[Lexicog] gendered language references

Tue Nov 21 23:16:38 UTC 2006

In Russian we have both

Rodina f. (fatherland, used more frequently; <rodit' 'to give birth' or rodit'sia 'to be born ) and Otechestvo n. (fatherland; <otec-father)
f. for feminine and n. for neutrum

and also two terms for mother tongue

rodnoy iazyk m (the same etimology as rodina)  and rodnaya rech' f. (rech'=speech)
none of this terms directly refers to mother of father, of course indirectly everyone is born by his mother.

Hayim Sheynin

Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:                                          
  In German we say “Muttersprache”(mother tongue) but “Vaterland” (fatherland).

  Fritz Goerling

  I'm wondering about English terms for kinds of languages:

 Why do we speak of a mother tongue but not a father tongue?

 Why do we speak of sister languages but not brother languages?

 Why are there daughter languages but not son languages?

 Why can we refer to both a motherland and a fatherland?

 Do other languages use kinship terms to refer to language relationships?

 Wayne
 -----
 Wayne Leman

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