Nicholas Hanna

What do we do using our language?  Generate  Manipulate  Record

Research Questions  Does the language we speak limit our thoughts?  Does the language we speak influence our thoughts?

Color  Setswana: 1 word for both blue and green Group these items together 1  English and Russian Do not group these items together

Grammatical Features  Chinese and Navajo 1 Categorize items differently Consistent with features of their grammars

Quantity  Pirahã, of Brazil { “One”, “Two”, “Many” } “unable to reliably tell the difference between four objects placed in a row and five in the same configuration” 2

 Language trains us to segregate Practice makes perfect  Different languages demand we segregate different features

Intuition  We want a more expressive language  More categories

Evidentials Affixes to words Specify the source of knowledge (witnessed, inferred, …) Required in some languages

Evidentials  In languages with evidentials, children: Evaluate degree of certainty from a younger age 7 Differentiate between credible and non- credible sources from a younger age 7 Are more reliable in court testimony 7

What this means…  In English the idea behind the evidential can be represented by words or phrases can be left out  In languages with evidentials Evidentials are not optional  Therefore English is more expressive The “less expressive” language is linked with the positive effects

Programming Languages  How we structure a problem? Recursive or Iterative? Parallel or Sequential?

Conclusion  Does the language we speak limit our thoughts? Maybe.  Does the language we speak influence our thoughts? Yes. Heavily.

Applications  Cross-cultural communication Are speakers of different languages capable of the same thoughts?  Multilingualism Benefits to learning multiple languages.  Constructed language Can we design a more capable language to enhance knowledge? Can we accidentally hinder a language to the point of hurting knowledge?

References 1. Arrieta Espinoza, Anita. “Language Culture and Thought: Toward a Reacquaintance with the Whorfian Hypothesis.” Kanina. 27.2: Biever, Celeste. “Language May Shape Human Thought.” New Scientist. 3. Boroditsky, Lera. “Does Language Shape Thought? Mandarin and English Speakers' Conceptions of Time.” Cognitive Psychology (2001): Chafe, Wallace. “Language and Memory.” Language (1973): Chen, Jenn-Yeu. “Do Chinese and English speakers think about time differently? Failure of replicating Boroditsky.” Cognition (2007): Gobel, Eric. "Neural correlates of skill acquisition: Decreased cortical activity during a serial interception sequence learning task." NeuroImage (15 October 2011): Matsui, Tomoko. “Knowing how we know: Evidentiality and cognitive development.” New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development : Skerrett, Delaney Michael. “Can the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis save the planet? Lessons from cross-cultural psychology for critical language policy.” Current Issues in Language Planning. 11.4: Tohidian, Iman. “Examining Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis as One of the Main Views on the Relationship Between Language and Thought.” Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 38.1: