http://sites.google.com/site/psalmofdreams/Home/introduction-to-babel-grammar/babel-grammatical-genderNotebook Entry: Babel Grammatical Gender
I feel better now than I’ve felt in quite some time. I’m not at all sure how long I slept after I ate. Puey insisted that I eat at once. I sate in his lap and he spooned honey pouridge and milk into my mouth. By then I had no idea where my parents had gone. Later on I found out that they the fleet and disappeared unto realms or dimensions somewhere quite far away. Mother wanted to leave me in Grandfather Pátifhar’s protection, but Father chanted that I was to be Puey’s responsibility from now on, at least that’s what I heard. I am not at all concerned about the details any longer. At this point I really can’t be bothered with anything at all.
I think I fell asleep when Puey took me out of my corset. I do have a vague memory of wheels and clockwork streaming upwards and biting at his fingers and striking at him. My dearest Prince just has no understanding of machines and no luck at all with regards to rouage. Perhaps in the days to come, as he teaches me how to play Xhwongeîthe and chase the sock, and I teach him to dance and to talk I may get around unto helping him to understand machines. I don’t think they’re too terrible at all. At one point I was conscious enough to know that he was unbinding my wings and washing each of the bones. At least Mother knit my bones together, but I think they were covered in blood. When I woke up I was lying in bed in a fresh set of pajamas, and my wings were open for the first time in quite a while. I wonder, though, did Puey really undress me or did he get a female servant or Vestal Virgin to do so? I plan on embarassnig him on the point later. When I awoke it was already the third hour. Puey fed me in bed and told me that I had no chores and no responsibilities whatsoever save to start getting better. My wings, I must say, started twittering with glee even though I tried to stop them. Puey also reassured me that he thought that my wings were already feminine and starlike as they were. Sometimes I just don’t understand Mother at all. My wings are quite lovely, even if they are a little ungainly and don’t quite move the way I want them to and keep shuffling from side to side and smacking Puey in the face, but I always apologuise with lots of kisses. I do not know for certain whether wing-binding is a custom among my Mother’s people, for she implied that it was practiced among both the Brothers and Sisters of the Stars, but if so I plan not to continue this custom with mine own children.
I must have fallen asleep again in the middle of the day. Puey fed me in bed again, and he rubbed my wings and I feel asleep far too early. And now it’s day again. Puey says I don’t have to do anything at all today if I don’t want to. The fleet, he told me, will be returning unto the Void and the last battles of the War. He says that we may be able to end the Winter the seeks to destroy all reality, and then we shall have spring again. Hurray! I’m hoping that at any moment now Puey will return and sweep me up into his arms and start kissing me with passionate kisses in celebration. I hope, though, that Mother comes through on her promise to teach Puey to fly. She may be a little overwhelved with having a single child to teach flight, especially since I’m the only child of the Áme and her kind are not exactly accustomed to the idea of change and childhood, but one day she told me Puey will have Raven wings to match my butterfly wings.
Puey has just returned with some fluttering ravens. He has letters for me. Let’s take a look at them.
Dearest Princess,
I am so happy that you are safe and found again. I wept for fear of you, and now I thank all the spirits and ancestors that you are returned unto us. Oh, what an happy day!
Fhermáta
Sister by Marriage,
I’m sure it’s great that you’re not dead yet, but I just want to tell you that contrary to popular report, I did not go through all your possessions at home and plunder them for all they’re worth. The two copper beadcoins you left with me are safe and sound. On a completely different matter, everything in my room is mine and for all time, and don’t you dare claim that any of those toys were once yours, and I can assure you that none of those beads and emeralds I took from your luggage. In fact, let’s just stay out of my room completely.
Siêthiyal
Éfhelìnye,
Did you bring me any presents from your little journey? I bet you got to see lots of colors and shapes and scribbles and things bursting upwards in the dimensions up there. Auntie Qtìmine is making pancakes tonight! That truly is worthy of celebration! You did bring me presents, right?
Post Scriptum:
Whatever you do, don’t hurry home, because I don’t want to keep having to copy these epistles of yours. Boooring!
Post post scriptum scriptum:
Um, whatever you do, don’t look in your room. Somebody took all your stuff. And she says that if I say anything about it she’s going to pound me into the floor. I’m just warning you. Don’t look for anything.
Post post post scriptum scriptum scriptum:
Um um um, there’s some rumor going about the marketplace that your Mother was going to purchase one hundred wives, one thousand concubines, and ten thousand love slaves for Puey. !! as Puey would say. I don’t suppose you would care to explain that, would you?
Your best and darlingest little Sister
Karuláta Khniêma Akhlísa the Great love for all time!
To be honest, I have no idea what Kàrula meant by my Mother purchasing wives for Puey. I shall bring it up to my Mother at the earliest opportunity. But right now I’m far too relaxed and tired to care.
My cousin Ixhúja was kind enough to send me an epistle also. I’ll have to give it some good thought. When will Puey and I get around to finding her an husband? She’ll only be completely happen when she’s in love, so I’ll have to find some strong hero for her, perhaps some soldier or a Sylvan Knight who will hold her in his arms and sweep her off her feet and won’t mind at all that she doesn’t talk and has clockwork flowing down her tresses.
Anyway, here’s the letter that Princess Ixhúja wrote unto me.
My Dearest Cousin,
I rejoice that you are well and in Puîyos’ safe hands. I cannot begin to imagine what sort of ordeal you must undergone up there in the cloud and dust realms. I have not had too many good experiences with angry Ancestors or Immortals myself, I rather prefer what is known and real and solid, beasts and clockwork, creatures that I can fight with mine own hands. Now that you are back among us, my cousin, I hope you shall be getting back to your letters about grammar. I’m hoping that we can discuss grammar a bit more, sepecially whether Babel is patriarchal or not. In the essay I wrote for you I came to the conclusion that Babel was not patriarchal and I still believe that, even though I may have some misgivings about the union of the Clockwork Heresy and the Winter Patriarchy that you and Puîyos have in mind. I do think, though, that the language you have created does have an inordinate number of words for flowers, blood, dancing, warfare, silly things, and harsh things, and I cannot yet guess whether that makes the language too feminine or too masculine. I have noticed though that sometimes the language has a three-way gender system and sometimes a two way gender system. To modify some of the sentences which Akhlísa has described before.
Xhthènteqhe Puîye wtsatimùjhwa púsa. Puîye kú.
I wended from green Puey. He is Puey.
Xhthènteqhe’ óqla wtsatimèkhmo púsa. Óqla kei.
I wended from Þe green flower. It’s a flower.
Xhthènteqhe qiêl wtsatimèpwo púsa. Qiêl kei.
I wended from Þe green hill. It’s an hill.
Jaê Puîye wtsatimètyikh púsa. Puîye kú.
I saw some of green Puey. He is Puey.
Jaê’ óqla wtsatimòtya púsa. Óqla kei.
I saw some of the green flower. It’s a flower.
Jaê qiêl wtsatimùtya púsa. Qiêl kei.
I saw some of the green hill. It’s an hill.
So when we talk about participles in some forms of the locative case, there are at least three genders bouncing about, one for persons, as in Puîye wtsatimùjhwa, from green Puey, and Puîye wtsatimètyikh some of green Puey, and one gender for flowers, óqla wtsatimèkhmo, from the green flower, óqla wtsatimòtya, some of the green flower, and a third gender for objects, qiêl wtsatimèpwo, from the green hill and qiel wtsatimùtya some of the green hill. From the notes that I was able to rescue from Siêthiyal’s pillaging I have located that you call these genders the Sentient-Animate, the Non-sentient-animate, and the Non-sentient inanimate. That’s all well and good. But what about the pronouns at the end of the sentence? Puîye kú means He’s Puey. Excellent. But the same gender is used for both flower and hill, Óqla kei, Qiêl kei mean It’s a flower, it’s a hill. What happened to do of the genders!
And what are we to make sentences like this:
Xholajakhtàqta Puîyos. Puîyos koxhing.
Puîyos is a male warrior. He’s Puîyos.
Xhelejakhtàqta’ Ixhúja. Ixhúja kexhing.
Ixhúja is a female warrior. She’s Ixhúja.
Now we have masculine and feminine prefixes on the participles, xhola- and xhele-, but we also have the option of using koxhing as a masculine pronoun and kexhing as a feminine pronoun.
So, my little grammarian cousin, how many genders do we have in Babel? Do we have three for participles? Do we have two for pronouns? And how to males and females fit into these paradigms? Are you just making this up as you go along? Or are you really confused about something? You’ve always seemed a little confused about gender roles, I think. You’re supposed to be the one rescuing Puey, you know. You just don’t have this entire courtship dance down correctly.
So, cousin, are you going to change this entire gender arrangement? Are you going to make participles and personal pronouns fit into the same clockwork? If you wish to change the gender system of Babel, I have come up with a few ways that would certainly simplify it. For one, let’s just abandon the entire animate, sentient, and male and female distinction, it’s a little too complicated. Second, let’s use blinks, purrs, kicks, and punches as parts of words. Here are a few suggestions.
Two Gender System:
Feminine gender (marked with a punch)
Everything else gender (marked with a purr)
In this system we may say something like this:
Jaê’ Ixhúja(punch) wtsàtim (punch) pú (punch).
I, feminine, see green Ixhúja, who’s also femine.
Jaê Puîyos (purr) wtsàtim (purr) pú (punch).
I, feminine, see green Puîyos who is of the set of everything not feminine.
If you don’t like that system I have another:
Gender for feminines, animate objects, plantimals (marked with snarl)
Gender for men, violence, water, anything unpredictable (marked with giggle)
Gender for clockwork (marked with sigh)
Gender for fruit and vegetables (marked with low kick)
Everything else gender (marked by punching someone in the face)
So we’d have sentences like the following:
Jaê jakhtàqta (snarl) stélar (snarl).
The feminine princess sees the feminine warrior.
Jaê Puîyos (giggle) stélar (snarl).
The feminine princess sees the violent and possibly unpredictable Puîyos.
Jaê sòjhwa (sigh) Puîyos (giggle).
Masculine Puîyos sees the clockwork dragonfly.
Jaê xhmàrpta (low kick) sòjhwa (sigh).
The clockwork dragonfly sees the pomegranate fruit.
Jaê jaê (kicking everyone in the face) Ixhúja (snarl).
Ixhúja sees lots of things and possibly kicks them all in the face.
Perhaps, mine erudite cousin, you wish a completely different system. I have many ideas.
Princess gender (do a little dance)
Dragonfly gender (flap arms or, if one has them, wings)
Hunting tools and weapon gender (slap someone)
Anything that reflects light gender (slay someone very hard)
Everything else gender (break someone’s face)
I think that the possibilities may be endless.
Khmír stélar (doing a little dance) jakhtàqta (breaking someone’s face).
The warrior loves the princess.
Khmír sòjhwa (flapping one’s arms about) xhlir jairientaôlu (slapping someone) stélar (doing a little dance)
The Princess loves the dragonfly with a māccuahuitl.
Khmír khmír (break someone’s face) Eîl (slay someone very hard).
The sun just keeps loving everything else.
Or, perchance, if you think the above system is just a little too vague we can add more genders for different types of objects. We can add:
Heavenly creatures such as rainbows, moons gender (go into bersarker rage)
Other types of weapons, metallic objects gender, rings, hammers gender (run very quickly)
Food, edible plantimals gender (side kick)
Non-metallic objects gender (backflip)
Spheres, toys, clockwork gender (stand on one’s head)
Í jakhtàqta (breaking someone’s face) pejor khwíjo (let’s go into a bersarker rage).
The warrior was walking about while the moon was shining and possibly going berserk.
Xhùrnamat jaîretu (side kick) xhlir soîrxhla (run very quickly) stélar (doing a little dance)
The princess was eating the pie using a snickersnee.
Eûxi qir stán (backflip) Tánin (stand on one’s head).
The Automata were dancing upon a stone.
Perhaps all of motion and movement and leaping may be a little too tiring for you at first, my anæmic little cousin, but I think you do need to toughen up a little. When you get back into Jaràqtu I think I’ll pounce on you in the middle of the night and teach you how to wrestle.
From my point of view if there must be a gender system in language than there must be some sort of hierarchy. At the very top we should have people, or at least women. Next there should be clockwork objects and plantimals. Then there can be different types of objects, say long objects, liquids, small objects, sand, water. Next there should be abstractions, a gender for language, words, pejorities, numbers, infinities, and then any type of collection of mass participle.
I suppose one could make a little chart of the different ways that gender could be classified in a way which makes far more sense unto me. I shall start with highest to least important.
PEOPLE:
High class women
Huntresses, maidens, princesses
Low class women, all men
Children, food for people, materials for machines
CLOCKWORK AND PLANTIMALS
Clockwork creations, automata, clockwork insects
Trees
All other types of beasts, birds, and fishes
KINSHIP RELATIONS
Kinship by blood
Kinship by cloning
Kinship by marriage or fosering
Kinship by avoidance groups such as in-laws
NAMES
Personal names
Ceremonial names
Place names
Names of clockwork
Certain groups of people
BODY PARTS
Living body parts
Dead body parts
IMPORTANT SUBSTANCES
Sugar
Coffee
Oil
Blood
WEAPONS
Swords, māccuahuitl, impaling spears
Wood or trees used to make weapons
Cylindrical items
TYPES OF OBJECTS
Long objects, liquids, small objects, sand, water, inanimate objects such as books, abstractions, I am not sure whether there an be an hierarchy this low on the list.
LANGUAGE ABSTRACTIONS
Language
Words
Mathmatics
Infinities
Pejoratives
COLLECTIONS OF PERSONS OR THINGS
Populations
Mass participles
Silly items
Very silly items
Exceeding silly items
So the way I count it, I can think of at least ten different genders which have absolutely nothing to do with divisions based upon sentience, animacy, or the sexes. I doubt you’ll encorporate any of these ideas into the language you are creating, it seems you already have a very full and complex system, and yet I don’t think that it has to be the only system there is.
By the way, before I end this letter, there is a rumor about the agora that your Mother wishes to purchase concubines for Puîyos. That’s not true, is it? I do know of several maidens who would not be completely averse to the idea, but it just seems like something against what you would permit.
Anyway, I need to go and stop Siêthiyal from taking all your stuff. I’ll write to you later.
Ixhúja.
So this is the response that I’ve crafting for her.
My Dearest Cousin,
I am so happy to hear from you and that you are well and that you are taking such a kean interest on these linguistic scribbles of mine. I don’t quite know when I’ll be well enough to return home. Right now Puey is washing my wings as I write this. I feel very sore, but I feel far better when he is with me and taking care of me. Oh, that reminds me, while I’m in the fleet I’ll be asking the acolytes to keep their eyen open to look for a potential husband for you. I don’t suppose you already have anyone in mind, but when I return home I shall certainly be thinking about what type of man should be your lord and husband. You just don’t know how good if feels to be in love all the time and have Puey right next to me to protect me. Puey keeps telling me that I shouldn’t be concerned with finding you an husband, that you are far too young, but it doesn’t hurt to look around. Plus, whoc an guess what the Immortals have intended for us? From my experience with them, the Immortals are just as capricious as the rest of us.
Puey just looked o'er my shoulder and told me that perhaps you are too young to be thinking of having an husband. I disagree, I think you’re old enough to be thinking about kisses and marriage and being held by some very special person. I think Puey is just being shy thinking about you all grown up. He does wish to protect us all.
Puey’s not looking at the epistle anymore. Good. I’ll tell you then, I plan on tricking him tonight and forcing him to kiss me. I’m too weak to walk by myself, let alone fly, so he’s been carrying me around, but I think I can grab onto the edge of some curtains as he carries me, and in the resultant fall I’ll be able to thrust my face towards him and force him to kiss me for as long as I want. Also, and don’t tell him, please, even after I start feeling better, I don’t intend to let him know, so he can keep on holding me all the time. I just like being held.
So, for you pleasure, I think I shall write a few words on Babel Grammatical Gender
Babel Grammatical Gender
Sentient, Non-Sentient, Animate, Inanimate, Male-gamma, Female-alpha-beta, and Epicine-both-all
I’m writing this in a box because my Mother used many little boxes in the note she just left me. And I do suppose that boxes are pretty. Now, as we begin this discussion, first I shall mention that we actually have two words different words which mean gender in Babel. Qhén is the regular word for grammatical gender as in some sort of division or way to view or qualify participles. Qhén can thus refer to sentient-animate, non-sentient animate, non-sentient inanimate, animate epicine, animate male-gamma, animate female-alpha-beta, or animate-epicine-both-all. Qhén are however distinct from the level two suffixes that I call classifiers, suffixes such as –ingpis which refer to spirits, dreams, souls, or ancestors, -ixorng which refer to inanimate things, or –elpul which refer to deceased persons or creatures. So when one speaks of wtsatimìngpis, a green spirit or dream or wtsatìmixorng, a green thing or wtsatimèlpul, a green dead person, one is not referring to grammatical gender but really as a type of description. In addition to the word Qhén we also have the word Fhwìpu which can refer to gender but also to grammatical valence. Fhwìpu thus is broad enough to refer both to ideas of sentience and animance, but also to the way that clauses and sentences are put together in terms of telicity and volitionality. For the purposes of this discussion, however, we shall only be discussing qhénàjhwen, grammatical gender in terms of describing a participle, personal pronoun, or a relative pronoun.
My cousin, Ixhúja, grammatical gender in Babel is complicated by several facts. For one, there are several competing ideas of gender which do not all cover the same territory, and so create some interesting gaps in the system. For instance, there is a major division between sentient and non-sentient, that is a Real Person or Soul or Dream as opposed to everything else. Then there is the division between Animate and inanimate, which is between something alive such as a person and tree and flower and everything else. We also have divisions of sex, the first which corresponds to male or gamma and the second to female and alpha and beta. Then we have a third group which is the epicine which can refer to any male or gamma or any female or alpha or beta, or to groups of them all, or both or all three at the same time. The second complication is that grammatical gender is really only noticible in certain grammatical constraints. These tend to be environments that are demand a great deal of description, such as certain vocatives, some possessive constructions, the construct case, deictics, and focus participles. So, in many sentences and in many circumstances the gender of the word is not at all shown, and the words just dance around, but the in other sentences and in other constructions, one must be careful to match everything up. And third, I thought it was very interesting that from your description above that personal pronouns seeed to have fewer gender distinctions than participles, but as we shall see personal pronouns actually have far more distinctions. In general, the more words that are being used in a clause or sentences, the more divisions personal pronouns like to employ so that one can keep track of them all.
We shall discuss participles first. There are eight grammatical particles that are realized as different affixes depending upon the gender of the word that they modify.
Gender Affixes
On Participles
Sentient·animate epicine
Sentient·animate masculine
Sentient·animate feminine
Non·sentient animate
Non·sentient inanimate
Translacioun
Jai·
Jai·
Jai·
Jhao·
Jhao·
Non·vocativë honorifick (2·p)
Xau·
Xau·
Xau·
Tlhoi·
Tlhoi·
Non·vocativë beloved (2·p)
Jhenta·
Jhenta·
Jhenta·
Xoiqha·
Jakhna·
My/our (5·p)
Khuswe·
Khuswe·
Khuswe·
Xitlha·
Khleikha·
Your (5·p)
Paje·
Paje·
Paje·
Xhnalwa·
Teiqha·
His/hir/thair (5·p)
Khemle·
Khemle·
Khemle·
Khmampe·
Jhanwa·
His/hir/thair (another) (5·p)
·ejikh
+ xhroe
+ xhroa
·ejikh
+ xhroe
+ xhroa
·ejikh
+ xhroe
+ xhroa
·olkha
+ xhroe
+ xhroa
·akhmikh/ulkha
+ xhroe
+ xhroa
Construct (1·s)
·etyikh
·etyikh
·etyikh
·otya
·utya
Partitivë genitive (1·s)
+ Kae
+ Kae
+ Kae
+ Pfho
+ Pfhu
Ingeminate (+ 1·s)
·ujhwa
·ujhwa
·ujhwa
·ekhmo
·epwo
From, out of (1·s)
·engit
·engit
·engit
·engat
·engut
Þis (10·s)
·alyir
·alyir
·alyir
·alyar
·alyur
Þæt (10·s)
·elkhim
·elkhim
·elkhim
·elkham
·elkhum
Yon (10·s)
·ekhwis
·ekhwis
·ekhwis
·ekhwas
·ekhwus
Yon (another) (10·s)
·anwa
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
·enwe
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
·inwi
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
·ojhwo
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
·ujhwu
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
Focus (15·s)
Please note, my cousin Ixhúja, that some forms of the affixes only distinguish between sentient and non-sentient, such as jai- and xau-, and these I have represented in green italiξ on the one side and with underlined jacinth ink upon the other side. Some affixes have a three-fold distinction of sentient animate, non-sentient animate, and non-sentient inanimate such as in the -ejikh/olkha/ulkha distinction in the construct case, or the particles + kae, pfho, pfhu for the ingeminate case, and this is represented with italiξ green one one side for sentient animate, and purple for the non-sentient animate, and a silvern ink for the non-sentient inanimate. And finally you will note that of all of these inflexions that only the focus particles make a fivefold distinction for gender, and I have marked them in bold red, and it is perhaps fitting that the focus particles should be the most varied and most specific with gender, since such have some of the most varied and complex grammatical of uses. You will also notice that I have painted a few affixes in orange ink, these are all identical across the distinctions of gender. So, in the construct case one may either use a gender specific suffix such as –ejikh or a gender neutral one such as -axhwa, moreover to mark something with the focus one may use something specific such as –anwa or something non-specific such as -axhwa.
Puey is looking o'er my shoulder again and is telling me that this chart is far from simple. I beg to disagree. He keeps telling me that Language is far more complex and varied than anything he would have created. I’m telling him that if he calls Language complex again he owes me seven kisses.
However, you are quite correct that for most grammatical functions that note gender there is a threefold distinction. I will summarize the differences in this chart:
Sentient Animate
Non·sentient Animate
Non·sentient Inanimate
Sentient Beings, Real People
Spirits
Æons, Stars
Island planets, Suns, Moons
Dreams
Ancestors
Automata Tánin, Clockwork Toys
Dead, Ghosts, Wraiths,
One’s own Children
Drutrees
Plantimals
Non talking beasts
Monstren
Dæmons
Living body parts, eggs
Words for Life
Words for Spring
Childru who have not yet celebrated Uxèmatiit
Children of strangers
Things
Places
Abstracciouns
Dead body parts
Island planets, Suns, Moons (as nature)
Corpses
Living living ships
Scurrying rocks
Whispering mountains
Sentient-animate forms are used for the Real People, for all sentient beings, sentient spirits, Stars, Dreams, and the names thereof, and in reference to the Ancestors and the Dead, as well as creatures which are considered to have some independence of will such as wind up toys and ninjitsu Automata, as well as the children of one’s clan. Non-sentient animate forms are used for all other living things, such as trees and plantimals and fishes and non-talking beasts, as well as living body parts, and abstractions that pertain to life, such as éfhe life and fhrúla springtime, as well as the children of strangers or children who have not celebrated the rite of Uxèmatiit. The non-sentient inanimate forms are used for everything else, they are your Everything Else Gender, that you mentioned above, and they are used for all things, places, and other abstractions. Hence, the correct gendered construct form for óqla is óqlayòlkha, for éfhe it is éfheyòlkha, for tnèfhta it is tnefhtayòlkha, and for Puîye it is Puiyèyejikh, and for khnaôl it is khnaolùlkha or khnaolàxhmikh and for khmérn it is khmérnùkha and khmérnàxhmikh. Monsters such as my Father’s Ice Warriors are non-sentient, so their construct form is xhwaptuyòlkha even though they have been known to speak and have some volition. Living ships and scurrying rocks and whispering mountains are alive in some way, but they are always considered non-sentient inanimate.
Body parts also have a further distinction, my Cousin. If the body part is alive, it is considered non-sentient animate, but if dead, it is non-sentient inanimate.
Tnefhtayòlkha
Of mine eyen, that are alive
Tnefhtayùlkha
Of mine eyen, which are dead
In addition to the gender system of Babel, we do have very efficacious level two suffixes which I call classifiers. One which is of relavence here is –emlul which means deceased body part. So one could say
Tnefhtayèmlul
My dead eyen
Tnefhtayulkhayèmlul
Of mine dead eyen.
One usually would just say something such as tnefhtayùlkha or a classify such as –emlul when referring to dead body parts found upon a battle field or a laboratory or in references to blood sacrifice rather than to one’s own body parts. Babel is after all a very pragmatic language and reflects perfectly own own society.
The gender system sometimes allows for poetic ambiguity which can be difficult for to render in the gestalten of the language of beasts. Compare:
Tsenàfhilart ungtafhayùlkha siineqhimpíya Qlenólakh.
The Martian Princess Qlenólakh venerates icons of the Noiselords.
Tsenàfhilart ungtafhàyejikh siineqhimpíya Qlenólakh.
The Martian Princess Qlenólakh venerates the Sea Lords through their icons.
The second sentence can only make figurative sense, since icons are objects and must be non-sentient inanimate, but since what they represent must be the most sentient and most animate of all, the second sentence is possible. Fhìlart means those who worship or venerate someone or something, an interesting compound builded off of it is fhilàrtamern, which means ritual words or forms, philavery. Ùngtafha are icons of the Dead Ones while Siineqhimpíya is a word taken of your own culture, my beloved cousin, Khnìnthan Princess or Martian Callinymph, and it is formed of a word for Khnìntha, Siîn and one of the myriad words that we have for princeses, qhimpíya.
And this one:
Jaê tátoyàxhmikh Éfhelìnye.
Éfhelìnye saw doughnuts.
Jaê Tátòyejikh Éfhelìnye.
Éfhelìnye saw Táto.
Táto, doughnuts are usually non-sentient inanimate such as in the first example, but when referring to mine Great-Uncle unto whom Táto is a nickname, he is of course sentient animate.
Now, it seems that no matter what type of verbal system one may imagine, no matter how simple or complex the valence or gender may be, there is a great deal of rome for overlapping and complication. I for one am quite glad not to have an extra gender for princesses, bubble gum, weapons, and types of clockwork. I think that the basic five-fold division which we have full enough, and even ours has a great deal of room for all sorts of fun. Let’s play arounda little.
Úr Eîlejikh
The fire of Eîl
Úr Eilàxhmikh
The Light of the Sun
Jhwíjo kó.
She’s a Moon. She’s the Moon.
Jhwíjo kei.
‘Tis the moon.
Úr, úru is a participle meaning fire, light. Words referring to some Spirits which can be either conceptualized as forces of nature or as sentient Thoughts of the Immortals, words such as Island Planets, Suns, and Moons, can take either sentient animate affixes or non-sentient inanimate affixes. This is a concession to the way that we Mortals perceive reality, for we tend to see either the Sun as Light and Day or the Sun as Spirit and Flame and Father, but usually not at the same time. Generally such words for spirits take the animate affixes when one emphasies their animate qualities, inanimate for their inanimate qualities. I have noticed that my Mother tends to refer to Spirits and Moons in the animate, although from time to time she has used the inan imate. I do wish to mention that the animate/inanimate distinction does not correspond to the ending –o, -u, -ei found at the end of some lexical items. The personal pronouns ó and ú refer to sentient beings such as persons, spirits, and Immortals, while ei refer to non-sentient or semi-sentient beings such as beasts, forces o fnature, or abstraction.
With personal pronouns and relative pronouns we actually have different forms to correspond to the gender division between sentient animate and non-sentient animate/non-sentient inanimate. So one can think of the pronouns as the following, with a two fold division:
Sentient Animate
Non·sentient animate ør inanimate
Personal Pronouns
Pó, ó poa, pú, tepo, tepu, kepo, kepu, pexhe, poxha, tó, texhe, toxha, tú, kó, kexhe, koxha, kú, keko, kekexhe, kekoxha, kuku, exhe, oxha, ó, ú, khnón, pón;
Jin, teir, khes, khas, khrin, kekhrin, jhein, ajhoqhi, khnan, kekhnan, xhei, teqha, khnalikh
Pei, tei, kei, kekei, ei, khnón, pein
Relativë Pronouns
Pus, tus, kus
Xhyus
Per, ter, ker
Keis, koas, kes
Xhyeis, xhyoas, xhyes
ker
Khnón and ker, may cousin, work equally well for animates and inanimates.
Jaê jit khnón.
No one saw me.
No creature saw me.
Nothing saw me.
Jaê khnónejikh jin.
Jaê khnónolkha jin.
Jaê khnónulkha jin.
I saw no one.
I saw no creature.
I saw nothing.
Fhròkaot qiêl ker wtsàtim.
Þe hill that is green is old.
Fhròkaot Pátifhar ker wtsàtim.
Pátifhar, who is green, is wise.
However, my dearest cousin, I believe this binary division of gender in the pronouns is more a recourse of mismatched thinking. For instance, the relative pronouns make gendered distinction for both place and time, a distinction which is not found at all in personal pronouns or participles. Moreover, the personal pronouns also have special masculine and feminine forms which can be used for first, second, and third person. I suppose one could expand the chart above unto a wider one, and thereby see that pronouns actually make more distinctions in gender than participles do. However, the chart is a little imperfect, since I’m trying to make the personal pronouns match the relative pronouns. You shall see that personal pronouns, for instance make no distinction among non-sentient animate, non-sentient inanimate, place, and time, while relative pronouns do, but lack a distinction for epicine, masculine, or feminine.
Sentient Animate Epicine
Sentient Animate Masculine
Sentient Animate Feminine
Non-sentient animate or inanimate
Places
Time
Personal Pronouns
Pó, ó poa, pú, tepo, tepu, kepo, kepu, pexhe, poxha, tó, texhe, toxha, tú, kó, kexhe, koxha, kú, keko, kekexhe, kekoxha, kuku, exhe, oxha, ó, ú, khnón, pón;
Jin, teir, khes, khas, khrin, kekhrin, jhein, ajhoqhi, khnan, kekhnan, xhei, teqha, khnalikh
Poxha, toxha,
koxha, kekoxha,
oxha
Pexhe, texhe, kexhe, kekexhe, exhe
Pei, tei, kei, keikei, ei, khnón, pein
Pei, tei, kei, keikei, ei, khnón, pein
Pei, tei, kei, keikei, ei, khnón, pein
Relative Pronouns
Pus, tus, kus
Xhyus
Per, ter, ker
Pus, tus, kus,
Xhyus,
Per, ter, ker
Pus, tus, kus.
Xhyus,
Per, ter, ker
Keis,
Xhyeis,
ker
Koas,
Xhyoas,
ker
Kes,
Xhyes,
ker
In terms of Personal pronouns, they still take differing suffixeds depending on whether their referant is animate or sentient. This is most often seen with the following forms:
Sentient Inanimate
Non·sentient Animate
Non·sentient Inanimate
·ejikh
-xhrejor
·olkha
-xhrejor
·akhmikh/ulkha
-xhrejor
Construct (1·p)
·etyikh
·otya
·utya
Partitivë genitivë (1·p)
+ Kae
+ Pfho
+ Pfhu
Ingeminate (+1·p)
·ujhwa
·ekhmo
·epwo
From, out of (1·p)
And so:
Éfhelìnye túxing. Joîjae túyejikh pú.
You are Éfhelìnye. I see you.
Óqla teixing. Jiîjae teiyolkha pú.
‘Tis a flower. I see it.
Qiêl teixing. Jiîjae teiyulkha pú.
‘Tis a hill. I see it.
Personal Pronouns are clearly a subset of participles. In terms of gendered affixes which may be applied to personal pronounds, this is the complete list. I have tried to be consistent with the color scheme. As you can see, forms such as –xhrejor can be applied unto any gender, while the focus participles can make distinct for no gender or for all five genders.
Sentient·animate epicine
Sentient·animate masculine
Sentient·animate feminine
Non·sentient animate
Non·sentient inanimate
Translacioun
Jai·
Jai·
Jai·
Jhao·
Jhao·
Non·vocativë honorifick (2·p)
Xau·
Xau·
Xau·
Tlhoi·
Tlhoi·
Non·vocativë beloved (2·p)
·ejikh
-xhrejor
·ejikh
-xhrejor
·ejikh
-xhrejor
·olkha
-xhrejor
·akhmikh/ulkha
-xhrejor
Construct (1·s)
·etyikh
·etyikh
·etyikh
·otya
·utya
Partitivë genitive (1·s)
+ Kae
+ Kae
+ Kae
+ Pfho
+ Pfhu
Ingeminate (+ 1·s)
·ujhwa
·ujhwa
·ujhwa
·ekhmo
·epwo
From, out of (1·s)
·anwa
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
·enwe
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
·inwi
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
·ojhwo
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
·ujhwu
·axhwa
+ xhmoe
Focus (15·s)
Here’s an example of personal pronouns inflected in terms of gender. I use kú for all of the sentient personal pronouns, and then koxhing and kexhing for masculine and feminine pronouns, and kei for the non-sentient pronouns. As you can see, the personal pronouns can end up making more distinctions in gender than participles are wont to do, although participles can certainly make those distinctions such as with the prefixes xhola-/xhele- and the classifier suffixes.
Sentient·animate epicine
Sentient·animate masculine
Sentient·animate feminine
Non·sentient animate
Non·sentient inanimate
Translacioun
Jaikúxing
Honored one
Jaikúxing
Jaikoxhing
Honored man
Jaikúxing
jaikexhing
Honored woman
Jhaokeixing.
Honored thing
Jhaokeixing
Honored thing
Non·vocativë honorifick (2·p)
Xaukúxing
Beloved one
Xaukúxing
Xaukoxhing
Beloved man
Xaukúxing
Xaukexhing
Beloved woman
Tlhoikeixing
Beloved thing
Tlhoikeixing
Beloved thing
Non·vocativë beloved (2·p)
Kúyejikhing
Kúxhrejoring
Of one
Kúyejikhing
Kúxhrejoring
Koxhejikhing
Koxhaxhrejoring
Of him
Kúyejikhing
Kúxhrejoring
Kexhejikhing
Kexhexhrejoring
Of her
Keiyolkhaxing,
keixhrejoring
Of it
Keiyaxhmikhing
Keiyulkhaing
Keixhrejoring
Of it
Construct (1·s)
Kúyetyikhing
Some of one
Kúyetyikhing
Koxhetyikhing
Some of him
Kúyetyikhing
Kexhetyikhing
Some of her
Keiyotyaxing
Some of it
Keiyutyaxing
Some of it
Partitivë genitive (1·s)
Kú kae xing
Being one
Kú kae xing
Koxha kae xing
Being him
Kú kae xing
Kexhe kae xing
Being her
Kei pfho xing
Being it
Kei pfhu xing
Being it
Ingeminate (+ 1·s)
Kúyujhwaxing
From one
Kúyujhwaxing
Koxhayujhwaxing
From him
Kúyujhwaxing
Kexheyujhwaxing
From her
Keiyekhmoxing
From it
Keiyepwoxing
From it
From, out of (1·s)
Kúxinganwa
Kúxingaxhwa
Kúxing xhmoe
One indeed
Kúxingenwe
Kúxingaxhwa
Kúxing xhmoe
Koxhingenwe
Koxhingaxhwa
Koxhing xhmoe
One indeed
Kúxinginwi
Kúxingaxhwa
Kúxing xhmoe
Kexhinginwi
Kexhingaxhwa
Kexhing xhmoe
One indeed
Keixingojhwo
Keixingaxhwa
Keixing xhmoe
It indeed
Keixingujhwu
Keixingaxhwa
Keixing xhmoe
It indeed
Focus (15·s)
Relative Pronouns have as their major genders Sentience, Non-sentience, Place, and Time such as in the following:
Sentient Animate Epicine
Non-sentient animate or inanimate
Places
Time
Relative Pronouns
Pus, tus, kus
Xhyus
Per, ter, ker
Keis,
Xhyeis,
ker
Koas,
Xhyoas,
ker
Kes,
Xhyes,
ker
The declension of relative pronouns is even less complicated than that of personal pronouns, and in terms of gendered affixes one really only has these:
Sentient Inanimate
Non·sentient Animate
Non·sentient inanimate
·ujhwa·sas
·ekhmo·sas
·epwo·sas
From, out of (1·p)
Thwár tuyujhwas xhthènteqhe pú túxing.
You are Þe person from whom I go.
Thwár kuyujhwas xhthènteqhe pú kúxing.
He is Þe person from whom I go.
Óqla keiyekhmosas xhthènteqhe pú’ eixing.
‘’Tis Þe flower from which I go.
Qiêl keiyepwosas xhthènteqhe pú’ eixing.
‘’Tis Þe hill from which I go.
Oâ koayepwosas xhthènteqhe pú’ eixing.
‘’Tis Þe place from which I go.
É keyepwosas xhthènteqhe pú’ eixing.
‘’Tis Þe tyme from which I go.
Please note that corpses are considered non-sentient inanimate, but ghosts and wraiths are considered sientient animate.
Jaê pónaxhmikhh khmeníwayùlkha Puîye.
Puey sees Þe body of the sky pirate.
Jaê pónejikh ker khmeníwa Puîye.
Puey sees the candy pirate herself.
Jaê teiqhafhuinùlkha khmeníwa Puîye.
Puey sees bucchaneer’s corpse.
Jaê’ úyejikhh khmeníwàyejikh Puîyus.
Puey sees Þe Spirit of the Pirate.
Jaê pajekhninthiêlejikh khmeníwa Puîye.
Puey sees the Sky Pirate’s ghost.
In the examples above I use the words fhuîn, tio estas, corses, and khnìnthiel which are souls, ghosts.
Dearest Cousin, in the chart of the main threefold distinction in gender that I charted above I mentioned that one’s own children were considered sentient-animate but the children of strangers or children who have not yet celebrated their rite of Uxèmatiit are considered non-sentient animate. This is because of an element of the cultures of the Winter Empire, something which has been a part of our society since the earliest of days, but which when Puey and I become the Sun and Moon we shall abolish utterly. It is the Ceremony of Uxèmatiit, and it is something I hope to consign unto our history books for all time.
I refuse to write The Ceremony of Uxèmatiit and put it in bold red letters and in a fancy box. The ceremony was reprehensible and almost took my Puey away from me.
The societies of the Dreamtime are very ancient and complex, whether of the Imperium or of the Clockwork Heresy, and the language of Babel reflects that. In fact, proficiency in Babel is of so much importance that in the earliest of days it was institutionalized as an actual rite of passage. Among the various species, nations, and cultures within the Winter Empir almost all Children had needs to pass through the ceremony known as the Uxèmatiit. The purpose of the ceremony was to confer unto the child the rights of a loquent Real Person rather than that of amute beast. This rite was realized differently among the different species of course. Among the the Traîkhiim for instance, whose Triîmeling are talking almost within days of birth, this ceremony was superfluous and unknown, and being slaves they were not considered of importance, and among the Xhámi Færie this ceremony was only celebrated among children of Warrior Caste and belong, that is, the Children of the Noble Houses and of the Divine House of the Pwéru were exempt, since they are of the Blood of the Sun. In the ceremony of Uxèmatiit the child must prove unto the sylvan priests that he is fluent in the conjugations, moods, modes, and poetics of the Babel Language. Any child that cannot prove himself to be so proficient in language was nomen away and offered up as a burnt offering unto the Immortals who themselves created the storied worlds of the Dreamtime by singing in the Babel language. You have to remember, my Cousin, that Children in the Dreamtime, both in the Patriarchy and in the Clockwork Heresy, have no rights at all aside from the honor due unto their nation, clan, and caste. The ceremony has a very practical purpose, so the adults were always telling me. Babel is a very hierarchical and honorific language. It would be perilous to dwell within the societies of the Dreamtime without knowing how to be deferential one to another. Children must therefore be segregated from wider society until such time as they can learn to talk the language without offending others or bringing dishonor unto their community.
Perhaps you were lucky not to have grown up with such a rite, my Cousin, although I know that Khnìntha had some rather frightful customs that they inflicted unto their own children. I was completely ignorant of the Uxèmatiit until I was eleven winters of age, and of course there was the incident when Puey himself had to undergo the rite before he could be permitted to take the Aoqhàpro, the Walk of Dreams in Jaràqtu, before he could be permitted to be betrothed unto Fhermáta. I was able to get Puey to say a few words in the presence of the priests, but only when I held his hands tight and helped him. I don’t really want to talk about that incident though, the thought that Puey was almost burnt alive because of a custom upsets me so, even though it was a year ago.
Even though I created Language, I still have to reflect the worlds for good or for ill, Language is the dance, but people, whether mortal or not, are the dancers. The Babel gender systems reflects this vile custom. It is customary to refer to the children of one’s own family, clan, allies, and very close friends always as sentient animate. However, it is also customary to refer to children of strangers’ families, clans, and enemies as non-sentient animate until such time as they celebrate their Uxèmatiit. Noble children and Royal children are, of course, always sentient animate. Using this distinction is never considered rude. Children refer unto themselves and each other usually as sentient, unless they wish to insult one another, and narrators usually refer to the children who are main characters as sentient animate, although they may reserver non-sentient animate for lesser characters, as well as reserve non-sentient animate references to children in dialogue.
So one may make the following distinctions:
Childru of one’s own family, clan, allies, close friends – Noble ond Royal childers eke
Childru of strangren, other clans, enemies
Sentient Animate particlen:
Jai·, xau·, jhenta·, khuswe·, paje·, khemle·, ·ejikh, ·etyikh, kae, ·ujhwa, ·engit, ·alyir, ·elkhim, ·ekhwis
Non·sentient animate participlen:
Jhao·, tlhoi·, xoiqha·, xitlha·, xhnalwa·, khmampe·, olkha, otya, pfho, ·ekhmo, ·engat, ·alyar, ·elkham, ·ekhwas
Sentient animate personal pronouns:
Pó, ó poa, pú, tepo, tepu, kepo, kepu, pexhe, poxha, tó, texhe, toxha, tú, kó, kexhe, koxha, kú, keko, kekexhe, kekoxha, kuku, exhe, oxha, ó, ú, khnón, pón;
Jin, teir, khes, khas, khrin, kekhrin, jhein, ajhoqhi, khnan, kekhnan, xhei, teqha, khnalikh
Non·sentient animate ør inanimate personal pronouns:
Pei, tei, kei, kekei, ei, khnón, pein
Sentient animate relativë pronouns:
Pus, tus, kus
Xhyus
Per, ter, ker
Non·sentient animate ør inanimate relativë pronouns:
Keis, koas, kes
Xhyeis, xhyoas, xhyes
ker
I have read some texts where narrators do refer to children by the second set of pronouns, the non-sentient animate, and clearly that is a stylistic device. Of course one could only refer to me as Éfhelinyèyejikh and kú and never as Éfhelinyeyòlkha and kei.
When I first came to dwell in Jaràqtu I noticed that the folk of the Sweqhàngqu and Khatelèstan and Tásel and Saûqyufha would always say the following:
Jaê Puiyòsejikh pú.
I see Puîyos.
Jaê Fhermátàyejikh pú.
I see Fhermáta.
Jaê jakhtàqta xhroe Puîyos kae pú. Xhthènteqhe Jaraqtùyutakh kú.
I see Þe warrior, Puîyos. He goeth towards Jaràqtu.
But until the children passed their rite of their Uxèmatiit strangers used to say:
Jaê Puiyosòlkha pú.
I see Puîyos.
Jaê Fhermátayòlkha pú.
I see Fhermáta.
Jaê jakhtàqta xhroe Puîyos pfho pú. Xhthènteqhe Jaraqtùyutakh kei.
I see Þe warrior, Puîyos. Hee goeth towards Jaràqtu.
When Puey and I first met Fhèrkifher and Xhnófho they always refered to me as sentient animate since they recognized at once that I was of Noble Caste, although it took them some time to figure out that I was of Royal Caste. But they refered to Puey as non-sentient animate until they started to become a part of our family. When Puey and I started calling them Uncle Fhèrkifher and Uncle Xhnófho, they began calling Puey sentient animate, for by then he had become a child part of their friendship or alliance.
So we have traversed through sentience and animance, and finally we come to the biological divisions of male-gamma and female-alpha-beta. For animates Babel is further broken apart into three sub-fhwìpu genders.
Masculine and gamma
Both, Either, Epicine
Feminine and alpha and beta
Poxh(a)·
Toxh(a)·
Koxh(a)·
Kekoxh(a)·
Oxh(a)·
Pó, Pú, &c
Tó, Tú, &c
Kó, Kú, &c
Keko, Keku, &c
Ó, Ú, &c
Pexh(e)·
Texh(e)·
Kexh(e)·
Kekexh(e)·
Exh(e)·
Xhór·
Óxhai
Xhola
Aî·
Xá
Taê;
Túngai, kungai
Taôngai, kaongai
Xhér·
Éxhai
Xhele
Many of the species of the Dreamtime, however, do not have two sexes. The Qhíng, Kháfha, Qlùfhem, and Thùlwu have three sexes, none of which correspond to our notions of male and female. The Archaic Ones and the Traîkhiim are androgynous and able to shift gender. Grammatical fhwìpu gender is reflected in such participles such as Khòthwu, khòthwur, Alpha or Aleph females, and khùnkha, khùnkhar beta or beth females, and tsùtru those who are androgynous, having only one sex, and khneûtis and xàxhru, xàxhrus, those who are neuter.
Masculine and gamma
Both, Either, Epicine
Feminine and alpha and beta
n Males for two sex beings
n Traîkhiim and Xakhpàlqe when malen
n Gamma/Gimel sex for three sex beings such as the Qhíng, Kháfha, Qlùfhem Aûm, and Thùlwu Aûm
n Masculine Æons, Stars, ond Spirits
n Certain Immortals such as Raven, Death, Watcher
n Tánin
n All Real People, all Sentient beings
n Childru
n Family, Clan, Tribe, Phatry
n Groups of persons
n Females for two sex beings
n Traîkhiim and Xakhpàlqe when femalen
n Alpha/Aleph ond Beta/Beth sex for three sex beings such as the Qhíng, Kháfha, Qlùfhem Aûm and Thùlwu Aûm
n Androgenous beings in general such as the Traîkhiim and Xakhpàlqe
n Eunuchs slaves
n Feminine Æons, Stars, ond Spirits
n Tusked Traîkhiim who are neuter malens
Puîyus koxhing.
He is Puîyus.
Éfhelìnye kexhing.
She is Éfhelìnye.
Koxhing quja qìr xhré Fhólus kexhing quja qìr pé koxhing.
Fhólus was he, but now he’s she.
Xhnófho poxhing.
I am Xhnófho (gamma).
Tetratríxe poxhing.
I am Tetratríxe (a Tánin).
Jèrikes kexhing xhnoe Wthí Qhòrem kexhing.
She is Jerikes (alpha), and she is Wthí Qhorem (beta).
My dearest cousin Ixhúja, you best know the ways of the clockwork Tánin, and know that they do not reproduce, and yet they are not grammatically considered neuter. They are considered their own order of existance. Perhaps since they resemble Dragons in some ways they are uniformly considered masculine as a matter of convention. Once, though, I heard Tetratríxe and Qwatríxe refer to a feminine automaton whom they clepte Tànxhalil, but the full story about her I have never known.
And so one can further conceptualize the Personal Pronouns in the following way:
Sentient Animate
Masculine or Gamma
Sentient Animate Both, Either, Epicine
Sentient Animate Feminine or Alpha or Beta
Non·sentient animate ør inanimate
Poxh(a)·
Toxha(a)·
Koxh(a)·
Kekoxh(a)·
Oxh(a)·
Pó, ó poa, pu
Tepo, tepu, kepo, kepu
Tó, Tú
Kó, Kú
Keko, keku
Ó, ú, khnón, pón
Jin, teir, khes, khas, khrin, kekhrin, jhein, ajhoqhi, khnan, kekhnan, xhei, teqhe, khnalikh
Pexh(e)·
Texh(e)·
Kexh(e)·
Kekexh(e)·
Exh(e)·
Pei, tei, kei, kekei, ei, khnón, pein
And so, Ixhúja, we return unto the very beginning of our discussion on Gender. This is the very last chart that summarizes Babel Gender, I promise. As you can see I’m combining all that we’ve learned about sentience, animance, and the masculine, epicine, feminine division. In conclusion I’d say that Babel has a five-fold gender division which is only consistently inflicted in the focus participles, but which can be expressed in various ways with participles and relative pronouns. This is the last chart, my cousin.
A Summary of Babel Gender
The Final Chart!
Sentient Animate masculine and gamma
Sentient Animate, both, Either, Epicine
Sentient Animate, feminine and alpha and beta
Non·sentient Animate
Non·sentient Inanimate
n Males for two sex beings
n Traîkhiim and Xakhpàlqe when malen
n Gamma/Gimel sex for three sex beings such as the Qhíng, Kháfha, Qlùfhem Aûm, and Thùlwu Aûm
n Masculine Æons, Stars, ond Spirits
n Certain Immortals such as Raven, Death, Watcher
n Tánin
n All Real People, all Sentient beings, Real People
n Childru
n Family, Clan, Tribe, Phatry
n Groups of persons
n Spirit
n Æons, Stars
n Island Plantimals
n Suns, Moons, Dreams, Ancestors
n Automata Tánin, Clockwork Toys
n Dead, Ghosts, Wraiths
n One’s own Children
n Females for two sex beings
n Traîkhiim and Xakhpàlqe when femalen
n Alpha/Aleph ond Beta/Beth sex for three sex beings such as the Qhíng, Kháfha, Qlùfhem Aûm and Thùlwu Aûm
n Androgenous beings in general such as the Traîkhiim and Xakhpàlqe
n Eunuchs slaves
n Feminine Æons, Stars, ond Spirits
n Tusked Traîkhoom who are neuter males
Drutrees
Plantimals
Non talking beasts
Monstren
Dæmons
Living body parts, eggs
Words for Life
Words for Spring
Childru who have not yet celebrated Uxèmatiit
Children of strangers
Things
Places
Abstracciouns
Dead body parts
Island planets, Suns, Moons (as nature)
Corpses
Living living ships
Scurrying rocks
Whispering mountains
-enwe
-anwa
-inwi
-ojhwo
-ujhwu
And there you can see the five gendered focus participles at the bottom. That’s gender in Babel. Hurray!
Puey’s complaining again that this is far too complicated. He says that if he had created Babel he would have made one pronoun for every species and type and only inflected words for whether or not they smelt like candy. I’m going to go and force Puey to kiss me, and then I’ll send off this letter to you.
I can’t wait to see you soon, Ixhúja. I’ll start finding an husband for you, cousin!
All my love!
Éfha
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