But it is in the genders of these article pronouns that the greatest
difficulty may be found. The student must entirely free his mind of
the idea that gender is simply a distinction of sex. In Indian tongues,
genders are usually methods of classification primarily into animate
and inanimate. The animate may be again divided into male and female,
but this is rarely the case. Often by these genders all objects are
classified by characteristics found in their attitudes or supposed
constitution. Thus we may have the animate and inanimate, one or both,
divided into the _standing_, the _sitting_, and the _lying_; or they may
be divided into the _watery_, the _mushy_, the _earthy_, the _stony_,
the _woody_, and the _fleshy_. The gender of these article pronouns
has rarely been worked out in any language. The extent to which these
classifications enter into the article pronouns is not well known. The
subject requires more thorough study. These incorporated particles are
here called _article_ pronouns. In the conjugation of the verb they take
an important part, and have by some writers been called _transitions_.
Pages:
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29