this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
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One of the comments reads : Actually, we will probably never figure out, was it man or woman. but I thought this comment of the professor was an interesting eye opener. https://mastodonapp.uk/@MarkHoltom/112070436760917344

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Swahili. If you want to translate “she/he went to the river”, you say “Alienda mtoni” which collapses she/he into the subject A- (Alienda) to mean “the person”. You always need context to use a gendered word (like mwanamke for woman) otherwise general conversation does not foreground it. There is literally no word for he/she in Swahili, as far as I know.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

I love you how specified "as far as I know" even though it's literally your native language lmao

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Thank you for explaining. I will look into this more.