Languages and gender
Jan. 27th, 2007 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethSo I was thinking Torchwood lines in my head
and thinking how there isn't a correct way to refer to someone in a sentence without knowing their gender
because 'they' isn't correct (I get told) and so you need he or she
except, that's in English
and also there are other words sometimes used
a bit new and not generally agreed on maybe, but existing
but I was wondering about other languages
specifically Welsh and Japanese, most relevant for the scene I had in mind
Jack's first language might be English - the whole universe speaks English, and there's all this TV that might, possibly, keep the language pinned down a bit - but it won't be the same English because people keep needing to use it for new things. The way there's words in use for bloke-that-fathered-this-child that is not the word for husband or boyfriend or even ex, because the relevant relationship is still existing. Language gets shaped by what people need to use it for. So the language in Jack's head would be shaped by whatever his culture uses it for.
So now I'm vaguely poking at language, and realising I don't have the tools. So I ask the internets in general.
... only so vaguely I'm not even sure *what* I'm asking.
Maybe... if Ianto or Tosh were talking to their parents about their new lover, how easy would it be to play the pronoun game if they weren't speaking English? It's a bit obvious in English even. So they'd be talking about a special someone... can they say someone in a neutral way?
I don't know. My thoughts are vague and fuzzy.
and thinking how there isn't a correct way to refer to someone in a sentence without knowing their gender
because 'they' isn't correct (I get told) and so you need he or she
except, that's in English
and also there are other words sometimes used
a bit new and not generally agreed on maybe, but existing
but I was wondering about other languages
specifically Welsh and Japanese, most relevant for the scene I had in mind
Jack's first language might be English - the whole universe speaks English, and there's all this TV that might, possibly, keep the language pinned down a bit - but it won't be the same English because people keep needing to use it for new things. The way there's words in use for bloke-that-fathered-this-child that is not the word for husband or boyfriend or even ex, because the relevant relationship is still existing. Language gets shaped by what people need to use it for. So the language in Jack's head would be shaped by whatever his culture uses it for.
So now I'm vaguely poking at language, and realising I don't have the tools. So I ask the internets in general.
... only so vaguely I'm not even sure *what* I'm asking.
Maybe... if Ianto or Tosh were talking to their parents about their new lover, how easy would it be to play the pronoun game if they weren't speaking English? It's a bit obvious in English even. So they'd be talking about a special someone... can they say someone in a neutral way?
I don't know. My thoughts are vague and fuzzy.