無庸置疑，人類的每一項知覺都一樣重要。因為我們仰賴這些知覺接收來自周遭的訊息，只要有一個消失不見，我們在生活上便會遇到困難。然而，在語言表達上，知覺並非一樣重要。嗅覺看似是最難表達的知覺，因為人們常常依賴物體來表達嗅覺，例如「草的味道」。另一方面，我們無需依賴物體、並使用顏色來表達視覺。當我們想陳述對於「天空」的想法時，我們會使用「藍色」而不是「天空的顏色」。不同的語言有無可能把重點放在不同的知覺上？如果是，是什麼原因造成不同的語言現象？ 觀察人們如何表達對食物的看法非常適合用來討論知覺表達，因為品嚐食物的過程和視覺、嗅覺、味覺、及口感息息相關。本研究搜集來自中文及日文母語者有關食物的知覺表達，包括職業廚師及料理新手。米飯在中國及日本文化扮演著主食的角色，這項文化地位讓米飯成為與發音人面談上的主題。假設所有的知覺在不同文化都一樣重樣，人們應該會以相似的方式來表達知覺。研究結果發現在知覺表達中，中文母語者主要強調口感，但日語母語者強調視覺。透過比較職業廚師及料理新手也能找到知覺表達上的差異：職業廚師主要著重視覺，新手則重視味覺。人們亦使用不同的認知策略來表達不同知覺，但職業廚師及新手都依賴對食物的評價來表達知覺。從生理學上來看，人類的知覺一樣重要，但中文及日文的知覺表達卻不一樣。本研究認為文化及社會因素了影響語言的知覺表達。 / Senses are undoubtedly important to people because they allow us to experience our world and we would face difficulties when any of them were absent. However, senses are not equally important in linguistic expressions. It seems that expressing odors is difficult in some languages because people often rely on concrete objects to make olfactory expressions, such as cǎo de weìdào ‘the smell of grass.’ Making use of color rather than concrete objects for visual expressions, we often choose lán ‘blue’ rather than tiānkōng de yánsè ‘the color of sky’ when expressing what we feel from sky. Is it possible that different emphasis of senses can be observed in different languages? If so, what is the reason leading to the differences in languages? Observing how people express their feeling toward food is an appropriate method to discuss sensory expressions, because the procedure of tasting food is strongly correlated with multiple senses like vision, odor, taste, and mouthfeel. This study collects sensory expressions of food from both Chinese and Japanese speakers, including both experts and novices of cooking. Acting as the main dish in Chinese and Japanese cultures, rice is regarded as the theme of interview due to the cultural importance. If all senses are important in different cultures, they should be expressed in similar ways. Our results suggest that Chinese mainly focuses on mouthfeel, while Japanese mainly focuses on vision when performing sensory expressions. The differences in sensory expressions can also be observed through comparing experts with novices: experts mainly focus on vision, and novices firstly choose taste. People also make use of different cognitive strategies to express different kinds of senses, but both experts and novices rely on the evaluative type to create sensory expressions. Sensory expressions are different between Chinese and Japanese although senses are physiologically identical for people. This study suggests that both culture and social factors influence sensory expressions in languages.

The thesis focuses on how different languages influence spatial cognition of their speakers, i. e., whether and how the differences in spatial language (linguistic representation of perspective, location, spatial scenes etc.) affect the non-linguistic spatial reasoning (orientation, spatial memory etc.). This issue has for a long time been a part of the studies of the relation between language and thouhgt under the flag of so called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis/Hypothesis of linguistic relativity. In the first half of the theoretical part of the thesis, I attempt to summarize the history of the concept of linguistic relativity since 1950s and to revise some critical claims about linguistic relativity by re-reading Whorf's works (chapter 2). The second half of the theoretical part (chapter 3) focuses in particular on the research of the interrelations between spatial thought and language. In section 3.1, I make a brief note on the notion of space in terms of cognitive linguistics. Section 3.2 provides an selective overview of the previous research of the crosslinguic spatial-cognitive diversity. Sections 3.3 and 3.4 connect the theoretical and the empirical part of the thesis. The research itself is presented in the chapter 4. It experimentally tests the hypothesis, that the language-specific...

This paper proposes the notion that words mirror ideas, perspectives and worldviews. Etymologies and meanings of general words for ‘islands’ in a number of languagesin North and West Europe are then discussed. Here, islands are shown to be etymologicallyconstituted by the interplay between land and water, and which of these two is emphasizedvaries. In the third section, a number of Swedish island words are surveyed, in an attemptto illuminate the principle of linguistic relativity. Finally, the implications of these findingsfor island studies are discussed.

La théorie de la relativité linguistique propose un effet des catégories lexico-grammaticales obligatoires et constamment utilisées des langues sur la cognition et la pensée habituelle des locuteurs. En observant l’historique de ce principe, on peut retracer les orientations des chercheurs et, ainsi, faire un portrait global des origines de l’idée et de ce qu’elle constitue maintenant. Le principe de la relativité linguistique apparaît, d’abord, dans l’esprit des philosophes allemands du 18e siècle, puis est transmis par divers chercheurs et leurs perspectives jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Dans ce cheminement, il a pris forme chez les anthropologues par le biais de Boas, de Sapir et de Whorf. Plus récemment, la théorie est grandement étudiée dans les sciences cognitives. De plus, au travers de ses diverses manipulations par divers acteurs scientifiques, sa définition et ses principes ont été modifiés. Les ethnolinguistes la conçoivent différemment des scientifiques cognitifs, et ce, malgré le fait que ces deux champs traitent des mêmes principes originaux. Ainsi, dans ce mémoire, il sera question de ces développements pluridisciplinaires du principe de la relativité linguistique. Puis, une conception multidisciplinaire sera proposée : un niveau d’étude ignoré jusqu’alors sera avancé et appuyé par l’analyse des inférences grammaticales entre la catégorie de l’évidentialité et celle de la temporalité, montrant les compétences métalinguistiques relatives des locuteurs. / The linguistic relativity theory proposes that obligatory lexico-grammatical categories of languages have an effect on the cognition and habitual thinking of speakers. By observing the history of this principle, we can retrace the orientations of researchers and thus make a global portrait of the origins of the idea and what it now constitutes. The principle of linguistic relativity first appears in the work of 18th century German philosophers, then is passed on by various researchers and their perspectives to the present day. On this journey, it took shape among anthropologists through Boas, Sapir and Whorf. More recently, although from a disputed point of view of linguistic determinism, it is widely studied in the cognitive sciences. In addition, through its various manipulations by various scientific actors, its definition and principles have been modified. Ethnolinguists understand it differently from cognitive scientists, even though these two fields deal with the same original principles. Thus, in this thesis, these multidisciplinary developments of the principle of linguistic relativity will be discussed. Then, a multidisciplinary conception will be proposed : a level of study previously ignored will be advanced and supported by the analysis of grammatical inferences between the category of evidentiality and that of temporality ; showing the relative metalinguistic skills of the speakers.

Esta dissertação teve por objeto delinear alguns fatores relativos ao processo de emergência da leitura dos trabalhos do linguista e antropólogo norte-americano Edward Sapir (1884-1939) como um dos proponentes de um conjunto de afirmações acerca da natureza das línguas naturais, agrupadas sob o rótulo relativismo linguístico, cujo debate recebeu bastante atenção dos antropólogos linguistas estadunidenses, na primeira metade do século XX. Costuma-se afirmar que o relativismo linguístico seja uma hipótese, que alega que a língua pode moldar a percepção da realidade, o pensamento ou a cultura. Visto o nome de Sapir estar associado ao de Whorf, como o rótulo hipótese Sapir-Whorf indica, e que este rótulo tem sido bastante utilizado atualmente para se referir ao relativismo linguístico, efetuou-se o rastreamento de alguns conceitos fundamentais nesta discussão, dentro do quadro teórico proposto por Sapir, tal como suas concepções acerca da língua, da cultura e do pensamento, com vistas a avaliar a procedência de sua recepção como um relativista. Havido sido este trabalho conduzido sob a metodologia da Historiografia Linguística, buscamos também resgatar os fatores contextuais nos quais tais proposições teóricas emanaram. Por fim, propomos a discussão da configuração do termo relativismo no horizonte teórico do autor, visando fornecer uma perspectiva de leitura diferente da proposta, atualmente, por inúmeros manuais de História da Linguística. / This dissertation had as its objective to outline some factors related to the emergence process of reading the American anthropologist and linguist Edward Sapirs (1884- 1939) papers as one of the proponents of a set of assertions about the nature of natural languages, grouped under the label linguistic relativity, whose debate received much attention from American linguistic anthropologists, during the first half of the twentieth century. It is often said that the linguistic relativity is a hypothesis, which argues that language can shape the perception of reality, thought or culture. Since Sapirs name has been associated with Whorfs, as the label Sapir-Whorf hypothesis indicates, a term widely used today to refer to linguistic relativity, we carried out tracking of some fundamental concepts in this discussion, within the theoretical framework proposed by Sapir, as his conceptions of language, culture and thought, in order to assess the merits of its reception as a relativist. As this research was conducted under the methodology of Linguistic Historiography, we have also sought to rescue the contextual factors in which such theoretical propositions have emanated. Finally, we propose to discuss the setting of the term relativism in the author\'s theoretical horizon, aiming to provide a reading perspective fairly different from the ones proposed currently by numerous handbooks on the History of Linguistics.

The diploma thesis is concerned with the effect of the grammatical gender of Czech nouns referring to inanimate entities on their semantic meaning and conceptualization. The thesis looks into the question whether masculines are conceptulized as "men" and feminines as "women". The thesis is divided into two main parts. In the first part, theoretical insight into the question of relation between language and thought is provided. In this part, foreign experiments related to our research question are mentioned as well. In the second part, two experiments accomplished in the Czech language are presented. The objective of experiment nr. 1 was to choose such semantic differential scales which according to Czech speakers distinguish the "female and male principle" the best. In experiment nr. 2, feminine and masculine gender variants of nouns were employed (e. g. "brambor - brambora"). Experiment nr. 2 contained two tasks. The first task used the semantic differential method. In the second task, participants were asked to choose a woman's or a man's voice that the inanimate entities would have in a cartoon movie. The results of the first task indicate that the grammatical gender of nouns did not affect the decision-making as individual nouns were marked on the semantic differential scales. However, there...

Esta dissertação teve por objeto delinear alguns fatores relativos ao processo de emergência da leitura dos trabalhos do linguista e antropólogo norte-americano Edward Sapir (1884-1939) como um dos proponentes de um conjunto de afirmações acerca da natureza das línguas naturais, agrupadas sob o rótulo relativismo linguístico, cujo debate recebeu bastante atenção dos antropólogos linguistas estadunidenses, na primeira metade do século XX. Costuma-se afirmar que o relativismo linguístico seja uma hipótese, que alega que a língua pode moldar a percepção da realidade, o pensamento ou a cultura. Visto o nome de Sapir estar associado ao de Whorf, como o rótulo hipótese Sapir-Whorf indica, e que este rótulo tem sido bastante utilizado atualmente para se referir ao relativismo linguístico, efetuou-se o rastreamento de alguns conceitos fundamentais nesta discussão, dentro do quadro teórico proposto por Sapir, tal como suas concepções acerca da língua, da cultura e do pensamento, com vistas a avaliar a procedência de sua recepção como um relativista. Havido sido este trabalho conduzido sob a metodologia da Historiografia Linguística, buscamos também resgatar os fatores contextuais nos quais tais proposições teóricas emanaram. Por fim, propomos a discussão da configuração do termo relativismo no horizonte teórico do autor, visando fornecer uma perspectiva de leitura diferente da proposta, atualmente, por inúmeros manuais de História da Linguística. / This dissertation had as its objective to outline some factors related to the emergence process of reading the American anthropologist and linguist Edward Sapirs (1884- 1939) papers as one of the proponents of a set of assertions about the nature of natural languages, grouped under the label linguistic relativity, whose debate received much attention from American linguistic anthropologists, during the first half of the twentieth century. It is often said that the linguistic relativity is a hypothesis, which argues that language can shape the perception of reality, thought or culture. Since Sapirs name has been associated with Whorfs, as the label Sapir-Whorf hypothesis indicates, a term widely used today to refer to linguistic relativity, we carried out tracking of some fundamental concepts in this discussion, within the theoretical framework proposed by Sapir, as his conceptions of language, culture and thought, in order to assess the merits of its reception as a relativist. As this research was conducted under the methodology of Linguistic Historiography, we have also sought to rescue the contextual factors in which such theoretical propositions have emanated. Finally, we propose to discuss the setting of the term relativism in the author\'s theoretical horizon, aiming to provide a reading perspective fairly different from the ones proposed currently by numerous handbooks on the History of Linguistics.

Motion events are ubiquitous in conversation, from describing a tiresome commute to recounting a burglary. These situations, where an entity changes location, consist of four main semantic components: Motion (the movement), Figure (the entity moving), Ground (the object or objects with respect to which the Figure carries out the Motion) and Path (the route taken). Two additional semantic components can occur simultaneously: Manner (the way the Motion occurs) and Cause (the source of/reason for the Motion). Languages differ in preferences for provision and packaging of semantic components in descriptions. It has been suggested, in the thinking-for-speaking hypothesis, that these preferences influence the conceptualisation of events (such as their memorisation). This thesis addresses questions relating to the description and memory of Motion events in British Sign Language (BSL) and English. It compares early BSL (acquired before age seven) and late BSL (acquired after age 16) descriptions of Motion events and investigates whether linguistic preferences influence memory. Comparing descriptions by early signers and late signers indicates where their linguistic preferences differ, providing valuable knowledge for interpreters wishing to match early signers. Understanding how linguistic preferences might influence memory contributes to debates around the connection between language and thought. The experimental groups for this study were: deaf early BSL signers, hearing early BSL signers, deaf late BSL signers, hearing late BSL signers and hearing English monolinguals. Participants watched target Motion event video clips before completing a memory and attention task battery. Subsequently, they performed a forced-choice recognition task where they saw each target Motion event clip again alongside a distractor clip that differed in one semantic component. They selected which of the two clips they had seen in the first presentation. Finally, participants were filmed describing all of the target and distractor video clips (in English for English monolinguals and BSL for all other groups). The Motion event descriptions were coded for the inclusion and packaging of components. Linguistic descriptions were compared between languages (English and BSL) and BSL group. Statistical models were created to investigate variation on the memory and attention task battery and the recognition task. Results from linguistic analysis reveal that English and BSL are similar in the components included in descriptions. However, packaging differs between languages. English descriptions show preferences for Manner verbs and spatial particles to express Path ('run out'). BSL descriptions show preferences for serial verb constructions (using Manner and Path verbs in the same clause). The BSL groups are also similar in the components they include in descriptions. However, the packaging differs, with hearing late signers showing some English-like preferences and deaf early signers showing stronger serial verb preferences. Results from the behavioural experiments show no overall relationship between language group and memory. I suggest that the similarity of information provided in English and BSL descriptions undermines the ability of the task to reveal memory differences. However, results suggest a link between individual linguistic description and memory; marking a difference between components in linguistic description is correlated with correctly selecting that component clip in the recognition task. I argue that this indicates a relationship between linguistic encoding and memory within each individual, where their personal preference for including certain semantic components in their utterances is connected to their memory for those components. I also propose that if the languages were more distinct in their inclusion of information then there may have been differences in recognition task scores. I note that further research is needed across modalities to create a fuller picture of how information is included and packaged cross-modally and how this might affect individual Motion event memory.

The present dissertation reports the results of a multi-disciplinary experimental study, which combines psycholinguistic and cognitive methodologies in order to achieve two broad objectives. The first objective is providing a comparative psycholinguistic analysis of the expression of motion events in three languages, namely Turkish, English and French, taking Talmy&lsquo / s verb-framed language vs. satellite-framed language typology (Talmy, 1985) as the framework. The second one is investigating the relationship between linguistic representation and conceptual representation by taking motion events as the testing ground. In order to pursue these two lines of inquiry, five complementary tasks are conducted on three groups of adult subjects. The results of the first two tasks, the language production task and the language comprehension task, verify the Talmyan typology experimentally by showing sharp differences between the data obtained from native speakers of typologically different languages (English vs. Turkish and French), as well as remarkable similarities between the data obtained from native speakers of typologically similar languages (Turkish and French). On the other hand, the remaining three non-verbal tasks, the categorization task and the two eye-tracking tasks, present valuable insights into the nature of conceptual event representation by revealing a uniform pattern across languages. This latter result is inconsistent with the renowned linguistic relativity hypothesis (Whorf, 1956) / however in line with the universalist view (Jackendoff, 1990, 1996), which suggests that conceptual event representation is language-free and independent of the linguistic encoding preferences of different languages.

The last decades have witnessed the resurgence of research on linguistic relativity, which provides empirical evidence of possible language effects on thought across various perceptual domains. This study investigated the linguistic relativity hypothesis in the abstract domain of time by looking at how L1 Chinese - L2 English bilinguals conceptualize time in two-dimensional space. English primarily relies on horizontal spatial items to talk about time (e.g., back to youth); in addition to horizontal spatial metaphors (e.g., ‘front year’), Chinese speakers also commonly use vertical metaphors to describe time (e.g., ‘up week’). If language has an effect on thought, then spatial-temporal metaphors should shape people’s temporal cognition. In this study, we examined whether spatial-temporal metaphors impact online processing of time and long-term habitual thinking about time. Experiment 1 showed that bilinguals could automatically access the timeline which corresponded to the immediate linguistic context. In Experiment 2, a majority of bilinguals demonstrated salient vertical bias for temporal reasoning, whereas a small number of participants relied on the horizontal axis to represent time. The dominant thinking patterns for time documented here (65% prefer a vertical representation of time; 35% horizontal) run counter to the fact that horizontal metaphors are twice as common in Chinese as vertical metaphors. Further, it was found that bilinguals who used English more frequently were more likely to have a less vertical bias, which suggested a role of L2 experience in conceptual representations. Taken together, the evidence in this study showed that spatial-temporal metaphors have both short-term and long-term effects on mental representations of time, but also that space-time mappings do not depend solely on linguistic factors.