Language and Thought

By: Danaese Maria F. Tariman

AB Psychology 2
 Language and Thought

• One of the most interesting areas in the study of

language is the relationship between language
and the thinking of the human mind (Harris, 2003).

• Many different questions have been asked about

the relationship between language and thought.
We consider only some of them here. Studies
comparing and contrasting users of differing
languages and dialects form the basis of this
section.
 Differences among Languages

Why are there so many different languages around the world?

And how does using any language in general and using a particular
language influence human thought?

 Different languages comprise different lexicons and also

use different syntactical structures.
(depending in the physical and cultural environments in which the
languages arose and developed)
Differences among Languages

In terms of lexicons
 A lexicon is the vocabulary of a person, language or branch
of knowledge.
Example:
• In Singapore, they call restrooms as “toilet” and not as CR
(comfort room)
• A person in a culture that does not have access to
computer would just simply describe what it is and call it
computer, however those who know would call it PC, Mac
or laptop and know some other features.
Differences among Languages

In terms of syntactical structures

syntactical structures of languages differ too
almost all languages permit some way in which to communicate actions,
agents of actions, and objects of actions (Gerrig & Banaji, 1994).
what differs across languages is the order of subject, verb, and object in a
typical declarative sentence.
also differing is the range of grammatical inflections and other markings
that speakers are obliged to include as key elements of a sentence.
Differences among
Languages
Example:
• In Thai syntactical structure, they use their name as a first person when talking about themselves
Instead of “I am hungry”, they say it as “Mint is hungry.”, where Mint is referring to himself as the
first person.

• The typical Turkish word order is SOV (Subject-Object-Verb), which means that the subject comes
first, followed by an object, and then a verb. Let’s go over what a subject, object, and verb are:
A subject is the person or thing that performs the action.
An object is a noun or noun phrase that the verb affects.
A verb is a word that represents an action or state.
Ex.
Turkish: Ben Türkçe öğreniyorum. – “I am learning Turkish.” (English Structure: Subject-Verb-Object)
English: I Turkish I’m learning (by word)

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
The concept relevant to the question of whether
language influences thinking is linguistic relativity.
Linguistic relativity refers to the assertion that speakers of
different languages have differing cognitive systems and that
these different cognitive systems influence the ways in
which people think about the world.
Linguistic-relativity hypothesis is sometimes referred
to as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Differnces among
languages
It was named after the two men who were
most forceful in propagating it.
Edward Sapir (1941/1964) said that “we see and hear
and otherwise experience very largely as we do
because the language habits of our community
predispose certain choices of interpretation”.
Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956) stated this view even
more strongly:
We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native
languages. The categories and types that we isolate
from the world of phenomena we do not find there
because they stare every observer in the face; on the
contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux
of impressions which has to be organized by our
minds—and this meanslargely by the linguistic
systems in our minds.
Linguistic Universals

Linguistic universals— characteristic patterns that occurs across all languages of various
cultures—and relativity.
— properties shared by all languages
• Colors
- People in every culture can be expected to be exposed, at least potentially, to pretty
much the same range of colors.
- Languages ranged from using all 11 color names, these are black, white, red, yellow,
green, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange, and gray.
• Verbs and Grammatical Gender
Syntactical as well as semantic structural differences across languages may affect thought.
Example: "Grammatical" Number Phrase Gloss
Gender in Spanish

Masculine Singular el plato "the dish"

Plural los platos "the dishes"
Feminine Singular la guitarra "the guitar"
Plural las guitarras "the guitars"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender
 Example:
In English, people use the prepositions “in” and “on” to describe putting a pear in bowl or
putting a cup on the table. “In” refers to containment of somesort, whereas “on” refers to support.

• Concepts
an abstract idea; a general notion

Examples:
In Chinese, a single term, shì gÈ, specifically describes a person who is “worldly, experienced,
socially skillful, devoted to his or her family, and somewhat reserved”.

In Filipino, the term “kilig” is an expression when people are on a relationship, when seeing couples
who are sweet or when they are supporting their favorite loveteams.
 Bilingualism and Dialects

Bilinguals—people who can speak two languages

Monolinguals—people who can speak only one language
Multilinguals—speak at least two and possibly more languages
What differences, if any, emanate from the availability of two languages
versus just one?
Might bilingualism affect intelligence, positively or negatively?
 Bilingualism and Dialects

Bilingualism—An Advantage or Disadvantage?

Does bilingualism make thinking in any one language more difficult, or does it enhance
thought processes?
Advantage
• Executive functions, which are located primarily in the prefrontal cortex and include abilities
such as to shift between tasks or ignore distracters, are enhanced in bilingual individuals.
Ex. Cebuano watching TV patrol in a Tagalog dialect
Disadvantage
•But negative effects may result as well. Bilingual speakers tend to have smaller vocabularies
and their access to lexical items in memory is slower.
ex. vocabulary overlap
e.g., A Cebuano knows how to speak Bisaya and English yet can’t understand deep Bisaya
words like numbers and other terms in Bisaya.
What might be the causes of this difference?
 Distinguish between Additive bilingualism versus Subtractive bilingualism
In additive bilingualism, a
second language is acquired in
addition to a relatively well-
developed first language.
It appears that the additive form
results in increased thinking
ability.
ex. A child from Cebu learns
English and Bisaya first at home
 Individuals may need to be at a certain
then during Preparatory or
Kinder 2 level starts to learn
Tagalog dialect when introduced
at school.
relatively high level of competence in both
languages for a positive effect of
bilingualism.
In subtractive bilingualism,
elements of a second
language replace elements
of the first language.
In contrast, the subtractive
form results in decreased
thinking ability.
ex. A child that was born and
raised in the Philippines that
migrated at Japan at the age of
5 years old might still
understand Filipino language
but will forget how to speak in
Filipino.
Bilingualism and Dialects
 Researchers also distinguish between simultaneous bilingualism and sequential bilingualism

Simultaneous bilingualism-
occurs when a child learns Sequential bilingualism-
two languages from birth occurs when an individual
first learns one language
ex. child learns first and then another
languages at home
through parents and family ex. A Filipino child is trained
to learn Mandarin through
e.g., Child first learns tutor even if the child is not
English and Bisaya being sent to a Chinese
through parents and family school.
at home

Either form of language learning can contribute to

fluency.

Bilingualism and Dialects

 It also depends on the particular circumstances in which the languages are learned.

This happens regardless of whether they consistently are exposed to one or two
languages.
For example: In the United States, many people make a big deal of bilingualism,
perhaps because relatively few Americans born in the United States of non-
immigrant parents learn a second language to a high degree of fluency.

Bilingualism and Dialects

 Factors That Influence Second Language
Acquisition
Age - a significant factor believed to contribute to acquisition of a language
The mastery of native-like pronunciation often seems to depend on early
acquisition.
But individual differences are great and some learners attain native-like
language abilities even at a later age (Birdsong, 2009).
Adults may appear to have a harder time learning second languages
because they can retain their native language as their dominant language.
Young children, in contrast, who typically need to attend school in the
new language, may have to switch their dominant language. So, they learn
the new language to a higher level of mastery (Jia & Aaronson, 1999).

A study on second language acquisition found that age and proficiency in

a language are negatively correlated (Mechelli et al., 2004).
This does not mean that we cannot learn a new Flanguage later in life,
but rather, that the earlier we learn it, the more likely we will become
highly proficient in its use.

Bilingualism and Dialects

 Bilingualism and Dialects One reason is that each individual language learner
brings distinctive cognitive abilities and knowledge to the
Experiences and situations
language-learning experience.
 What kinds of learning
Examples:
experiences facilitate second- Second-language acquisition in terms of a professional
language acquisition? technical field.
Kim Yee a doctor (e.g medical jargons) must be able to
 There is no single correct communicate regarding her specialized technical field. He
may be considered proficient if she masters the technical
answer to that question
vocabulary, a primitive basic vocabulary, and the
(Bialystock & Hakuta, 1994). In rudiments of syntax.
addition, the kinds of learning
experiences that facilitate
second-language acquisition
should match the context and
uses for the second language
once it is acquired.

Second-language acquisition in terms of bilingualism
Example:
Sumesh is a student who studies a second language in
an academic setting. Sumesh may be expected to have
a firm grasp of syntax and a rather broad, if shallow,
vocabulary.
Bilingualism and Dialects
Each of these language learners may
require different kinds of language
experiences to gain the proficiency
being sought. Different kinds of
experiences may be needed to
enhance their competence in the,
phonology- study of speech sounds of
a language or languages, and the laws
governing them
vocabulary- the body of words used in
a particular language and occasion
syntax- the order or arrangement of
words and phrases to form proper
sentences
and pragmatics- the study of meaning
in language in a particular context
of the second language.
 Different levels of difficulties and other factors
When speakers of one language learn other
languages, they find the languages differentially
difficult.
Example:
It is much easier, on average, for a native speaker of
English to acquire Spanish as a second language than
it is to acquire Russian. One reason is that English and
Spanish share more roots on word order than do
English and Russian.
*Like in English, a very common word order in
Spanish is Subject + Verb + Object

*Sometimes, the typical Subject+Verb+Object Russian

word order can become Verb+Subject+Object. That's
why we can say that word order in Russian sentences
is quite flexible. Their existing grammar rules allow
Bilingualism and Dialects word order to be changed.
Biligualism and Dialects
Bilingualism: One System or Two?

• The single-system hypothesis

suggests that two languages
are represented in just one
system or brain region (see
Hernandez et al., 2001, for
evidence supporting this
hypothesis in early
bilinguals).
• The dual-system hypothesis
suggests that two languages
are represented somehow in
separate systems of the mind
(De Houwer, 1995; Paradis,
1981).
 Two languages seem to
share some, but not all,
aspects of mental
representation.
Language Mixtures and Change
Bilingualism is not a certain outcome
of linguistic contact between
different language groups. Here are
some scenarios of what can happen
when different language groups
come into contact with each other:
Pidgin- a language that has no native
speakers (Wang, 2009)
- two different language groups
are in prolonged contact with one
another and begin to share some
vocabulary that is superimposed onto
each group’s language use.
Creole- admixture of languages that
develop into a distinct linguistic form
overtime and has its own grammar
Protolanguage- modern creoles that
resemble an evolutionarily early form
of language
Creoles and pidgins arise when two
linguistically distinctive groups meet.
Dialect- is a regional variety of a
language distinguished by features
such as vocabulary, syntax, and
pronunciation.
- a counterpart that occurs when a
single linguistic group gradually
diverges toward somewhat distinctive
variations.
Bilingualism and Dialects
Bilingualism and Dialects

Many of the words we choose are a result of the dialect we use.

ex: Word choice for a “soft drink”.
Depends on the dialect you use, you may order a “soda,” “pop,” or a “Coke”.
ex. In America they call “slippers” as “flip-flops” and sports shoes as “trainers”

Dialectical differences often represent harmless regional variations however, they can create
few serious communication difficulties and these difficulties can lead to some confusion.

ex. Cebuano speaking to a Manileno using a Tagalog dialect can be a struggle because
of dialectal differences.
ex. “May langgam sa puno.”
The word “langgam” means bird in Bisaya while it means ants in Tagalog dialect.
Bilingualism and Dialects
Linguicism- stereotype based on
Differing dialects are dialect that views that one dialect
assigned to different is superior to another and may
social statuses: lead one to make judgments about
the speaker that are biased.
•Standard form dialects
Ex. A person who uses a non-
have higher status, standard form may be judged to be
called as superior less educated or less
dialect, and has trustworthy than a person who
political and economic uses a more standard form.
power in the society
e.g. A person that speaks fluently
than the non-standard
in English is smarter than the one
dialects. who can’t speak.
Neuroscience and Bilingualism

Findings suggest that this area of the brain benefits from the learning of
a second language and that the earlier this learning occurs, the better it is
both for brain density and for overall proficiency

Other studies, however, suggest, that the brain regions activated by two
languages may actually overlap (Gandour et al., 2007; Yokohama et al.,
2006). Whether or not the same brain areas are involved likely depends on
other factors, like the age of acquisition of the second language.

One study had bilingual persons complete a sentence-generation task

(i.e., participants were asked to create sentences). The study showed that
the centers of activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus are overlapping for
early bilinguals. Late bilinguals, however, show separate centers of
activation (Kim et al., 1997).

Bilingualism and Dialects

Slips of the Tongue
Slips of the tongue—inadvertent linguistic errors in
what we say
—one way of using language incorrectly
—speech errors
—may occur at any level of linguistic analysis:
phonemes, morphemes, or larger units of
language
—what we think and what we mean to say do
not correspond to what we actually do say
—we have the idea right, but its expression
comes out wrong
People tend to make various kinds of slips in their conversations (Fromkin,1973; Fromkin & Rodman, 1988):

1.)Anticipation- the speaker uses a language element before it is appropriate in the sentence because it
corresponds to an element that will be needed later in the utterance.
Ex. Instead of saying, “an inspiring expression,” a speaker might say, “an expiring expression.”

2.)Perseveration- the speaker uses a language element that was appropriate earlier in the sentence but that is
not appropriate later on.
Ex. A speaker might say, “We sat down to a bounteous beast” instead of a “bounteous feast.”

3.)Substitution- the speaker substitutes one language element for another.

Ex. You may have warned someone to do something “after it is too late,” when you meant “before it is
too late.”

4.)Reversal (also called “transposition”)- the speaker switches the positions of two language elements.
Ex. The reversal that reportedly led “flutterby” to become “butterfly.” This reversal captivated language
users so much that it is now the preferred form. Sometimes, reversals can be fortuitously opportune.
5.)Spoonerisms- the initial sounds of two words are reversed and make two entirely different words. The term is
named after the Reverend William Spooner, who was famous for them. Some of his choicest slips include,
Ex. “You have hissed all my mystery lectures,” [missed all my history lectures] and
“Easier for a camel to go through the knee of an idol” [the eye of a needle] (Clark & Clark, 1977).
6.)Malapropism- one word is replaced by another that is similar in sound but different in meaning
e.g., furniture dealers selling “naughty pine” instead of “knotty pine”

7.) Slips may occur because of insertions of sounds

e.g., “mischievious” instead of “mischievous” or
“drownded” instead of “drowned” or
other linguistic elements.
The opposite kind of slip involves deletions
e.g., sound deletions such as “prossing” instead of “processing”
Such deletions often involve blends
e.g., “blounds” for “blended sounds”
 Metaphorical Language

Metaphors- juxtapose placed together two nouns in a way that positively

asserts their similarities, while not disconfirming their
dissimilarities
- a way of expressing thoughts
e.g., The house was a pigsty.
Related to metaphors are similes.
Similes- introduce the words like or as into a comparison between items.
e.g., The child was as quiet as a mouse.
 Metaphors contain 4 key elements
 2 are the items being compared: tenor & vehicle
The house was a pigsty.
Tenor is the topic of the metaphor
e.g., house
Vehicle is what the tenor is described in terms of
e.g., pigsty

 2 are ways in which the items are related: ground & tension
The house was a pigsty.
The ground of the metaphor is the set of similarities between the tenor and
the vehicle.
e.g., both the house and pigsty are messy
The tension of the metaphor is the set of dissimilarities between the two
e.g., people do not live in pigsties but do live in houses.
Various theories have been proposed to explain how metaphors work. The
traditional views have highlighted either the ways in which the tenor and the
vehicle are similar or the ways in which they differ.

Traditional comparison view- highlights the importance of the comparison.

e.g., “Abused children are walking time bombs.”
*comparison view underscores the similarity between the elements:
their potential for explosion

The anomaly view of metaphor- emphasizes the dissimilarity between the tenor and the
vehicle
e.g., “Abused children are walking time bombs.”
*highlight the dissimilarities between abused children and time bombs
The domain-interaction view - integrates aspects of each of the preceding views
- suggests that a metaphor is more than a comparison and more than an anomaly
- a metaphor involves an interaction of some kind between the domain (area of
knowledge, such as animals, machines, plants) of the tenor and the domain of the vehicle
(Black, 1962; Hesse, 1966).

2 circumstances occur:
First, the tenor and the vehicle share many similar characteristics
e.g., the potential explosiveness of abused children and time bombs
Second, the domains of the tenor and the vehicle are highly dissimilar
e.g., the domain of humans and the domain of weapons

Another view is that that metaphors are essentially a non-literal form of class-inclusion statements
- The tenor of each metaphor is a member of the class characterized by the vehicle of the given metaphor
- We understand metaphors not as statements of comparison but as statements of category membership
Ex. “My colleague’s partner is an iceberg.” (referring to a feature of a cold boyfriend and like an iceberg)
“Basketball players are giants.” (referring to relationship between tall people and a giant that have the same
feature as tall)
Reference:
Cognitive Psychology Book Sixth Edition by Robert J. Sternberg