The use of masculine plural generic NPs describing mixed human groups: an experimental study

Abstract

This article analyzes the production of plural noun phrases referring to a group including men and women, and tests the possible effect of three factors in the choice of masculine NPs with a generic meaning or NPs that explicitly mention the feminine gender. With this purpose, an experimental study was conducted to elicit the description of human groups including men and women, in which three factors were tested: the stereotype associated with the noun (masculine, feminine or no gender stereotype); the necessity of distinguishing between a group of men and a group of both men and women; and the exposition to a discourse with frequent NPs with explicit feminine forms. The results indicate that the gender stereotype associated to the noun has a clear effect in the choice of NPs and that NPs with an explicit reference to the feminine components are more frequent when the noun carries a feminine stereotype.