I love iĉismo.

erinja:It's in PIV presently, gepatro = patro aux patrino.

gepatroj are both mather and father.
Single gepartro doesn't exists. This is an error in PIV. Or it must be marked "evitinda" ("to be avoided")

Nu well, Revo at least, made a notice. PIV didn't.

sergejm:

erinja:It's in PIV presently, gepatro = patro aux patrino.

gepatroj are both mather and father.
Single gepartro doesn't exists. This is an error in PIV. Or it must be marked "evitinda" ("to be avoided")

According to PMEG, written by Akademio de Esperanto member Bertilo Wennergren:

GE-vorto kun O-finaĵo povas normale esti nur multe-nombra, ĉar devas esti pli ol unu por ke ambaŭ seksoj povu ĉeesti. Sed oni iafoje provas streĉi la signifon de GE al la simila signifo “iu ajn el la du seksoj”. Tiam oni povas fari vortojn kiel gepatro = “patro aŭ patrino”, geedzo = “edzino aŭ edzo”. Tia uzo tamen ne estas normala, kaj multaj opinias ĝin nelogika kaj neregula. Tiaj vortoj estas tamen kompreneblaj kaj povas esti utilaj. La estonteco montros, ĉu ili akceptiĝos. GE-vorto kun alia finaĵo ol O montras nepre pli ol unu, ekz.: gepatra decido (pri infano) = “decido de ambaŭ gepatroj (pri infano)”, gepatra lingvo = “lingvo de ambaŭ gepatroj”. Alie oni dirus patrina lingvo aŭ patra lingvo. (Oni uzas tamen gepatra lingvo ankaŭ kiel ĝeneralan esprimon por denaska lingvo, ĉar tian lingvon oni plej ofte lernas de ambaŭ gepatroj.)

Translated:

A GE word with an O ending can normally only be plural, because there must be more than one for both sexes to be present. But some have attempted to extend the meaning of GE to the similar meaning "either of the two sexes." Then one can make words like gepatro = “father or mother”, geedzo = “wife or husband”. This usage, however, is not normal, and many think of it as neologistic and against the rules. On the other hand, these sort of words are comprehensible and can be useful. The future will tell if they are accepted. A GE word with an ending besides O definitely indicates more than one, e.g.: gepatra decido (about a child) = "decision of both parents," gepatra lingvo = "language of both parents." Otherwise you would say patrina lingvo or patra lingvo. (Gepatra lingvo is also often used as a general expression for "native language," which is usually learned from both parents.)

Tempodivalse:Oops! I meant to say aŭ can be both an inclusive or exclusive disjunction - as it is in pretty much every language. (Not ankaŭ.) "X or Y" has two meanings: 1) "X and/or Y" and 2) "X or Y, but not both". [1]

In fact, I don't know of any language (beside formal logics) in which this distinction is routinely made - maybe Lojban?

Yeah, Lojban does, of course. There's ".a" for inclusive or (and/or), and exclusive or is a negated iff (if and only if, for those who didn't pay attention in geometry class), so ".onai" or "na.o" or suchlike depending on the role in the sentence. Doing exercises to practice distinguishing between inclusive or and exclusive or, and later trying to wrap my mind around the idea of XOR being a negated IFF and IF being a negated OR... it was very mentally stimulating. I don't involve myself with Lojban much anymore, but I don't regret the time I spent learning it.

All which is rather ekstertema, and not intended to hijack the thread. My apologies if it bothers anyone...

As for the topic, the only change that seems remotely viable to me would be the addition of a gender-neutralizing suffix. So then we'd have "patro" for father, "patrino" for mother, and "patr + hypothetical suffix" for parent. While I'm not into tinkering with established language, I must confess to some frustration with not being able to conveniently express "spouse", "parent", and particularly "sibling", without specifying gender. A gender-neutralizing suffix seems like the solution that would cause the least disruption to established usage. But of course this isn't my hill to die on and I am content to continue on with the language as it is.

Interesting to consider: If Bob has three brothers and no sisters, his answer to "Ĉu vi havas gefratojn?" should technically be no, as it is not the case that both genders are present.

Christa627:Interesting to consider: If Bob has three brothers and no sisters, his answer to "Ĉu vi havas gefratojn?" should technically be no, as it is not the case that both genders are present.

This is true (and it shows up occasionally in the Ana Pana course) but it is no different than asking someone in English "Do you have siblings?", and it should technically be "no" if they have only one sibling. But saying "no" to this question would be excessively pedantic, just as you might be seen as a pedant if you insist on asking it as "Do you have one or more siblings?"

erinja:

Christa627:Interesting to consider: If Bob has three brothers and no sisters, his answer to "Ĉu vi havas gefratojn?" should technically be no, as it is not the case that both genders are present.

This is true (and it shows up occasionally in the Ana Pana course) but it is no different than asking someone in English "Do you have siblings?", and it should technically be "no" if they have only one sibling. But saying "no" to this question would be excessively pedantic, just as you might be seen as a pedant if you insist on asking it as "Do you have one or more siblings?"

Yes, the technically correct answer would be "no" if there is only one sibling. I would not enforce or even promote such pedantry, as that would accomplish nothing besides annoying people. I just have a tendency to muse about it sometimes (which sometimes accomplishes nothing but annoying myself!). There's a reason I was attracted to Lojban in the first place, lol!

Christa627:
Interesting to consider: If Bob has three brothers and no sisters, his answer to "Ĉu vi havas gefratojn?" should technically be no, as it is not the case that both genders are present.

If you have only one brother, and they ask you "Do you have brothers?" in English, do you answer "No" ?

sergejm:

Christa627:
Interesting to consider: If Bob has three brothers and no sisters, his answer to "Ĉu vi havas gefratojn?" should technically be no, as it is not the case that both genders are present.

If you have only one brother, and they ask you "Do you have brothers?" in English, do you answer "No" ?

Well... in real life I have multiple brothers and one sister. If I were telling someone about my brothers, and they asked "Do you have sisters too?" I'd probably say "I have one sister" thus avoiding the "yes or no" issue. But usually they ask "Do you have any sisters?" and "any" for all practical purposes means "one or more", so then I just say "yeah, I have one". I try to speak logically when I can, but not make myself overly obnoxious (except when I want to be obnoxious, which is more often than it should be...).