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MEANING, THOUGHT AND REALITY
How categories influence thinking
Thais SouzaVinícius André
COGNITIVE SEMANTICS
The main principles:
- Language is a way of expressing speaker’s concepts of the world
- Language is acquired and contextual
- The ability to use language is based on general cognitive resources
Theories Language: a system of symbols related to entities
in the world (as they are represented mentally) and to connections between them.
Thoughts are “inner states” and “inner representations”. (Devitt, M.; Sterelny, K., 1987)
Let’s consider the phrase:
the tall blond man with one black shoe.
In this context, “the man” and “him” may refer to the same person. It’s the brain that makes the connections, not English language itself.
• “Mentalese”, the language of thought. (Pinker, 1994)
Pinker suggests that “people do not think in English or Chinese… they think in a language of thought.”
Language vs Thought
Linguistic Determinism Linguistic Relativism
vsthoughts are determined by
lexicalized concepts (vocabulary, grammar)
differences among languages cause differences in the
thoughts of their speakers
Thought influences language by “our functioning in the world”. (Lakoff, 1987)
Experiential Realism Objective Realism
vsconceptual structures
depend on and develop from our bodily experiences
reality exists beyond individual experiences but can be
captured regardless
Language and Reality
Reality: individual’s experience or world perception
Linguistic Categorization
Our cognition develops concepts (mental representations of the world) based on our experience and then we use language to refer to these cognitive concepts. This is the linguistic process of Categorization.
BUT Categorizing can be problematic!
Is this a cup or a bowl?
Reference or Representation?
Referential view is focused on direct relationships between expressions (words, sentences) and things in the world (realist/determinist view). It’s a study of Formal Semantics.
Representational view is focused on how relationships between expressions (words, sentences) and things in the world are mediated by the mind. It’s a study of Cognitive Semantics.
Adapted from Francis Bond
Deixis: Language referring to reality
Any linguistic element that needs extra-linguistic context to be properly interpreted is deictic.
There are many types of deictic elements (person, time, space, discourse, social status):
You, me, this, that, today, tomorrow, here, there and so on.
Adapted from Francis Bond
Social Deixis
French tu and vous for you.
Tu: the familiar form of addressing to somebody in a similar social situation;
Vous: the honorific (formal) or polite form of addressing someone.
http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/tu_and_vous.shtml
What are social similar conditions?• Age;
• role in the current “speech context” (shopkeeper vs. customer; teacher vs. pupil);
• Job status (junior vs. boss);
• Where the person you're speaking to fits in your "social network“;
• How well you know the person you're speaking with;
• Your attitude towards the person you're speaking with (respect / disdain).
http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/tu_and_vous.shtml
Social Deixis
Tanaka-san-ga kudasaimashita
(addressee and subject honorification)
Tanaka-san-ga kudasatta
(subject honorification)
Tanaka-kun-ga kuremashita
(addressee honorification)
Tanaka-kun-ga kureta
(no honorification)
Tanaka gave it to me
Examples by Francis Bond
Language Relativity• The language we think in makes some concepts easy to
express, but others hard. That is why it is difficult to translate some words:
Iktsuarpok (Inuit) To go outside to check if anyone is coming.
Kyoikumama (JP): A mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement.
Saudade (PT): One of the most beautiful of all words, translatable or not, this word “refers to the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.” Fado music, a type of mournful singing, relates to saudade.
Cafuné (PT-br): The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s hair.
German is though to be a useful language for philosophical scholarship
“It's amazing how I can feel sorry for you and hate youat the same time. I'm sure there's a German word for it.”
Lisa to her brother from Simpsons episode How Munched is That Birdie in the Window?
Do you know many different words for “snow” “Eskimos” have?
Do you know many different words for “snow” “Eskimos” have?
Shockingly 50, according to anthropologist Franz Boa, but numbers may vary.
Do we consider “ice” as a type of snow?
“Eskimo” Languages
“Eskimo” Languages
- There are different varieties. The most usual are Inuit and Yupik, but both have many different dialects.
- The common aspect is polysynthesis:
The process of encoding a huge amount of information in one word by plugging various suffixes onto a base word.
A few examples:
Aqilokoq: softly falling snow;
Piegnartoq: the snow [that is] good for driving sled;
Matsaaruti: wet snow that can be used to ice a sleigh’s runners;
Pukak: the crystalline powder snow that looks like salt
Utuqaq: ice that lasts year after year;
Siguliaksraq: the patchwork layer of crystals that forms as the sea begins to freeze;
Auniq: ice that is filled with holes, like Swiss cheese.
Is language a consequence of reality?
Languages evolve to suit the ideas and needs that are most crucial to the lives of their speakers:
“These people need to know whether ice is fit to walk on or whether you will sink through it. It’s a matter of life or death” (Willem de Reuse, linguist at the University of North Texas)
Conclusion
Linguistic elements refer to real objects/beings (or their representations) but cognition interprets and differentiates them,
identifying them in the world.
ReferencesFLOHR. Birgitt. The Relationship between Thought and Reality in Cognitive
Semantics. Available at https://www.itp.uni-hannover.de/~flohr/papers/m-mod-engl-lang1.pdf
______. Cognitive Semantics. Wikipedia. Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_semantics
BOND, Francis. Meaning, Thought and Reality. Available at http://compling.hss.ntu.edu.sg/courses/hg2002/pdf/lec-02-reality.pdf
ROBSON, David. There really are 50 Eskimo words for ‘snow’ in New Scientist; Available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/there-really-are-50-eskimo-words-for-snow/2013/01/14/e0e3f4e0-59a0-11e2-beee-6e38f5215402_story.html
When do I use tu and when do I use vous? Available at http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/tu_and_vous.shtml
20 awesomely untranslatable words from around the world. Available at http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/20-awesomely-untranslatable-words-from-around-the-world/
Access on 05.17th.15