> IMO this is getting at a deeper truth that the use of a gender in language, and historically defaulting to "he", was not about creating a bias, but instead it was a pattern which maximises information density and minimises useless information. Randomising the gender as is done today packs useless information into it.
Where can I read more about this "truth"? Where is this assertion coming from that gendered pronouns developed to minimize useless information? It seems far more plausible to me that pervasive defaulting to male experiences caused many (certainly not all) human languages to (1) develop gendered pronouns and (2) default to the male pronoun.
Where can I read more about this "truth"? Where is this assertion coming from that gendered pronouns developed to minimize useless information? It seems far more plausible to me that pervasive defaulting to male experiences caused many (certainly not all) human languages to (1) develop gendered pronouns and (2) default to the male pronoun.