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Titles in conlangs (was: Re: "Madam"/"Madame" Chair/man/person(was: Umlauts))

From:Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>
Date:Saturday, November 1, 2003, 6:13
Isidora Zamora wrote:
> Does anyone know whether it would be at all likely that the native forms of > these titles might have only one, gender-neutral form rather than having > separate forms for addressing males and females? Does any culture do > that? The Trehelish language has two grammatical genders, but they are not > in the least perceived as being masculine and feminine.
Most Japanese non-family titles are gender-neutral, such as -sama (lord/lady/master/mistress), -san (Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms.), -sensei (teacher, respected person), -senpai (one in the same school as oneself but of a higher grade). -- "There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - overheard ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42