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Cross-linguistic evidence for gender as a prominence feature

This paper discusses recent findings in the online sentence processing research that suggest to consider gender information a prominence feature. Prominence features are hierarchically ordered information types that interact with formal features of arguments (e.g., grammatical functions, thematic ro...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Esaulova, Yulia, von Stockhausen, Lisa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4561748/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26441732
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01356
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author Esaulova, Yulia
von Stockhausen, Lisa
author_facet Esaulova, Yulia
von Stockhausen, Lisa
author_sort Esaulova, Yulia
collection PubMed
description This paper discusses recent findings in the online sentence processing research that suggest to consider gender information a prominence feature. Prominence features are hierarchically ordered information types that interact with formal features of arguments (e.g., grammatical functions, thematic roles) and thus determine the readers’ ability to efficiently interpret linguistic ambiguities. While previous research addressed a number of prominence features (e.g., animacy, definiteness, person), there is now first empirical evidence indicating that gender information also influences the assignment of thematic roles across languages. Grammatically masculine role nouns are processed faster as agents than patients compared to feminine ones. Stereotypically male role nouns (e.g., electrician) are integrated with an agent role easier than neutral ones (e.g., musician), which in turn are integrated easier than female ones (e.g., beautician). Conceptualizing gender as a prominence feature will not only expand our knowledge about information types relevant for online comprehension but also uncover subtle gender biases present in language. The present work explores the possibility for a theoretical integration of social psychological and psycholinguistic research focusing on gender with research on prominence. Potential advantages an interdisciplinary approach to the study of gender as a prominence feature, open questions and future directions are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-45617482015-10-05 Cross-linguistic evidence for gender as a prominence feature Esaulova, Yulia von Stockhausen, Lisa Front Psychol Psychology This paper discusses recent findings in the online sentence processing research that suggest to consider gender information a prominence feature. Prominence features are hierarchically ordered information types that interact with formal features of arguments (e.g., grammatical functions, thematic roles) and thus determine the readers’ ability to efficiently interpret linguistic ambiguities. While previous research addressed a number of prominence features (e.g., animacy, definiteness, person), there is now first empirical evidence indicating that gender information also influences the assignment of thematic roles across languages. Grammatically masculine role nouns are processed faster as agents than patients compared to feminine ones. Stereotypically male role nouns (e.g., electrician) are integrated with an agent role easier than neutral ones (e.g., musician), which in turn are integrated easier than female ones (e.g., beautician). Conceptualizing gender as a prominence feature will not only expand our knowledge about information types relevant for online comprehension but also uncover subtle gender biases present in language. The present work explores the possibility for a theoretical integration of social psychological and psycholinguistic research focusing on gender with research on prominence. Potential advantages an interdisciplinary approach to the study of gender as a prominence feature, open questions and future directions are discussed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-09-08 /pmc/articles/PMC4561748/ /pubmed/26441732 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01356 Text en Copyright © 2015 Esaulova and Von Stockhausen. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Esaulova, Yulia
von Stockhausen, Lisa
Cross-linguistic evidence for gender as a prominence feature
title Cross-linguistic evidence for gender as a prominence feature
title_full Cross-linguistic evidence for gender as a prominence feature
title_fullStr Cross-linguistic evidence for gender as a prominence feature
title_full_unstemmed Cross-linguistic evidence for gender as a prominence feature
title_short Cross-linguistic evidence for gender as a prominence feature
title_sort cross-linguistic evidence for gender as a prominence feature
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4561748/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26441732
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01356
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