Abstract
The term ‘gender’ requires discussion, since different linguistic traditions describe gender phenomena using different terms. Moreover, while in many languages there is no dispute as to the number of genders, there are other languages where the question is far from straightforward. This requires consideration of the analytical problem of determining the number of genders in a given language. The central problem, however, is gender assignment, that is, the way in which the native speaker allots nouns to genders. Examination of languages from different families reveals that genders always have a semantic core, which may be biological sex, or animacy, with other features also having a role. In some languages nouns are assigned to genders solely on the basis of semantics, but in others this semantic information is supplemented by formal information, which may be morphological or phonological.