February 19, 2001

There were no new readings for this class.

The outline for the class is:

1. Announcements
2. Questions
3. Assignment #3 discussion
4. Sapir-Whorf
   • Linguistic Relativity: cultural differences in cognition are correlated with linguistics differences between cultures.
     Linguistic Determinism: cultural differences in cognition are determined by differences in languages.
   • What kinds of linguistic facts are being refered to? Lexical (a term for a specific concept) or Grammatical (concept embodied in an obligatory grammatical distinction).
   • With what kinds of phenomena is the connection being made? Whorf most interested in relating lexicon and grammar to the total world view of a culture.
   • What is the nature of the connection? Causal? If so is the linguistic or the non-linguistic the causal factor? Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, two types:
     • Strong Form: language determines thought and behavior patterns; language is a mold for thought and philosophy.
     • Weak Form: certain aspects of language can predispose people to think or act in one way rather than another; language is a guide to thought.
     • Codability influences judgement and memory: More easily coded colors (focal) are better remembered. Comparative judgements are affected by color names: given 3 color chips, pick the 'odd' color. Kay & Kempton '84: where no linguistic code exists, wavelength (perception) governs. Where there are linguistic labels, the label matters. (see color vision for examples of color perception)
     • at lexical level, lots of differences: easy to find language which has a word for which there is no one-word equivalent in another language; languages differ in providing superordinate terms for categories (Chinese has a superordinate term somewhat equivalent to "fruit and nuts"); semantic domain divided variously (color terms, geometric shapes.
     • at grammatical level, grammatical categories of language covertly bring us to pay attention to different attributes of situations (du v. sie in German, tu v. vous in French, coupled with obligatory verb conjunction forces the speaker to take note of the relation - status and intimacy - with the hearer). Another example: part of speech v. semantic implications of that category. Indoeuropean "heat" is a noun, a thing (phlogiston) whereas in Hopi heat is a verb (a kinetic theory). Of course, western scientists did eventually arrive at a kinetic theory. In psychology there are many nouns (mind) that promote a search for things rather than processes or dynamics.
   • Carroll and Casagrande studies
     • Sapir says there are few concepts universally embodied in grammatical structures; concepts might be awkwardly expressed in a language but always can be expressed. So, what effects do these differences have on the way a person thinks? Alternatively, the modes of dealing with the world might be independent of language, communicating something that exists prior to its codification in a language.
     • Need to find a correlation between a linguistic phenomenon and a nonlinguistic response. Nonlinguistic means they are neutral with respect to the special symbol systems against which they are tested.
     • Experiment I: discard 'odd' picture of three and decide which two best "go together." Subjects are either native Hopi speakers or native English speakers (rural and grad students).
       

       GROUP	Hopi response	English response	Neutral
       Hopi adults	8	4	2
       Rural Anglos	6	4	2
       Grad students	4	11	1

     • Experiment II: match one of two options to "standard". Subjects are Navaho-dominant speaking Navaho, English-dominant Navaho, and a non-matched group of children (caucasian) from Boston. Variants were shape, size, and color.
       

       	Navaho-dominant Navahos		English-dominant Navahos		White Boston children
       Age	N	percent	N	percent	N	percent
       3,4	14	64	7	33	8,10	45,69
       5	13	57	9	38	10	91
       6	12	64	5	34	8	93
       7	9	71	9	36	4	100
       8	6	74	5	45	5	83
       9,10	5	81	8	75	2	93

5. Examination #1

Digressions/Miscellaneous

Overhead Notes

Parting Thoughts

• Read Whitney, Chapter 5

Self-test Questions