Question of gender and pets

Mon Oct 28 01:55:23 UTC 2013

I was actually wrong. It is just because it is a *neuter* substantivized
adjective that the "animated/unanimated" category does not apply. It would
apply for the word "прохожий" or "приезжая".

Irina

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Irina Shevelenko
Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2013 8:49 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Question of gender and pets

Я вижу животное is correct. The issue here is that it is a substantivized
adjective, and the grammar category of "animated/unanimated" does not exist
in substantivized adjectives.

Irina

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Monnier, Nicole M.
Sent: Sunday, October 27, 2013 6:24 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Question of gender and pets

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
>>> 
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>> 
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