From “acteurs/actrices” to “zangers/zangeressen”: the interpretation of word pairs and generically intended masculine role nouns in speakers of Dutch

Abstract

Though intended to refer to everyone, generically intended masculine role nouns are

often interpreted as referring (primarily) to men. While the use of more inclusive

forms counters this bias, previous studies have largely focused on languages with a

salient masculine/feminine grammatical gender distinction and used measures that focus participants’ attention on gender. The present study uses an indirect measure and investigates Dutch, a grammatical gender language that has largely lost the distinction between masculine and feminine gender, but still uses gender-specific marking for role nouns. A total of 130 participants named the first three people they could think of when presented with either a word pair (e.g., zangers/zangeressen–“singersmasculine/ singersfeminine”) or a generically intended masculine (zangers). Compared to the generically intended masculine form, word pairs increased the mental availability of nonmen, suggesting that a more inclusive form facilitates activation of nonmasculine exemplars for speakers of Dutch as well.