Dioraden: Dragonborn conlang - genders
ok, so. my approach to building this conlang is that language and culture are inseparably intertwined. so I find i cant build one without the other. as with everything Dioraden, this is a WIP. there are bits missing and things may get shuffled around to fit, its not meant to be perfect or idealised, and there are deliberately problematic elements of the culture that are reflected in the language.
getting my thoughts on the dragonborn approach to gender sorted out is proving difficult to do using notes in a spreadsheet, so im writing it down here. if anybody want to make any comments or suggestions, or ask any questions: please, please please do! it helps my process immensely.
bear in mind also that this is entirely for a fantasy race in a fantasy setting and is not meant to be directly representative of any real world identities or groups. that said, i am open to learning new things.
the view-link to the entire g-sheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15rrKWM-kTKqSK7uD7AWxeXxnSvli9CwyIu9vJrs_H6o/edit?usp=sharing
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the dragonborn have a far more complicated relationship to gender than is typical of the other races in the setting.
the first dragonborn were hybrids created via magic from human stock to be servitors for the last true dragons, who they worship as gods. they live in a matriarchal clan-based society with two biological sexes born in a 2-1 ratio of male to female. they are hatched from eggs rather than born as live young.
those are the biological circumstances that underpin the culture. sex and gender are, of course separate but related, and this is where the greater part of the complexity comes in:
dragonborn are gender-trinary. meaning their culture has 3 basic genders; the Feminine, the Masculine, and an as-yet unnamed third gender.
given the matriarchal nature of their society, the feminine is the default gender, in much the same way that in english, the masculine is often treated as the default. e.g. the dragonborn word for mankind is more literally translated as woman-kind. their word for "woman" is "Rodoki" which is also their own word for their species. etymologically, it comes from the words "Rodeigo" - dragon/god (these concepts are synonymous) and "kidoh kidoh" - child/descendant. (Kidoh - child of my brood, as opposed to Ohaki - person who is a child. the repetition of Kidoh indicates multiple generations, with a third optionally being added for emphasis of a distant ancestor.)
thus the word "Woman" can be literally translated as "child of the gods" or "descended from dragons" - Dragonborn.
most biological females are women, and most women are biological females.
Rosika and Rodeka are the words for the other two genders but i havent decided which will be which, once thats setled ill just refer tot he third gender by that word. etymologically they are derived from "woman+river" and "woman+hard+fast"
most men are biologically male. but only about 60% of biological males are men.
the vast, vast majority of non-cis* dragonborn belong to the third gender. about 40% of biological males and a few percent of biological females belong to this gender. it becomes readily apparent in early childhood if a child is 3rd-gender, and it is incredibly rare for a biological make to identify as a woman or vice-versa.
*the semantics of how the terms cis and trans might best be applied here are beyond me, discussion is eagerly welcomed. im being careful with my language here because i really dont know how to translate these concepts properly. the closest analogous concept in humans is enby, which we dont consider to be cis, but also, all of these people conform to their AGAB, though even AGAB doesnt fully apply because a. they hatch from eggs, and b. they aren't considered fully people until they start to speak, so it would be 'Assigned Gender At Speach' i guess? a biological male identifying as a woman, or a biological female identifying as a man would be undeniably trans, as would anyone who was assigned man or woman in childhood and later identifies as third-gender.
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an additional layer of complexity is added by a fourth genderless identity, similar to our a-gender. with it/its pronouns, though these are distinct for people vs objects.
i haven't created the words for this yet, but it exists, and its on my list of gaps to fill.
a dragonborn of any gender may choose to take on this genderless identity at any time, for a limited period or as a permanent state. often, but not always, this is done as a sign of dedication to a task or creed. however people who are simply agender do exist.
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finally, there are 3 gender neutral singular pronouns. the primary one is Li (pronounced lie) which directly translates as the singular "they" in english. with the plural "they" being Linah. the second singular they is Linoh, and the thrid is Litah.
the 3 singular theys exist only to allow the speaker to easily distinguish between multiple unidentified people in casual conversation. e.g. instead of "the first one said [X] and the second one said [Y] so they hit them," it would be "Li said [X] and Linah said [Y] so Li hit Linah."
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2 biological sexes
3 genders
a fourth genderless identity.
and 3 additional gender neutral pronouns
@four-leafed-queer-gal @ms-macintosh what do you think? feedback is welcome.