| List of figures | p. xiii |
| List of tables | p. xv |
| Preface | p. xvii |
| List of abbreviations | p. xix |
| introduction | p. 1 |
| Gender in the languages of the world | p. 1 |
| General approach and outline of the book | p. 2 |
| Presentation of data | p. 6 |
| gender assignment i: semantic systems | p. 7 |
| Strict semantic systems | p. 8 |
| Tamil and other Dravidian languages | p. 8 |
| Other strict semantic systems | p. 11 |
| Predominantly semantic systems | p. 13 |
| Zande | p. 14 |
| Dyirbal | p. 15 |
| Ket | p. 19 |
| Ojibwa and other Algonquian languages | p. 20 |
| Lak and other Caucasian languages | p. 24 |
| Other partially semantic systems | p. 29 |
| The criteria on which semantic systems are based | p. 30 |
| Conclusion | p. 32 |
| gender assignment ii: formal systems | p. 33 |
| Morphological systems | p. 34 |
| Russian | p. 34 |
| Swahili and other Bantu languages | p. 43 |
| The features on which morphological systems are based | p. 49 |
| Phonological systems | p. 51 |
| Qafar | p. 51 |
| Hausa | p. 52 |
| Godie and other Kru languages | p. 53 |
| Yimas | p. 55 |
| French | p. 57 |
| The features on which phonological systems are based | p. 62 |
| General characteristics of assignment systems | p. 62 |
| Overt and covert gender | p. 62 |
| Overlapping of assignment criteria | p. 63 |
| Problematic nouns | p. 66 |
| Conclusion | p. 68 |
| the psycholinguistic status of gender assignment | p. 70 |
| Borrowings | p. 70 |
| Assignment of borrowings by normal rules | p. 71 |
| Claims for special assignment rules | p. 75 |
| Child language acquisition | p. 82 |
| Experimental evidence | p. 89 |
| Residual meaning of gender | p. 92 |
| Diachronic evidence | p. 97 |
| Conclusion | p. 104 |
| gender agreement | p. 105 |
| Elements showing gender agreement | p. 106 |
| The form of gender agreement | p. 115 |
| The morphology of gender agreement | p. 115 |
| Alliterative concord | p. 117 |
| A complex example: Khinalug | p. 119 |
| Limits on gender agreement | p. 123 |
| Syntactic restrictions | p. 124 |
| Interaction with tense | p. 125 |
| Interaction with person | p. 126 |
| Interaction with number | p. 132 |
| Interaction with case | p. 132 |
| Morphological class | p. 133 |
| Phonological constraints | p. 134 |
| Lexical restrictions | p. 134 |
| Lack of agreement: classifiers | p. 136 |
| The gaining and losing of gender agreement | p. 137 |
| Conclusion | p. 143 |
| establishing the number of genders | p. 145 |
| Terms | p. 146 |
| Agreement classes | p. 147 |
| Controller genders and target genders | p. 150 |
| The relation of gender and number | p. 154 |
| Relation to semantics | p. 158 |
| The relation of controller genders to target genders | p. 159 |
| The maximalist problem | p. 161 |
| Subgenders | p. 161 |
| Overdifferentiated targets and pronominal gender systems | p. 168 |
| Inquorate genders | p. 170 |
| Defective nouns | p. 175 |
| Consistent agreement patterns | p. 176 |
| Combined gender systems | p. 184 |
| Conclusion | p. 188 |
| target genders: syncretism and enforced gender forms | p. 189 |
| Gender and number | p. 189 |
| Syncretism: further examples of convergent and crossed systems | p. 190 |
| Types of syncretism | p. 194 |
| Diachronic implications | p. 198 |
| Neutral agreement | p. 203 |
| The problem | p. 204 |
| Strategy 1: the use of a regular gender/number form | p. 205 |
| Strategy 2: the use of a unique neutral agreement form | p. 214 |
| Extension of use of neutral agreement forms | p. 216 |
| Neutral agreement: summing up | p. 217 |
| Gender agreement with noun phrases involving reference problems | p. 218 |
| Use of one possible form by convention | p. 219 |
| Use of an 'evasive' form | p. 221 |
| Use of a special form | p. 223 |
| No strategy | p. 223 |
| Conclusion | p. 223 |
| hybrid nouns and the agreement hierarchy | p. 225 |
| The Agreement Hierarchy | p. 225 |
| Data | p. 226 |
| Wider considerations | p. 236 |
| Personal pronouns | p. 241 |
| Diachrony | p. 248 |
| Conclusion | p. 259 |
| gender resolution rules | p. 261 |
| Features requiring resolution | p. 262 |
| Person resolution | p. 262 |
| Number resolution | p. 263 |
| Gender resolution | p. 264 |
| The application of resolution rules | p. 264 |
| Agreement with one conjunct | p. 265 |
| Factors favouring resolution | p. 267 |
| Semantic gender resolution | p. 269 |
| Syntactic gender resolution | p. 279 |
| Mixed semantic and syntactic gender resolution | p. 284 |
| Strategies for gender resolution | p. 290 |
| Markedness: an inadequate motivation | p. 290 |
| Semantic justification and clear marking of plurality | p. 293 |
| Diachrony | p. 299 |
| Conclusion | p. 306 |
| generalizations and prospects | p. 307 |
| Meaning and form | p. 307 |
| A perspective on gender systems | p. 307 |
| Earlier research on gender | p. 308 |
| Diachrony | p. 310 |
| The rise of gender systems | p. 310 |
| The development of gender systems | p. 312 |
| The decline of gender systems | p. 315 |
| Prospects | p. 318 |
| Descriptive studies | p. 319 |
| The function of gender | p. 320 |
| Collaborative work | p. 323 |
| References | p. 324 |
| Author index | p. 352 |
| Language index | p. 357 |
| Subject index | p. 361 |
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