Language is a powerful tool that humans have developed to communicate with each other. It is not only a means of conveying information but also a way of shaping how we perceive and understand the world around us. From the language we speak to the grammar we use, our linguistic environment can have a profound impact on our thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors.
Research on the influence of language on perception and thought has gained increasing attention in recent years, and findings are starting to confirm some long-standing theories about the relationship between language and cognition.
A research released by Scientific American showed an interesting fact that when a 5-year-old Aboriginal girl in Pormpuraaw can easily and precisely indicate the cardinal directions in her location, while learned academics who have been working for decades in a campus room cannot do it as easily as the little girl.
Here is a quote from the report.
Unlike English, the Kuuk Thaayorre language spoken in Pormpuraaw does not use relative spatial terms such as left and right. Rather Kuuk Thaayorre speakers talk in terms of absolute cardinal directions (north, south, east, west, and so forth). Of course, in English we also use cardinal direction terms but only for large spatial scales. We would not say, for example, “They set the salad forks southeast of the dinner forks—the philistines!” But in Kuuk Thaayorre cardinal directions are used at all scales. This means one ends up saying things like “the cup is southeast of the plate” or “the boy standing to the south of Mary is my brother.” In Pormpuraaw, one must always stay oriented, just to be able to speak properly.
One key area of research in this field involves exploring how language shapes our perceptions and categorizations of the world. For another example, different languages may have different ways of describing colors, which can affect how we perceive them. Researchers have found that speakers of languages that distinguish between more color categories tend to be better at discriminating between colors in visual perception tasks. On the other hand, speakers of languages with fewer color categories tend to be better at discriminating between shades of the same color.
Another area of research in this field focuses on how the structure and grammar of our language affects our thought processes. For instance, some languages require speakers to use a different grammatical tense to describe events that happened in the past versus those that happened in the present or future. This grammatical distinction may lead speakers to view past events as more distant or disconnected from the present, which could affect how they remember and think about those events.
Furthermore, some researchers have suggested that different languages can lead to different cognitive styles or ways of thinking. For instance, speakers of “analytic” languages like English tend to focus on individual objects and their properties, whereas speakers of “holistic” languages like Mandarin tend to focus on the relationships between objects and their context. This difference in cognitive style could influence the way people approach problem-solving, decision-making, and other cognitive tasks.
Overall, the influence of language on perception and thought is an intriguing area of research that offers fascinating insights into the relationship between language, cognition, and culture. By exploring how language shapes our perceptions and thought processes, we can gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which our linguistic environment shapes our view of the world.
Pro Translasi is very happy to be able to share information about linguistics. This is also our social responsibility as linguists. What’s more, we are also very pleased when you have kindly taken the time to read this brief article. Hopefully, it will be useful.
References:
- Winawer, J., Witthoft, N., Frank, M. C., Wu, L., Wade, A. R., & Boroditsky, L. (2007). Russian blues reveal effects of language on color discrimination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(19), 7780-7785. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701644104
- Boroditsky, L. (2011). How language shapes thought. Scientific American, 304(2), 62-65. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0211-62
- Gennari, S. P., Sloman, S. A., Malt, B. C., & Fitch, W. T. (2002). Motion events in language and cognition. Cognition, 83(2), 49-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(01)00162-4
- Li, P., & Gleitman, L. (2002). Turning the tables: language and spatial reasoning. Cognition, 83(3), 265-294. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00005-3
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