Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirtel
In Estonian all pronouns are neutral, non-gendered. On one hand it makes it easy to speak about someone in third person, on the other hand it can be difficult to understand whom the speaker meant.
Difficult to translate as well, sometimes. I recall a mystery where an important plot point was a kid saying "She did it". It was clear the kid meant a woman. Impossible to convey that meaning in Estonian, where he/she is genderless.
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This is fascinating! Surely, there are words that *imply* sex/gender - outside of pronouns - such as "Mother"? Are there equivalents to Mr/Mrs? Is it expected that a speaker establish the sex or gender of a third, nonpresent person before using a pronoun, i.e. "my brother" ? Is the use of neutral, non-gendered pronouns a recent change or has it always been a feature of the language?