Language influences the way you think

[Matthew Ward]

Yes, and I have to add:  language undoubtedly reflects the unique ways
that various cultures look at the world, and that is one of the many
reasons why language preservation is so important.  But, the popular
view that people are somehow RESTRICTED from thinking in certain ways,
due to the languages that they speak, has not held up to a half century
of studies on the subject.  Indeed, the whole idea that "language =
thinking" has been greatly exaggerated.  I would guess this to be
especially true of words relating to motion--for example, I am very poor
at giving directions in any language that I speak, but that does not
mean that I am poor at having a mental understanding of how to get to
places.  Also, I highly doubt that people without language are somehow
restricted in terms of spatial understanding simply because they cannot
describe motions verbally.

As for this study, I speak Japanese at home, and it is true that the
Japanese intransitive verb "yureru" could be translated either as
"swing" (with a trajectory) or as "rock" (without a trajectory).  But, I
highly doubt that this means that Japanese people cannot imagine a
rocking motion with an arc (something that could, at any rate, be easily
described in Japanese, or any other language on earth--somehow people
think that meaning is conveyed solely by individual words, as if
paraphasing was impossible!).  I fact, after reading this article, I
tried the experiment out on my Japanese wife, and she had no trouble
duplicating the motion of swinging after watching me act it out.  I have
a suspicion that the researcher went into this study expecting a certain
result, and that he allowed this to influence what actually happened.

At any rate, I cannot help but notice that deficit grammars, when
posited, usually end up putting the more powerful languages on top.  You
have got to wonder about that!

MJ Hardman wrote:

>And, of course, the study is a 'deficit' study -- English comes out on top!
>Not difference, but hierarchy!
>
>Deficit grammars are prohibited in my classroom.
>
>Dr. MJ Hardman
>website:  http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/
>
>
>On 09/12/2003 12:18 PM, "Phil CashCash" <cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU> wrote:
>
>
>
>>Language influences the way you think
>>http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_818420.html
>>
>>Speakers of different languages not only describe the world differently
>>but think about it differently too, according to a new study.
>>
>>Researchers used a cartoon featuring black and white cat Sylvester to
>>study how language was reflected in the gestures people made.
>>
>>Dr Sotaro Kita of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental
>>Psychology, showed the cartoon to a group of native English, Japanese
>>and Turkish speakers and then watched their gestures as they described
>>the action they had seen.
>>
>>He found speakers of the three different languages used different
>>gestures to depict the same event, which appeared to reflect the way
>>the structure of their languages expressed that event.
>>
>>For example, when describing a scene where Sylvester swings on a rope,
>>the English speakers used gestures showing an arc trajectory and the
>>Japanese and Turkish speakers tended to use straight gestures showing
>>the motion but not the arc.
>>
>>Dr Kita suggests this is because Japanese and Turkish have no verb that
>>corresponds to the English intransitive verb 'to swing'.
>>
>>While English speakers use the arc gesture as their language can readily
>>express the change of location and the arc-shaped trajectory, Japanese
>>and Turkish speakers cannot as easily express the concept of movement
>>with an arc trajectory so they use the straight gesture.
>>
>>Dr Kita said: "My research suggests that speakers of different languages
>>generate different spatial images of the same event in a way that
>>matches the expressive possibilities of their particular language.
>>
>>"In other words, language influences spatial thinking at the moment of
>>speaking."
>>
>>Story filed: 14:06 Friday 12th September 2003
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>

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