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From: markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder)
Subject: Re: International Language.
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References: <donhD1xxxp.KJ1@netcom.com> <3ejt2e$duv@panix2.panix.com> <1995Jan8.003137.4773@midway.uchicago.edu> <3eouom$l18@panix2.panix.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 20:27:58 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu sci.lang.translation:569 sci.lang:34098

In article <3eouom$l18@panix2.panix.com>, Pierre Jelenc <rcpj@panix.com> wrote:
>No culture that I know of has striven for equality between the sexes until
>recently, especially not those that have genderless languages such as
>Turkish, Japanese, or Hawaian. Thus, if anything, a genderless language
>appears to correlate with _higher_ inequality among the sexes in today's
>world. 

Really?  Higher than, say, Hispanic, Arab, or ancient Roman cultures,
with gender languages?

>[It may not be absolute, but it was my feeling when I was living in 
>Sweden, that there was also much more equality between male an female 
>Swedes (with a gender language) than between Finns (with a genderless 
>language).]

On the other hand, my wife, a Peruvian, reports that Quechua-speaking
Indians, whose language is genderless (without even a he/she distinction),
have more equal male-female relationships than Spanish speakers.
