<
https://theconversation.com/most-of-australias-first-nations-languages-dont-have-gendered-pronouns-heres-why-234289>
"If you visit Broome in Western Australia, you might be lucky enough to see
Mary G perform. Mary G is a popular Gija comedian. On her website, English is
used to describe Mary G as
she and Mary G’s alter ego, Mark Bin Bakar, as
he. But if you listen to Broome locals speaking Kriol, Mary G is simply
referred to by the gender-neutral Kriol pronoun
im.
Gendered pronouns have become a contested part of language since we became more
aware of the effects pronoun usage have on transgender and non-binary people.
Different languages have different solutions. For example, it has become
commonplace in English to extend the non-specific singular use of
they to a
specific use.
For most of Australia’s 460 First Nations languages, this issue does not exist.
There is no gender distinction between third-person singular pronouns
(
she/
he/
it), except in a very few languages such as Murrinhpatha in the
Northern Territory’s Daly River area.
Nyantu and similar sounding words are common pronouns used in many languages
to cover
she/
he/
it. Other First Languages use pronoun word endings, and
many do not have a form for the third-person singular pronoun
she/
he/
it.
This means that not adding an ending to a word indicates
she/
he/
it.
Other languages use
that one to refer to
she/
he/
it, again avoiding
gender.
Mudburra, a language of the Elliott region in the NT, uses both pronoun endings
and
that one."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
