Frank Antonson
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2009
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
There has been an amazing discussion on this forum of morphemes in various languages. That discussion is continuing, and I hope it doesn't stop soon.
I would love to see a similar discussion of the phenomenon of gender. WHY does it exist in so many languages? WHY did English move to thing class vs person class in lieu of the masculine/feminine thing?
WHY is "sun" masculine in the Romance languages but feminine in German whereas "moon" is the opposite in both languages?
If there is an easy, established answer to these questions, I would love to hear it. Rather, I have always assumed that I would not live long enough to find that this mystery has been solved.
I would love to see a similar discussion of the phenomenon of gender. WHY does it exist in so many languages? WHY did English move to thing class vs person class in lieu of the masculine/feminine thing?
WHY is "sun" masculine in the Romance languages but feminine in German whereas "moon" is the opposite in both languages?
If there is an easy, established answer to these questions, I would love to hear it. Rather, I have always assumed that I would not live long enough to find that this mystery has been solved.