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"in" always necessary?

KetchupSoldier :lta, 13. joulukuuta 2014

Viestejä: 7

Kieli: English

KetchupSoldier (Näytä profiilli) 13. joulukuuta 2014 20.01.38

I made my first post in Esperanto on italki today ("Notebook" posts are public and are meant to be writing practice where speakers of your target language can correct you) and a couple of times referred to myself as an "eterna komencanto". The person who corrected me changed it to "komencantino".

It got me thinking... I know sometimes the feminine suffix is important, like distinguishing between "patro" and "patrino," but I didn't think it was essential to feminize every label attached to me just because I'm a woman. I thought words like "komencanto" could be masculine or gender-neutral. Was I mistaken?

Kirilo81 (Näytä profiilli) 13. joulukuuta 2014 20.14.38

No, you're right. With the exception of kinship terms and noble titles (+knabo, + sinjoro), the -in- is optional, as the basic roots are neutral.

Christa627 (Näytä profiilli) 13. joulukuuta 2014 20.28.05

KetchupSoldier:I made my first post in Esperanto on italki today ("Notebook" posts are public and are meant to be writing practice where speakers of your target language can correct you) and a couple of times referred to myself as an "eterna komencanto". The person who corrected me changed it to "komencantino".

It got me thinking... I know sometimes the feminine suffix is important, like distinguishing between "patro" and "patrino," but I didn't think it was essential to feminize every label attached to me just because I'm a woman. I thought words like "komencanto" could be masculine or gender-neutral. Was I mistaken?
I also do not feel any need to feminize every word I refer to myself as; I call myself an "Esperantisto" more often than "Esperantistino".

Some words are male-specific, such as "viro," "knabo," and "bubo." There doesn't seem to be unanimity on whether "-ulo" is male by default or not. I am a "junulino," but would calling me a "junulo" be incorrect? I don't know.

But most words are neutral (whether they were in Zamenhof's time or not, they are now), including noun participles such as "-anto" and "-ito."

By the way, what's italki? I am a user of Lang-8, where one makes entries in the target language, and people can correct them; is italki similar?

KetchupSoldier (Näytä profiilli) 13. joulukuuta 2014 20.29.00

Kirilo81:No, you're right. With the exception of kinship terms and noble titles (+knabo, + sinjoro), the -in- is optional, as the basic roots are neutral.
Okay, I'd thought so. Thank you!

KetchupSoldier (Näytä profiilli) 13. joulukuuta 2014 20.35.56

Christa627:By the way, what's italki? I am a user of Lang-8, where one makes entries in the target language, and people can correct them; is italki similar?
italki is mostly for linking people with tutors and partners to practice their target languages over Skype, but the Notebook feature is specific for writing practice. I signed up to meet fellow Esperantists with whom to practice, and when I'm not in school anymore I might become a private tutor (the site helps people become paid private teachers, which is neat).

marbuljon (Näytä profiilli) 14. joulukuuta 2014 10.09.49

From my understanding, it's that the rule was still the same in Zamenhof's time (-ino is for emphasis except in special cases) but people found it more important/polite to point out the female gender back then, so they just used it more often. Same as how politeness in general is more dead now (in the "tip-my-hat-and-sign-letters-as-your-loyal-servant" way : P ).

So regarding "I am a "junulino," but would calling me a "junulo" be incorrect?", I don't think it would be incorrect at all. But "virjunulo" would be.

I think some people just either got misinformation or come from languages where you always have to point out the explicit gender of the person, so it confuses them.

Kirilo81 (Näytä profiilli) 14. joulukuuta 2014 13.34.55

Yes, this is an important addition, the suffixoids -an-, -estr-, -ist-, -ul- and the participle nouns are neutral, too.

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