Sexus-Genus-Beziehungen im Hindi

Abstract

In Hindi within the category o f gender masculine and feminine can be distinguished. To a certain extent the opposition of malo and female is reflected in the opposition of masculine and feminine and sex can be identified by the gender of the noun as well as by secondary gender identifiers of tho language. Yet, mainly in the case of nouns denoting trades and professions, posts, representatives of intellectual and political movements and relations between individuals the feminine opposites are missing. This gap in the language is bridged by the respective masculine plus a secondary gender identifier or by this masculine plus a lexical supplement and secondary gender identifiers. Yet, the above mentioned linguistic means that are used for denoting male and female individuals cannot be employed indiscriminately or regardless of tho context. Certain sentence structures, too, rule out the use o f certain means of the language for denoting gender explicitely.