Question regarding Grammatical Gender vs. Biological Gender in Russian

[John Langran]

Oh dear!  The very interesting question was whether there are any inanimate 
nouns in -a which are masculine.  I certainly can't think of any, and if 
this is a rule it would be really useful for our students
John Langran
www.ruslan.co.uk



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alina Israeli" <aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU>
To: <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 3:05 PM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Question regarding Grammatical Gender vs. Biological 
Gender in Russian


> One should not think of -a decletion as "feminine". Practically all 
> masculine name have a diminutive in -a, exceptions exist, but they are 
> rare. Even names like Oleg have Olezhka (pronounced [Aleshka],  commonly 
> misidentified, even in some textbooks). Otherwise Коля, Вася,  Петя, 
> Серёжа, Алеша, Валера, Витя, Гриша, Женя, Саша, Боря, Вова,  Дима, Валя 
> etc. How's that "feminine" if 98% of the male population's  name belong 
> here?
>
> The exceptions are names like Стас, Денис (although Дениска in 
> childhood), and maybe a few others.
>
> Even in some rare names we find a way:
>
> Муля, не нервируй меня: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHFTGwgODz0
>
> скрипач еврейский Моня: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR-dOjXwZkM
>
>
> Jun 15, 2011, в 6:50 PM, Emily Saunders написал(а):
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I thought I'd throw this question out to the SEELANGS wealth of 
>> expertise.  Masculine nouns occasionally end in -a or -я in names  like 
>> Ваня, Миша, and in words like дедушка, папа, дядя.  And  necessarily 
>> these take feminine declensional endings in spite of the  underlying 
>> biological masculine gender.  My question is whether  anyone can think of 
>> any *inanimate* masculine nouns that end in -a/- я (if there are any)?
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>>
>> Emily Saunders
>>
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>
> Alina Israeli
> Associate Professor of Russian
> LFS, American University
> 4400 Massachusetts Ave.
> Washington DC 20016
> (202) 885-2387 fax (202) 885-1076
> aisrael at american.edu
>
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