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Another sign that Spanish once had a grammatical neuter exists in words that derive from neuter plurals. In Latin, a neuter plural ended in -a, and so these words today in Spanish are interpreted as feminine singulars and take singular verb forms; however, they do express some notion of a plural. [citation needed]
Activists against sexism in language are also concerned about words whose feminine form has a different (usually less prestigious) meaning: An ambiguous case is "secretary": a secretaria is an attendant for her boss or a typist, usually female, while a secretario is a high-rank position—as in secretario general del partido comunista, "secretary general of the communist party"—usually held ...
The Italian word scimmia ("ape") is feminine, whereas the Spanish word simio is masculine. The French word mer is feminine, but the Spanish cognate mar is generally masculine (except in some poetic contexts and among sea workers [39]), whereas the Catalan cognate mar can be masculine or feminine, depending on the dialect. All these words mean ...
Pama–Nyungan languages including Dyirbal and other Australian languages have gender systems such as: Masculine, feminine (see Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things), vegetable and neuter. [13] [14] Many Australian languages have a system of gender superclassing in which membership in one gender can mean membership in another. [15]
For example, in Spanish, the masculine gender generally precedes the feminine, and the default form of address for a group of students is the masculine plural los estudiantes, regardless of the gender composition of the group. On the other hand, the feminine plural las estudiantes refers to a group consisting only of female students. [2]
Some loanwords enter Spanish in their plural forms but are reanalyzed as singular nouns (e.g., the Italian plurals el confeti 'confetti', el espagueti 'spaghetti', and el ravioli 'ravioli'). These words then follow the typical morphological rules of Spanish, essentially double marking the plural (e.g., los confetis, los espaguetis, and los ...
Elle is intended to be used to refer to people whose gender is not known, not specified, or is neither male nor female (ie. a non-binary person). [3] [4] [5] The latter is the most common usage in modern times. This word can be seen as an equivalent of the English singular they. The pronoun is not endorsed by any Spanish-language academy or ...
Güey (Spanish pronunciation:; also spelled guey, wey or we) is a word in colloquial Mexican Spanish that is commonly used to refer to any person without using their name. . Though typically (and originally) applied only to males, it can also be used for females (although when using slang, women would more commonly refer to another woman as "chava" [young woman] or "vieja" [old lady])