Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uknet!festival!edcogsci!iad
From: iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Ivan A Derzhanski)
Subject: Re: Gender in the world's languages
Message-ID: <D15ooA.236@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Centre for Cognitive Science, Edinburgh, UK
References: <D0z400.vK@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> <D1476C.8Bn@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> <D15HsH.At4@world.std.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 1994 10:19:20 GMT
Lines: 43

In article <D15HsH.At4@world.std.com> ilyal@world.std.com (Ilya R Lapshin) writes:
>Nitpicking following Ivan's posts.

Be my guest.  Actually, Uspenskij himself addresses these points.

>1. _samka murav'ja_ (female ant) can be replaced by much more
>natural _muravyikha_.

More natural, maybe, but still not natural enough for a fable,
unless there is also a male _muravej_ in the same text and it
is clear that _murav'ixa_ is used for contrast.  No, a title
such as _Kuznechik i murav'ixa_ `The Grasshopper and the She-ant'
would definitely make me wonder what is going on (and look for
the She-ant's husband :-)).

>Cicada's counterpart could be _sarancha_

That's `locust'.  Do locusts sing?  I've only ever seen them mentioned
as eaters and eatees.  Also, how familiar would they have been to the
(North) Russian reader (except from the Bible)?

>or _saranchikha_

<shudder>

>(the latter would be preferable because the former is also a collective noun)

Yes, but that doesn't make *_saranchixa_ a legitimate singulative!
And given that _sarancha_ is already feminine, it somehow doesn't
sound right to femininise it any further.  Except maybe to create
an effect which would override the point of the fable, and that's
hardly what a fable writer wants.

>2. _Kedr_ (cedar) could be Siberian Cedar which grows pretty far north.

That's technically called _kedrovaja sosna_.  But maybe that's what
Tjutchev was thinking of.

-- 
`Release Jesus wi this mob hangin aroon?  Nae chance!'  (The Glasgow Gospel)
Ivan A Derzhanski (iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk, iad@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu)
* Centre for Cognitive Science,  2 Buccleuch Place,   Edinburgh EH8 9LW,  UK
* Cowan House E113, Pollock Halls, 18 Holyrood Pk Rd, Edinburgh EH16 5BD, UK
