A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä
Gender Affects Semantic Competition: The Effect of Gender in a Non-Gender-Marking Language
Tekijät: Fukumura K, Hyona J, Scholfield M
Kustantaja: AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
Julkaisuvuosi: 2013
Journal: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
Tietokannassa oleva lehden nimi: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-LEARNING MEMORY AND COGNITION
Lehden akronyymi: J EXP PSYCHOL LEARN
Numero sarjassa: 4
Vuosikerta: 39
Numero: 4
Aloitussivu: 1012
Lopetussivu: 1021
Sivujen määrä: 10
ISSN: 0278-7393
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031215
Tiivistelmä
English speakers tend to produce fewer pronouns when a referential competitor has the same gender as the referent than otherwise. Traditionally, this gender congruence effect has been explained in terms of ambiguity avoidance (e.g., Arnold, Eisenband, Brown-Schmidt, & Trueswell, 2000; Fukumura, Van Gompel, & Pickering, 2010). However, an alternative hypothesis is that the competitor's gender congruence affects semantic competition, making the referent less accessible relative to when the competitor has a different gender (Arnold & Griffin, 2007). Experiment 1 found that even in Finnish, which is a nongendered language, the competitor's gender congruence results in fewer pronouns, supporting the semantic competition account. In Experiment 2, Finnish native speakers took part in an English version of the same experiment. The effect of gender congruence was larger in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1, suggesting that the presence of a same-gender competitor resulted in a larger reduction in pronoun use in English than in Finnish. In contrast, other nonlinguistic similarity had similar effects in both experiments. This indicates that the effect of gender congruence in English is not entirely driven by semantic competition: Speakers also avoid gender-ambiguous pronouns.
English speakers tend to produce fewer pronouns when a referential competitor has the same gender as the referent than otherwise. Traditionally, this gender congruence effect has been explained in terms of ambiguity avoidance (e.g., Arnold, Eisenband, Brown-Schmidt, & Trueswell, 2000; Fukumura, Van Gompel, & Pickering, 2010). However, an alternative hypothesis is that the competitor's gender congruence affects semantic competition, making the referent less accessible relative to when the competitor has a different gender (Arnold & Griffin, 2007). Experiment 1 found that even in Finnish, which is a nongendered language, the competitor's gender congruence results in fewer pronouns, supporting the semantic competition account. In Experiment 2, Finnish native speakers took part in an English version of the same experiment. The effect of gender congruence was larger in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1, suggesting that the presence of a same-gender competitor resulted in a larger reduction in pronoun use in English than in Finnish. In contrast, other nonlinguistic similarity had similar effects in both experiments. This indicates that the effect of gender congruence in English is not entirely driven by semantic competition: Speakers also avoid gender-ambiguous pronouns.
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