Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
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10 Letizia Vezzosi<br />
where its semantic gender system has reflexes in its syntax, specifically in its<br />
Word Order.<br />
The case in point consists of those occurrences where <strong>the</strong> same word, although<br />
denoting <strong>the</strong> same entity, shows different gender. In those instances no o<strong>the</strong>r reason<br />
can be put forward to motivate <strong>the</strong> change but <strong>the</strong> semantic roles 16 encoded<br />
by <strong>the</strong> NP: in (13a–b) lyft denotes <strong>the</strong> same entity, but in (13a) it is neuter and in<br />
(13b) it is feminine; <strong>the</strong> only difference between <strong>the</strong> two passages is that in (13a)<br />
lyft is <strong>the</strong> object of <strong>the</strong> action and in (13b) it is <strong>the</strong> subject.<br />
This preference for non-neuter gender for agent roles and for neuter gender for<br />
patient roles could be one of <strong>the</strong> reasons why in (13c) cild is masculine, since in <strong>the</strong><br />
same text, i.e., Lindisfarne Gospel, it is regularly neuter if in <strong>the</strong> object position. Similarly,<br />
in (13d) <strong>the</strong> formal rule, according to which <strong>the</strong> suffix –ung forms feminine<br />
nouns, is rendered completely ineffective by <strong>the</strong> patient role played by geddung.<br />
(13) a. [Hexam 6] He gesceop ðæt upplice lyft …<br />
“<strong>the</strong> heavenly sky he created”<br />
b. [Lchdom.iii.272.12] Ðeos lyft … is an ðæra feower gesceafta<br />
“This sky is one of <strong>the</strong> several creations … ”<br />
c. [L i/ 1, ] gefeade se cild (n.) in inna ire<br />
exultauit infans in utero eius<br />
d. [L xix /11] ðas ðæm geherendum to-geecde cuoeð þ geddung<br />
haec illis audientibus adiciens dixit parabolam<br />
In those occurrences, gender variation in <strong>the</strong> same lexeme apparently seems<br />
to be unrelated to <strong>the</strong> above-mentioned semantic and pragmatic features, such as<br />
[± countable], [± individuated]. On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, semantic roles are linked to<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r pragmatic features: topicality and animacy, first of all, for agents are prototypically<br />
human or animate and topical, but also individuality, agents being generally<br />
high in <strong>the</strong> individuality scale (cf. Givón 198 : 139 or Sasse 1993: 659). Consequently,<br />
semantic roles also present <strong>the</strong> pertinent semantic and pragmatic traits already<br />
investigated in <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r instances of gender deviance, i.e., [± human] [± animate]<br />
[± countable] [± specific] [± individuated], which are in turn specific manifestations<br />
of <strong>the</strong> more general principles of ‘individualisation’ (Seiler 1986: 25).<br />
1 . A similar phenomenon was noticed by Lazzeroni (2002) in Old Greek, in Sanskrit and in<br />
Hittite, where words with <strong>the</strong> same referent but different gender had a complementary distribution<br />
in <strong>the</strong> sentence, that is, masculine gender to encode <strong>the</strong> ‘actor’ and neuter <strong>the</strong> ‘undergoer’:<br />
Sanskr. svar (n.) and sūrah ‘sun’, Sanskr. udaka-,udan-,vār-(n.) and ap-(f.) ‘water’; OGreek ὄυаρ<br />
(n.) and ὄυєιοϚ (m.) ‘dream’; in Hittite watar ‘water’ is masculine when it purifies, but neuter<br />
when is given. Already according to Meillet (1921: 129 ff.) <strong>the</strong> masculine form of ‘dream’ represented<br />
<strong>the</strong> dream as active force, where <strong>the</strong> neuter as an event.