Introduction%20to%20Cognitive%20Linguistics

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Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics

• Helena H. Gao
• Graduate Institute of Linguistics
• Fu-Jen University
• 2005

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• Lecture 2 5 Oct. 2005
• Required readings
• Whorf, B. L. (1956) Language, mind, and reality.
  In J.B. Carroll (ed.), Language, thought and
  reality. selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf.
  Cambridge, Massachusetts the MIT Press. pp.
  246-270.
• Fodor, J. (1990). Defending the language of
  thought. In W. G. Lycan (ed.), Mind and
  congnition. A reader. Basil Blackwell. pp.
  282-310
• Jackendoff, R. (2002). Foundations of Language
  Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution. Oxford
  University Press. Chapter 2 Language as a Mental
  Phenomenon. pp. 19-37
• Recommended readings
• Whorf, B. L. (1956) The Relation of Habitual
  Thought and Behavior to Language. In J.B.
  Carroll (ed.), Language, thought and reality.
  selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf.
  Cambridge, Massachusetts the MIT Press. pp.
  134-159.
• Shapiro, K., Caramazza, A. (2003). The
  representation of grammatical categories in the
  brain. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7(5), 201-206.

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Language, Mind, and Thought
Lecture 2
5 Oct.,
2005
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(No Transcript)
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What is Thought

• Thought or thinking is a mental process which
  allows beings to model the world, and so to deal
  with it effectively according to their goals,
  plans, ends and desires. Concepts akin to thought
  are sentience, consciousness, idea, and
  imagination. (Wikipedia Encyclopedia)
• The meanings of Thought revealed in its use in
  language
• The thought never entered my mind."
• Thinking always made him frown." She paused
  for thought."
• "19th century thought" "Darwinian thought"
• My opinion differs from yours" What are your
  thoughts on this proposal?"

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What is Mind

• The mind is the term most commonly used to
  describe the higher functions of the human brain,
  particularly those of which humans are
  subjectively conscious, such as personality,
  thought, reason, memory, intelligence and
  emotion. (Wikipedia Encyclopedia)

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Understanding Mind by its use in Language

• His mind wandered.
• The idea came to mind.
• Follow your mind, not your heart.
• I don't mind your behavior.
• She changed her mind.
• The great minds of the 20th century
• Don't pay him any mind.
• He had in mind to see his old teacher.
• He reads to improve his mind.
• Things to keep in mind when preparing a talk.

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Different Theories

• Mind is a device that operates according to
  strict rules concerning the manipulation of
  symbols
• The mind is some sort of digital processor that
  runs on the highly parallel neural structure of
  the brain
• Since about the mid-1980s researchers have
  increasingly challenged the idea that the mind is
  a computational device.

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Three dominant theories in the past hundreds of
years

• The blank slate (John Locke 1632-1704 )
• compares mind to white paper inscribed gradually
  by experience
• The noble savage (Jean Jacques Rouseau1712-1778)
• nothing could be more gentle than man in his
  primitive state (Translated by G.D. Cole, 1913,
  p. 207)
• The ghost in machine (Rene Descarte 1596 - 1650)
• belief in the division of soul and body

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Challenges to the trilogy of theories

• Modern sciences particularly cognitive
  understanding, evolutionary psychology, and
  neurology
• There have to be some innate mechanisms to do
  the learning, to achieve the socializing, to
  create and transmit the culture upon which
  experiences are based (Pinker, August, 2005).

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Innate Mechanisms (Pinker, 2005)

• From a cognitive perspective, such mechanisms
  include
• a sense of spatial representation
• the ability to grasp the thoughts of others
• a language instinct
• decision rules that govern behavior
• Other human drives can only be understood within
  the context of evolution.

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Different Theories - The modularity hypothesis
of language
The Mind/Brain

Language
General Cognition
Big Modularity

Lexicon irregulars
Rule System regulars
Little Modularity
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Different Theories Mentalese

• The medium of thought is an innate,
  behind-the-scenes language known as mentalese.
  (e.g., Fodor, 1975 Pinker, 1994)
• "Mentalese" is supposed to be an inner language
  that contains all of the conceptual resources
  necessary for any of the propositions that humans
  can grasp, think or express--in short, the basis
  of thought and meaning. 
• Natural language would not in itself shape the
  human mind in any fundamental way, although the
  internal mentalese thoughts being represented by
  the natural language sentences would.

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Fodor's Language of Thought (LOT) Hypothesis

• Including five components
• (1) Representational Realism Thinkers have
  explicit representational systems to think a
  thought with a given content is to be
  appropriately related to a representation with
  the right meaning, e.g., to have the belief that
  capitalism breeds greed is to have a
  representational token with the content
  "capitalism breeds greed" in one's belief box. 

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Fodor's Language of Thought (LOT) Hypothesis

• Including five components
• (2) Linguistic Thought The (main)
  representational system that underlies human
  thought, and perhaps that underlies thought in
  other species too, is semantically and
  syntactically language-like, i.e., it is similar
  to spoken human languages. Specifically, this
  representational system consists of syntactic
  tokens that are capable of expressing
  propositional meanings in virtue of the semantic
  compositionalilty of the syntactic elements.
  E.g., there are mental words that express
  concepts (and the like) that can be formed into
  true or false mental sentences. 

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Fodor's Language of Thought (LOT) Hypothesis

• Including five components
• (3) Distinctness The language of thought is not
  identical to any spoken language. 
• (4) Nativism There is a single genetically
  determined mental language possessed by humans,
  and perhaps (at least partially possessed) by all
  other thinking species. 
• (5) Semantic Completeness This language is
  expressively semantically complete--any predicate
  that we are able to semantically comprehend is
  expressible in this language.   

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Jackendoff, R. (2002) Foundations of Language
Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution

• If UG is not learned, how does the child acquire
  it? The only alternative is through the
  structure of the brain, which is determined
  through a combination of genetic inheritance and
  the biological processes resulting from
  expression of the genes, the latter in turn
  determined by some combination of inherent
  structure and environmental input.

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Jackendoff, R. (2002) Foundations of Language
Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution

• Generative grammar was mistaken to assume
• the syntactic component is the sole course of
  combinatoriality, and everything else is
  "interpretive.
• The proper approach is a parallel architecture,
  in which phonology, syntax, and semantics are
  autonomous generative systems, linked by
  interface components.
• The parallel architecture leads to an integration
  within linguistics, and to a far better
  integration with the rest of cognitive
  neuroscience

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Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

• Actually, thinking is most mysterious, and by far
  the greatest light upon it that we have is thrown
  by the study of language. This study shows that
  the forms of a person's thoughts are controlled
  by inexorable laws of pattern of which he
  is-unconscious. These patterns are the
  unperceived intricate systematizations of his own
  language--shown readily enough by a candid
  comparison and contrast with other languages,
  especially those of a different linguistic
  family. every language is a vast
  pattern-system, different from others, in which
  are culturally ordained the forms and categories
  by which the personality not only communicates,
  but also analyzes nature, notices or neglects
  types of relationship and phenomena, channels his
  reasoning, and builds the house of his
  consciousness. (whorf, 1956. p. 252)

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Different Theories

• The other theory states that a person's language
  of thought is their native natural language --
  for example, English for English speakers, French
  for French speakers, or Japanese for Japanese
  speakers.

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Different Theories Sapir and Whorf Hypothesis

• Our thoughts are constructed from sentences of
  natural language. (e.g., Sapir and Whorf on
  linguistic determinism Wittgenstein's work on
  meaning and representation)

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Sapir Whorf Hypothesis

• The structure of ones language influences the
  manner in which one perceives and understands the
  world
• Therefore, speakers of different languages will
  perceive the world differently

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Whorf , B. (1939). The Relation of Habitual
Thought Behavior to Language

1. Are our own concepts of time, space, and matter
   given in substantially the same form by
   experience to all men, or are they in part
   conditioned by the structure of particular
   languages?
2. Are there traceable affinities between (a)
   cultural and behavioral norms and (b) large-scale
   linguistic patterns?

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Degrees of Whorfianism

• Linguistic Determinism (strong Whorfianism)
  Language determines our perception of the world
• Linguistic Relativism (weak Whorfianism)
  Language biases our perception of the world

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Different Whorfian Questions(Gentner
Goldin-Meadow, 2003)

• Language as a Category Maker Does the language
  we acquire influence where we make our category
  distinctions?
• Language as a Lens Do grammatical
  characteristics of a language shape speakers
  perceptions of the world?
• Language as a Toolkit Does language augment our
  capacity for reasoning and representation?
• Gentner, Dedre and Susan Goldin-Meadow. 2003.
  Whither Whorf? In Gentner Goldin-Meadow (eds.)
  Language in Mind. MIT Press.

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Different Whorfian Questions(Gentner
Goldin-Meadow, 2003)

• Language as a Category Maker
• Does the language we acquire influence where we
  make our category distinctions?
• Sound inventory of a language and perception of
  speech sounds in native foreign languages
• Color terms and color perception

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Different Whorfian Questions(Gentner
Goldin-Meadow, 2003)

• Language as a Lens
• Do grammatical characteristics of a language
  shape speakers perceptions of the world?
• Spatial Frames of Reference (relative vs.
  absolute)
• Motion Events (manner encoded in verb or PP)
• Language for Spatial Location Relationships

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Different Whorfian Questions(Gentner
Goldin-Meadow, 2003)

• Language as a Toolkit
• Does language augment our capacity for reasoning
  and representation?
• Navigation (combining core knowledge systems info
  geometric color)
• Number (combining core knowledge systems info
  small, exact numbers large, approximate
  numbers)
• Theory of Mind (realizing that someone can have a
  different point of view than you - when does this
  realization come, and how?)

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Childrens developing theory of mind

• 2 y-olds Starting to use terms referring to
  mental states.
• 3-4 y-olds starting to acquire an understanding
  that others can hold false beliefs
• 6 y-olds starting to understand that others can
  have knowledge through inference

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Wimmer and Perner (1983)

• False-Belief task
• Can a child understand that someone else can have
  a different belief (a false belief) despite the
  child possessing the correct belief?
• Allows researchers to separate the beliefs of the
  research participant from the beliefs of the
  model.

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The False-Belief Task
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The False-Belief Task
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The False-Belief Task
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The False-Belief Task
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The False-Belief Task
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The False-Belief Task
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The False-Belief Task
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The False-Belief Task
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The False-Belief Task
Where will bunny look for her toy?
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The False-Belief Task
Where will bunny look for her toy?

• To succeed, child must separate their own beliefs
  (the true belief) and attribute a false-belief to
  Bunny.

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The False-Belief Task
Where will bunny look for her toy?

• To succeed, child must separate their own beliefs
  (the true belief) and attribute a false-belief to
  Bunny.

4-year-olds
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The False-Belief Task
Where will bunny look for her toy?

• To succeed, child must separate their own beliefs
  (the true belief) and attribute a false-belief to
  Bunny.

4-year-olds
3-year-olds
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

3-year-olds have difficulty coordinating two
different representations of a single situation
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Smarties task
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Smarties task
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Smarties task
E What do you think is in the box? C
Smarties
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Smarties task
E Whats really in the box? C Ribbons. E What
did you think was in the box before?
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Smarties task
E Whats really in the box? C Ribbons. E What
did you think was in the box before?
3-year-olds say ribbons
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Appearance-Reality Task
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Appearance-Reality Task
E What does it look like? C A rock
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Appearance-Reality Task
Child discovers the rock is actually a sponge
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Appearance-Reality Task
E What is it really? C A sponge E What does it
look like?
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties

Appearance-Reality Task
E What is it really? C A sponge E What does it
look like?
3-year-olds say it looks like a sponge
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False-belief task

• Why do 3-year-olds fail the task?
• (1) Age-related conceptual difficulties
• Performance in a variety of tasks suggest that
  3-year-olds have difficulty coordinating two
  different representations of a single situation
• (2) Problems of response control

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Can we find any language data to support Sapir
and Whorf Hypothesis?

• Swedish expressions that have direct Chinese
  equivalents but are associated with different
  animals
• När katten är borta dansar råttorna på bordet.
• When the cat is gone, the rats dance on the
  table.
• Shan zhong wu laohu, houzi cheng da wang.
• When there are no tigers in the mountain, monkeys
  will be kings.

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• flitig som en myra
• as diligent as an ant
• xiàng mìfëng yíyàng qínfèn
• as diligent as bees

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Same expressions that exist in both Swedish and
Chinese

• Bättre en fågel in handen än tio i skogen.
• A bird in the hand is better than ten in the
  bush.
• Yì niâo zài shôu yuân shèng liâng niâo zài lín.
• frogen som en hund
• xiàng gôu yíyàng zhöngshï
• as faithful as a do