender is an inherent category of Yeniseic nouns, at least synchronically not marked by special gender affixes. In Ket, for instance, the nouns xi'k 'man', te-l 'mammoth', and qi-b 'moon' are masculine, while qi-m 'woman', sa'q 'squirrel', and i- 'sun' are feminine. There are, however, differences concerning the patterns of gender assignment between the different Yeniseic languages, as in Ket [masculine] ti-b vs. Yug [feminine] cib 'dog' (Werner 1994: 13-44). Most manifestations of gender in Yeniseic belong to the morphological level. Both nouns and pronouns show declensional differences depending on their gender: cf., e.g., Ket dative

vs.

ob-d-a-nga am-d-i-nga

'to father' 'to mother'

vs.

bu-d-a-nga bu-d-i-nga

'to him' 'to her'

(Werner 1994: 54-80). The situation is most complicated in finite verbs, which can contain 3rd person gender markers for three different "actants", as in Ket

vs.

o-k-at-n u-k-at-n

'he goes' 'she goes'

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Juha Janhunen

vs.

du-loqng dë-loqng

'he trembled' 'she trembled'

vs.

d-a-t-b-i-l-i d-i-t-b-i-l-i

'he asked him' 'he asked her'

(Reshetnikov—Starikov 1995: 60 and passim). In spite of the complexity of the system, it may be surmised that the gender markers ultimately go back to lexical differences in some primary pronominal roots.

6. Class and gender on the Eurasian continuum The foregoing survey of gender and related phenomena in the languages of Eastern and Central Eurasia reveals conspicuous areal patterns. At a very general level, we can establish the presence of numeral classifier systems in all the principal languages and language families of East Asia: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Ghilyak, as well as, more marginally, Mongolie, Tungusic, and Ainu. Partly overlapping with this East Asian area of numeral classifiers, there is the area of grammatical gender in the narrow sense, whose easternmost representatives seem to be Yeniseic and Mongolie. Of course, the gender area extends also to Western and Southern Eurasia, comprising languages and language families (not treated here) such as Indo-European, Semitic, Burushaski, as well as the non-Kartvelic languages of the Caucasus region. At a more specific level, East Asia itself is divided between languages with the Sinitic type of analytic classifiers, dominating in the south, and languages with the Altaic type of synthetic classifiers, dominating in the north. Within the latter group, Mongolie and Tungusic are further united by the presence of a system with two suffixally marked nominal classes, distinguished according to the parameter of countability. In each case, it is irrelevant whether the languages sharing a structural feature are genetically related or not, for the typological position of a language is determined by areal adjacency, in the first place. Mongolie, for instance, has a strategic

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705

location between three extremities, and it shows, consequently, signs of three different phenomena related to class and gender: numeral classifier constructions (by adjacency to Chinese), nominal class suffixes (by adjacency to Tungusic), and morphologically marked feminine forms (by adjacency to the gender languages of Central Asia). Along the Eurasian linguistic continuum (cf. Austerlitz 1980: 235 and passim), gender in the narrow sense is, consequently, a western feature, while class distinctions of other types have an eastern distribution. It is likely that this areal situation reflects a prehistorical opposition between two major centers of linguistic innovation. A feature like the numeral classifiers in East Asia can hardly have originated separately in several adjacent languages and language families. Rather, there was a single primary innovation where the principle was first created, and from where it radiated to all over the region. Similarly, there must have been a single center of innovation where the grammaticalization of gender in the narrow sense first took place. The next question is, where, exactly, the original centers of the primary innovations connected with class and gender in Eurasia were located. This is a question that would require the consideration of a wide range of complex extralinguistic (archaeological and ethnohistorical) circumstances. Nevertheless, for gender in the narrow sense West Asia, as a whole, is a good candidate, while for the East Asian class systems either a southern (Southeast Asia to the Yangtze River) or a northern (Southern Manchuria to the Yellow River) origin would seem plausible. In any case, there is no specific reason to assume that it was Chinese that was the first class language in East Asia. For this particular sphere of linguistic phenomena, like for some others, the role of Chinese may well have been that of a transmitter, rather than that of an innovator. There were, of course, also languages and language families in Eurasia that remained unaffected by both the West Asian gender distinction and the East Asian class systems. Two of the most important among such families are Uralic and Turkic. It is true, a declensional distinction between animate and non-animate nouns has long been assumed to exist in Selkup, one of the easternmost Uralic languages and an immediate neighbour to Ket, but the factual basis of this assumption, in spite of its areal plausibility, has been questioned (Kuznecova—Xelimskii—Grushkina 1980: 171-184 passim). It may be noted that Uralic and Turkic have historically been contacting

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with each other along the northern margin of Central Asia, though it goes without saying that there is no need to use the areal framework to explain the absence of an innovation. A final remark is necessary concerning the future of class and gender in Eurasia. Is grammatical gender a "primitive" feature that is consistently receding in the modern world? There is no compelling reason to think that this would be so, but it remains a fact that, in parallel with the disruption of the gender system in most Indo-European languages, the various manifestations of class in the languages of East Asia are also mainly developing in directions leading away from the original category of class. For the moment we do not know whether this is a global trend, or just a temporary turn in the evolutional cycle of some specific linguistic areas. Let us only hope that diversity in this respect, as well as in all others, survives the homogenizing impact of the rapidly diminishing variety of languages used for "international" communication. References Austerlitz, Robert 1980 "Typology and universals on a Eurasian East-West continuum", in: Gunter Brettschneider—Christian Lehmann (eds.), Wege zur Universalienforschung. Beiträge zum 60. Geburtstag von Hansjakob Seiler. Tübingen, 235-244. Benzing, Johannes 1956 Die tungusischen Sprachen. Versuch einer vergleichender Grammatik. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Abhandlungen der geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 11. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner. Beyer, Stephan V. 1992 The Classical Tibetan language. SUNY Series in Buddhist Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press. Bugaeva, T. G. 1979 "Numerativy ν koreiskom yazyke", in: Issledovaniya ν oblasti etimologïi altaiskix yazykov. Leningrad: Nauka, 206-255. Hashimoto, Mantaro 1977 "The genealogy and the role of the classifier in Sino-Tibetan", in: Computational Analyses of Asian and African Languages 7. Tokyo, 69-78.

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Janhunen, Juha 1996 "Prolegomena to a comparative analysis of Mongolie and Tungusic", in: Giovanni Stary (ed.), Proceedings of the 38th Permanent International Altaistic Conference. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 209-218. Kreinovich, Ye. A. 1932 Gilyackie chislitel'nye. Trudy Nauchno-issledovatel'skoi associacií Instituía narodov Severa 1/3. Leningrad. Kuznecova A. I.—Ye. A. Xelimskii—Ye. V. Grushkina 1980 Ocherki po sel'kupskomu yazyku 1. Tazovskii dialekt. Publikaciï Otdeleniya strukturnoi i prikladnoi lingvistiki, seriya monografii 8. Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo universiteta. Martin, Samuel E. 1983 A reference grammar of Japanese. New printing. Yale Linguistics Series. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1992 A reference grammar of Korean. Rutland, Vermont—Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle. Norman, Jerry 1988 Chinese. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Poppe, Nicholas 1955 Introduction to Mongolian comparative studies. Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 110. Helsinki. Ramstedt, G. J. 1952 Einführung in die altaische Sprachwissenschaft 2. Formenlehre. Bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Pentti Aalto. Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 104:2. Helsinki. Reshetnikov K. Yu. —G. S. Starostin 1995 "Struktura ketskoi glagol'noi slovoformy", in: S. A. Starostin (ed.), Ketskii sbornik [4], Lingvistika. Moskva: Vostochnaya literatura RAN, 7-121. Vietze, Hans-Peter 1969 "Plural, Dual und Nominalklassen in altaischen Sprachen", in: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Gesellschafts-Sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe 18/3. Berlin, 481-512. Werner, Heinrich 1994 Das Klassensystem in den Jenissej-Sprachen. Veröffentlichungen der Societas Uralo-Altaica 40. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 1995 Zur Typologie der Jenissej-Sprachen. Veröffentlichungen der Societas Uralo-Altaica 45. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Inflectional classes, morphological restructuring, and the dissolution of Old English grammatical gender Dieter Kastovsky 1. Although English and German are descendants of the same branch of Germanic, viz. West Germanic, they are characterised by rather different developments in the course of their histories. Thus, English —at least in its native-based vocabulary—adopted word-based, stem-invariant inflectional and derivational morphology, whereas German generalised word-based morphology only within the nominal domain but kept stem-based morphology for verbal inflection and deverbal derivation. Moreover, it also retained stemvariability as a basic morphophonemic principle in native inflection and derivation, whereas systematic morphophonemic/morphological alternations in English are only characteristic of the non-native derivational, but not the inflectional system (cf. Kastovsky 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994). English also shifted from an inflectional system that was characterised by several inflectional classes having the same systemic status to a system which is based on the opposition of "regular" (= default, lexically unmarked) vs. "irregular" (= lexically marked) inflection both with nouns and verbs, whereas German noun inflection is still based on several inflectional classes, none of which is more regular than the other (cf. Kastovsky 1997: 65ff.).! Another remarkable difference between these two languages is their attitude towards gender. While German preserved the system of grammatical gender inherited from Germanic and ultimately from Indo-European, English lost it and replaced it by natural gender, a development which is assumed to have taken place in late Old English and early Middle English, i.e., roughly between the 10th and the 14th century (cf., e.g., Heltveit 1953; Markus 1988; Jones 1988). This process is usually attributed to the decay of nominal inflectional endings2 in conjunction with the rise of an uninflected definite article pe/the and the functional redeployment of the weak and strong demonstratives se, sêo, pœt; pes, pis, pëôs as deictics (proximal

710

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this/these, distal that/those),3 which are functionally distinct from the definite article. Undeniably, these were important factors in the disintegration of grammatical gender, but what has so far been somewhat neglected is the role which the general restructuring of the Old English morphology played in this process, i.e., in which way the "decay of nominal inflectional endings" actually triggered this development. In the following, it will be shown that this general decay is not just a homogeneous phenomenon directly related to the phonetic attrition of final syllables, but that it involves several interacting factors such as the dissolution of inflectional classes, the dissociation of the categories of case and number, and the gradual generalisation of word-based noun morphology (cf., e.g., Kastovsky 1985, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1997). In other words, the point at issue is the general restructuring of the morphological system and not just the loss of certain endings. Moreover, it would seem that the decay of gender is not just a phenomenon of the late Old English and early Middle English periods, but that its roots are much older. Thus, certain pre- and early Old English developments had already put grammatical gender into jeopardy by reducing its overt markings to unsystematic patchwork, since many inflectional forms were no longer gender-specific. This was certainly a precondition for the refunctionalisation of some of the seemingly functionless determiner forms described in Jones (1988), and this development in turn was probably the straw that broke the camel's back and finally obliterated grammatical gender altogether. 2.1. As a starting point, it will be useful to first look at the role of grammatical gender in Old English, and especially how it is marked. This will be done in conjunction with a brief sketch of the overall nominal morphological system, as far as it is relevant in this connection. Old English noun morphology is characterised by the following four parameters or inflectional dimensions: class, gender, case, and number. 4 The first two parameters are covert and selectional, to use Whorf s (1956: 69ff., 93ff.) terminology, i.e., they have no overt exponents themselves but become "visible" only by selecting specific exponents of the other two morphological categories, viz. case and number. Thus, the parameters of class and gender jointly determine the realisation of the categories of case and number within the noun itself, which results in a number of inflectional paradigms (e.g.,

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711

masculine, neuter α-declension, feminine o-declension, etc.) reflecting this selectional function. The category of gender, moreover, is responsible for the selection of specific case/number exponents outside the noun, viz. with determiners, attributive and (partially) predicative adjectives, a phenomenon which is usually called agreement5. Finally, gender is also made explicit in terms of gender-specific pronominal reference by personal pronouns, although this is not absolutely mandatory, cf. 2.2. below. Case and number are always associated with each other, as befits a truly inflectional language, and are usually expressed overtly. There are two exceptions to this, however: 1) endingless, unmarked base-forms such as the nominative singular cyning manifesting word-based morphology (typically occurring with the original Germanic α-stems); 2) endingless forms due to the obliteration of the surface representation of an underlying case/number category by a morphophonemic process such as High Vowel Deletion (cf. Hogg 1992: 229), as in the neuter nominative plural land-φ vs. scip-u or the feminine nominative singular sorg-0 vs. tal-u. Since case and number at this stage were always expressed jointly by a common exponent, it is misleading to speak of plural formation in Old English. It was only during the transition from Old to Middle English, when the original Nominative/Accusative Plural endings -es (< -as) and -(e)n (< -an) were reanalysed as plural markers proper, that case and number became dissociated categories, with number being dominant and case gradually receding. 2.2. The central issue for our topic is how the gender affiliation of nouns could be determined in Old and early Middle English. First of all, it was not correlated with any semantic properties of the nouns themselves or any extralinguistic properties associated with their referents. This is of course what is characteristic of grammatical as against natural gender, where there is some semantic and/or extralinguistic/pragmatic rationale for gender assignment. Notice, however, that this pragmatic factor already in Old English sometimes overrode grammatical gender, i.e., pronominal coreference could also be based on properties of the referents, especially when these were human and

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when grammatical gender did not agree with their sex, cf. the use of feminine pronouns referring to neuter mœgden, wîf or masculine wifman, etc. (Jones 1988: 11; Traugott 1992: 177). Secondly, gender was not expressed directly by a specific inflectional marker in the same way as case/number was. But there were certain gender-specific derivational suffixes, which marked the derived noun as belonging to a specific gender category (cf. Kastovsky 1992: 384ff„ Jones 1988: 4ff.6 ). Thus, -dôm -els -läc -scipe

(bisceopdôm 'bishopric'), (byrgels 'tomb'), (bodläc 'decree', brëôwlâc 'brewing'), (frëôndscipe yriendship'), were masculine;

-häd -ingAung -ness -rdêden -p/-t -wist

(abbudhäd 'rank of an abbot'), (slîting/slîtung 'tearing'), (biterness 'bitterness', blinness 'cessation'), (camprœden 'war(fare)'), {fylp 'filth', lôrlëâst 'ignorance'), (loswist 'loss') were feminine; and

-et -incel

(bœrnet 'burning'), (stänincel 'little stone') were neuter.

In addition there were a number of suffixes where the grammatical gender coincided with the sex of the referent (a phenomenon which in German is sometimes referred to as "Movierung"), cf. feminine/female -en (jyxen 'vixen', gyden 'goddess), -estre

(hlëâpestre 'female dancer', fipelestre 'female fiddler'),

masculine -end (berend),7 -ere (leornere),8 -ing {œpeling 'son of a noble', ierming 'poor wretch'), -ling (geongling 'youth'). But many suffixes were affiliated to more than one gender, e.g., -el/-l/-ol (swingel f. 'stroke', hwyrfel m. 'circuit, whirlpool', seti η. 'seat'),

Old English grammatical gender

-en

713

(with non-human nouns, e.g., wacen f. 'watching', byrgen f., η. 'burying', druncen n. 'drunkenness', hlœden m. 'bucket').

Thus, suffixal derivation, although in many cases gender-specific, was no absolute indicator for gender assignment, and it did not, of course, work with underived nouns. 2.3. Let us now turn to nominal inflection itself, more precisely to the correlation of gender and inflectional paradigms or classes. Originally, i.e., in Germanic (and in Indo-European), the structure of an inflected noun was as follows:

(1) base

(root)

+ theme

(stem formative)

+ case/number

(=inflection)

*dag

-α-

-ζ (N. Sg.)

*han

-an-

φ (Ν. Sg.)

In other words, the case/number exponents were always preceded by a thematic element or stem formative, which, however, could be zero as with the so-called athematic nouns of the type Gothic baúrgs 'castle', Old English fòt 'foot'. But this category was analogically reshaped and more or less integrated into the set of thematic nouns. At this stage, inflectional classes were marked overtly (cf. Kastovsky 1997: 70). But there was no systematic one-to-one correlation of gender and inflectional class, with the exception of the -ô/-jô-stems (type Old English talu/sorg, hell), which were all feminines, and the -s-(>-r)-stems (type Old English cealf, cealfru), which were neuter. The -a/-ja/-wa-stems contained masculines and neuters, and the -i-, -u- and -η-stems contained all three genders. For Old English, this ternary word structure was no longer valid (cf. Kastovsky 1997: 7Iff.), because the stem formatives had lost their identity and function, and their phonological reflexes had become part of the representations of the case/number morphemes. Consequently, noun morphology in Old English was based on the structure (2)

stem + inflection.

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Class assignment thus was no longer possible on the basis of an overt class marker, but had become an inherent, covert property of the lexical item as a whole and involved the shape of the whole inflectional paradigm, its profile. Moreover, many of the classes (e.g., -i-/-ja-/jôstems) had become obliterated and had merged with the -a- and -östems. As a consequence, the base form of a noun, i.e., the nominative singular, hardly ever indicated class or gender affiliation, cf. cyning (m.) sorg (f.) land (η.)

sted-e (m.) byrn-e (f.) yrf' > ëâg-e (η.)

tal-u (f.) sun-u (m.)

e

The only exception was the nominative singular form gum-α (masc.), which was gender- and class-specific (masculine -n-stem).9 2.4. Old English nominal inflection was thus organised as follows: (3) class

^

^

genda

case/number (paradigm profile)

The interaction of the parameters of class and gender were responsible for the paradigm profiles, which were constituted by the respective sets of case/number endings. Inversely, it was this set or profile which indicated membership in a specific class/gender category (unless the noun in question belonged to more than one such category, i.e., was gender-(and class-)-ambivalent). Thus, -α-stem masculines and neuters were distinct only in the plural (neuters had -u or no ending, masculines had -as), -n-stems differed in the nominative singular (-a for masculines, -e for feminines and neuters), the accusative singular (-e for neuters, -an for masculines and feminines), and only feminine -o-stems had their own paradigm, which kept them apart from everything else. In other words, at this stage paradigm profiles on the whole helped to keep genders apart, even within one and the same inflectional class, and it usually was the

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nominative/accusative realisation that played a role here, since the other cases were usually the same for all genders within the same inflectional class, and often even across classes (cf. dative plural). 2.5. As had been stated in 2.1., gender differences were also reflected in terms of agreement between the noun, the determiner, and an (attributive or predicative) adjective. However, when we take a closer look at various representative paradigms, it turns out that only very few combinations of determiner/adjective/noun-inflections were really gender-specific and allowed unambiguous gender assignment; these are marked by bold-face in table 4 below. 10 As table 4 illustrates, there were only a few combinations, usually nominatives/accusatives, and the feminine -o-stem nouns, which were relatively clearly marked for gender, even if we look at the combined effect of determiner, adjective and nominal inflection. Note, also, that the (weak) determiner did not distinguish gender in the plural. Moreover, gender distinctions were very often tied to class distinctions and vice versa, cf. the distinction between "strong" masculine/neuters (-α-stems) and "strong" feminines (-