Czy krzewy mają „płeć”? O rodzaju gramatycznym nazw wybranych krzewów w polszczyźnie ludowej
Do shrubs have a “gender”? On the grammatical gender of the selected shrubs’ names in Polish language of folklore

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the grammatical gender of shrub names in Polish. The author examines whether the classification of shrub names into a specific gender category is determined solely by their lexical morphology, or also by their semantics, i.e. the connection with their culturally entrenched “gender” (“culture-mediated” natural gender). By analysing lexical, folklore and ethnographic data together, the author demonstrates the correlation between linguistic and cultural phenomena and proves that the grammatical gender attributed to individual shrub names is not arbitrary but rather linked to their “culture-mediated” natural gender. The author thus advocates the hypothesis that the category of gender, at least to some extent, is a manifestation of an animistic view of the world and a tendency to see all things as animate.

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