Of course. But I don’t think that’s the “purpose” of it. It’s good to remember that languages don’t have anything purposeful about them at all. Any characteristic in a language has use, but no purpose.
Like living beings languages evolve, and mutate, and useful traits stay behind and spread and less useful ones are forgotten.
Gender might sometimes be useful in those situations, but I would be skeptical it’s the main reason it appeared and kept being used.
Yes, that doesn’t negate the fact that genderedness serves a purpose. It’s not simply there to annoy language learners.
Of course. But I don’t think that’s the “purpose” of it. It’s good to remember that languages don’t have anything purposeful about them at all. Any characteristic in a language has use, but no purpose.
Like living beings languages evolve, and mutate, and useful traits stay behind and spread and less useful ones are forgotten.
Gender might sometimes be useful in those situations, but I would be skeptical it’s the main reason it appeared and kept being used.