Gender and Word Formation. On Motion Nouns in Sorbian

Abstract

Gender and Word Formation. On Motion Nouns in Sorbian

Using a sample of chronologically arranged dictionaries of both Sorbian languages we examine how far paired-gender nouns relating to persons are present in the lexicography of Sorbian languages. Those personal nouns which are treated in a relatively uniform way, such nouns referring to place and inhabitant names, gender specific attributive nouns and pejorative/emotional expressions are compared with a residue class, in which the occurrence of gender-paired personal nouns appears to be partly arbitrary. It turns out that the development of gender-paired entries in dictionaries does not happen in a linear way, and that Upper and Lower Sorbian exhibit quite different lexicological traditions in this respect. Surprisingly numerous are opposite-gender derivations of nouns already in Pful’s Upper Sorbian-German dictionary from 1866, which can presumably be attributed to the models provided by contemporary Czech or Polish dictionaries.