The thesis surveys the effects of grammar on the memorization of a larger number of objects, and seeks to ascertain whether grammatical gender is a relevant factor in terms of retention. The experiment is carried out with a practical task via a website, which tests if native speakers of English, Slovene and German memorize clusters of objects differently among one another based on the grammatical gender of the object presented as a referent. The hypothesis is that languages such as Slovene and German will be more inclined to grammatical gender interference during their recall phase, as grammatical gender plays a much bigger role in these two languages than in English, where no formal grammatical gender exists. We assume that a clear mode of preference will emerge among Slovene and German participants, and that they will more readily recall objects that share the grammatical gender with the object of reference, whereas in English this effect will be significantly less prominent. Our methodological approach and theoretical basis are based on Whorf’s theory of linguistic relativity and further substantiated by contemporary cross-linguistic methods of comparison.
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