Gender attribution and gender agreement in French Williams syndrome

Res Dev Disabil. 2009 Nov-Dec;30(6):1523-40. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2009.07.019. Epub 2009 Aug 19.

Abstract

Previous studies on grammatical gender in French individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) have led to conflicting findings and interpretations regarding keys abilities--gender attribution and gender agreement. New production data from a larger WS sample (N=24) showed that gender attribution scores in WS participants exactly mirrored those of controls: all groups overwhelmingly relied on the masculine as the default gender. WS participants' agreement scores were far lower than those of CA-controls though not significantly below those of MA-controls. They also did not improve with age, which might suggest a permanent disability in this area.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Female
  • France
  • Gender Identity*
  • Humans
  • Linguistics
  • Male
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Vocabulary
  • Williams Syndrome / psychology*
  • Young Adult