Gender Common¶
Summary¶
A word is classified as “common gender” if it can refer to either a grammatically-masculine or a grammatically-feminine person/thing.
Article¶
A word is parsed as “common” (in other systems sometimes “unmarked”), when it has potential to refer to either a masculine or a feminine person or thing. Words classified as “common gender” are usually pronouns or verbs.
Examples¶
In both Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic, 1st person personal pronouns are “gender common”.
אֲנִ֞י נֹותַ֧רְתִּי נָבִ֛יא לַיהוָ֖ה |
‘ani nowtharti navi layhwah |
I I-am-left prophet for-Yahweh |
I, I alone, am left as a prophet of Yahweh |
In both Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic, finite verbs in 1st person conjugation are “gender common”.
בֵּ֖ית יַעֲקֹ֑ב לְכ֥וּ וְנֵלְכָ֖ה בְּא֥וֹר יְהוָֽה |
beth ya’aqov lekhu wenelekhah be’or yehwah |
House-of Jacob come and-let-us-walk in-light-of Yahweh. |
House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh. |
In Biblical Hebrew, the plural demonstrative pronoun is “gender common”. .. csv-table:: Example: ISA 28:7
וְגַם־אֵ֨לֶּה֙ בַּיַּ֣יִן שָׁג֔וּ wegam-‘elleh bayyayin shagu And-also_these in-the-wine reel But even these reel with wine