How does language affect our conceptualization? An empirical test of linguistic relativity hypothesis in five languages

This research project analyzes the implementation of nonbinary pronouns.

The conventional view of gender as a binary construct, consisting of women and men only, is questioned due to the large variation in biology, physiology, and identities.

The Swedish language was for a long time unique in the successful implementation of the new pronoun hen, existing in parallel with the binary pronouns for she and he. Today, similar initiatives can be witnessed in several languages.

This project follows the implementation of nonbinary pronouns in three languages: Swedish (hen; fully implemented), English (US: ze and singular they; partly implemented), and French (iel; novel initiative).

We test attitudes toward the pronouns, how they are used in terms of generic and/or nonbinary meaning, and what consequences they have on a binary conceptualization of gender.

As the linguistic relativity hypothesis postulates, this kind of change in how gender is grammatically defined should make the gender conceptualization less binary.

In order to compare the gender conceptualization in several languages with different grammatical structures regarding gender, we also include two genderless languages with only one third person singular pronoun: Finnish hän and Turkish o.

In this project, combining surveys with social psychological experiments, we map out the connection between language in terms of personal pronouns and the binary/nonbinary conceptualization of gender.