Sociocultural gender in nominal classification: A study of grammatical gender (original) (raw)

We analyse how sociocultural gender can be reflected through grammatical gender and select Hindi (Indo-European) and Pnar (Austroasiatic) as case studies. We demonstrate that these grammatical gender systems share universal tendencies based on human cognition, i.e. associating long, thin, and vertical objects with masculine grammatical gender whereas round, flat, horizontal ones are associated with feminine grammatical gender. We also show that these grammatical gender systems distinguish between sociocultural values of the language speakers. Speakers of Hindi maintain a patrilineal kinship system, and in their language objects of large size are generally assigned to the masculine gender. Pnar kinship is matrilineal and in the language large sized objects tend to be associated with feminine gender. Similar asymmetries are observed with regard to generic gender and gender reversal. These results contribute to the impact of universal cognitive principles and culture on grammatical structures by showing that both tendencies are not necessarily complementary and that they can co-exist in the same language.