{ "model": { "rank": 3737, "code": "thing-q162378", "model_id": "vr.tr.grammatical-gender", "name": "grammatical gender", "purpose": "Let an agent explain grammatical gender as a linguistic system, describe how it works in specific languages, distinguish it from natural gender and from social gender, relay research on its origins and effects with attribution, and present debates about inclusive language neutrally.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QLT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q162378/", "tier": 2, "score": 82, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "animacy", "grammatical gender in Aragonese", "other gender", "grammatical gender in German", "gender marking in job titles", "grammatical gender in French", "grammatical gender in Spanish", "dependent", "gender in Dutch grammar", "epicenity" ], "aliasCount": 10, "merged": 10, "knownIn": 82, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q162378", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q162378", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T23:35:12Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q162378", "registryId": "vr.tr.grammatical-gender", "name": "grammatical gender", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QLT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q162378/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.grammatical-gender", "name": "grammatical gender", "purpose": "Let an agent explain grammatical gender as a linguistic system, describe how it works in specific languages, distinguish it from natural gender and from social gender, relay research on its origins and effects with attribution, and present debates about inclusive language neutrally.", "definition": "A grammatical system in which nouns are assigned to classes such as masculine, feminine, neuter or common, or animate and inanimate, with agreement marked on articles, adjectives, pronouns or verbs, as in French, German, Aragonese and most Indo-European and Semitic languages; grammatical gender is a kind of noun class, is often only partly related to natural sex or animacy, and raises questions of gender marking in job titles and inclusive language.", "what_it_is_for": "Organising agreement between nouns and other words.", "affordances": [ "explain the system and its kinds", "describe gender in specific languages", "distinguish from natural and social gender", "present inclusive language debates" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Noun classification", "Agreement", "Partly arbitrary assignment", "Sociolinguistic debates" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; agreement patterns in words and endings.", "visual_identification": [ "Noun classes with agreement", "Masculine, feminine, neuter, common, animate and other systems", "Natural gender refers to sex; social gender is a separate concept" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "languages with gender", "typical_range": "about 40", "unit": "percent", "note": "of surveyed languages, per typological databases" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "two-gender systems such as French and Spanish", "three-gender systems such as German and Russian", "common-neuter systems such as Dutch and Swedish", "animacy-based systems", "gender in Aragonese and other Romance varieties", "gender marking in job titles and inclusive forms" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "noun class", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "grammatical category", "why": "in linguistics" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "natural gender", "why": "based on sex" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "agreement", "why": "the marking mechanism" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Language academy rules on gender and job titles", "Inclusive language guidelines of institutions", "No legal regulation in most countries" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Confusing grammatical with social gender", "Presenting inclusive language debates as settled", "Overstating effects of gender on thought" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "concept", "name": "Concept", "description": "What grammatical gender is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition and kinds.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is grammatical gender, and what systems exist across languages?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about grammatical, natural or social gender?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "assignment", "name": "Assignment", "description": "Assignment and agreement.", "findings": [ { "id": "assignment-finding", "name": "Assignment", "description": "Assignment.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is gender assigned to nouns, and how does agreement work?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific language?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "languages", "name": "Languages", "description": "Gender in specific languages.", "rationale": "Linguistics.", "layers": [ { "id": "examples", "name": "Examples", "description": "Examples.", "findings": [ { "id": "examples-finding", "name": "Examples", "description": "Examples.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does gender work in French, German, Aragonese and other languages?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "typology", "name": "Typology", "description": "Typology.", "findings": [ { "id": "typology-finding", "name": "Typology", "description": "Typology.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do typologists classify gender systems, and where are they found?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits linguistic typology?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "research", "name": "Research", "description": "Origins and effects.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "origins", "name": "Origins", "description": "Origins and change.", "findings": [ { "id": "origins-finding", "name": "Origins", "description": "Origins.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do gender systems arise and change, as historical linguists describe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits historical linguistics?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "cognition", "name": "Cognition", "description": "Effects on thought.", "findings": [ { "id": "cognition-finding", "name": "Cognition", "description": "Cognition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does research say about grammatical gender and cognition, with findings attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "society", "name": "Society", "description": "Inclusive language.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "titles", "name": "Titles", "description": "Job titles and inclusive forms.", "findings": [ { "id": "titles-finding", "name": "Titles", "description": "Titles.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are job titles and inclusive forms handled in gendered languages, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral and attributed?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "policy", "name": "Policy", "description": "Academy and institutional policy.", "findings": [ { "id": "policy-finding", "name": "Policy", "description": "Policy.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do language academies and institutions prescribe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should gender in each language be a separate entry?", "How should typological databases be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming language-specific systems and a sociolinguistic topic; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a grammatical gender, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain grammatical gender as a linguistic system, describe how it works in specific languages, distinguish it from natural gender and from social gender, relay research on its origins and effects with attribution, and present debates about inclusive language neutrally.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: animacy, grammatical gender in Aragonese, other gender, grammatical gender in German, gender marking in job titles, grammatical gender in French, grammatical gender in Spanish, dependent, gender in Dutch grammar, epicenity.", "10 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 82 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a grammatical gender, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "animacy", "grammatical gender in Aragonese", "other gender", "grammatical gender in German", "gender marking in job titles", "grammatical gender in French", "grammatical gender in Spanish", "dependent", "gender in Dutch grammar", "epicenity" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 82 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 10 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one grammatical gender from another, and a grammatical gender from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a grammatical gender, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a grammatical gender, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a grammatical gender is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a grammatical gender, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a grammatical gender, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a grammatical gender is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a grammatical gender sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a grammatical gender, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a grammatical gender, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a grammatical gender is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a grammatical gender from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a grammatical gender, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a grammatical gender, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a grammatical gender is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a grammatical gender passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a grammatical gender between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a grammatical gender, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a grammatical gender, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a grammatical gender is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a grammatical gender, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a grammatical gender is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a grammatical gender, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a grammatical gender, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a grammatical gender is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What grammatical gender is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of grammatical gender are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is grammatical gender operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of grammatical gender and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of grammatical gender?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as grammatical gender?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a grammatical gender came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a grammatical gender and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a grammatical gender, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a grammatical gender, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a grammatical gender is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a grammatical gender is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a grammatical gender, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a grammatical gender, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a grammatical gender is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }