Rethinking Linguistic Relativity

Rethinking Linguistic Relativity

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  • Author: John J. Gumperz
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • ISBN: 9780521448901
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 504

Linguistic relativity is the claim that culture, through language, affects the way in which we think, and especially our classification of the experienced world. This book reexamines ideas about linguistic relativity in the light of new evidence and changes in theoretical climate. The editors have provided a substantial introduction that summarizes changes in thinking about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in the light of developments in anthropology, linguistics and cognitive science. Introductions to each section will be of especial use to students.


Explorations in Linguistic Relativity

Explorations in Linguistic Relativity

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  • Author: Martin Pütz
  • Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
  • ISBN: 9027237069
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 386

About a century after the year Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–1941) was born, his theory complex is still the object of keen interest to linguists. Rencently, scholars have argued that it was not his theory complex itself, but an over-simplified, reduced section taken out of context that has become known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that has met with so much resistance among linguists over the last few decades. Not only did Whorf present his views much more subtly than most people would believe, but he also dealt with a great number of other issues in his work. Taking Whorf's own notion of linguistic relativity as a starting point, this volume explores the relation between language, mind and experience through its historical development, Whorf's own writing, its misinterpretations, various theoretical and methodological issues and a closer look at a few specific issues in his work.


Evidence for Linguistic Relativity

Evidence for Linguistic Relativity

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  • Author: Susanne Niemeier
  • Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
  • ISBN: 9789027237057
  • Category : Discourse analysis
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 278

This volume has arisen from the 26th International LAUD Symposium on "Humboldt and Whorf Revisited. Universal and Culture-Specific Conceptualizations in Grammar and Lexis." While contrasting two or more languages, the papers in this volume either provide empirical evidence confirming hypotheses related to linguistic relativity, or deal with methodological issues of empirical research.These new approaches to Whorf's hypotheses do not focus on mere theorizing but provide more and more empirical evidence gathered over the last years. They prove in a very sophisticated way that Whorf's ideas were very lucid ones, even if Whorf's insights were framed in a terminology which lacked the flexibility of linguistic categories developed over the last quarter of this century, especially in cognitive linguistics. To date, there is sufficient proof to claim that linguistic relativity is indeed a vital issue, and the current volume confirms a more general trend for rehabilitating Whorf's theory complex and also offers evidence for it. It contains articles written by scholars from various fields of linguistics including phonology, psycholinguistics, language acquisition, historical linguistics, anthropological linguistics and (cross-)cultural semantics, which all contribute to a re-evaluation and partial reformulation of Whorf's thinking.


Linguistic Relativity in SLA

Linguistic Relativity in SLA

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  • Author: Zhaohong Han
  • Publisher: Multilingual Matters
  • ISBN: 184769277X
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 231

Crosslinguistic influence is an established area of second language research, and as such, it has been subject to extensive scrutiny. Although the field has come a long way in understanding its general character, many issues still remain a conundrum, for example, why does transfer appear selective, and why does transfer never seem to go away for certain linguistic elements? Unlike most existing studies, which have focused on transfer at the surface form level, the present volume examines the relationship between thought and language, in particular thought as shaped by first language development and use, and its interaction with second language use. The chapters in this collection conceptually explore and empirically investigate the relevance of Slobin's thinking-for-speaking hypothesis to adult second language acquisition, offering compelling and enlightening evidence of the fundamental nature of crosslinguistic influence in adult second language acquisition "This is a landmark publication - the first to concertedly address the implications for SLA of Slobin's thinking-for-speaking hypothesis. Do processes of conceptualisation that L1s predispose speakers to affect their L2 production, and if so in what ways? Can we `re-think' for L2 speaking, and what cognitive abilities enable this? The research issues this book raises are fundamentally important for SLA theory and pedagogy alike." Peter Robinson, Professor of Linguistics and SLA, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan "Language affects how we think. Slobin's (1996) thinking-for-speaking hypothesis concerns the ways that native language directs speakers' attention to pick those characteristics of events that are readily encodable therein. In this impressive collection, Han and Cadierno marshal strong support for effects of native language upon second language use, i.e. for `rethinking-for-speaking'. A must-read for anybody interested in linguistic relativity and transfer in SLA." Nick Ellis, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan, USA


Linguistic Relativities

Linguistic Relativities

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  • Author: John Leavitt
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • ISBN: 1139494872
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 257

There are more than six thousand human languages, each one unique. For the last five hundred years, people have argued about how important language differences are. This book traces that history and shows how language differences have generally been treated either as of no importance or as all-important, depending on broader approaches taken to human life and knowledge. It was only in the twentieth century, in the work of Franz Boas and his students, that an attempt was made to engage seriously with the reality of language specificities. Since the 1950s, this work has been largely presented as yet another claim that language differences are all-important by cognitive scientists and philosophers who believe that such differences are of no importance. This book seeks to correct this misrepresentation and point to the new directions taken by the Boasians, directions now being recovered in the most recent work in psychology and linguistics.


Language Diversity and Thought

Language Diversity and Thought

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  • Author: John A. Lucy
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • ISBN: 9780521387972
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 350

An examination of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis on the relationship between grammar and thought.


Linguistic Relativity Today

Linguistic Relativity Today

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  • Author: Marcel Danesi
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN: 1000318168
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 155

This is the first textbook on the linguistic relativity hypothesis, presenting it in user-friendly language, yet analyzing all its premises in systematic ways. The hypothesis claims that there is an intrinsic interconnection between thought, language, and society. All technical terms are explained and a glossary is provided at the back of the volume. The book looks at the history and different versions of the hypothesis over the centuries, including the research paradigms and critiques that it has generated. It also describes and analyzes the relevant research designed to test its validity in various domains of language structure and use, from grammar and discourse to artificial languages and in nonverbal semiotic systems as well. Overall, this book aims to present a comprehensive overview of the hypothesis and its supporting research in a textbook fashion, with pedagogical activities in each chapter, including questions for discussion and practical exercises on specific notions associated with the hypothesis. The book also discusses the hypothesis as a foundational notion for the establishment of linguistic anthropology as a major branch of linguistics. This essential course text inspires creative, informed dialogue and debate for students of anthropology,linguistics, cultural studies, cognitive science, and psychology.


Linguistic Relativity versus Innate Ideas

Linguistic Relativity versus Innate Ideas

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  • Author: Julia M. Penn
  • Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
  • ISBN: 3110818442
  • Category : Philosophy
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 64


Grammatical Categories and Cognition

Grammatical Categories and Cognition

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  • Author: John A. Lucy
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • ISBN: 9780521566209
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 232

John Lucy uses original, empirical data to examine the Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis: the proposal that the grammar of the particular language that we speak affects the way we think about reality. The author compares the grammar of American English with that of the Yucatec Maya, an indigenous language spoken in Southeastern Mexico, focusing on differences in the number marking patterns of the two languages. He then identifies distinctive patterns of thought relating to these differences by means of a systematic assessment of memory and classification preferences among speakers of both languages.


Linguistic Relativity

Linguistic Relativity

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  • Author: Caleb Everett
  • Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
  • ISBN: 3110308142
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 306

The claim that crosslinguistic disparities foster differences in nonlinguistic thought, often referred to as 'linguistic relativity', has for some time been the subject of intense debate. For much of that time the debate was not informed by much experimental work. Recently, however, there has been an explosion of research on linguistic relativity, carried out by numerous scholars interested in the interaction between language and nonlinguistic cognition. This book surveys the rapidly accruing research on this topic, much of it carried out in the last decade. Structured so as to be accessible to students and scholars in linguistics, psychology, and anthropology, it first introduces crucial concepts in the study of language and cognition. It then explores the relevant experimentally oriented research, focusing independently on the evidence for relativistic effects in spatial orientation, temporal perception, number recognition, color discrimination, object/substance categorization, gender construal, as well as other facets of cognition. This is the only book to extensively survey the recent work on linguistic relativity, and should serve as a critical resource for those concerned with the topic.