Asymmetric cognitive restructuring of grammatical gender effects: how genderless English dilutes effects of gendered L1s in categorisation and memory

This study investigates whether a genderless second language (L2; English) reshapes grammatical gender (GG) effects derived from two gendered first languages (L1s; Ukrainian and Russian) in multilinguals. Previous work showed that when GG aligns across these L1s, it influences categorisation and recall of multilinguals, whereas mismatching L1s yield effects from the more proficient L1 only on categorisation. Building on earlier evidence that L2 acquisition can modulate, or restructure, GG-driven effects on cognition”–, we examined whether English dominance attenuates effects of Ukrainian and Russian, and which experiential factors predict such restructuring. Across a similarity judgement task and an associative-learning task, English weakened L1-based gender effects when gender aligned across L1s, indicating dilution of gendered conceptual representations. However, when GG systems mismatched, effects varied across tasks, with restructuring emerging only in categorisation. Furthermore, experiential factors such as daily L2 use, use of English in family contexts, and years of schooling emerged as the strongest predictors of such restructuring. Overall, our findings suggest that a genderless L2 does not uniformly override GG-based representations but interacts dynamically with multilinguals’ L1 structures and language experience, revealing asymmetries in how conceptual systems reorganise across cognitive domains.