W9 (TRIAL) Flashcards
(17 cards)
How are languages different in innumerable ways?
Languages differ in sound structure (unique phonemes), melody & rhythm (stress patterns), vocabulary (word variations), and grammar (sentence structure & rules).
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis? (linguistic relativity)
Languages shapes the way we think. This is because languages vary in structure and semantic partitioning- speakers of different languages will perceive the world differently;
Do language differences always mean differences in thought?
Not necessarily—speaking differently doesn’t always mean thinking differently. Sapir and Whorf lacked systematic experimental evidence.
Supporting evidence for linguistic relativity?
Winawer et al., (2007) Russians, with distinct words for shades of blue, distinguish them faster than English speakers, who see all as ‘blue.’
Boroditsky et al. (2002): Spanish and German speakers asked to describe a bridge. Spanish → ‘el puente’ → masculine + strong sturdy. German → ‘Brücke’ → feminine + pretty slender
Does language influence thought in preverbal infants?
Yes—language learning starts in utero. Newborns recognize their mother tongue, learn its sound structure in the first year, detect grammar patterns, and link words to meaning before speaking.
What is categorisation?
The ability to group distinct things into ‘classes’ based on shared features and functions.
Yes categorisation is possible w/o language, but language helps us express and label them and teach them to others.
How does language influence categorisation in 12-month-old infants?
12 month olds are on the THRESHOLD of producing language
Waxman & Markow (1995): Language helps categorisation. In a preferential looking test, infants hearing labels (e.g., ‘Look at the lion’) grouped familiar objects into a category, unlike those in silent or tone conditions.
Words are invitations to form categories
How does language influence categorization in 3–4-month-old infants?
Ferry et al. (2010): Hearing words (not tones or silence) helps infants form categories. 3-month-olds focus on familiar items, while 4-month-olds prefer novel ones, showing early language-driven categorization.
What’s the mechanism behind categorisation?
Upon hearing novel words, infants begin to look for commonalities between objects. Labelling fosters categorisation. (Althaus & Plunkett, 2016)
How does language help young children with spatial reference frames?
Language helps children integrate landmark-based (relative) and allocentric (geometric) spatial frames, improving navigation and spatial understanding.
What is encoding orientation?
Encoding orientation is how spatial information is stored, using landmarks (relative positioning) or geometry (absolute positioning) to navigate and recall locations.
What are the types of encoding orientations?
Relative (to the speaker) e.g the cat is on my right
Absolute (cardinal direction) e.g the cat is north of the car
How does language influence spatial encoding? (Levinson, 1997)
Language shapes spatial memory. On a spatial reconstruction task, ppts shown 3 animals in a row and asked to memorise them and recreate array. Dutch speakers (relative encoders) use left-right order, while Tzeltal speakers (absolute encoders) use north-south order.
People memorize spatial arrays using an orientation coding system prevalent in the language they speak → SW
How does language influence spatial encoding in children?
(Haun et al., 2011) By 8 years old, children encode space like adults.
Dutch children (relative encoders) use left-right, while Namibian children (absolute encoders) use north-south. Switching strategies is difficult, showing strong language influence.
By 8 years of age, specific languages seem to have a strong influence on how children remember spatial orientation → SW
How do spatial semantic categories differ across languages?
English distinguishes containment (‘put in’) vs. support (‘put on’), while Korean focuses on tight-fit (‘kkita’) vs. loose-fit (various verbs), showing different ways of categorizing space.
‘Put the book in the box’ (inside) vs ‘put the book on the table’ (book resting on surface)
Tight-fit ‘insert object in tight space e.g puzzle piece’ vs Loose-fit ‘gentle contact
How does language influence toddlers’ sensitivity to spatial categories?
Experiment where toddlers familiarised with one type of space category (familiar and novel) + tested with the preferential looking test.
At 18–24 months, English- and Korean-learning toddlers distinguish tight vs. loose fit. By 3 years, English learners lose this sensitivity, showing language shapes spatial perception early.
How does numerical cognition function without language, and what role does language play in its development?
Numerical cognition initially develops without language, as evidenced by consistent early number-word learning stages across diverse languages.
While specific languages don’t profoundly impact early math skills, languages with more regular number systems (like Mandarin Chinese) appear to facilitate the learning of larger numbers compared to less systematic languages (like English), suggesting language’s crucial role in enabling precise and limitless numerical representation beyond basic, pre-linguistic understanding.
