Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2007, Page 111

KYN OG MÁLSAMBAND - DØMI í FØROYSKU M-DONSKUM
OG KATALANSKUM-SPONSKUM
109
4.2.3.2. análisi - f, Spanish:
análisis - m.; ‘analysis ’
Again, the Catalan word keeps the original
gender from Greek: n áváÁnoiq was femi-
nine and means ‘dissolution of a whole in
its parts’. Strikingly, the Spanish gender
follows a non-expected direction, since sub-
stantives ending in -V+si in Catalan and in
-V+sis in Spanish are feminine: parálisi,
diálisi, hipótesi, crisi. Thus, a morphologi-
cal rule should not allow confusion to arise.
Here we can apply only the prediction
about the lack of schooling in Catalan, as
this is not a word especially used in the
mass media. Thus, the older generation will
be the most likely to use the gender in
Spanish, i.e., the masculine.
Before analysing the results, it has to be
said that really clear productions were
diffícult to fínd due to the coincidence of
the phonetic form of the substantive prece-
ded by the masculine article and that pre-
ceded by the feminine one: un* análisi (m.)
and una análisi (f.) are both pronounced as
[u.no.’na.li.zi]; the same would happen with
the defínite article. A possible way to dis-
ambiguate the gender usage in the inter-
views was to tiy and elicit the word un/una,
not as the indefinite article with the substan-
tive, but alone as the numeral. Thus, for
■nstance, after having produced [u.no.
na.li.zi], a second question was posed:
“And how many analyses does the doctor
want to be made?”. However, the aim was
not reached in all cases. So, here only the
''esults of the clear answers are presented.
Group % of Catalan gender usage
G2 Grácia 33.33
G2 Nou Barris 57.14
G3 Grácia 50.00
G3 Nou Barris 50.00
Table 11. análisi
The percentage of productions using the
Catalan gender is in general lower than with
the previous word síndrome. Thus, although
the Catalan gender follows a more logical
direction - as similar suffixes have the same
gender and the noun keeps the original gen-
der from Greek - the influence of Spanish
overrides the Catalan niorphological rule
associated with the ending V +-si. And the
effect of the mass media is clear in the case
of sida, as referred to above, but not with
análisi. The latter is a word not so common-
ly used in mass rnedia, but in interpersonal
situations, like between the doctor and the
patient, where linguistic correctness is not
so controlled.
If we look at the results for groups, the
most striking fact is that G2 in Grácia is the
one with the lowest rate, which do not
correlate with the schooling in Catalan nor
with the dominance of tliis language in the
district. On the contrary, G2 in Nou Barris
has the highest rate. Thus, it seems that in
the case of this word the effect of the
education in Catalan is higher in the district
with lower degree of Catalan usage.
4.2.4. postres -f pi, Spanish: postre -
m. sg.; ‘dessert’
This is a word taken from Spanish, from an