Rara #57

Legacy number: 57

 Number  57
 Phenomenon  a mixed (aka "common", "resolution", "indefinite") gender in 3rd person (probably also 2nd and 1st person) non-singular pronouns for reference to mixed sets of antecedents, which naturally is without a singular counterpart
 Found in  all Central Khoisan lgs, and widespread also elsewhere in Khoisan; Vanimo (Sko, "Papuan"); Bukiyip (Torricelli, "Papuan"); probably also elsewhere in "Papuan"; probably Khasi (Mon-Khmer); probably Turkana (Nilo-Saharan); probably Chinook (Chinookan)
 Domain  morphology: inflection — categories and their domains: gender, respect
 Type  rarum
 Keywords  mixed gender, number
 Source  Plank, Frans & Wolfgang Schellinger (1997). The uneven distribution of genders over numbers: Greenberg Nos. 37 and 45. Linguistic Typology 1: 53-101; pp. 79-81
 Violates  <a class="innerLink" href="../../archive/nav/browse.php?entry_id=516"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">

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Discussion
Notes
Illustrated schematically, based on French: ?il et il ... ils; elle et elle ... elles; il et elle ... ulles?; real French uses a more common resolution strategy, viz. to give one gender priority over the other(s) in cases of conflict; the most common strategy of course is not to distinguish genders in non-singulars in the first place.
Comment
Frans Plank · 21 Sep 2006
Illustrated schematically, based on French:
'il et il ... ils; elle et elle ... elles; il et elle ... ulles';
real French uses a more common resolution strategy, viz. to give one gender priority over the other(s) in cases of conflict;
the most common strategy of course is not to distinguish genders in non-singulars in the first place.