Question of gender and pets

[Monnier, Nicole M.]

I'd also like to know how the neuter noun животное gets treated in terms
of declension. In the accusative, my kneejerk is to treat it like an
animate, which means it would take genitive endings. But one of my native
speaker Tas is comfortable with treating it as an inanimate neuter
accusative: Я вижу животное.

Nicole



****************************
Dr. Nicole Monnier
Associate Teaching Professor of Russian
Director of Undergraduate Studies (Russian)
German & Russian Studies
428A Strickland (formerly GCB)
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211

phone: 573.882.3370




On 10/27/13 6:11 PM, "Robert Orr" <colkitto at ROGERS.COM> wrote:

>Please do share your replies!  And do check out Greville Corbett's
>agreement hierarchies, and match them to your data.
>
>Sent from my iPad
>
>On 2013-10-27, at 7:08 PM, Emily Saunders <emilka at MAC.COM> wrote:
>
>> Thanks!  How about this hypothetical.  I own two dogs, both male.  If
>>asked:  У тебя есть собака?  Would you be specific and answer:  У меня
>>два кобеля (would you ever sаy пса?) Or would you say the generic у меня
>>две собаки.
>> 
>> Thanks.  It seems straightforward, but I get this question asked a lot
>>when students do introductory essays/blog posts about their family
>>members and pets.  I call it the Это моя собака.  Его зовут Кинг.
>>dilemma.
>> 
>> I'd love a variety of opinions about when you would and when you would
>>not specify the masculine gender of your pet.
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> 
>> Emily
>> 
>> On Oct 26, 2013, at 9:50 PM, Irina Shevelenko wrote:
>> 
>>> The conversation might go this way:
>>> 
>>> -- Это твоя собака? Как *ее* зовут?
>>> -- Макс, это кобель (мальчик).
>>> -- Сколько *ему* лет?
>>> -- Три.
>>> 
>>> In the household, the dog will go by name and will always be referred
>>>to with gender-appropriate personal and possessive pronouns.
>>> 
>>> Irina
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
>>>[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily Saunders
>>> Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2013 4:58 PM
>>> To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
>>> Subject: [SEELANGS] Question of gender and pets
>>> 
>>> Hello!
>>> 
>>> I'm about to introduce noun gender and pet vocabulary to my Beginning
>>>Russian students and I'm preparing for the inevitable question that
>>>will follow -- "If my dog is a boy and собака is feminine, do I say вот
>>>она, or её зовут, or..."
>>> 
>>> And I've never been able to get an entirely satisfactory answer to the
>>>question of what you do when the default vocabulary word for a pet is
>>>feminine, but the actual pet is a male.  So hypothetically someone is
>>>asking about the name of your boy-собака:  Как её зовут? How do you
>>>respond?  Is there any etiquette to correct the gender assumption.  Do
>>>you treat your male-собака as grammatically feminine?
>>> 
>>> I'd love a smattering of advice in how this is handled?  In English if
>>>someone asked about my male cat:  What's her name?  I'd respond simply,
>>>"His name is Jack."  Does the same hold true in Russian?
>>> 
>>> Thanks in advance!
>>> 
>>> Emily Saunders
>>> 
>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>-
>>> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>>> options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>>>                       http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
>>> 
>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>-
>>> 
>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>-
>>> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>>> options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>>>                       http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
>>> 
>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>-
>> 
>> 
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>>  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>>                        http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
>> 
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                        http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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