The Middle East
is a sexist place, socially and linguistically. Gender definitely matters. The exact form depends on the specific ethnic
and religious subgroup. For example, in
many subcultures in Israel, women and men sit separately, sometimes even in
different rooms.
It also affects
language. English and Russian have the
unisex they and они
[oni], respectively; French has the
flexible on, which can refer to any grammatical gender or person. By contrast, in Hebrew, the second and third
person pronouns and all verb forms must reflect gender. There is no escape in ambiguity.
For example, a
typical American teenager can make the following statement: They (the friends) invited me to a
party. The parents have the privilege of
pretending that the invitation came from friends of the same sex. Ignorance is bliss. Hebrew parents can have no illusion. הם [hem] and הן
[hen] are both gender specific, male and
female in this case.
This clarity
also affects the world of entertainment.
For example, in English, Frank Sinatra’s signature song I did it my way
can be sung by both male and female singers.
That is true for most love songs also.
Unfortunately, that does not work in Hebrew. The verb form for the female “did” and
“love” will have a different number of syllables, making it difficult to
convert for a singer of the opposite sex.
If the singer chooses not to change the words, it creates a disjunction
between the gender of the singer and verb form.
This sharp
distinction also creates daily decisions for Hebrew speakers. Imagine the head nurse speaking to the
hospital nursing staff: 18 female nurses and one male nurse. Which form should the head nurse use, the
male or female form? Traditionally, the
male form was and is used, although today it seems a bit awkward, even if most
Israeli females do not make an open fuss about it.
So, as the
French and diplomats know very well, there is nothing wrong with ambiguity
sometimes, especially if you want to hide information or keep the peace.
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