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by jbitz34 on December 15th, 2004

jbitz34

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Why do some languages use noun genders?

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Answers. 4 helpful answers below.

  • by Elodie on February 2nd, 2007

    Elodie

    Well I am French and I think it is nice to give a gender to things.
    A car is female, a spider is female, a tree is male and a pair or trousers is male.
    It doesn't make much sense but that's the way it is.

    I think it gives a little charm to the language and it is so nice when a British person gets it wrong... honestly, it is very sexy to hear an English speaking person calls La Voiture, Le Voiture... very sweet indeed!!!

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  • by e-shroom on February 4th, 2007

    e-shroom

    It all relates to life. There has always been a male and female long before we developed language. This notion of male and female simply transitioned into objects as language developed. The notion of not having a gender simply didn't exist.

    This is only a theory but as an anthropologist I can tell you this is a highly regarded theory and not my own.

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  • by Inspector Javert on January 24th, 2007

    Inspector Javert

    Because they're stupid.

    Seriously, they are... I'm taking french and everything has a gender, and I hate it...

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  • by singwell-is off researching a lot on March 28th, 2007

    singwell-is off researching a lot

    I agree with eshroom. Most of the languages we are speaking of that have genders are Indo-European languages (ie languages that had their origin in the Caucasus mountains area around 6 000 years ago)This enormous language group spread into the North Indian area, Persia and Europe. So all these peoples who speak closely or distantly related languages are subconsciously voicing a world-view of a people from long ago. The ancestral tribes had a dualist religious view- there was sky/earth, good/bad, light/dark, gods/demons and, of course, male/female. Since the world was divided into two, then nouns also became divided into two , hence genders. Some daughter languages also developed a neuter category for diminuitive nouns and later absorbed vocabulary, the gender of which they were not sure of.

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