Re: gender in indo-european languages

From: Neeraj Mathur (neeraj.mathur_at_chch.ox.ac.uk)
Date: 09/28/04 

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 20:00:29 +0100

"Barbara Need" <language-labs@uchicago.edu> wrote in message
news:language-labs-ADDB43.13004028092004@news.uchicago.edu...
> she used in reference to a ship is not non-standard. It may be
> (becoming?) restricted to a particular group of speakers, but it is
> perfectly acceptable to this Standard English speaker (US).

Old English 'scipu' was neuter in gender, therefore, use of 'she' for it is
not an archaism that is being 'restricted' to a certain group, it is a
personification that is spreading from a certain group. In normal Standard
English on both sides of the Atlantic, the word is represented by the neuter
pronoun 'it' except when a personification is desired. This personification
is particularly common amongst people who spend a lot of time with ships,
and also with poets - perhaps even so common that it is a bit of a 'dead'
personification. Still, this does not mean that the word has a grammatical
feminine gender. If you were reading a technical manual on sailing, for
instance, or boat safety regulations published by a government, you would be
most surprised to see feminine pronouns referring to 'ship' (or I would, at
least!).

This kind of personification is exactly equivalent to people using 'she' for
their cars, hammers, musical instruments, or any other item that they want
to indicate an intimate connection with.

The OED shares this view:
"Ships are now personified as feminine, but usage has varied (see the
following quots.).
  The use of the masc. pron. in the 17th and 18th cent. was prob. suggested
by the application of man to a ship in Dutchman, merchantman, man-of-war. In
instances before c1650 his may mean 'its'." (From the OED online; this is
followed by a series of quotes which demonstrate personification with
masculine pronouns.)

> In addition, nouns referring to living creatures are more easily
> gendered than inanimates, so the rabbit she seems fine to me (though
> perhaps a little like guesswork--after all, unless you see the rabbit
> nursing, you don't have the clues that you do with, say, a cow, which is
> always she!).

I think this is a bit of a grey area. First, as you say, there is the
problem of identification of gender. Second, I think that people are more
likely than not to use gendered pronouns for animals that are close to
them - their pets, for example, or those belonging to family or friends. On
the other hand, even if you could tell the gender of, say, a cow, you would
probably be more likely to say something 'I see it's been branded' than 'I
see she's been branded' - unless there is some kind of attachment or
'rapport' with it (in the mind of the speaker - forgive me if I'm not making
much sense anymore!).

I think, therefore, that using gendered pronouns for animals is to some
degree a humanization or personification. I think the same patterns of
distribution of gendered pronouns in English with animals would be found as
with Spanish use of 'a' with direct objects for animals. If that sentence
didn't work, I mean just that an English speaker is as likely to say 'the
cat - I see it' as a Spanish speaker to say 'veo el gato', while the
likelihood of the English 'the cat - I see him' is the same as the Spanish
'veo al gato'. It's a grey area, and I'm sure usage varies with situation
and with speaker.

Neeraj Mathur

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