Why Do Languages Have Gendered Words?

Jennifer Dorman, a language expert, discusses the evolution and role of gendered grammar in languages. She explains that grammatical gender likely developed to reduce ambiguity and enhance communication. While English once had grammatical gender, it transitioned to a natural gender language around the 11th century. Today, 44% of languages still use grammatical gender, which helps specify meaning in conversations. Despite English's lack of a true grammatical gender system, it retains some gendered terms. Gendered grammar will continue to influence languages globally.

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