How does our language shape the way we think? June 2009
Como nossa língua/linguagem dá forma ao nosso modo de pensar?
By Lera Boroditsky
Nesse artigo, que é interessante e bem escrito, LB apresenta fortes argumentos de que a língua que falamos, a linguagem que usamos, é responsável pelo nosso modo de pensar. Veja só:
Such a priori arguments about whether or not language shapes thought have gone in circles for centuries, with some arguing that it's impossible for language to shape thought and others arguing that it's impossible for language not to shape thought. Recently my group and others have figured out ways to empirically test some of the key questions in this ancient debate, with fascinating results. So instead of arguing about what must be true or what can't be true, let's find out what is true.
Follow me to Pormpuraaw, a small Aboriginal community on the western edge of Cape York, in northern Australia. I came here because of the way the locals, the Kuuk Thaayorre, talk about space. Instead of words like "right," "left," "forward," and "back," which, as commonly used in English, define space relative to an observer, the Kuuk Thaayorre, like many other Aboriginal groups, use cardinal-direction terms — north, south, east, and west — to define space.
Depois de outras considerações sobre linguagem e espaço, LB trata do tempo.
People's ideas of time differ across languages in other ways. For example, English speakers tend to talk about time using horizontal spatial metaphors (e.g., "The best is ahead of us," "The worst is behind us"), whereas Mandarin speakers have a vertical metaphor for time (e.g., the next month is the "down month" and the last month is the "up month"). Mandarin speakers talk about time vertically more often than English speakers do, so do Mandarin speakers think about time vertically more often than English speakers do? Imagine this simple experiment. I stand next to you, point to a spot in space directly in front of you, and tell you, "This spot, here, is today. Where would you put yesterday? And where would you put tomorrow?" When English speakers are asked to do this, they nearly always point horizontally. But Mandarin speakers often point vertically, about seven or eight times more often than do English speakers.
Ocorrem diferenças semelhantes com as cores e seus matizes, com o gênero dos substantivos e outras entidades (So, for example, German painters are more likely to paint death as a man, whereas Russian painters are more likely to paint death as a woman.), além das gramaticais. LB termina seu artigo apontando outros estudos que investigaram os efeitos da linguagem no modo como as pessoas apreendem os eventos e a pluralidade, raciocinam sobre causalidade, compreendem a materialidade das substâncias, sentem emoções, escolhem fazer coisas arriscadas, etc. Abaixo, alguns outros artigos também de sua autoria.
What Thoughts Are Made Of
Lera Boroditsky, Stanford University 2007
http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~lera/273/8-boroditsky%26prinz.pdf
Roles of Body and Mind in Abstract Thought
Lera Boroditsky & Michael Ramscar 2002
http://love.psy.utexas.edu/~love/cogsci/boroditsky2.pdf
Does Language Shape Thought?: Mandarin and English Speakers’ Conceptions of Time
Lera Boroditsky, Stanford University 2001
http://http-server.carleton.ca/~jlogan/PSYC4704/BORODITSKY2001.pdf
Como nossa língua/linguagem dá forma ao nosso modo de pensar?
By Lera Boroditsky
Nesse artigo, que é interessante e bem escrito, LB apresenta fortes argumentos de que a língua que falamos, a linguagem que usamos, é responsável pelo nosso modo de pensar. Veja só:
Such a priori arguments about whether or not language shapes thought have gone in circles for centuries, with some arguing that it's impossible for language to shape thought and others arguing that it's impossible for language not to shape thought. Recently my group and others have figured out ways to empirically test some of the key questions in this ancient debate, with fascinating results. So instead of arguing about what must be true or what can't be true, let's find out what is true.
Follow me to Pormpuraaw, a small Aboriginal community on the western edge of Cape York, in northern Australia. I came here because of the way the locals, the Kuuk Thaayorre, talk about space. Instead of words like "right," "left," "forward," and "back," which, as commonly used in English, define space relative to an observer, the Kuuk Thaayorre, like many other Aboriginal groups, use cardinal-direction terms — north, south, east, and west — to define space.
Depois de outras considerações sobre linguagem e espaço, LB trata do tempo.
People's ideas of time differ across languages in other ways. For example, English speakers tend to talk about time using horizontal spatial metaphors (e.g., "The best is ahead of us," "The worst is behind us"), whereas Mandarin speakers have a vertical metaphor for time (e.g., the next month is the "down month" and the last month is the "up month"). Mandarin speakers talk about time vertically more often than English speakers do, so do Mandarin speakers think about time vertically more often than English speakers do? Imagine this simple experiment. I stand next to you, point to a spot in space directly in front of you, and tell you, "This spot, here, is today. Where would you put yesterday? And where would you put tomorrow?" When English speakers are asked to do this, they nearly always point horizontally. But Mandarin speakers often point vertically, about seven or eight times more often than do English speakers.
Ocorrem diferenças semelhantes com as cores e seus matizes, com o gênero dos substantivos e outras entidades (So, for example, German painters are more likely to paint death as a man, whereas Russian painters are more likely to paint death as a woman.), além das gramaticais. LB termina seu artigo apontando outros estudos que investigaram os efeitos da linguagem no modo como as pessoas apreendem os eventos e a pluralidade, raciocinam sobre causalidade, compreendem a materialidade das substâncias, sentem emoções, escolhem fazer coisas arriscadas, etc. Abaixo, alguns outros artigos também de sua autoria.
What Thoughts Are Made Of
Lera Boroditsky, Stanford University 2007
http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~lera/273/8-boroditsky%26prinz.pdf
Roles of Body and Mind in Abstract Thought
Lera Boroditsky & Michael Ramscar 2002
http://love.psy.utexas.edu/~love/cogsci/boroditsky2.pdf
Does Language Shape Thought?: Mandarin and English Speakers’ Conceptions of Time
Lera Boroditsky, Stanford University 2001
http://http-server.carleton.ca/~jlogan/PSYC4704/BORODITSKY2001.pdf
