The spelling of the word, and its assigned gender, are two different things. Spelling makes you recognize the word. Gender doesn't contribute anything to semant

The spelling of the word, and its assigned gender, are two different things. Spelling makes you recognize the word. Gender doesn't contribute anything to semantics, is my point. It's not also the case that 'der' is merely a 3-letter prefix to any or every other word. It is rather irregularly applied, completely unrelated to the function the word serves. Not only that, the entire sentence has to be phrased differently depending on what the gender is. So, no: gender is not just longer spelling. Gender exists even if you decide not to write down the word.