Hi, do you know if Tamil has a gender neutral pronoun? Also, is using it for literal babies, youngest children who are super loved and babied by their families, and favored nieces a universal Tamil thing, or is it a weird quirk of Vellore Tamil?
Yes, it does! “Avanga” and “Ivanga” (”that person” and “this person”)–or, as in Brahmin Tamil, “Avaa” and “Ivaa”–are gender-neutral terms. It gets a little confusing because generally these terms are often associated with either plural or connotations of respect (like the spanish “ustedes” and “usted”), but pretty much every dialect can use these as gender-neutral terms without being grammatically incorrect, and it doesn’t sound clunky in sentences either and is a very, very smooth replacement for “aval/ival” or “avan/ivan” (”that/this she,” “that/this he”).
And you’re right about using “Avanga” and “Ivanga” for babies! It’s definitely a super widespread quirk in Vellore, but other dialects frequently use it too (it’s slightly uncommon in certain parts of Chennai though). It’s like calling your baby “Mr.” or “Ms.” (though the most apt English translation would be “Mx.” because, like I said, “Avanga/Ivanga” doesn’t have gender) and it’s mainly for the cuteness factor that caught on in modern colloquial Tamil. The only exception is Brahmin Tamil; babies–and really anyone about two or three years younger than you–are called “Athu” and “Ithu” (”this” and “that”), much like objects, which I think is pretty funny. (Brahmins think it’s super cute and I STILL do it even though I REALLY, REALLY try not to in certain situations, because in certain other dialects calling people “athu” and “ithu” comes off as disrespectful.)
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