Transcript Language Culture Cognition

Whorf Hypothesis
1) Linguistic determinism: Language
determines / governs / affects non-linguistic
cognitive processes [and behavior].
[STRONG and WEAK versions]
2) Linguistic relativity: Cognitive processes
are different for different languages.
OR People who speak different languages
see the world differently.
Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole
Publishing Company, pp. 365, 370.
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"Attempts to test the hypothesis that differences in
language determine differences in thinking must, at
the outset, define the three key terms."
1) "differences in language"
lexical or grammatical
2) "differences in thinking"
"habitual mode of thought"
3) "languages 'determine' thought"
"Languages differ not so much as to what
can be said in them, but rather as to what is
relatively easy to say' ([Hockett, 1954:] 122)"
Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole
Publishing Company, pp. 369-370.
2
Lexical Evidence
Color terms
Lexical categories: typicality and
familiarity
Number terms: counting and naming
Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole
Publishing Company, pp. 369-375.
3
Hierarchy of Color Terms
1
black
white
2
3
4
5
6
red
yellow
green
blue
brown
purple
pink
orange
gray
Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove:
Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, p. 371.
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Characteristics of Number
Names -1
Chinese
English
1-10
arbitrary
arbitrary
11-19
regular
transparent
not regular
not transparent
20, 30…
regular
transparent
consistent
not transparent
Based on Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove:
Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, p. 374-375.
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Multiply these numbers:
Western
16
x3
8
x7
24
x4
English words
seventeen
three
four
nine
twenty-one
two
Roman numerals
XVI
V
VIII
IX
XXII
III
Chinese
十八
四
九
六
二十三
三
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Evidence for the Whorf
Hypothesis
Lexical Evidence
Color terms
Lexical categories: typicality and familiarity
Number terms: counting and naming
Grammatical Influence on Cognition
Form perception
Counterfactual reasoning
Cognitive representation of number
Carroll, David W. 1999. Psychology of Language, third edition. Pacific Grove:
Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, pp. 369-375, 376-381.
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