Language and Thought

Proposal for: An investigation of balanced bilinguals’ use of code switching in inner speech

by Andrew Valenti

This is a proposal.

Speakers of more than one language, (i.e. bilinguals) may intentionally mix their languages during conversation in a... more Speakers of more than one language, (i.e. bilinguals) may intentionally mix their languages during conversation in a phenomenon known as “code switching”.  As a line of scholarly inquiry, code switching is generally limited to the context of bilingual conversation.  I propose to extend the investigation to include inner speech, which is the voice that is often heard inside one’s head while thinking.  One view of inner speech is that it is produced using processes similar to that we use to speak except that no utterances are produced.  In another view, Vygotsky (1986) posits that inner speech is a child’s ego-centric speech turned inward in a more compact way.  For this project, an inner speech discourse is stimulated within proficient Korean-English and Spanish-English bilingual participant s in an experiment by providing one of Kohlberg’s moral dilemmas accompanied by a series of questions probing their responses.  Code switching is primed by providing instructions in their native language (L1); the dilemma and probe questions are provided in English.  At several points during each session, the participants will be asked to reflect on which language they use for inner speech and the role the language is playing in answering the probes.  From this study, I seek an understanding of whether code switching is a mechanism that bilinguals engage in during inner speech activities, how they use it, and what role it plays.  Code switching is an area of active research which could become a lens to examine and understand bilinguals’ non-verbal reasoning processes and inform the methods used to present and teach abstract concepts to bilinguals.

Linguaggio e concetti

by Andrea Bianchi

An established tradition in philosophy, from Aristotle to Frege and his followers, has tried to explain the... more An established tradition in philosophy, from Aristotle to Frege and his followers, has tried to explain the relationship between language and reality by appealing to thoughts and their constituents, concepts. In this frame, a word would designate the thing that it designates in virtue of the concept that it expresses, and a sentence would express a thought that is its meaning. Here I suggest that there is something wrong with this strategy. Indeed, I provide an argument aiming to show that concepts are not strange, mysterious entities (mental or belonging to a platonic third realm), but simple words, usually coming from our public language. So, if we really want to understand how words — also the words that constitute our thoughts — are connected with things, we should look elsewhere.

Speaking and Thinking (Or: A More Kaplanian Way to a Unified Account of Language and Thought

by Andrea Bianchi

Words as Concepts

by Andrea Bianchi

Aveva ragione Whorf? : La lingua embodied / embedded

by Vito Evola

Evola, V. (2011). Aveva ragione Whorf?: La lingua embodied/embedded. Reti, 1(2).

Questa è una bozza finale. Per eventuali citazioni fare riferimento alla versione definitiva pubblicata in: Reti. Rivista del Dipartimento di Scienze cognitive della formazione e degli studi culturali. Università di Messina, a cura di Domenica Bruni e Edoardo Fugali, ISSN 2239-7000. Vol. 1, Num. 2, 2011

(Italiano)
Abstract: Uno degli assunti fondamentali della linguistica e psicologia cognitive è che ogni... more (Italiano)
Abstract: Uno degli assunti fondamentali della linguistica e psicologia cognitive è che ogni percezione ed espressione è connessa alla nostra biologia, e più di quanto si pensasse in precedenza. Dopo una panoramica della letteratura cognitivista orientata per l’indipendenza tra linguaggio e pensiero, evidenzierò punti problematici di questa posizione avvalendomi di ricerche empiriche da un lato condotte in ambito neuro-cognitivista e dall’altro di tipo psicolinguistico. Proporrò degli spunti a favore della ‘contro-tesi’ per cui il pensiero implica la lingua naturale: linguaggio e pensiero, cioè, si influenzano l’un l’altro.
Questa posizione implica che la mente umana sia in corpore (embodied) in un corpo fenomenologico e strutturata dalle nostre esperienze, e gli stimoli esterni quotidiani offerti dall’ambiente in cui si è situati (embedded) formino dinamicamente il modo di pensare degli esseri umani. La mente intesa come prodotto dell’interazione delle proprie introspezioni con le interazioni quotidiane è influenzata, e in una certa misura persino condizionata, dalla lingua parlata e da come è usata. Conoscere la natura dinamica del rapporto tra linguaggio e pensiero permette una migliore comprensione della natura del linguaggio e di come la lingua motivi il modo in cui si ragiona del proprio mondo.

Parole chiavi: Sapir-Whorf, linguaggio e pensiero, linguaggio e cultura, embodiment, cognizione


(English)
Abstract: One of the fundamental premises of contemporary cognitive linguistics and psychology is that human perception and expression are intimately coupled with human biology, to a much greater degree than linguists and psychologists had previously thought. In this essay I provide an overview of contemporary literature from cognitive linguistics and psychology that posits language-thought independence. I also highlight the theoretical problems and the further neurocognitive and psycholinguistic empirical research specific to these issues which make this position problematic. I then provide evidence for the counter-theory, that thinking in fact involves natural language and that language and thought influence one another.
This position indexes the supposition that our minds are embodied in a phenomenological body built on our everyday experiences, and daily external stimuli offered by the cultural environment in which we are individually embedded dynamically form our way of thinking. The mind is the product of the interaction of introspections and daily interactions; it is influenced, and to a certain extent even conditioned, by language and how it is used. Understanding the dynamic nature of language and thought will guide us in better understanding figurative language in general and metaphor in particular as well as how they motivate our way of reasoning about our world.

Keywords: Sapir-Whorf, language-thought, language and culture, embodiment, cognition

"Unseen Gestures" and the Speaker's Mind: An Analysis of Co-Verbal Gestures in Map-Task Activities

by Nicla Rossini

In A. Esposito, M. Bratanic, E. Keller, and M. Marinaro (Eds) Fundamentals of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication and the Biometric Issue. Pp. 58-64. IOS Press, NATO Security through Science Series E: Human and Societal Dynamics – Vol. 18.

How language enables abstract cognition?

by Yair Neuman

The paper is currently under review. Please don't cite without permission.

Abstract. The idea that language mediates our thoughts and enables abstract cognition has been a key idea in... more Abstract. The idea that language mediates our thoughts and enables abstract cognition has been a key idea in socio-cultural psychology. However, it is not clear what mechanisms support this process of abstraction. Peirce argued that one mechanism by which language enables abstract thought is hypostatic abstraction, the process through which a predicate (e.g., dark) turns into an object (e.g., darkness). By using novel computational tools we tested Peirce’s idea. Analysis of the data provides empirical support for Peirce's mechanism and evidence of the way the use of signs enables abstraction. These conclusions are supported by the in-depth analysis of two case studies concerning the abstraction of sweet and dark. The paper concludes by discussing the findings from a broad and integrative theoretical perspective and by pointing to computational cultural psychology as a promising perspective for addressing long-lasting questions of the field.

Why Johnny Can't Name His Colors

by Melody Dye

Scientific American Mind, Mind Matters Column. July 2010.

No, the kid's probably not color blind. A trick for teaching children colors at a younger age - and why it's otherwise... more No, the kid's probably not color blind. A trick for teaching children colors at a younger age - and why it's otherwise so hard for them.

Running down the clock: the role of expectation in our understanding of time and motion.

by Melody Dye

Ramscar, M., Matlock, T., & Dye, M. (2010) Running down the clock: the role of expectation in our understanding of time and motion. Language and Cognitive Processes, 25(5), 589-615

Time is often talked about in terms of motion. People talk about themselves ‘moving’ through time, or about time... more Time is often talked about in terms of motion. People talk about themselves ‘moving’ through time, or about time ‘moving’ relative to them. Previous research has shown that attending to actual motion can influence judgements about time. Further, fictive motion language, figurative attributions of motion to static objects in space, has been shown to have much the same effect, suggesting that thought about space influences thought about time. However, evidence to date on fictive motion comes from experiments that included some degree of actual motion, such as drawing. In a series of four experiments, we tease apart the influence of actual motion and fictive motion language on people’s understanding of time. The results suggest that the similar ways in which people talk about motion through space and motion through time play an important part in their common underlying conceptualisation. This has important implications for our understanding of what comprises literal and metaphorical uses of language, and for the relationship between language, language use, and thought.