Two syntactic positions of grammatical gender

Abstract

The paper proposes some formal and functional criteria for distinguishing between two different syntactic positions of grammatical gender: determiner gender ( D- gender) and nominal gender ( n -gender). Focusing on D -gender and how it differs from n -gender, this work supports previous analyses of gender as a heterogeneous category that occupies different positions in the syntactic tree. Data are presented from 27 languages, many of which are either critically endangered or already extinct. 1