language Flashcards
basic sapir-whorf hypothesis
Differences in language lead to differences in
cognition.
strong sapir-whorf
language determines thought –
without access to the right words, people cannot
have certain kinds of thoughts
strong sapir whorf consensus
widley rejected
weak sapir whorf
language influences thought –
having access to certain words influences the kinds
of thoughts that one has
weak sapir whorf consensus
Some supporting evidence but still controversy
surrounding this claim
berlin and kay
all languages have basic 2 color terms, consistent patterns in other colours
rosch heider red
people with no word for red still recalled focal red better than non-focal red
categorical perception
Differences among items that fall into different
categories are perceived to be larger than
differences among items that fall into the same
category
categorical perception implications
People judge colours to be similar when
they come from the same category (e.g.,
all siniy) than when they come from
different categories of the colour terms
(e.g., siniy and golvoy)
Having color terms or not can affect colour
perception
Support for the weak version of the
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
do people have much innate numerical abilities
no-few innate
postnates can represent numbers up to
3, anything more is cultural
gordon piraha people
Piraha’s lack of counting system limits their
ability to represent exact quantities when the set
sizes exceed 3-4
number systems arab vs chinese
Complex number naming systems in some
languages seem to affect children’s math ability
at young age
subsistence societies repesenting space
usually in absolute terms
chimps representing space
absolute terms
egocentric space representation when developed
recent development
hebrew speakers think time goes
right to left
mandarin speakers think time goes
top to bottom
photos time
height increases in direction of time, cars face in direction of time
Boroditsky & Gaby americans vs Pormpuraawians
aboriganals did not favour odering photos with any directional vector
agentive cognition fausey and boroditsky
When the incident was intentional, both English and Spanish speakers used agentive form. (“He popped the balloon”)
When the incident was accidental, Spanish speakers used less agentive form than did English speakers. (“The balloon popped.”)
When the incident was intentional, both English and Spanish speakers remembered who did it.
When the incident was accidental, Spanish speakers’ memory was less accurate than English speakers’.
agentive cogntion may be related to
indvidualism
kashima and kashima pronoun
Cultures with non-pronoun-drop languages
are more individualistic than those with
pronoun-drop languages.
chen future tense increases
clear future tense increases long term orientation
noun bias is
nouns dominating over verbs in child early vocab
tardif et al noun
noun bias not the case mandarin
tardif et al noun implications
Nouns
- focus on individual objects
- Independent,
Analytic cognition
Verbs
- focus on relationships
- Interdependent,
Holistic cognition
But the causal-effect relationship has not been empirically
tested.
