Misersky, Julia, Majid, Asifa orcid.org/0000-0003-0132-216X and Snijders, Tineke M. (2018) Grammatical gender in German influences how role-nouns are interpreted: Evidence from ERPs. Discourse Processes. pp. 1-12. ISSN 0163-853X
Abstract
Grammatically masculine role-nouns (e.g., Studentenmasc. ‘students’) can refer to men and women but may favor an interpretation where only men are considered the referent. If true, this has implications for a society aiming to achieve equal representation in the workplace since, for example, job adverts use such role descriptions. To investigate the interpretation of role-nouns, the present ERP study assessed grammatical gender processing in German. Twenty participants read sentences where a role-noun (masculine or feminine) introduced a group of people, followed by a congruent (masculine–men, feminine–women) or incongruent (masculine–women, feminine–men) continuation. Both for feminine-men and masculine-women continuations a P600 (500 to 800 ms) was observed; another positivity was already present from 300 to 500 ms for feminine-men continuations but critically not for masculine-women continuations. The results imply a male-biased rather than gender-neutral interpretation of the masculine—despite widespread usage of the masculine as a gender-neutral form—suggesting that masculine forms are inadequate for representing genders equally.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Psychology (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 10 Dec 2018 16:10 |
Last Modified: | 17 Dec 2024 00:12 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2018.1541382 |
Status: | Published online |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/0163853X.2018.1541382 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:139843 |
Download
Filename: Grammatical_Gender_in_German_Influences_How_Role_Nouns_Are_Interpreted_Evidence_from_ERPs.pdf
Description: Grammatical Gender in German Influences How Role Nouns Are Interpreted Evidence from ERPs
Licence: CC-BY 2.5