Wielorodzajowość wśród rzeczowników współczesnej polszczyzny
Authors: Wojdak Piotr 
Published: August 2024

Gender multiplicity of nouns in contemporary Polish
Gender multiplicity has been investigated on the basis of the distinction into five general paradigm noun genders which possess sufficient distinctive features in free accusative relations of congruence with an adjective: masculine-personal (M1, e.g. CHŁOPIEC [boy]), masculine-animal (M2, e.g. PIES [dog]), masculine-inanimate (M3, e.g. ST&Oacute;Ł [table]), feminine (F, e.g. KSIĄŻKA [book]) and neuter (N, e.g. OKNO [window]).
Because of the nouns with incomplete paradigm, apart from the basic genders enumerated above, it is necessary to distinguish secondary genders (cumulative), understood as distribution classes of those defective nouns, for which it is impossible to specify unambiguously their basic gender ( M1 &ndash; non-virile gender of pluralia tantum, e.g. SANIE [sledge], WAKACJE [holidays];&nbsp; F &ndash; non-feminine gender, e.g. RĘKU [hand- LOC]).
The symbols of genders assigned to lexemes (the global ones) were written in small capitals, and the symbols of genders characterizing particular inflectional forms (the local ones) &ndash; in lower-case letters.
The masculine-personal gender was divided into three sub-genders according to NOM Pl.: &bdquo;strong&rdquo; (M1+M), e.g. DYREKTOR [director] &ndash; with a dominant masculinepersonal form m1, &bdquo;weak&rdquo; (M1 M), e.g. CHAM [boor] &ndash;with a dominant (single) nonvirile form ( m1), &bdquo;mixed&rdquo; (M1+/ M), e.g. CHŁOPAK [boy] &ndash; with forms m1 and&nbsp; m1 of a similar status. However, in the relations of gender multiplicity the distinction between M1+/ M and M1+M becomes blurred.
In gender M2 a special sub-gender M2pers was distinguished (cf. e.g. GLINA [cop], SIEROTA [orphan]), which does not collocate with the numeral dwa [two].
Apart from NOM Pl of M1 and M2, the description of the basic gender oppositions gets complicated also in the accusative case of both numbers because of the partitiveness of some nouns M3, N, F and (only in the plural) M2.
Gender M1 should include not only the nominative but also the accusative nonvirile forms of metonymically used anthroponyms (&lsquo;representative for group&rsquo;, &lsquo;author for work&rsquo;, &lsquo;person for image&rsquo;) and appellatives that are metaphorically used in relation to the basic personal meaning (with reference to the animal) (cf. e.g. Niekt&oacute;re psy to wzrokowce. [Some dogs are visualisers], Mam już psy alkoholiki. [I already have dogs alcoholics]). In addition, nouns M1 exceptionally assume the non-virile accusative after the preposition, in the constructions of the following type: p&oacute;jść w generały/ministry/dyrektory [lit. to go into generals/ministers/directors], p&oacute;jść na chłopy [lit. to go for countrymen/chaps].
Gender multiplicity (the double or triple gender) is a relationship between (two/three) genders, that are different and irreducible relative to each other, represented by equivalent alternants, whose part of analogous forms is graphically identical, and at the same syntactically indistinguishable in relations of congruence with adjectives. It was decided to withdraw from the &ldquo;deep&rdquo; morphological-structural criteria of gender multiplicity, the use of which is difficult, especially as regards the relation between an inflected alternant and an uninflected one, for the sake of the &ldquo;easy&rdquo; criterion of graphic sameness.
This notion also encompasses vital nouns with varied gender reference &ndash; if competitive gender forms may refer to persons of the same sex (in the singular) and to mixed sets (in the plural) (e.g. GAPA [dope] M2/F). The choice of a gender alternant of nouns with inanimate reference can in turn be determined by the adjustment to the basic name of the referent (derivates from the category nomina essendi, e.g. ten paskuda [this-M eyesore] &lsquo;about a building&rsquo;, ta paskuda [this-F eyesore] &lsquo;about a sofa&rsquo;).
A multiple gender unit (&bdquo;a multiple gender noun&rdquo;) is neither a single noun lexeme nor a configuration of two or three separate lexemes, but a hyperlexeme that consists of gender alternants. In this way, the phenomenon of gender multiplicity can be reconciled with both the lack of gender declension as a principal property of nouns, and with the fact of omission of any cases of double gender as paradigmatic derivation.
Maximal and non-morphologised gender multiplicity of some nominal pronouns is paradoxically referred to as genderlessness. Gender multiplicity of nouns is, by nature, not complete (its units do not cover the whole gender universe), and moreover, it is very often intensified by pragmatic differences (in particular by colloquiality or expressiveness), and partly morphologised.
Textual gender multiplicity (in praesentia) consists in the simultaneous collocation of a nominal form with forms of divergent values of a dependent gender category &ndash; it can occur when a proper noun gender (specified on the basis of loose relations with adjectives) is not in agreement with the referent&rsquo;s sex (Spotkałem te sieroty, kt&oacute;rych przedstawił nam dyrektor. [I met these-F orphans whom-M the director introduced to us]), or is morphologically atypical (nasza rzecznik prasowy [our-F spokesperson], przerażający gaduła synodowa [frightening-M synodal-F chatterbox]).
Not much can be said with certainty about the frequency of multiple gender units. In the contemporary Polish language, gender multiplicity concerns not more than a few percent of noun lexemes, but it also has its reperesentatives in basic vocabulary that is pragmatically neutral and frequent (e.g. GRZYB [fungus], KOTLET [steak], SMOCZEK [dummy], WĄŻ [hosepipe]).
On the basis of the seven newest lexicographic sources (SPP, ISJP, SWO, EPLar, SGJP, WSJP, USJP) that are distinguished by explicitness of grammatical information or their normative character, a dictionary of gender multiplicity of common nouns was compiled that includes 922 entries (with 1025 meanings) &ndash; mainly of such nouns which, at least in two sources, appear as multiple gender nouns.
Apart from the gender qualification (adopted by the author), a dictionary article includes a definition (in case of polisemy &ndash; more than one) of a multiple gender unit (together with the stylistic and thematic qualifiers), a table with its declension (with the omission of the unchangeable graphic part, in an entry itself separated by a vertical line) and the specification of information about the genders and differences in declension collected from the above mentioned dictionaries. In addition, the pronunciation of some entries and the source language of borrowings were noted; also entries with different gender reference of alternants and acronyms were indicated.
Above 50 pct of all dictionary entries are alternations of genders M2 and M3 (among others names of ships, plants, fungi and dishes); alternations of genders M1 and M2 constitute 14 pct. Out of alternations that extend beyond masculine (sub)gender(s), which total to 35 pct, the most numerous are types {M1, F} (10 pct) and {M3, N} (7 pct).
Genders M2 and M3 constitute definitely the biggest number of multiple gender units: M2 &ndash; 671 (including special sub-gender M2pers &ndash; 25 entries), M3 &ndash; 595, M1 &ndash; 242 (sub-gender M1 M dominates &ndash; 216 entries), F &ndash; 214, N &ndash; 147.
The differences in gender reference between gender alternants are characteristic for almost one fifth of the entries (181), where the most numerous types are: {M1, F} &ndash; 89 entries, and {M1, M2} &ndash; 67 entries. Types {M2, F} and {M1, N} also have its representatives (respectively, 18 and 7 entries). There is a regularity in the expressiveness of masculine reference of alternant F in relation to M1 and M2, as well as of alternant M2 in relation M1.
Masculine-neuter multiple gender units that end with -ysko/-isko are marked by the value of both alternants: masculine gender (masculine-personal) is morphologically perceived as unnatural (artificial; much more than in units that end with -a, cf. ten chłopisko [this chap-AUG] and ten gapa [this dope]), whereas neuter gender in relation to masculine individuals in verbal and other &ldquo;more distant&rdquo; gender indices &ndash; those which are under stronger &ldquo;pressure&rdquo; of referential naturalness &ndash; has an expressive character (e.g. Rozpłakało się chłopisko [The chap-AUG burst into tears]).
Apart from the units with personal meaning, gender M2 in relation to gender M3 is distinguished by the pragmatic marking: out of 490 units in which both these genders alternate (and possibly, some third gender additionally), in 205 units (42 pct) the masculine- animal alternant has a colloquial character.
There is a marked share of colloquiality independent of gender (and sex) differences. 342 units have a colloquial qualification out of all 1025 meaning units (33 pct).
The dictionary includes 92 entries of full indeclinability and 26 entries of partial declension (in total 13 pct).
Acronyms are distinguished by a systemic predisposition for double gender (gender of a distribution representative of the full name or gender resulting from the phonetic properties: type of the sequence of word-final phonemes, and to some degree, also stress placement). However, the dictionary includes few such cases (25 entries &ndash; only 2,7 pct), since &ndash; following the general assumption &ndash; acronyms of proper names were not taken into consideration. Also, triple gender multiplicity constitutes a small margin (25 entries, e.g. CABERNET M3/M2/N).
In the compiled (meta)dictionary material there are numerous representatives of a new (not included in the previous studies) type of gender multiplicity which is morphologised gender multiplicity in NOM Pl (79 entries &ndash; nearly 9 pct). However, such gender multiplicity more often concerns the scopes of rare or specialist vocabulary (cf. e.g. AKWAMANILA/AKWAMANILE [aquamanile] &lsquo;an old-time, ornamented container&rsquo;, DIASTEM/DIASTEMA [diastem] &lsquo;a geological notion&rsquo;, EUTEKTYKA/EUTEKTYK [eutectic] &lsquo;a chemical notion&rsquo;). In addition, one of the alternants co-constituting units with different nominatives may be distinguished by an archaic character (CYTATA [quote], FRĘDZLA [fringe], KOLENDER [coriander]) or territorial value (LANDRYNEK [fruit drop], USTROŃ [retreat]).
Predictably high is the share of borrowings among the multiple gender units (385 entries &ndash; nearly 40 pct). The most numerous are: anglicisms (88 entries), borrowings from German (65), gallicisms (63), latinisms (53, including 6 artificial ones), borrowings from Greek (20, including 4 artificial ones), borrowings from Italian (18), borrowings from Russian (14) and borrowings from Spanish (10). The frequency below 10 entries is noted in above 20 other categories of borrowings.
The prototype of gender multiplicity includes the following properties: double gender, opposition of basic genders with the participation of at least one non-masculine gender (they are less numerous than oppositions with the participation of masculine genders, but more expressive), paradigmatic &ldquo;completeness&rdquo; of each alternant, lack of morphological difference between them as to the basic form, stylistic marking of one of the genders, and of personal names independently of the gender. This prototype has two alternative profiles that are specified in more detail: the scientific (academic) one and the popular (educational) one. The distinctive features of the scientific profile include: inanimate meaning and lack of morphological differences between genders, and of the popular profile: personal meaning and morphological differences between them. However, morphologisation of gender multiplicity in NOM Pl is an acceptable (though peripheral) property for the former profile, and an excluding one for the latter. The &ldquo;closure&rdquo; of gender multiplicity in one noun lexeme is more problematic for the scientific profile and rather unproblematic for the popular one. The adopted definition of gender multiplicity is in agreement with the scientific profile.