Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought (Bradford Books)

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 5
Contents......Page 7
Contributors......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 11
I Introduction......Page 13
Whither Whorf......Page 15
References......Page 24
II Position Statements......Page 27
1.1 Introduction......Page 29
1.2 Representations for Language......Page 30
1.3 Representations for Events......Page 31
1.4 Perspective and Lexical Choice......Page 32
1.5 Some Consequences......Page 34
References......Page 35
2.2 The Doctrine of Simple Nativism and Its Coevolutionary Alternative......Page 37
2.3 Linguistic Variation......Page 40
2.4 The Very Thought: Could the Language We Speak Influence the Way We Think?......Page 45
2.5 The Issues in the Light of Empirical Evidence......Page 49
2.6 Conclusion......Page 53
References......Page 56
3.1 Introduction......Page 59
3.2 Joint Attention as Social Cognition......Page 60
3.3 Organizing Cognition for Purposes of Linguistic Communication......Page 63
3.4 New Forms of Thinking......Page 65
3.5 Linguistic Cognition......Page 66
References......Page 69
III Language as Lens: Does the Language We Acquire Influence How We See the World?......Page 71
4.1 Introduction......Page 73
4.3 Beyond Thinking for Speaking......Page 74
4.4 Grammatical Gender......Page 75
4.4.1 Why Might Grammatical Gender Be Taken as Meaningful?......Page 76
4.4.3 Does Grammatical Gender Affect Meaning?......Page 77
4.4.4 Limitations of Previous Evidence......Page 78
4.5 Grammatical Gender and Memory......Page 80
4.6 Grammatical Gender and Object Descriptions......Page 81
4.7 Separating Effects of Language and Culture......Page 83
4.8 Grammatical Gender and Picture Similarity......Page 84
4.9 But How Does Language Affect Thought?......Page 85
4.10 So, Does Language Shape Thought?......Page 87
Notes......Page 89
References......Page 90
5.1 Introduction......Page 93
5.2 Artifacts......Page 99
5.2.1 Method......Page 100
5.2.2 Results and Discussion......Page 102
5.3 Motion Events......Page 105
5.3.1 Method......Page 107
5.3.2.1 Comparison of Linguistic Differences......Page 108
5.3.2.2 Recognition Memory Perfomance......Page 110
5.3.2.3 Similarity Judgments......Page 111
5.3.2.4 Summary......Page 113
5.4.1 Summary......Page 114
5.4.3 Developmental Issues......Page 115
5.4.4 Relation to Recent Studies of Adult Cognition......Page 118
References......Page 119
6.1 Introduction......Page 125
6.2.1 Spatial Semantics......Page 129
6.2.2 Phonology......Page 134
6.3 Linguistic Experience Does Not Cause Reorganization of Nonlinguistic Representations......Page 136
6.3.1 Color......Page 137
6.3.2 Spatial Location......Page 139
6.3.3 Objects......Page 145
6.3.4 Motion Events......Page 148
6.4.1 Color......Page 152
6.4.2 Spatial Location......Page 156
6.4.3 Space and Time......Page 161
6.5 Final Thoughts......Page 162
References......Page 164
7.1 Introduction......Page 169
7.2 Thinking for Speaking......Page 170
7.3 Descriptions of Motion Events......Page 173
7.4.1 Ease of Lexical Access......Page 176
7.4.3 Use in Oral Narrative......Page 177
7.4.4.1 Thinking for Writing......Page 178
7.4.4.2 Thinking for Translating......Page 179
7.4.5 Building Semantic Domains in Acquisition......Page 180
7.4.6 Innovative and Expressive Uses of Manner-of-Motion Verbs......Page 182
7.4.7 Mental Imagery......Page 184
7.4.8 Salience of Paths and Landmarks......Page 186
7.4.9 Language and Thought Online in the Domain of Motion Events......Page 187
7.6 Memory for Reported Events......Page 188
7.7 Memory for Events for Later Reporting......Page 189
7.8 A Framework for Thinking-for-Speaking Research......Page 190
7.9 Speaking, Thinking, and Cultural Practice......Page 192
Notes......Page 194
References......Page 197
IV Languages as Tool Kit: Does the Language We Acquire Augment Our Capacity for Higher-Order Representation and Learning?......Page 205
8.1 Introduction......Page 207
8.2 The Career of Similarity......Page 209
8.3 Structure-Mapping: A Brief Review......Page 213
8.4 Why Relational Language Matters......Page 216
8.4.1 Uniform Relational Structure, Retrieval, and Transfer......Page 221
8.4.2 Relational Language in Cognitive Development......Page 222
8.5.1 Number......Page 228
8.5.2 Relational Labeling and Relational Matching......Page 229
8.6 Summary and Discussion......Page 231
8.6.1 Structural Alignment and the Career of Similarity......Page 232
8.6.2 Are Symbols Necessary?......Page 233
8.6.3 Language and Thought......Page 234
8.6.4 Challenges and Limitations......Page 236
8.6.5 Conclusions......Page 239
Notes......Page 240
References......Page 241
9.1 Introduction......Page 249
9.2 Some Historical Background......Page 250
9.3 Some Ontogenetic Considerations......Page 251
9.4 Some Phylogenetic and Comparative Considerations......Page 252
9.5 Some Possible Differences between Humans and Animals......Page 253
9.6.1 Language in the Wild......Page 255
9.6.2 Language Enculturation......Page 257
9.7.1 Visual Processing Strategies......Page 258
9.7.2 Categorization......Page 259
9.7.3 Cultural Transmission......Page 265
9.7.4 Theory of Mind......Page 268
9.8.1 Memory......Page 269
9.8.2 Counting and Transitive Inference......Page 270
9.8.3 Insight and Problem Solving......Page 271
9.9 Conclusions......Page 272
References......Page 276
10.1 Introduction......Page 289
10.2 What Makes Us Smart? Uniquely Human, Core Knowledge Systems......Page 290
10.2.1 Object Mechanics......Page 291
10.2.2 Number Sense......Page 296
10.2.3 Natural Geometry......Page 298
10.3 What Makes Us Smart? Uniquely Human Combinatorial Capacities......Page 301
10.3.1 Space......Page 303
10.3.2 Number......Page 309
10.4 Thought and Language......Page 317
10.4.1 The Nativist’s Objection: Learnability of Natural Languages......Page 318
10.4.2 A Whorfian Research Program......Page 319
References......Page 320
11.1 Introduction......Page 325
11.2 Inductive Projection of Biological Properties......Page 328
11.3 Can Young Children Project Biological Properties to Animals and Plants? Influences of Similarity, Context, and Language......Page 330
11.4 Projecting the Same Properties Helps Young Children Recognize Commonalities between Animals and Plants......Page 338
11.5 How Language Effects Are Produced in Inductive Projection......Page 341
11.6 Conclusion......Page 343
References......Page 344
12.1 Propositional Attitudes......Page 347
12.2 Children’s Theory-of-Mind Development......Page 351
12.3 A Causal Role for Language of the Mind?......Page 354
12.4 Why Might Language Help? Sociocultural Accounts......Page 357
12.5 Improving on Sociocultural Accounts......Page 361
12.6 Empirical Research Testing Our Account......Page 364
12.7 The Possibility of Implicit Reasoning......Page 374
12.8 Cultural Variation......Page 382
12.9 Back to Theories......Page 386
References......Page 390
V Language as Category Maker: Does the Language We Acquire Influence Where We Make Our Category Distinctions?......Page 397
13.1 Introduction......Page 399
13.2.1 Evidence for the Role of Cognition......Page 402
13.2.2 Evidence for the Role of Language......Page 403
13.2.2.1 Spatial Categorization in Adult English and Korean......Page 404
13.2.2.2 Spatial Categorization in the Spontaneous Speech of Learners of English and Korean......Page 407
13.2.2.3 Elicited Production......Page 408
13.2.2.4 Early Comprehension......Page 409
13.2.2.5 Additional Evidence for Language Specificity in Early Spatial Language......Page 410
13.3 Do Children Construct Semantic Categories of Space? Evidence from Error Patterns......Page 413
13.4 Mechanisms of Category Construction......Page 419
13.5.1 Containment, Support, and Tight Fit......Page 422
13.5.2 Tight versus Loose Containment......Page 423
13.5.3 Summary on Infant Spatial Sensitivities, and a Caveat......Page 424
13.6 Does Learning Language-Specific Spatial Semantic Categories Affect Nonlinguistic Cognition?......Page 426
13.7 Conclusions......Page 428
Notes......Page 430
References......Page 434
14.1 Introduction......Page 441
14.2.1 Linguistic Relativity View......Page 442
14.2.3 Empirical Data Concerning the Two Positions......Page 445
14.3.1 Marking Individuation in English......Page 447
14.3.2 Marking Individuation in Japanese......Page 448
14.3.3 Comparison of Japanese and Yucatec......Page 449
14.4 Japanese-English Crosslinguistic Studies......Page 450
14.4.1 How Do Speakers of English and Japanese Project Word Meanings?......Page 451
14.4.2.1 Adults’ Classification Behavior in the No-Word Task......Page 453
14.4.2.3 Correspondence Analysis......Page 454
14.4.2.4 Summary of the Results of the Japanese-English Crosslinguistic Comparative Studies......Page 456
14.5 Puzzling Questions......Page 458
14.5.1 What Does the Crosslinguistic Difference Mean?......Page 459
14.6.1 Two Follow-up Studies with English Speakers......Page 460
14.6.2 Japanese-Speaking Children’s Construal of Simple Objects......Page 465
14.7 Accounting for the Dissociation between Behavior in the Word Extension Task and Behavior in the No-Word Classification Task......Page 467
14.8 Reevaluating Linguistic Relativity......Page 469
14.9 Interactions among the Structure of the World, Universal Conceptual Constraints, and Language-Specific Categories......Page 472
References......Page 473
15.1 Introduction......Page 477
15.2.1 A Whorfian Approach: From Language to Reality......Page 478
15.2.2 Previous Research: From Language to Cognition......Page 480
15.3.1 Language Contrast: Number-Marking Semantics......Page 482
15.3.2 Cognitive Hypotheses and Predictions......Page 485
15.3.3 Cognitive Contrast: Shape versus Material Preference......Page 486
15.3.3.1 Adult Differences......Page 487
15.3.3.2 Developmental Patterns......Page 490
15.4 Discussion......Page 493
Notes......Page 500
References......Page 503
16.1 Introduction......Page 505
16.2 Language Can Shift Where Boundaries Are Drawn along a Continuum: An Example from Number Marking......Page 506
16.3 Language and Thought When There Is No Model for Language......Page 507
16.4 Background on Deafness and Language Learning......Page 510
16.5 Making Actors and Patients in Transitive and Intransitive Gesture Sentences: An Ergative Pattern......Page 512
16.5.1 Production Probability......Page 513
16.5.2 Gesture Order......Page 514
16.6 Is the Ergative Pattern Unique to American Deaf Children? A Look at Chinese Deaf Children......Page 519
16.7.1 Spontaneous Gestures Adults Produce As They Talk......Page 521
16.7.2 Intentional Gestures Adults Produce without Talk......Page 524
16.8 The Ergative Pattern Is More Pervasive than Might First Appear......Page 528
References......Page 531
Index......Page 535