This research explores the role of grammatical gender in the semantics of languages, challenging the neo-Whorfian hypothesis. The hypothesis suggests that the grammatical gender of inanimate nouns influences how people perceive and talk about objects. The study introduces a new graphical model that represents the interactions between a noun’s grammatical gender, its meaning, and adjective choice. The findings indicate that while there is a relationship between the gender of nouns and the adjectives that modify them, grammatical gender has minimal impact on adjective choice when the noun’s meaning is controlled. This calls into question the validity of the neo-Whorfian hypothesis.
Publication date: 1 Dec 2023
Project Page: Not provided
Paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2311.18567
