Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ut-sally.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!harpo!seismo!ut-sally!riddle From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) Newsgroups: net.women,net.nlang Subject: Re: The power of words -- German generic pronouns Message-ID: <1003@ut-sally.UUCP> Date: Sun, 26-Feb-84 13:17:03 EST Article-I.D.: ut-sally.1003 Posted: Sun Feb 26 13:17:03 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 29-Feb-84 13:15:50 EST References: <5766@decwrl.UUCP> Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills Lines: 50 This is a minor point, but Jerry Boyajian (akov68!boyajian) writes: >> ...as I said before, German has a generic "she" (*sie*), rather than >> a generic "he"; their culture is no more nor less oppressive of women >> than any other human culture. Sorry, but this isn't true. There are a number of third-person generic pronouns in German: "man" This corresponds more or less to the English "one", although it is much more frequently used than "one". It has no gender and can only be used in the nominative case. (Ex: "Wenn man 'cat' tippt, sieht man den Inhalt der Datei." When one types 'cat', one sees the contents of the file.) "einer" The indefinite article, used like "man" above but much more versatile than "man", since it can run the full gamut of case and gender and even includes negative forms ("keiner", etc.). Unlike "man", it is not genderless; as with English generic pronouns, if the correct gender is known, it should be used; otherwise the default is the masculine. (Ex: "Wenn einer 'cat' tippt, sieht einer den Inhalt der Datei." When one types 'cat', one sees the contents of the file.) "du/Sie" The forms of "you", often used informally for generic purposes in German as in English. (Ex: "Wenn du 'cat' tippst, siehst du den Inhalt der Datei." When you type 'cat', you see the contents of the file.) [Note that the polite form "Sie" has nothing to do with the feminine third-person pronoun "sie".] "er" The normal masculine third-person singular pronoun, used like the English "he" to refer to an antecedent of uncertain gender. (Ex: "Wenn der Benutzer 'cat' tippt, sieht er den Inhalt der Datei." When the user types 'cat', he sees the contents of the file.) Note that "der Benutzer" is masculine and forces the following pronoun to be masculine, unlike a genderless English noun such as "user". From the point of view of those who would eradicate sexual distinctions from language, this is a major advantage which English has over German. For instance, one can speak of a "doctor" in English and leave the gender ambiguous, while German always forces one to choose between "der Arzt" (male doctor) and "die Aerztin" (female doctor). In my opinion, the problem of gender in generic pronouns pales in comparison to that of professional nouns in languages like German. --- Prentiss Riddle --- ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.") --- {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle