Alemannic and Central German dialects have special pronoun forms for nouns and proper names designating women that are grammatically neuter (das Weib, das Tanja). The corresponding pronouns in the nominative (ääs) are notably lengthened and stressed, and have the accusative forms ihns or ihnes depending on regional variation, which is a combination of the masculine ihn and neutral es. When one considers the established rule of correspondence between sex and grammatical gender (the so-called "natural gender principle" according to Köpcke/Zubin 1996), these forms are surprising as they contain a contrast between sex and grammatical gender instead. This article examines the function of these "female neuter" forms in order to then analyse their geographical distribution, form, origin and further development.In order to measure up to the animacy reference that is typologically unusual for neuters, formal enrichments have taken place that allow these forms to be fully stressed. Additionally, notable analogies have appeared to the masculine forms, which distinguish between nominative and accusative (er/ihn) in order to accomplish the marking of a clear agent/patient opposition (ääs/ihns instead of es/es). Different patterns will be presented and discussed, including among others the nominative/accusative syncretism ihns/ihns. These forms benefit from formal enrichment and distance themselves from inanimate neuter forms ((e)s/(e)s). The femi-neutral pronoun hatt in Luxembourgish will also be briefly touched upon. In all instances, these special pronominal developments document how the social distinction between classes of women as "immature" neuters and "mature" feminines is deeply ingrained into German grammar.
EinleitungAuf einem Frageportal findet sich folgender Eintrag, der direkt in unser Thema einleitet:Wieder wende ich mich an die des Schweizerdeutschen Mächtigen, und wieder wegen Gotthelf. Obwohl seine Geschichten mich wirklich faszinieren, seine Sprache mich begeistert, geht er mir mit manchen Sachen regelrecht auf den Geist. Nun sagt man ja auch unter Schwaben, dass alle Frauennamen mit "S" beginnen: s'Lise, s'Bärbele, s'Else etc., wobei "s" die gekürzte Form von * Der vorliegende Aufsatz entstand im Rahmen des trinationalen Forschungsprojekts "Das Anna und ihr Hund -Weibliche Rufnamen im Neutrum. Soziopragmatische vs. semantische Genuszuweisung in Dialekten des Deutschen und Luxemburgischen" (D-A-CH-