Gender meets the Usage-Based Model: Four principles of rule interaction in gender assignment

Exploring four principles of gender assignment from the perspective of Langacker's [Langacker, 1991, Langacker, 1999] Usage-Based Model, the present article has important implications both for theories of the way gender is assigned and for the Usage-Based Model itself. The model simultaneously facilitates the implementation of principles of rule ordering and “rule counting” and thus provides a unified account of these approaches, which have generally been held to be antagonistic. However, in addition to discussing the implementation and interaction of principles proposed by other students of gender assignment, the present study also introduces the Core Semantic Override Principle. While in general the proposed analysis lends support to the Usage-Based Model, the discussion of the Core Semantic Override Principle motivates certain amendments.