Can she be a trucker?
When you read “The truck driver put on the radio because she needed some distraction”, does the pronoun “she” surprise you? And would you naturally refer to a woman as an an actor rather than an actress?This PhD project explored how young multilingual adults process gendered pronouns after different types of role titles. We wanted to know if young people these days would show a different response compared to what past studies have shown so many years ago. The project also investigated how second language learning might influence gender processing—an area that remains largely understudied. In particular, can the way you process gendered pronouns change as you learn a new language with a different gender categorization? Rather than ask people directly, we used brain recordings—among other things—to get at the subconscious processing of pronouns.
Key Findings
Dutch vs. German Speakers: Dutch students mostly interpret masculine job titles (e.g., de zanger, “the singer”) as gender-neutral, while German students do not. That also means that - in an attempt to use more inclusive language—different strategies have to be adopted in Dutch and German — speaking areas.
The Influence of a Second Language: Learning a second language may reshape how you process gender in your first language, but it does depend on how good you are at your new language. In the earlier and advanced learning stages, the second language has a greater influence than at intermediate stages. This offers new insights on how bilingualism affects gender categorization.
Do We Still React to Gender Stereotypes? Brain activity results (obtained through EEG) reveal that young women from the Netherlands have a less marked response to gender-stereotype violations in their second language English, but still take note of biological gender mismatches (for example ’The mother…he…‘). This could indicate that gender biases are slowly becoming less pronounced across generations or that stereotypes are less impactful in a second language.
A Memory Advantage: Brain data (recorded through the same EEG) show that working memory has an impact on how pronouns are processed. Interestingly, Frisian-Dutch bilinguals outperform Dutch speakers who are not raised with a second language in a working memory task, suggesting a potential cognitive benefit of simultaneous bilingualism.