On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 12:15 PM Paul Moore <p.f.mo...@gmail.com> wrote:

> My understanding is that technically "he" takes a dual role in
> English, as both masculine (technical linguistics gender) 3rd person
> singular and "indeterminate" 3rd person singular (because English
> doesn't have an "indeterminate-but-not-neuter" gender - do any other
> languages?).


English has very few gender inflections at all, especially Modern English
(i.e. since 16th century CE).  We have pronouns, but "they" has long been
used in that "indeterminate-not-inanimate" way since 14th century
(different from "it").  "He" has often been used that as well, but really
with the implication that a generic person is male.

Other languages indeed have more complex grammatical gender. For example,
Swahili 'has a complex grammatical gender
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender> system, but as this does
not include a distinction based on natural sex, the term "noun class" is
generally used instead of "gender".'

-- 
The dead increasingly dominate and strangle both the living and the
not-yet born.  Vampiric capital and undead corporate persons abuse
the lives and control the thoughts of homo faber. Ideas, once born,
become abortifacients against new conceptions.
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