Question

not quite two years ago, mira was scrolling through facebook when she came across a post that struck her. a friend had written it replacing the “o” and the “a” with the “e” in words referring to groups of people. the concept of a gender - neutral form of spanish wasn’t new to mira. she was familiar with the use of the “x” in written words, as in the now commonly used latinx. she’d seen other examples too — symbols such as @ and æ for gender - neutral vowels. this new variation seemed like the most practical way to break with a system so patriarchal that plural words default to male. the gender - neutral “e” is not only inclusive of non - binary identities, mira says, it is also a powerfully symbolic protest the entire structure of the language. it creates a little crisis in your mind, like what’s happening here?” mira said. “it makes you stop and think about how we communicate.” how we speak can in fact shape the way we think, said cognitive scientist lera boroditsky. the word “bridge,” for example, is feminine in german but masculine in spanish. in experiments, boroditsky found that german speakers are more likely to describe a bridge with adjectives associated with femininity, such as beautiful or elegant while spanish speakers are more likely to depict a bridge as stereotypically masculine - tall, towering or strong. “it’s not that even with tables and chairs and watering cans, of course it’s much easier and more compelling to do that when it comes to humans,” she said. linguistic gendered differences can have real implications in society. the world bank earlier this year found evidence that “grammatical gender has a causative impact on female labor force participation.” among speakers in sweden, where the gender - neutral pronoun “hen” was added to the official swedish dictionary in 2015, found that adopting the pronoun was associated with more favorable attitudes toward women in the community. while changes in vocabulary happen fairly often, the grammar of a language rarely changes. esperanza aguirre, a lexicographer and member of the royal spanish academy, said it was possible for the gender - neutral form of spanish to someday be accepted, but she doubted it. “but i doubt it.” mira used gender - neutral spanish in her own daily life, others did too. patriarchal - relating to a system of society run by men cognitive - relating to thinking lexicographer - a person who compiles dictionaries 2. explain how boroditsky’s research about german and spanish speakers is relevant to this article’s main focus.

Explanation:

Boroditsky's research shows that language - specific gendered words (like "bridge") shape how speakers think and visualize. This relates to the article's main focus on how language's gendered nature impacts perception and society. It supports the idea that language can have real - world implications, such as in the case of gender - neutral language being a way to break with a patriarchal system.

Answer:

Boroditsky's research on German and Spanish speakers shows that the gender of words in a language can shape how speakers think about and describe objects. In the context of this article, which focuses on the use of gender - neutral language as a way to break with a patriarchal system and the impact of language on society, it demonstrates how language can have real - world implications for perception and understanding. This supports the argument that the language we use can influence our thoughts and societal structures.