The idea that the language we speak influences the way we think has                  evoked perennial fascination and intense controversy. According to the strong                  version of this hypothesis, called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis after the American                  linguists who propounded it, languages vary in their semantic partitioning of the                  world, and the structure of one's language influences how one understands the world.                  Thus speakers of different languages perceive the world differently.Although the                  last two decades have been marked by extreme skepticism concerning the possible                  effects of language on thought, recent theoretical and methodological advances in                  cognitive science have given the question new life. Research in linguistics and                  linguistic anthropology has revealed striking differences in cross-linguistic                  semantic patterns, and cognitive psychology has developed subtle techniques for                  studying how people represent and remember experience. It is now possible to test                  predictions about how a given language influences the thinking of its                  speakers.Language in Mind includes contributions from both skeptics and believers                  and from a range of fields. It contains work in cognitive psychology, cognitive                  development, linguistics, anthropology, and animal cognition. The topics discussed                  include space, number, motion, gender, theory of mind, thematic roles, and the                  ontological distinction between objects and substances. The contributors include                  Melissa Bowerman, Eve Clark, Jill de Villiers, Peter de Villiers, Giyoo Hatano, Stan                  Kuczaj, Barbara Landau, Stephen Levinson, John Lucy, Barbara Malt, Dan Slobin,                  Steven Sloman, Elizabeth Spelke, and Michael Tomasello.

Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought (Bradford Books) PDF

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