Universal #2003
Legacy number: 2003
| Number | 1997 |
| Original | There is no purely morphological system [of gender assignment]. First, they always have a semantic core. ... the morphological rules assign the nouns in the semantic residue to genders, that is, they are required where the semantic rules fail. And second, they may overlap with semantic rules. ... the semantic assignment rules take precedence; where there is a conflict, gender is assigned according to semantics [rather than morphologically]. [The same holds for phonological gender assignment.] Such a system [of purely phonological gender assignment] is not found in any natural language: gender always has a basis in semantics. |
| Standardized | When gender is assigned according to morphological properties of nouns (such as declension class, or other inflectional or derivational categories) or to phonological properties of nouns, this is always secondary, being limited to residues of semantic assignment or being overruled by semantic assignment rules. |
| Keywords | gender, gender assignment, declension |
| Domain | phonology, morphology |
| Type | unconditional |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | absolute |
| Basis | "over 200 languages" from all over the place |
| Source | Corbett 1991: 34, 38, 63 |
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