Abstract

The article reviews the correlation between grammatical gender in languages and thought which is the core of the Sapir Whorf hypothesis Although the idea that language and thought are intertwined is ancient dating back to Plato St Augustine Immanuel Kant it is quite often linked to the writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf According to Whorf since languages differ the people who use them should vary too Cognitive development has a more profound impact on language development than the other way around and vice versa In almost every instance by numerous studies the influence of thought on language has been supported so far However the potential effects of grammatical genders on perception are among the more troubled areas of psychological research Quite a few languages are known to have grammatical gender in their noun classes including inanimate objects Russian French Spanish and Arabic are all examples of this group In French for instance coffee and salt are of masculine gender In Arabic cup desk and the calendar year are feminine Native speakers of these languages should be responsible for using right definite articles and pronouns even they alter adjectives for gender agreement