Linguistic Relativity versus Innate Ideas PDF Download

Author: Julia M. Penn
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110818442
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Author: Rik Pinxten
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110805820
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE brings to students, researchers and practitioners in all of the social and language-related sciences carefully selected book-length publications dealing with sociolinguistic theory, methods, findings and applications. It approaches the study of language in society in its broadest sense, as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches, theoretical and empirical, supplement and complement each other. The series invites the attention of linguists, language teachers of all interests, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, historians etc. to the development of the sociology of language.

Author: Hye K. Pae
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030551520
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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This open access volume reveals the hidden power of the script we read in and how it shapes and drives our minds, ways of thinking, and cultures. Expanding on the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis (i.e., the idea that language affects the way we think), this volume proposes the “Script Relativity Hypothesis” (i.e., the idea that the script in which we read affects the way we think) by offering a unique perspective on the effect of script (alphabets, morphosyllabaries, or multi-scripts) on our attention, perception, and problem-solving. Once we become literate, fundamental changes occur in our brain circuitry to accommodate the new demand for resources. The powerful effects of literacy have been demonstrated by research on literate versus illiterate individuals, as well as cross-scriptal transfer, indicating that literate brain networks function differently, depending on the script being read. This book identifies the locus of differences between the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, and between the East and the West, as the neural underpinnings of literacy. To support the “Script Relativity Hypothesis”, it reviews a vast corpus of empirical studies, including anthropological accounts of human civilization, social psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, applied linguistics, second language studies, and cross-cultural communication. It also discusses the impact of reading from screens in the digital age, as well as the impact of bi-script or multi-script use, which is a growing trend around the globe. As a result, our minds, ways of thinking, and cultures are now growing closer together, not farther apart.

Author: Ferruccio Rossi-Landi
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110812894
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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No detailed description available for "Ideologies of Linguistic Relativity".

Author: John H. McWhorter
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199361606
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Japanese has a term that covers both green and blue. Russian has separate terms for dark and light blue. Does this mean that Russians perceive these colors differently from Japanese people? Does language control and limit the way we think? This short, opinionated book addresses the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which argues that the language we speak shapes the way we perceive the world. Linguist John McWhorter argues that while this idea is mesmerizing, it is plainly wrong. It is language that reflects culture and worldview, not the other way around. The fact that a language has only one word for eat, drink, and smoke doesn't mean its speakers don't process the difference between food and beverage, and those who use the same word for blue and green perceive those two colors just as vividly as others do. McWhorter shows not only how the idea of language as a lens fails but also why we want so badly to believe it: we're eager to celebrate diversity by acknowledging the intelligence of peoples who may not think like we do. Though well-intentioned, our belief in this idea poses an obstacle to a better understanding of human nature and even trivializes the people we seek to celebrate. The reality -- that all humans think alike -- provides another, better way for us to acknowledge the intelligence of all peoples.

Author: Daniel L. Everett
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307907023
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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A bold and provocative study that presents language not as an innate component of the brain—as most linguists do—but as an essential tool unique to each culture worldwide. For years, the prevailing opinion among academics has been that language is embedded in our genes, existing as an innate and instinctual part of us. But linguist Daniel Everett argues that, like other tools, language was invented by humans and can be reinvented or lost. He shows how the evolution of different language forms—that is, different grammar—reflects how language is influenced by human societies and experiences, and how it expresses their great variety. For example, the Amazonian Pirahã put words together in ways that violate our long-held under-standing of how language works, and Pirahã grammar expresses complex ideas very differently than English grammar does. Drawing on the Wari’ language of Brazil, Everett explains that speakers of all languages, in constructing their stories, omit things that all members of the culture understand. In addition, Everett discusses how some cultures can get by without words for numbers or counting, without verbs for “to say” or “to give,” illustrating how the very nature of what’s important in a language is culturally determined. Combining anthropology, primatology, computer science, philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and his own pioneering—and adventurous—research with the Amazonian Pirahã, and using insights from many different languages and cultures, Everett gives us an unprecedented elucidation of this society-defined nature of language. In doing so, he also gives us a new understanding of how we think and who we are.

Author: Marcel Danesi
Publisher: Canadian Scholars’ Press
ISBN: 1551303477
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Language is the core of human culture - anthropologists have always put it at the centre of their agenda. So too have many linguists. The amalgam of the two disciplines, anthropological linguistics, aims to document and examine how language mirrors social structure and culture-specific thought patterns. Language, Society, and Culture provides a concrete method for studying the relation between language and society. Intended for use in introductory-level courses in linguistics that adopt a cultural focus, this text is also suitable for supplementary use in more theoretical linguistics courses. Written in Danesi's accessible and engaging style, highlighting the fascinating and vital work going on in anthropological linguistics, this book will also appeal to a broad audience of language students, scholars, and enthusiasts.

Author: Steven Pinker
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062032526
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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"A brilliant, witty, and altogether satisfying book." — New York Times Book Review The classic work on the development of human language by the world’s leading expert on language and the mind In The Language Instinct, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published.

Author: Christiane Luck
Publisher: UCL Press
ISBN: 1787356671
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Inclusive language remains a hot topic. Despite decades of empirical evidence and revisions of formal language use, many inclusive adaptations of English and German continue to be ignored or contested. But how to convince speakers of the importance of inclusive language? Rewriting Language provides one possible answer: by engaging readers with the issue, literary texts can help to raise awareness and thereby promote wider linguistic change.

Author: Robert L. Cooper
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110859017
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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No detailed description available for "The Influence of Language on Culture and Thought".