Language Diversity and Thought: A Reformulation of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language)

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 9
Figures......Page 11
Acknowledgements......Page 12
General orientation......Page 15
Focus of the present research......Page 19
Overview of the research......Page 22
The linguistic analysis of experience......Page 25
The relation of languages to thought and culture......Page 27
Summary......Page 30
The linguistic analysis of experience......Page 31
The relation of languages to thought and culture......Page 33
Summary......Page 37
Conclusion......Page 38
Introduction......Page 39
Language classifies experience......Page 40
Language classifications vary across languages......Page 45
Language classifications influence thought......Page 52
Focus of research......Page 53
Basic argument......Page 59
Lexical analogies......Page 62
Grammatical analogies......Page 64
Analogical structures......Page 68
Behavioral effects of analogical structures......Page 73
Summary......Page 76
Linguistic meaning, individual thought and cultural pattern......Page 77
General summary......Page 81
Introduction......Page 83
Grammar as a direct reflection of culture: the work of Lee......Page 84
Grammar as language, vocabulary as culture: the work of Mathiot......Page 86
Hoijer's view of the relation between language and culture......Page 89
Hoijer's approach to Whorf's arguments......Page 90
Hoijer's empirical studies......Page 92
Evaluation of Hoijer's work......Page 94
Summary......Page 96
Introduction......Page 98
Controlled comparison of structural diversity......Page 99
Regional approaches......Page 100
The search for linguistic universals......Page 102
The argument for typological control......Page 103
The selected cases approach to the construction of typologies......Page 107
Universals and variables......Page 109
The typological pattern......Page 110
The cognitive implications......Page 113
Concluision and summary......Page 115
Diversity in the cultural uses of language......Page 116
The quantitative dimension: active use of categories......Page 117
The qualitative dimension: differing use of categories......Page 119
The reflexive dimension: cultural origins of the linguistic relativity hypothesis......Page 128
Silverstein's project and terminology......Page 129
The limits of awareness......Page 131
Application of the linguistic relativity issue......Page 133
Summary......Page 139
General summary......Page 140
Introduction......Page 141
The psycholingustic approach to the relativity question......Page 142
Emphasis on mechanism connecting language to thought......Page 143
Emphasis on lexical denotation......Page 146
Emphasis on controlled assesment......Page 148
Summary......Page 149
Anything can be said in any language (or the irrelevance of messages)......Page 150
Any one language can serve for all (or the irrelevance of differences among codes)......Page 152
Objectified meaning as a metalanguage for comparison. Lenneberg's inter-cultural method......Page 155
Three criteria for developing comparable language data......Page 156
The language of experience......Page 157
Aside on Lenneberg and American psychology......Page 160
The English lexicon as metalanguage for describing objective meaning (and reality)......Page 161
Three kinds of "snow"......Page 162
The rationale for working with color......Page 163
The objective characterization of color......Page 164
Color as a comparative category......Page 166
Summary......Page 169
Lexical categories and objective reality......Page 171
The dismissal of Whorf's structural examples......Page 172
Codability: linking language and thought......Page 173
Operationalizing codability......Page 176
The relation of codability to recognition memory......Page 177
The problem of perceptual discriminability......Page 178
Comparative results with Zuni speakers......Page 180
Summary......Page 183
Replications, extensions and problems......Page 184
Development of the communication accuracy measure: the work of Lantz and Steffire......Page 185
A cross-cultural study of communication accuracy: the work of Steffire, Castillo Vales, and Morley......Page 186
Communication accuracy in the deaf: the work of Lantz and Lenneberg......Page 189
Summary......Page 190
"Basic color terms"......Page 191
Contrast with earlier research......Page 192
Typological approaches......Page 194
Focality and recognition memory: the work of Heider......Page 195
Focal colors versus communication accuracy: the work of Lucy and Shweder......Page 196
Category boundaries and perceptual judgment: the work of Kay and Kempton......Page 197
Aside on cognitive anthropology......Page 198
General summary......Page 199
Form classes and habitual classification......Page 202
The psychological reality of the parts of speech: the work of Brown......Page 203
Common orientation......Page 207
Individual studies......Page 209
Caroll: Hopi lexical meaning and preferences in picture sorting......Page 210
Casagrande: Navaho classifiers and shape preference in object sorting......Page 212
Maclay: Navaho classifiers and form preference in object sorting......Page 216
Common problems......Page 220
Summary......Page 221
Chinese counterfactual reasoning: the work of Bloom......Page 222
Bloom's theoretical orientation......Page 223
Initial observations and formulation of the problem......Page 224
Experimental evidence......Page 227
The Bloom-Au debate......Page 230
Au's initial criticisms of Bloom......Page 231
Au's empirical studies......Page 233
Bloom's reply to Au (etc.)......Page 236
Summary......Page 242
Bloom's supplementary arguments: convergent patterns in Chinese......Page 243
The generic concept......Page 244
Entification of properties and actions......Page 246
Entification of conditions and events......Page 247
Entification and the construction and manipulation of theoretical frameworks......Page 249
General proclivity for theoretical, hypotheical thinking in the West......Page 252
Overview of Bloom's convergent evidence......Page 256
The linguistic shaping of cognitive development......Page 257
The linguistic shaping of cognitive functioning......Page 260
Cognitive barriers to cross-linguistic communication......Page 262
General evaluation of Bloom's work......Page 263
Yucatec logical connectors: the work of Galda......Page 266
Overall conclusions......Page 269
Boas, Sapir, and Whorf......Page 271
The anthropological linguists
......Page 272
Research on color lexicons......Page 274
Research on grammar
......Page 276
Key dimensions of the hypothesis: language, thought, and reality in comparative perspective......Page 277
Need for a multidisciplinary approach
......Page 278
The structure of linguistic reference and its users......Page 279
Individual and cultural patterns of thought......Page 282
Control and validity in assesment......Page 283
Habitual and specialized thought
......Page 286
The description of reality and the comparative dilemma......Page 287
Summary
......Page 289
1. Development of the linguistic relativity hypothesis in America: Boas and Sapir......Page 291
2. Development of the linguistic relativity hypothesis in America: Whorf......Page 294
3. Approaches in anthropological linguistics: typical ethnographic case studies......Page 301
4. Approaches in anthropological linguistics: theoretical and methodological advances
......Page 302
5. Approaches in comparative psycholinguistics: experimental studies on the lexical coding of color
......Page 305
6. Approaches in comparative psycholinguistics: experimental studies on grammatical categories
......Page 313
7. Overview and assesment of previous empirical research......Page 321
References
......Page 322
Index......Page 336