T1:Lecture 6 Flashcards
What are the two positions of language and thought?
- Language is independent of cognition
2. Language influences cognition
What evidence is there for 1.
- Abstract thinking can occur without language
- Babies have concept before language
What evidence is there for 2
- Languages influences how we think
- Child conceptual development correlates to language development
What is the Whorfian Hypothesis?
Having specific language influences how you think
What is a focal colour?
Most representative colour in a category
What evidence is there against Whorfian
- Elanor Rosch studying a tribe with only 2 colours
- Findings were that perception/memory/discrimination of focal colours were similar to languages with many colours
What evidence for Whorfian?
- Russian blues, R= 2 categories and E= 1 category
- Findings were
- > R=faster to discriminate between categories than within categories
- > E=showed no categorial advantage
- > R speakers discrimination affected by verbal interference but not E speakers
What does EGO moving show?
We move towards the event
What does TIME moving show?
Time moves towards us
What underlies abstract thinking of time?
Spatial motions
Temporal relations are often marked by?
Spatial metaphors e.g. falling behind
Do these metaphors vary between languages?
Yes. They vary in orientation
- English=horizontal plane
- Mandarin=vertical plane (Boroditsky 2001)
What is Western thinking style?
Analytic
What does analytic thinking focus on?
- Objects and their properties
- Preference for avoiding contradictions
What is the Eastern thinking style?
- Holistic=emphasising contexts and relations between elements
- Preferences for dialectical (compromise) and tolerance of contradictions
