The gender of human-denoting nouns corresponds to the biological sex of the referent and is therefore predictable: masculine nouns belong to the v/b gender, feminine nouns to the j/d gender. For animal and inanimate nouns, however, no such criterion applies, and gender must be learned with each individual word. Several attempts have been made to establish predictive rules for gender assignment, but none has proven fully unambiguous [Wichers Schreur, 2024; Bellamy… 2021]. Results are still approximate and subject to numerous exceptions. Researchers note that gender assignment may have semantic, morphological, and phonological bases, though the role of each is limited. For example, only about 15 percent of nouns can have their gender determined on semantic grounds. The morphological criterion is somewhat more robust but covers only a portion of the lexicon. All masdars belong to the d-gender, while deadjectival abstract nouns belong to the j-gender [Wichers Schreur… 2022:100]. Phonology too appears to have played a role in gender assignment: nouns beginning with d, j, or b tend to belong to the genders marked by those same markers. In the dictionary of David and Niko Kadagidze [1984], approximately 60–65 percent of nouns beginning with b belong to the b-gender, and similarly for nouns beginning with d and j. These initial consonants may therefore be regarded as fossilized gender markers [Wichers Schreur 2024:85].

In Tsova-Tush, as in the other Nakh-Daghestanian languages, gender is realized in two ways:

1.      In the basic cases, it has only a syntactic function — agreement gender. The gender marker of the noun is reflected in syntactically associated words. In the language under study, the capacity for gender agreement is limited to some verbs, verbal nouns, several adjectives, one simple numeral, and exceptionally one adverb. Moreover, only 30 percent of simple verbal stems can reflect the gender of a noun; the rest are unmarked [Wichers Schreur, 2024:23]. For adjectives, this figure is below ten percent.

2.      There are cases in which the gender marker is overtly marked within the noun itself (overt inherent gender). Examples of this type are considerably less numerous and give the impression of being sporadic. Drawing diachronic conclusions from the synchronic morphological structure of a word is often difficult. One can only assume that such gender markers historically characterized only a certain group of nouns and not all of them, though the data provide no basis for a more definitive claim. A similar view is expressed by Nichols regarding Ingush [Nichols, 2011]. In general, both types of gender appear to have characterized only certain word classes — which remains the case today. One must also distinguish nouns with a split gender marker conditioned by case. These are characterized by stem ablaut between the absolutive and the oblique cases. The j-gender marker appears only in the absolutive, as in jett ‘cow’, jexḳ ‘comb’, jol ‘hay’, etc. Noteworthy in this connection is the fact that in Tsova-Tush, mostly a noun standing in the absolutive triggers a gender marker in the verb.

Among nouns in which gender is marked, two groups must be distinguished: (1) nouns derived from verbal stems, in which a gender marker that once had a syntactic function has been fossilized; and (2) nouns that are not derived from verbal stems, in which the gender marker presumably did not have a syntactic function and may instead show tendencies toward word-formative properties.

The second group includes roots with a variable gender corresponding to the biological sex of the referent. These may belong to the same word class or to different ones. Such nouns belong to a common semantic field but are distinguished from one another by a specific feature. For example: j-aš ‘sister’, v-aš ‘brother’; j-oħ ‘woman, girl’, v-oħ ‘boy’. Here the gender marker distinguishes nouns of related meaning according to the biological sex of the referent, and in this respect may be said to exhibit word-formative properties. This is the case in the majority of Nakh-Daghestanian languages.

There are also cases where one and the same root appears as different word classes with different gender markers. The change in meaning appears to be associated with the gender marker — suggesting that it is the gender marker that creates the new stem. One such root is ux. It occurs in adverbs, nouns, and adjectives. In the latter case a special adjectivalizing suffix is also attached, whereas for the nouns only the gender marker differs. Notably, in the adverb and adjective the gender marker is active rather than fossilized. d-ux ‘behind, back’ is the only adverb in Tsova-Tush that carries a gender marker. To the same stem the locative case suffix -ħ can be added, yielding an adverb of different meaning: d-ux-ej-ħ[ĭ] ‘backwards, in reverse’. By adding the suffix -lĩ (meaning ‘having, possessing’) to the d-ux stem, the relational adjective d-ux-lĩ ‘stubborn, obstinate’ is derived. The parallel form d-ux-aj-ħ-lĩ is also possible.

Since in Tsova-Tush most adverbs are also used as postpositions, the adverb discussed above may be related to the postposition j-ux-e-ħ ‘below, beside’. In the present case, j- is an unchanging prefix, highlighted here only for clarity, and is likely a fossilized gender marker without a syntactic function — it therefore does not reflect the gender of the head noun. -ħ is the locative case suffix which, together with the gender marker, presumably conveyed a different spatial localization. From the jux adverbial stem, the noun jux-a ‘bottom, base (of a mountain, tree)’ appears to be derived by attachment of the suffix -a. In Tsova-Tush, the nominalizing suffix -a derives nouns indicating the space or place of an action and also occurs in the formation of toponyms.

By attaching the b-gender marker to the same root, the noun b-ux is derived, with two meanings: ‘1. bottom, base; 2. Sediment’ (b-gender). Notably, jux also denotes a base/bottom, but only of a mountain. Lam ‘mountain’ belongs to the b-gender; thus, j- cannot represent a gender marker in agreement with it. For clarity, all forms derived from the root ux are listed below. In the first three cases the gender marker has a syntactic function and is variable, while in the following three it is fossilized:

A similar situation obtains with the root oħ/uħ. It seems plausible to assume that it derives from some adverb indicating forward position or location in front, though this root has not yet been traced in adverbs. The fact that different consonants appear as prefixes with this root suggests that they may be fossilized gender markers. Sometimes they appear as parallel forms, for example the compounds d-oħ-koṭŏ ‘face, countenance’ and j-oħ-koṭŏ ‘face’, both of which notably belong to the j-gender. In the examples cited, gender markers are highlighted only for illustrative purposes.

The noun d-uħ ‘edge (of a cutting instrument), tip (of a stocking)’ (d/d-gender) shows both formal and semantic connections to the words mentioned above and is likely related to Ingush b-uħ ‘peak, summit’. Sanikidze links juħalo ‘straight ahead’ and juħ ‘face, front’ [Sanikidze, 2010:74], and both forms appear to fit the paradigm presented here and may be discussed together with the stem juħal ‘across, on the other side’.

From the same root, by attachment of derivational affixes, the adverb d-uħ-rẽ ‘for the first time’ and the adjective d-uħ-re-lũ ‘original, former’ — also used with the meaning of the ordinal numeral ‘first’ — appear to be derived, the latter not being derived from the corresponding cardinal numeral. All these forms share a common semantic thread: edge, boundary, or forward position.

The next highly productive root, which appears with different gender markers across different word classes, is uq̇. In all the examples below, the gender marker is fossilized and highlighted only for illustrative purposes.

j-uq̇, j-uq̇e[ħ] ‘middle, in the middle’ — used both as an adverb and as a postposition with the dative case. A derived form is j-uq̇-rẽ-j-uq̇ ‘from time to time, here and there’. The same form with the b-gender marker appears in the phrase b-uq̇ staḳ ‘middle-aged man’. Since the masculine gender is only marked with b in the plural, this cannot be an agreement marker.

The root uq̇ also appears in nouns with different semantics: j-uq̇ ‘waist (part of the human body)’ represents the middle part of the body. Notably, the form b-uq̇ also exists with the same meaning. juq̇ is further associated with another meaning: ‘bud; short-fleeced wool remaining after carding’, which may be understood as ‘what remains in the middle after carding’. This last form belongs to the j-gender (see example 1):

(1)   mosĩ    keč̣        j-a,      duq      juq̇     j-oŭg-ŭ

bad     wool.J CL.J-be, much bud.J  CL.J-mix-PRS

 ‘It is bad wool; much bud is mixed into it.’ [Kadagidze… 1984:320]

The substantivizing suffix -a is added to juq̇, creating a different meaning: juq̇-a ‘boundary, border’ (j/j-gender). In this case -a clearly has a localizing function, and the meaning of the word may be interpreted as ‘that which is in the middle, located in the middle’, connecting it to the general semantics of the root uq̇.

For illustrative purposes, all words containing the root uq̇ are listed below:

Thus, from one and the same root, by attaching different gender markers, nouns, adverbs, verbs, and adjectives are derived.

Another noun with an interesting derivation in connection with the issue under discussion is j-ett ‘cow’ (b-gender). The j-marker here is also unchanging — fossilized. The parallel form b-ett-ar is also used. Taking the suffix -ar into account, we may conclude that this is a lexicalized verbal noun. Notably, in the plural the b-marker is replaced by d-: d-ett-r-i ‘cows’. As noted, bett-ar and dett-ri should be lexicalized masdars, derived from the verb d-ett-ar ‘milking (milks)’. In the verb, d- marks the variable gender. It must also be noted that unlike other verbal nouns, bett-ar has lost the capacity for gender agreement and is fully lexicalized, not with the general gender marker d-, which is characteristic of Tsova-Tush masdars, but with the prefix b-. In this case the gender marker retains a sense of number: b- is replaced by d- in the plural. Thus, the root of all the nouns and verbs named above is ett, and only the gender marker determines its part of speech. It is unlikely that these markers had a syntactic function that was lost over time. j- does not appear as the gender marker in any word that could have once been syntactically associated with jett. A similar situation obtains in Ingush: Nichols lists Ingush jett among words with a split gender marker, together with seven other nouns, all of which lose the gender marker in the oblique cases. The researcher does not discuss the etymology of this noun, though she too considers the initial j a gender marker [Nichols, 2011:148]

We are likely dealing with lexicalized gender markers in the following nouns as well: j-apx-ol ‘1. warmth; 2. fig. warm-heartedness’ (-ol is a suffix forming abstract nouns) and j-opx ‘heat, warmth’. Both belong to the j-gender, i.e. the gender marker is reflected within the noun. By contrast, d-apxn-a ‘heat, warmth’ appears to be derived from the adjectival stem d-apx-ẽ ‘hot’, where the gender marker is active, whereas in the nouns it is fossilized. The markers are highlighted only for clarity.

(2)   enken-ẽ           batt-a-[ħ]                    alni-[ħ]         tq̇o  d-apxn-a                d-a

Enkeni-GEN   month-OBL-LOC  Alvani-LOC also warm-ABSTR.D   CL.D-be

‘In September it is still warm in Alvani.’ [Kadagidze… 1984:226]

All these forms may be related to the verbal stem d-apx-ar  ‘to dress, to put on’. d-opx ‘sweat’ and the nominalized participle doŭpxŭ/dupxŭ ‘clothing, garment’ should be derived from the perfective-aspect verb d-opx-ar ‘to dress’. In both nouns the gender marker is unchanging and both belong to the d-gender. From the same root, d-opx-d-al-ar  ‘to become warm, to warm up’ should be derived, where d-al-ar is an auxiliary verb forming intransitive verbs, sometimes also affecting the meaning of the verb.

In rare cases, masdars are fully lexicalized with fossilized gender markers, predominantly the undifferentiated d-marker. Such examples include d-ažar ‘pasture, grass, meadow’, cf. d-až-ar ‘grazing (grazes)’, and d-aq̇ar ‘food, dish’, cf. d-aq̇-ar ‘eating (eats)’, among others.

(3)   ṭum-e-v                     tag-b-i-jenŏ                   lebiv    čam-lĩ        d-aq̇ar  d-a

walnut-OBL-INSTR make-CL.B-TR-PTCP bean.B taste-ADJZ  food.D  CL.D-be ‘Bean made with walnut is a tasty dish.’ [Kadagidze… 1984:375]

Sometimes a masdar reflects the gender markers of the referent: j-ec̣-ar-v-ec̣-ar ‘beloved (woman and man), lovers’ (cf. verb d-ec̣-ar ‘love (loves)’). In the lexicalized noun, j- is the gender marker for the feminine and v- for the masculine, and both are fossilized. However, the generalized form d-ec̣-ar–v-ec̣-ar ‘those in love, sweethearts’ is also attested, in the second component of which the masculine gender marker likewise appears. The abstract noun formed with the suffix -ob follows the same pattern: j-ec̣-ar–v-ec̣-r-ob ‘being in love, being sweethearts.’

Thus, within the stem structure of certain nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, all four gender markers active in the language can be identified. In some cases, they represent fossilized markers that formerly served an agreement function. In others, the gender marker appears to have had a meaning analogous to a derivational affix. One and the same root appears with different, unchanging gender markers yielding different meanings. The change in semantics is evidently associated with the gender marker, though the motivation governing the use of a particular marker in each case remains difficult to determine.