Loglan/The Power of Little Words/He, she and it

He, She and It

Gender in Loglan

In many natural languages when referring to a person you also have to refer to the person's gender. For example, in English, if you refer to a man you use "he" and for a woman you use "she". The words "he" and "she" automatically tells you the person's gender. Loglan, however, does not specify gender like in English. Instead, Loglan maintains gender neutrality.

First Letter

Loglan has a number of ways to refer to a person. One way involves using the first letter of the person's name.

Examples

• John helps people. He works as a doctor. - la djan helba lo pernu. i la D kicmu

• Mary has arrived. She's in the red car over there. - la Maris godzi le hijra. i la M nenri le redro tcaro va ti

He, She, it

Loglan has no specifi words for "he", "she" or "it". Instead it has variables da, de, di, do, and du, which takes the place of the person or item in the order they appear in a conversation or sentence. So, you can use da to refer to the first person or item mentioned and de for the second person or item as you would use "he", "she" or ""it".

Examples

• John helps people. He works as a doctor. - la djan helba lo pernu. i da kicmu

• Mary has arrived. She's in the red car over there. - la Maris godzi le hijra. i de nenri le redro tcaro va ti