He, she and it against hem
- From: António Marques <m.ap@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2005 12:29:52 +0100
Even a now genderless language* ** as English kept 3 pronouns for the singular, while it manages with 1 for the plural. Does anyone know of any language which at one time had a similar pronominal distinction, gender associated to sex, lost it, and lost the pronominal distinction too? (for instance, some IE language?)
(*) Yes, I know, gender isn't sex
(**) And to illustrate it take portuguese: every noun belongs either to the 'masculine' or to the 'feminine' gender. 3rd person has masculine and feminine pronouns, both singular and plural. However, the use of those is reserved for living creatures or personified objects ('don't blame my poor litlle car, it isn't _his_ fault'), and unacceptable otherwise. (Deictics have neuters, though.)
Incidentally, can anyone give a sensible spelling for «'em», now we know it's not a reduction of 'them'?
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