Editing Grammatical gender (section)

===Meaning-based semantic criteria===
In some languages, gender is determined by strictly semantic criteria, but in other languages, semantic criteria only partially determine gender.

====Strict semantic criteria====

In some languages, the gender of a noun is directly determined by its physical attributes (sex, animacy, etc.), and there are few or no exceptions to this rule. There are relatively few such languages. The [[Dravidian languages]] use this system as described [[#Dravidian|below]].

Another example is the [[Dizi language]], which has two asymmetrical genders. The feminine includes all living beings of female sex (e.g. woman, girl, cow...) and [[diminutive]]s; the masculine encompasses all other nouns (e.g. man, boy, pot, broom...). In this language, feminine nouns are always marked with ''-e'' or ''-in''.{{sfn|Corbett|1991|p=11}}

Another African language, [[Defaka language|Defaka]], has three genders: one for all male humans, one for all female humans, and a third for all the remaining nouns. Gender is only marked in personal pronouns. Standard English pronouns {{crossreference|(see [[#Germanic: English|below]])|printworthy=y}} are very similar in this respect, although the English gendered pronouns (''he'', ''she'') are used for domestic animals if the sex of the animal is known, and sometimes for certain objects such as ships,{{sfn|Corbett|1991|p=12}} e.g. "What happened to the Titanic? She (or it) sank."

==== Mostly semantic criteria ====
In some languages, the gender of nouns can mostly be determined by physical (semantic) attributes, although there remain some nouns whose gender is not assigned in this way (Corbett calls this "semantic residue").{{sfn|Corbett|1991|p=13}} The world view (e.g. mythology) of the speakers may influence the division of categories.{{sfn|Corbett|1991|p=32}}

* [[Zande language|Zande]] has four genders: male human, female human, animal, and inanimate.{{sfn|Corbett|1991|p=14}} However, there are about 80 nouns representing inanimate entities which are nonetheless animate in gender: heavenly objects (moon, rainbow), metal objects (hammer, ring), edible plants (sweet potato, pea), and non-metallic objects (whistle, ball). Many have a round shape or can be explained by the role they play in mythology.{{sfn|Corbett|1991|p=14}}
* [[Ket language|Ket]] has three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and most gender assignment is based on semantics, but there are many inanimate nouns outside the neuter class. Masculine nouns include male animates, most fish, trees, the moon, large wooden objects, most living beings and some religious items. Feminine nouns include female animates, three types of fish, some plants, the sun and other heavenly objects, some body parts and skin diseases, the soul, and some religious items. Words for part of a whole, as well as most other nouns that do not fall into any of the aforementioned classes, are neuter. The gender assignment of non-sex-differentiable things is complex. In general, those of no importance to the Kets are feminine, whereas objects of importance (e.g. fish, wood) are masculine. Mythology is again a significant factor.{{sfn|Corbett|1991|p=19}}
* [[Alamblak language|Alamblak]] has two genders, masculine and feminine. However, the masculine also includes things which are tall or long and slender, or narrow (e.g. fish, snakes, arrows and slender trees), whereas the feminine gender has things which are short, squat or wide (e.g. turtles, houses, shields and squat trees).{{sfn|Corbett|1991|p=32}}
* In French, the distinction between the gender of a noun and the gender of the object it refers to is clear when nouns of different genders can be used for the same object, for example vélo (m.) = bicyclette (f.).

==== Contextual determination of gender ====
There are certain situations where the assignment of gender to a noun, pronoun or noun phrase may not be straightforward. This includes in particular:
* groups of mixed gender;
* references to people or things of unknown or unspecified gender.

In languages with masculine and feminine gender, the masculine is usually employed by default to refer to persons of unknown gender and to groups of people of mixed gender. Thus, in French the feminine plural pronoun {{lang|fr|elles}} always designates an all-female group of people (or stands for a group of nouns all of feminine gender), but the masculine equivalent {{lang|fr|ils}} may refer to a group of males or masculine nouns, to a mixed group, or to a group of people of unknown genders. In such cases, one says that the feminine gender is [[markedness|semantically marked]], whereas the masculine gender is unmarked.

In English, the problem of gender determination does not arise in the plural, because gender in that language is reflected only in pronouns, and the plural pronoun ''they'' does not have gendered forms. In the singular, however, the issue frequently arises when a person of unspecified or unknown gender is being referred to. In this case it the [[Singular they|Singular ''they'']] has been traditional. 
Since the 18th century it has been prescribed to use the masculine (''he''), but other solutions are now often preferred{{crossreference|&nbsp;(see [[Gender-neutral language]])}}.

In languages with a neuter gender, such as [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] and [[Germanic languages]], the neuter is often used for indeterminate gender reference, particularly when the things referred to are not people. In some cases this may even apply when referring to people, particularly children. For example, in English, one may use ''it'' to refer to a child, particularly when speaking generically rather than about a particular child of known sex.

In [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] (which preserves a masculine–feminine–neuter distinction in both singular and plural), the neuter plural can be used for groups of people of mixed gender, when specific people are meant.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kramer |first=Ruth |title=The Morphosyntax of Gender |url={{GBurl|TZOCgAAQBAJ |p=144}} |page=144 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Grönberg |first=Anna Gunnarsdotter |contribution=Masculine generics in current Icelandic |editor1-last=Hellinger |editor1-first=Marlis |editor2-last=Bußmann |editor2-first=Hamumod |title=Gender Across Languages |volume=2 |location=Amsterdam/Philadelphia |publisher=[[John Benjamins Publishing]] |date=2002 |pages=163–186 |isbn=90-272-1842-0}}</ref> For example:
* {{lang|is|þau ({{gcl|N}}.{{gcl|PL}}) höfðu hist í skóginum þegar kerlingin ({{gcl|F}}.{{gcl|SG}}) var ung stúlka og keisarinn ({{gcl|M}}.{{gcl|SG}}) óbreyttur prins.}} 'They ({{gcl|N}}.{{gcl|PL}}) had met in the forest when the old woman ({{gcl|F}}.{{gcl|SG}}) was a young girl and the emperor ({{gcl|M}}.{{gcl|SG}}) was only a prince.'
However, when referring to previously unmentioned groups of people or when referring to people in a generic way, especially when using an indefinite pronoun like 'some' or 'all', the masculine plural is used. For example:
* {{lang|is|Sumir ({{gcl|M}}.{{gcl|PL}}) hafa þann sið að tala við sjálfa ({{gcl|M}}.{{gcl|PL}}) sig.}} 'Some people have the habit of talking to themselves.'
An example contrasting the two ways to refer to groups is the following, taken from advertisements of Christian congregations announcing their meetings:
* {{lang|is|Allir ({{gcl|M}}.{{gcl|PL}}) velkomnir ({{gcl|M}}.{{gcl|PL}})}} 'All welcome' is understood to be more general whereas {{lang|is|Öll ({{gcl|N}}.{{gcl|PL}}) velkomin ({{gcl|N}}.{{gcl|PL}})}} is more specific and emphasises the individuality of the group members.
That the masculine is seen in Icelandic as the most generic or 'unmarked' of the three genders can also be seen in the fact that the nouns for most professions are masculine. Even feminine job descriptions historically filled by women, like {{lang|is|hjúkrunarkona}} 'nurse' and {{lang|is|fóstra}} 'nursery school teacher' (both {{gcl|F}}.{{gcl|SG}}), have been replaced with masculine ones as men have started becoming more represented in these professions: {{lang|is|hjúkrunarfræðingur}} 'nurse' and {{lang|is|leikskólakennari}} 'nursery school teacher' (both {{gcl|M}}.{{gcl|SG}}).

In [[Swedish language|Swedish]] (which has an overall common–neuter gender system), masculinity may be argued to be a marked feature, because in the [[Swedish grammar#Weak inflection|weak adjectival declension]] there is a distinct ending ({{lang|sv|-e}}) for naturally masculine nouns (as in {{lang|sv|min lill'''e'''bror}}, "my little brother"). In spite of this, the third-person singular masculine pronoun {{lang|sv|han}} would normally be the default for a person of unknown gender, although in practice the indefinite pronoun {{lang|sv|man}} and the reflexive {{lang|sv|sig}} or its possessive forms {{lang|sv|sin/sitt/sina}} usually make this unnecessary.

In [[Polish language|Polish]], where a gender-like distinction is made in the plural between "masculine personal" and all other cases {{crossreference|(see [[#Slavic languages|below]])|printworthy=y}}, a group is treated as masculine personal if it contains at least one male person.

In languages which preserve a three-way gender division in the plural, the rules for determining the gender (and sometimes number) of a [[coordination (linguistics)|coordinated]] noun phrase ("... and ...") may be quite complex. [[Czech language|Czech]] is an example of such a language, with a division (in the plural) between masculine animate, masculine inanimate, feminine, and neuter. The rules<ref>{{cite web |url= http://prirucka.ujc.cas.cz/?id=601 |title=Shoda přísudku s podmětem několikanásobným |language=cs |trans-title=Agreement of the predicate with a multiple subject |work=[[Institute of the Czech Language]] of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic}}</ref> for gender and number of coordinated phrases in that language are summarized at {{slink|Czech declension|Gender and number of compound phrases}}.