The evolutionary dynamics of grammatical gender in Torricelli languages

Abstract

Grammatical gender in New Guinea is an often neglected area in typological research, even though it is extremely diverse. For example, in New Guinea, some languages have grammatical gender systems with two sex-based categories, more than four gender-indexing targets, and no gender marking on nouns, while some languages have grammatical gender systems with much more categories, which are only marginally sex-based. This paper infers the processes of development and change of grammatical gender in Torricelli languages from two perspectives. First, it synthesizes the available data in the existing literature and hypothesizes the evolutionary pathway of gender systems in Torricelli languages. Nineteen Torricelli languages are selected as a representative coverage of the 55 Torricelli languages listed in Glottolog within the limits of the available documentation. These languages are then coded based on 6 presence-absence features relating to gender marking on verbs, adjectives, nouns, numerals, pronouns, and demonstratives. Second, it conducts an analysis with phylogenetic comparative methods to provide a quantitative assessment of the evolutionary possibilities for gender systems in Torricelli languages. The preliminary results show that gender is likely marked at the root of Torricelli languages, with pronouns and verbs being at the core of the system. This is in agreement with trends reflecting the evolution of gender systems in languages across the world.