Lecture 20: Language and Thought Flashcards
How does categorization influence language?
Categorization organizes sensory experiences into socially constructed categories, which may vary across cultures, influencing language.
What role do abstract concepts play in language and thought?
Abstract concepts differ significantly across cultures and languages, suggesting a link between linguistic structure and thought.
What is the traditional view of the relationship between language and thought?
- Thought precedes and shapes language.
- Language is tailored to express existing thoughts.
What is the Language of Thought (Mentalese)?
A system of internal mental representation similar to natural language, proposed by Jerry Fodor (1980).
Which key figures support the traditional view
- Aristotle: Philosophical foundations.
- Jean Piaget: Developmental psychologist.
- Noam Chomsky: Universal grammar.
- Jerry Fodor: Mentalese.
What is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis?
Language influences thought.
- Strong Version: Language determines thought.
- Weak Version: Language makes some thoughts easier or harder.
- Very Weak Version: Language influences how information is encoded and remembered.
What examples did Whorf use to support his claims?
- Hopi language lacks a linear concept of time.
- Inuit languages have many words for snow, shaping perception.
- Lack of a word for a concept complicates understanding (e.g., Schadenfreude in German).
What are criticisms of Whorf’s claims?
- Over-reliance on translation differences.
- Ignored phrases expressing concepts without single words.
- Cultural differences might drive thought differences more than language.
How did Eleanor Rosch study color categorization in the Dani people?
- Despite having only two color terms, Dani speakers perceived colors similarly to English speakers.
- Methodology: Anthropological and experimental studies comparing color categorization.
What did Berlin & Kay (1960) find about color terms?
- Basic color terms appear in a universal order across languages.
Methodology: Comparative analysis of color vocabularies.
What did Roberson et al. (2000) find about Berinmo speakers?
- Berinmo speakers’ color perception aligned with their language categories.
Methodology: Similarity judgments, category learning, and recognition memory tasks.
How did Winawer et al. (2007) study linguistic relativity in color perception?
- Russian speakers, who distinguish light and dark blue (goluboy/siniy), outperformed English speakers in discriminating these shades.
- The effect disappeared under verbal interference.
Methodology: Discrimination tasks with and without verbal interference.
How does language influence action descriptions?
- Spanish speakers use non-agentive constructions for accidental events, while English speakers use agentive ones.
Study: Fausey & Boroditsky (2010).
Methodology: Video-based memory and description tasks.
How do time metaphors vary across languages?
- English speakers describe time horizontally, while Mandarin speakers use vertical metaphors.
Study: Boroditsky (2001).
Methodology: Priming experiments using horizontal and vertical spatial arrays.
How do English and Spanish speakers differ in memory for accidental events?
- English speakers better remember the actor, while Spanish speakers focus less on the actor.
Study: Fausey & Boroditsky (2010).
Methodology: Memory tasks for intentional and accidental events.
