ON THE QUESTION OF THE GENDER DEFECTIVITY OF THE SO CALLED COLLECTIVE NOUNS

Abstract

The subject of the present paper is a group of nouns that denote a couple consisting of a male and a female person. We question the correctness of the term collective nouns, which sometimes is used for those nouns, and try to suggest a more precise term. We also propose a reliable criterion for the differentiation of the defective nouns from other nouns that also name couples consisting of a man and a woman.