epicenity
{{short description|Quality of a word with identical female and male forms}}
{{redirect|Epicene|the play|Epicene (play)}}
{{Original research|date=March 2021}}
{{wikt|epicene|epicenity}}
Epicenity is the lack of gender distinction, often reducing the emphasis on the masculine to allow the feminine. It includes androgyny – having both masculine and feminine characteristics. The adjective gender-neutral may describe epicenity (and both terms are associated with the terms gender-neutral language, gender-neutral pronoun, gender-blind, and unisex).Psychology: A Journey of Discovery 4th ed.
Specialized uses
In linguistics, an epicene word has the same form for male and for female referents. In some cases, the term common gender is also used,{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} but should not be confused with common or appellative as a contrary to proper (as in proper noun).
In English, for example, the epicene (or common) nouns cousin and violinist can refer to a man or a woman, and so can the epicene (or common) pronoun one. The noun stewardess and the third-person singular pronoun she on the other hand are not epicene (or common).[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/epicene?s=t Dictionary.com: "epicene"] (accessed on 10 August 2015)
In languages with grammatical gender, the term epicene can be used in two distinct situations:
- The same word can refer to either masculine or feminine signified concept, while retaining its own, either masculine or feminine, grammatical gender. For example, Classical Greek {{lang|grc|λαγώς}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|lagṓs}}) 'hare' is masculine, but can refer to male and female hares (he-hares and she-hares), and {{lang|grc|ἀλώπηξ}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|alṓpēks}}) 'fox' is feminine, but can refer to male and female foxes (he-foxes and she-foxes).Goodwin, William W. : A Greek Grammar, revised and enlarged ed. Boston: Ginn & Company, 1895, p. 35, § 158{{Cite journal |last=Janse |first=Mark |date=2020-12-28 |title=Sex and Agreement: (Mis)matching Natural and Grammatical Gender in Greek |url=https://journals.uni-lj.si/keria/article/view/9929 |journal=Keria: Studia Latina et Graeca |language=en |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=25–55 |doi=10.4312/keria.22.2.25-55 |issn=2350-4234}} For this meaning, the term common gender is different from epicene gender.
- An article, noun, adjective, or pronoun has identical masculine and feminine forms, but they do not follow always one agreement pattern.{{Cite journal |last=Zawacki |first=Samuel James |title=Fuori dal Binario: Linguistic Gender in the Italian Context |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/58791616/THESIS.pdf |journal=Inquiry}}
In French
{{See also|Grammatical gender in French}}
In the French language, the noun {{lang|fr|élève}} 'schoolchild' and the adjective {{lang|fr|espiègle}} 'mischievous' can be either masculine or feminine, but they are differentiated by the article:
| class="wikitable" |
| {{lang|fr|un élève espiègle}} (masculine)
| 'a mischievous schoolboy' (or in some cases 'a mischievous schoolchild' when gender is unknown) |
| {{lang|fr|une élève espiègle}} (feminine)
| 'a mischievous schoolgirl' |
The same can happen in French with the epicene elided singular articles ({{lang|fr|l'}}), the definite ({{lang|fr|les}}) and indefinite ({{lang|fr|des}}) plural articles, and the contractions {{lang|fr|aux}} ({{lang|fr|à}} + {{lang|fr|les}}) and {{lang|fr|des}} ({{lang|fr|de + les}}) when in contact with the noun, so the adjective takes the task of marking the gender:
| class="wikitable" |
| {{lang|fr|les adultes français}} (masculine)
| 'the French male adults' or 'the French adults [of any gender]' |
| {{lang|fr|les adultes françaises}} (feminine)
| 'the French female adults' |
For these meanings the term common is also used.
However, there can be cases where the agreement cannot force the disambiguation, even with the presence of pronoun, article, noun and adjective when they are all epicene:
| class="wikitable" |
| {{lang|fr|moi, l'élève moldave}} (masculine or feminine)
| 'I, the Moldavian student' |
This can be further complicated when dealing with spoken French (when some orthographical nuances are lost).
In Spanish
{{See also|Grammatical gender in Spanish}}
In the Spanish language, there are very few cases where a noun ignores the semantic gender of the referent.{{Cite journal |last=Armiño |first=Mauro |date=2015 |title="Diccionario para nunca acabar" |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5088143 |journal=El siglo de Europa |issue=1093 (19 enero) |pages=52–53 |issn=2254-9234}}{{Cite book |last=Calero Fernández |first=Ma Ángeles |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/70604 |title=La relación género gramatical-sexo biológico desde Nebrija hasta 1771 |date=1994 |publisher=Universidad de Murcia, Servicio de Publicaciones e Intercambio Científico |isbn=978-84-7684-541-7}} For example, the noun {{lang|es|persona}} 'person' is grammatically feminine, and only takes any supporting article or adjective in agreement with this gender.{{Cite journal |last=Miguel |first=Jose Luis de |last2=Benavente Barreda |first2=Mariano |date=1989 |title=Notas sobre el género epiceno en los poemas homéricos |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=1195393 |journal=Actas del VII Congreso Español de Estudios Clásicos, Vol. 1, 1989, ISBN 84-7491-261-X, págs. 107-112 |publisher=Universidad Complutense de Madrid |pages=107–112 |isbn=978-84-7491-261-6}}{{Cite journal |last=Ezeizabarrena |first=Maria-José |date=2013-10-01 |title=Commentary on Larrañaga & Guijarro-Fuentes’s The linguistic competence of early Basque–Spanish bilingual children and a Spanish monolingual child |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006911435691 |journal=International Journal of Bilingualism |language=EN |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=602–606 |doi=10.1177/1367006911435691 |issn=1367-0069}}
| class="wikitable" |
| {{lang|es|la persona}} (masculine)
| 'the person' |
| {{lang|es|la persona}} (feminine)
| 'the person' |
As the gender of the referent of an epicene is ambiguous it may be necessary to add an adjective to clarify, {{Cite journal |last=González Calvo |first=José Manuel |date=1979 |title=El género, ¿una categoría morfológica? |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=58448 |journal=Anuario de estudios filológicos |issue=2 |pages=51–73 |issn=0210-8178}}but the gender of this adjective will also be in agreement with the epicene, for example in the case of the noun {{lang|es|víctima}} 'victim' which is also an epicene.{{Cite journal |last=Ordóñez |first=Salvador Gutiérrez |date=2019 |title=Género, sexo y formación de femeninos |url=https://revistas.usc.gal/index.php/moenia/article/view/6022 |journal=Moenia |language=es |volume=25 |pages=655–685 |issn=2340-003X}}{{Cite journal |last=Cuadros Muñoz |first=Roberto |date=2021 |title=Julián Sancha Vázquez, «La injerencia del sexo en el lenguaje. Dos siglos de historia del género gramatical en español» |url=https://rodin.uca.es/handle/10498/25974 |journal=Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo, (27), 797-802 |doi=10.25267/Cuad_Ilus_romant.2021.i27.38 |issn=2173-0687}}
| class="wikitable" |
| {{lang|es|la víctima masculina}} (masculine)
| 'the male victim' |
| {{lang|es|la víctima femenina}} (feminine)
| 'the female victim' |
In Portuguese, the same happens,{{Cite web |last=Prado |first=Eli |date=2021-06-14 |title=Por uma linguagem menos sexista |url=https://www.plural.jor.br/por-uma-linguagem-menos-sexista/ |access-date=2025-06-04 |website=plural.jor.br |language=pt-BR}} however the word {{Lang|pt|sobrecomum}} ({{Literal translation|overcommon}}) is often distinguished from {{Lang|pt|epiceno}} when referring to nouns specifically.{{Cite web |date=2024-09-23 |title=Questões de gênero gramatical - Diário Causa Operária |url=https://causaoperaria.org.br/2024/questoes-de-genero-gramatical-4/ |access-date=2025-06-04 |language=pt-BR}}{{Cite journal |last=Viaro |first=Mário Eduardo |last2=Trindade |first2=Milena Guirelli |date=2022-07-06 |title=Relações entre terminação e gênero morfológico em Said Ali: o índice -l no português |url=https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/lil/article/view/8668980 |journal=Línguas e Instrumentos Línguísticos |volume=25 |issue=49 |pages=198–218 |doi=10.20396/lil.v25i49.8668980 |issn=2674-7375}} For example, the word cobra is considered epicene while the word criança (child) is sobrecomum,{{Cite journal |last=Costa |first=José António |last2=Morgado |first2=Celda |last3=Baptista |first3=Adriana |last4=Oliveira |first4=Inês |last5=Querido |first5=Joana |date=2015 |title=Género gramatical: a complexidade do conteúdo e a sua abordagem nos documentos reguladores do ensino do Português no 1º Ciclo EB |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/6496637.pdf |journal=Exedra: Revista Científica |issue=Extra 1 |pages=322–352 |issn=1646-9526}} while words such as alface or rádio are considered of double gender or vacillant,{{Cite web |last=Souza |first=Rodrigo Andrade de |date=2023 |title=Processamento lexical em bilíngues espanhol-português: um estudo sobre a influência da L2 na L1 a partir do efeito de congruência de gênero |url=https://repositorio.ufrn.br/bitstream/123456789/55536/1/Processamentolexicalbilingues_Souza_2023.pdf |access-date=2025-06-04 |website=BDTD - Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações |publisher=Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte |via=Repositório Institucional}} something that is denominated ambiguous gender in Spanish,{{Cite journal |last=Pountain |first=Christopher J. |date=2018 |title=Sustantivos de género "ambiguo": ¿adfuncionalización de una categoría morfológica redundante? |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6935751 |journal=Actas del X Congreso Internacional de Historia de la Lengua Española: Zaragoza, 7-11 de septiembre de 2015, Vol. 1, 2018, ISBN 978-84-9911-498-9, págs. 867-882 |publisher=Institución "Fernando el Católico" |pages=867–882 |isbn=978-84-9911-500-9}} similar to the term unstable gender in French.{{Cite thesis |last=Cristinoi-Bursuc |first=Antonia |title=Analyse contrastive des indices morphosyntaxiques nominaux de genre et de nombre en vue d'une approche typologique de la traduction automatique - Applications sur le français, l'anglais et le roumain |date=2007-01-01 |degree=These de doctorat |publisher=Orléans |url=https://theses.fr/2007ORLE1087}}{{Cite journal |last=Vandendorpe |first=Christian |date=1995 |title=Du fondamentalisme linguistique. Ou de la tentation de rectifier la pensée par le langage |url=http://redouan.larhzal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Censure.pdf |journal=Université d'Ottawa |language=fr}}{{Citation |last=Rosier |first=Laurence |title=Contemporary French Language and Literature |date=2024-07-18 |work=The Oxford Handbook of the French Language |pages=750–775 |editor-last=Ayres-Bennett |editor-first=Wendy |url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/57925/chapter/475514396 |access-date=2025-06-04 |edition=1 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198865131.013.31 |isbn=978-0-19-886513-1 |editor2-last=McLaughlin |editor2-first=Mairi}}{{Cite journal |last=Desrochers |first=Alain |last2=Brabant |first2=Madeleine |date= |year=1995 |title=Interaction entre facteurs phonologiques et sémantiques dans un épreuve de catégorisation lexicale. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/1196-1961.49.2.240 |journal=Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale |language=en |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=240–263 |doi=10.1037/1196-1961.49.2.240 |issn=1878-7290}}
See also
- Gender marking in job titles
- Gender neutrality in English
- Gender neutrality in Spanish
- Generic antecedent
- Male as norm
- Unisex name
- Neopronoun, the nonstandard English pronouns used to describe epicenity
- Episkyros, etymology
- Feminization of language