Tayap language: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:03, 30 December 2023

Revision as of 00:04, 30 December 2023

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===Gender===

Like many languages of the [[Sepik]]-[[Ramu]] basin (particularly the [[Sepik languages]]), Tayap has masculine and feminine genders.

There are two genders, masculine and feminine, marked not on the noun itself but on [[deictic]]s, the ergative marker, suppletive verbal stems and verbal affixes. The unmarked, generic form of all nouns, including animate nouns, even humans, is feminine: however, a male referent may be masculine. Another criterion is size and shape: long, thin and large referents tend to be masculine; short, stocky and small referents tend to be feminine. This type of gender-assignment system is typical of the Sepik region. Gender is only ever marked in the singular, never in the dual or plural.