Abstract
According to traditional analysis, Khoekhoe(gowab) makes a tripartite distinction between masculine, feminine, and common gender. Based on a statistical analysis of the comprehensive dictionary by Haacke and Eiseb and the first author’s status as a native speaker, the present paper offers new insights into the gender system of Khoekhoe. This concerns in particular the gender specification across the lexicon, including the status of transnumeral nouns, which leads to a partly revised analysis of the gender system.
Funding source: Hanns-Seidel Foundation
Acknowledgment
Our thanks go to Ines Fiedler and Wilfrid Haacke for helpful comments on previous drafts of this article. The first author furthermore thanks the Hanns-Seidel Foundation for the scholarship granted for his doctoral studies.
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© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- More diversity enGENDERed by African languages: an introduction
- The gender system of Laal
- The gender system of Khoekhoegowab
- An areal and typological appraisal of gender in Ju
- The two concurrent gender systems of Mba
- The gender system of Longuda
- The gender system of Noon: insights into the reorganization of agreement
- The gender system of Anii
- Reassessing gender in Ogbe-Oloma
- The gender system of Durop
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- More diversity enGENDERed by African languages: an introduction
- The gender system of Laal
- The gender system of Khoekhoegowab
- An areal and typological appraisal of gender in Ju
- The two concurrent gender systems of Mba
- The gender system of Longuda
- The gender system of Noon: insights into the reorganization of agreement
- The gender system of Anii
- Reassessing gender in Ogbe-Oloma
- The gender system of Durop