Question regarding Grammatical Gender vs. Biological Gender in Russian

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Alina Israeli wrote:

> One should not think of -a declension 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

More to the point of Emily's question, though not quite meeting her 
criteria, would be nouns like умница, красавица, etc.  -- the referent 
could be either masculine or feminine, but obviously not inanimate. So 
depending on the context, we could have a doting mother call her child 
умница мой or умница моя...

Even so, these are not inanimate, so they don't answer her question.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------