Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, and Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
Handb Clin Neurol. 2020;175:81-102. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-64123-6.00007-2.
Gender differences in language can be signs of cognitive differences, but can also by themselves be the cause for such differences. Females have a slight linguistic advantage over males, but effect sizes are small, and gender explains very little of the variance seen in the normal population (1%-2%). However, males outnumber females in the lowest 10th percentile in language tests (2:1), causing males to more often be diagnosed with developmental disorders, which rely on tests of language development. Thus, gender differences in language are negligible, if you focus on the whole population, but if you focus on language deficits, gender differences are outspoken. Differences in voice and word use can be observed among the genders, making it possible to predict gender from these measures with a high degree of certainty. A subtle finding is that women use more first person pronouns. This is also observed in depression, which is more prevalent in females, opening up a potential link. Sex chromosome trisomies are often accompanied by language deficits, but the causes for this are not known. No gender differences are observed in the linguistic symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders. Poststroke aphasia is more prevalent among women than among men, but this seems to be an age-effect. A link between the brain and gender differences in language is thus missing.
性别差异在语言上可以是认知差异的标志，但本身也可能是造成这种差异的原因。女性在语言方面略优于男性，但效应量很小，性别在正常人群中（1%-2%）所观察到的差异中只解释了很小一部分。然而，在语言测试中，男性在最低十分位数中比女性多（2:1），这导致更多的男性被诊断为发育障碍，而这些障碍依赖于语言发展的测试。因此，如果关注整个群体，那么语言方面的性别差异是微不足道的，但如果关注语言缺陷，那么性别差异就很明显了。在性别之间可以观察到语音和用词的差异，这使得可以通过这些措施以很高的确定性来预测性别。一个微妙的发现是，女性使用更多的第一人称代词。在女性中更为常见的抑郁症中也观察到了这一点，这为可能的联系开辟了道路。性染色体三体通常伴随着语言缺陷，但原因尚不清楚。在神经退行性疾病的语言症状中没有观察到性别差异。女性中风后失语症比男性更为常见，但这似乎是年龄效应。因此，大脑和语言方面的性别差异之间没有联系。
