5 ms·

Farsi has hints of this. I don't think any linguist would argue that Farsi is a gendered language (it does not even have gendered pronouns), but there are two i

Farsi has hints of this. I don't think any linguist would argue that Farsi is a gendered language (it does not even have gendered pronouns), but there are two instances where one could argue remnants of an animate/inanimate gender system remains: 1. Farsi has two suffixes that make a noun plural (I am going to write things semi-phonetically): huh and un. Huh can be used for absolutely everything. Un can only be used for living things, e.g.: derakht-un (trees), daneshamouz-un (students), baradar-un (brothers, and its similarity to brethren has caught my eye). 2. You can use third person singular verb conjugation for third person plural subjects, but only if the subject is non-living.

thaumasiotes 6y ago
> You can use third person singular verb conjugation for third person plural subjects, but only if the subject is non-living. This does seem likely to be a relic of something in the past, since nearly the same thing is true in classical Greek - neuter plural subjects agree with singular verbs, not plural verbs. (You weren't clear about whether singular conjugation is required for nonliving subjects in Farsi. I believe singular agreement for neuter plural subjects is mandatory in Greek.)
- cgio 6y ago
  Only Attiki syntax in Ancient Greek had this as a special form I believe and it was not limited to inanimate subjects. The classic example of this is τα παιδία παίζει , the children are playing.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    I didn't mean to say it was limited to inanimate subjects. It's for neuter subjects. But we've been talking about a relationship between Indo-European neuter gender and inanimacy, so this still seems plausibly related.
bodhiandpysics1 6y ago
This is a new development in farsi. ha is from the middle person iha, which ultimately derives from the indo-iranian plus -s (same as in english). s->h is characteristic of indo iranian in general and iranian in particular. an in middle person (which comes from another indo-iranian plural an) means this particular thing in middle person. In farsi this converted into general vs. living.

thaumasiotes 6y ago

> You can use third person singular verb conjugation for third person plural subjects, but only if the subject is non-living. This does seem likely to be a relic of something in the past, since nearly the same thing is true in classical Greek - neuter plural subjects agree with singular verbs, not plural verbs. (You weren't clear about whether singular conjugation is required for nonliving subjects in Farsi. I believe singular agreement for neuter plural subjects is mandatory in Greek.)

cgio 6y ago
Only Attiki syntax in Ancient Greek had this as a special form I believe and it was not limited to inanimate subjects. The classic example of this is τα παιδία παίζει , the children are playing.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  I didn't mean to say it was limited to inanimate subjects. It's for neuter subjects. But we've been talking about a relationship between Indo-European neuter gender and inanimacy, so this still seems plausibly related.

bodhiandpysics1 6y ago

This is a new development in farsi. ha is from the middle person iha, which ultimately derives from the indo-iranian plus -s (same as in english). s->h is characteristic of indo iranian in general and iranian in particular. an in middle person (which comes from another indo-iranian plural an) means this particular thing in middle person. In farsi this converted into general vs. living.