Exploring linguistic relativity: the effect of the French grammatical gender system on bilingual adults’ perception of objects

Thesis

A growing body of literature on linguistic relativity (the hypothesis that language influences thoughts) has been focusing on whether there is an effect of the grammatical gender system on perception (Bassetti & Nicoladis, 2016; Lambelet, 2016; Samuel et al., 2019). Evidence suggests that there is an effect of the gender system on perception of both monolinguals and bilinguals (Bassetti & Nicoladis, 2016). However, the findings are potentially limited due to certain methodological limitations (Samuel et al., 2019), for example, the lack of L2 proficiency testing (Bassetti, 2007). Thus, attempting to apply a more rigorous methodology, this study aims to assess the potential effect of the French grammatical gender system on French speakers’ and learners’ perceptions of object gender. The study involved 140 participants, divided into four groups (N = 35 per group): English monolinguals, French monolinguals, English-French (English-dominant) bilinguals, and French-English (French-dominant) bilinguals. An online experiment was distributed to participants, including a background information questionnaire, English and French vocabulary tests, and a voice distribution task. Quantitative data were analysed using multi-level modelling. Follow-up open-ended question data were coded and analysed using chi-squared tests. The results supported linguistic relativity: The French grammatical gender system affected the perception of French monolinguals and English- dominant bilinguals. The effect of French on French-dominant bilinguals was not reduced by the acquisition of English and seemed to be independent of L2 proficiency. Additional findings included the potential tendency of French to introduce gender biases (stereotypical association between objects and gender, resulting from the grammatical gender system). The present study adds supporting evidence to the relativity debate by attempting to apply rigour by utilising a pilot study, a robust sample size, pertinent control items, L2 proficiency testing, and advanced data analysis tools. Pedagogically, findings highlight the need to emphasise the discrepancies between students’ potential preconceived perceptions and the rules of the L2 grammar when teaching an L2 with a different grammatical gender system to L1. The study also shed new light on whether gendered languages draw out potential gender stereotypes among bilinguals.

Authors: Chen, Z

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-goepognkd
• Type of award: MSc
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Bilingualism and Cognition; Psycholinguistics; Bilingualism; French Language; Second Language Acquisition; Language and Perception; Grammatical Gender System; Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis; Experiment; Linguistic Relativity; Quantitative
• Subjects: Applied Linguistics; Psycholinguistics