Linguistics调整后Lecture13Psycholinguistics幻灯片.pptVIP

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * What is the significance of such lexical differences? Does the fact that a language does not have separate terms for certain phenomena mean that the users of this language are unable to distinguish these phenomena from others? Certain aspects of language behaviour challenge Whorf’s thesis that the absence or presence of a lexical distinction can be taken as an indicator of a corresponding perceptual or conceptual distinction. It may not be possible to translate one language into another with term-for-term correspondence. However, it is possible to preserve some part of the original meaning in another language. This seems to show that there is no hard-and-fast identification of word categories with thought categories. Secondly, there are bilinguals among the general population in most communities who can express their ideas freely in two or more languages. Thirdly, languages borrow words from each other fairly frequently, which demonstrates that the existing vocabulary does not exhaust the discrimination of which the language users are capable. So a more acceptable conclusion might be that “languages differ not so much as to what can be said in them, but rather as to what it is relatively easy to say” (Hockett 1954: 122). The ease with which a distinction is expressed in a language is related to the frequency with which a particular perceptual discrimination is required in everyday life. It seems clear that strong version of the Whorfian hypothesis—language determines thought—cannot be supported. However, it is equally clear that a weak version of the hypothesis—language influences thought—is reasonable and supportable. Thought determines language Those who believe that thought determines language would say that cognitive development comes earlier in the life of children and that cognitive categories they develop determine the linguistic categories that th