A Morphosyntactic Analysis of Grammatical Gender in Balochi: A Case Study of the Makrani Dialect

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.64169/djl.237

Keywords:

Balochi, Makrani dialect, grammatical gender, morpho-syntax, gender typology

Abstract

The study analyzes the morpho-syntactic patterns of grammatical gender in the Makrani dialect of Balochi. It is a language variety of the Northwestern Iranian language family. As an understudied language variety, Makrani Balochi represents a typological case in which grammatically genderless patterns are encoded and avoid gender structure. The study explores gender expression at grammatical, lexical, and referential levels. Adopting a descriptive approach, the study examines gender distinctions through morpho-syntactic analysis of Makarani Balochi. Findings reveal a complete absence of grammatical gender markers in Makrani Balochi, where nouns lack morphological gender markers, pronouns are gender neutral, and verbs exhibit no agreement patterns shown as gendered. However, lexical and referential patterns present natural gender distinctions and transform socio-cultural perceptions of gender roles.

Author Biographies

Imrana Rasheed, Government Girls Degree college Turbat

She is an academic and researcher in the field of English literature and linguistics. She serves as a Lecturer in English at the Government Girls' Degree College in Turbat. Her research addresses contemporary literary and socio-cultural themes

Ayesha Majeed, Iqra University

She is an emerging researcher and scholar affiliated with the Department of English at Iqra University, Gulshan Campus, located in Karachi, Pakistan. Her academic work contributes to contemporary studies in applied linguistics and textual analysis.

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Published

2026-06-30

How to Cite

Rasheed, I., & Majeed, A. (2026). A Morphosyntactic Analysis of Grammatical Gender in Balochi: A Case Study of the Makrani Dialect. Dibon Journal of Languages, 2(2), 525–535. https://doi.org/10.64169/djl.237

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2026): Dibon Journal of Languages

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Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Imrana Rasheed, Ayesha Majeed

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