Language and Culture Effects on Gender Classification of Objects

Abstract

The present studies test whether French grammatical gender affects bilingual children’s classification of objects as boys or girls in English, in children aged 3 to 5 years (Study 1) and aged 8 to 10 years (Study 2), compared to monolingual children to control for possible cultural biases. In both studies, children tended to classify more objects as boys than as girls. In Study 1, the bilingual children showed a reduced boy bias relative to monolinguals. Only the older children showed a by-object effect of French gender. The bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ classifications were highly correlated. In Study 3, English-speaking adults classified object names as boys or girls. The adults’ classifications were highly correlated with the children’s. The authors argue that the classification of objects by gender is affected by cultural biases as well as knowledge of French. The effect of French knowledge is modified by age.