Gender and noun Classes

Question 1

Covert Noun Class

Answer 1

Describes gender/noun class that is not marked on the noun; Nouns may be divided into two or more classes where the class difference is only obvious when interacting with syntax in a specific way (ex. with article, in plural form…)

Question 2

Overt Noun Class

Answer 2

Gender/noun class distinctions may be realized overtly through some observable formal features that are shared

Question 3

Gender Concord

Answer 3

subject-verb agreement/agreement across a whole sentence (ex. Spanish)

Question 4

Classifiers

Answer 4

words (or morphemes) that are REQUIRED in certain grammatical contexts involving nouns

often used when the noun is being counted

Question 5

How are classifiers different than gender/noun-class systems?

Answer 5

Inventory of classifiers can be rather large (into the hundreds), while inventory of noun classes tends to be much smaller (up to twenty or so, but usually less than 5)

Question 6

Gendered Lexicons

Answer 6

morphological distinctions in the lexicon based on the gender of the speaker

Question 7

Grammatical gender/noun classes

Answer 7

classes of nouns that show interactions with morphosyntax