Language influences the way you think

[MiaKalish@RedPony]

Hi, MJ,

Nice to hear from you . . . hope all is well with you.

I wonder did anyone notice this paragraph:
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.
>

"Structure" is grammar. . . and yet he goes on to say, "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'."

Having or not having a word is "semantics". I wonder that someone who uses
the English language and Linguistic concepts so poorly should be analysing
others' use of language.

Note also that he only "suggests". . . in Psychology, you use this word when
you don't have empirical evidence, and have only a guess. The equivalent
sentence would be "Dr Kita GUESSES this is because Japanese and Turkish have
no verb. . .  "  !  Unless Dr Kita is a native speaker of Japanese and
Turkish, he/she has no idea whether that statement is true, or not.

So many people buy into these deficit analyses because they are swayed by
the English, made to feel "less than" simply because they don't know how the
English is working.


Mia Kalish


----- Original Message -----
From: "MJ Hardman" <hardman at UFL.EDU>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 8:24 AM
Subject: Re: Language influences the way you think


> 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
> >
>
>