Language and Thought Flashcards
how do languages differ?
sound structure
prosody
vocabulary
grammar
sapir-whorf (linguistic relativity) hypothesis
different language speakers experience the world differently, meaning their language shapes cognitive processes to influence thinking
how did winawer (2007) investigate the influence language has on cognition
- Gave two patches of colour to observe, asked if theyre different
- English speakers were found to be good as differentiating colours at the extreme shade diff
- When asked to do in the middle, performance dropped as they categorise all shades of blue in one group
- This was not seen in Slovak indiv. That had separate words for shades , different sides of lexical distinction
What did winawer (2007) conclude in language influencing cognition
found specific languages do not seem to determine the way people think but infleunces how people think
- This can be stronger/weaker depending on the aspect
how does language learning influence thought in preverbal infants?
since language learning begins in utero – they recognise mother tongue, sound structure, and word meanings before they can speak
categorisation
the prelinguistic ability to group distinct objects to classes based on shared features.
Language provides a tool to express and communicate categories, by teaching them to others
-We use a category label (linguistic tool) to set up two new categories to then fill with real knowledge when we do get access to it
why may babies specifically use categorization
this mechanism can be used by babies throughout the first months of life
- We have hundreds of objects surrounded around us at all times, in order to navigate the world we need to categorise these (advantageous)
waxman and markow (1995) preferential looking in 9-12m infants
displayed a novelty preference during test to an object that matched the category of objects they were previously familiarized to rather than a completely novel
However this effect only appeared when images were given a category label, didn’t work for melody
- means category labels must be essential when grouping familiarized objects into one category
when is there a principled link between language and categorisation?
at 12m
this link is sufficiently constrained to pick out only linguistic signals and powerful enough to promote abstraction
What is absrtaction?
Extracting a common principle between objects to comprise categories
ferry (2010) preferential looking in 3-4m
3m displayed familiarity preference to form categories
4m displayed novel preference to form categories
as age increases, infants become more attracted to novel words
- Probably because newborns may be drawn to something that consolidates what you’ve learned, compared to older babies that aim to seek out new info hence novelty preferences
what does listening to language boost?
cognition
verbal labels guide category learning
non-linguistic sounds fail to have the same effect
how does the mechanism for categorisation of novel words begin?
infants who hear novel words will begin to look for commonalities between objects (althaus, 2016).
what are the main ways of encoding spatial orientation?
relative (to the speaker)
absolute/ cardinal (in terms of cardinal directions)
what did levinson (1997) find about dutch and tzeltal speakers?
dutch speakers preserve relative encoding
tzeltal speakers preserve absolute encoding
- people memorize/ represent arrays using an orientation coding system prevalent in their spoken/native language
what did haun (2011) find about 8y?
struggle to switch encoding languages even if given training to do so
by this age, their language seems to have a strong influence on how they remember spatial orientation
Spatial semantic category differences
difference in how languages categorize items into spatial categories
e.g. English makes a distinction between actions resulting in :
- containment (put in ) versus
- support or surface attachment (put on)
vs Korean that makes more finer distinctions, resulting in 4 categories
how can language be used to shape spatial semantic categories? (study + findings)
English-learning toddlers lost the sensitivity to space distinctions expressed in Korean by age 3
Still sensitive to space distinctions expressed in English (put in vs put on)
which number systems are independent from language?
non-symbolic (Analog +individuation system)
we know this from evidence from animals, preverbal infants, and uneducated adults
which number systems are dependent on language?
symbolic number representations
these support precise representations (without any limits ) and recording numbers
what did miller (1995) find about number naming systems and maths skills?
no relationship between specific languages and early maths skills
but some number naming systems (mandarin) are easier to learn than others (english) as shown in the absrtact counting task where mandarins had better accuracy from 10+
why is english a difficult number naming system to learn?
the complexity of english number names presents obstacles to understanding the base-10 principle of number representation as it is more arbitrary
language and its influence on acquiring number symbolic naming systems
the way in which number naming is implemented in languages appears to have an influence on how easy it is for children to acquire number naming system
