The indifference to gender in Swahili and other Bantu languages

Abstract

The lesson that languages without overt systems of grammatical gender have ways of distinguishing reference to males and females is not a new one, as is evidenced in Part 1 of this article. In Part 2 an attempt is made to demonstrate that the means by which this is effected in Swahili (and other Bantu languages) are of interest for Swahili lexicography in particular and for Bantu studies in general.