Conference | Brainstorm
LUCL Brainstorm on Gender and Nominal Classification
- Date
- Wednesday 4 June 2025
- Time
- Address
-
Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden - Room
- 1.80
In this brainstorm session we would like to reflect on the role played by cognition and culture in nominal classification and gender systems.
What are the gender assignment criteria in the nominal classification systems you are familiar with? And: by which mechanisms do such systems arise and develop? There are clear-cut cases where linguistic change (e.g. phonological developments such as erosion of endings) can explain gender assignment, for example in Romance languages (see Corbett 1991). In some views, every system of noun classification retains some degree of semantic motivation: even in languages where noun class assignment follows non-semantic principles (for example phonological gender assignment), there is always a fundamental core in which gender or noun class distinctions are semantically motivated. Cultural factors, such as mythological associations, have also been used to explain gender assignment (Aikhenvald 2000, 2012). Different linguistic approaches (historical-comparative, descriptive, etc) tend to highlight some explanations over others.
Aims
The aim of the brainstorm is to bring together the various perspectives and learn more about the contribution in nominal classification of culture and cognition on one hand, and language-internal factors on the other. This event is co-organised by the Historical and Comparative and Descriptive linguistics research groups of LUCL.
- Putting ideas about gender and nominal classification on the table, so as to get input on similarities and differences between the languages we work on.
- Clarify our perspective on the role played in gender or noun class assignment by semantics and our cognitive apparatus: what do concrete language data teach us about this?
- Clarify the technical terms used in various linguistic traditions in relation to gender and nominal classification
If you wish to attend, please send an email to s.petrollino@hum.leidenuniv.nl and l.van.beek@hum.leidenuniv.nl, so that we can make sure there is enough coffee/tea. Hope to see many of you on the 4th of June!