Evidence for Linguistic Relativity

262 Pages·2000·25.681 MB·English

by  Susanne Niemeier (Ed.), René Dirven (Ed.)

EVIDENCE FOR LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY
AMSTERDAM STUDIES IN THE THEORY AND
HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE
General Editor
E. F. KONRAD KOERNER
(University of Ottawa)
Series IV - CURRENT ISSUES IN LINGUISTIC THEORY
Advisory Editorial Board
Raimo Anttila (Los Angeles); Lyle Campbell (Christchurch, N.Z.)
Sheila Embleton (Toronto); John E. Joseph (Edinburgh)
Manfred Krifka (Austin, Tex.); Hans-Heinrich Lieb (Berlin)
E. Wyn Roberts (Vancouver, B.C.); Hans-Jürgen Sasse (Köln)
Volume 198
Susanne Niemeier and René Dirven (eds)
Evidence for Linguistic Relativity
EVIDENCE FOR
LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY
Edited by
SUSANNE NIEMEIER
University of Bremen
RENÉ DIRVEN
Gerhard Mercator University Duisburg
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evidence for linguistic relativity / edited by Suzanne Niemeier, René Dirven.
p. cm. -- (Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series IV,
Current issues in linguistic theory, ISSN 0304-0763 ; v. 198)
Papers presented at the 26th International LAUD Symposium entitled, "Humboldt and Whorf
revisited" held April 1-5, 1998 at the Gerhard Mercator University in Duisburg, Germany.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis-Congresses. 2. Language and culture-Congresses. 3. Thought and
thinking-Congresses. I. Niemeier, Suzanne, 1960- II. Dirven, René. III. International L.A.U.D.-
Symposium. IV. Series.
P140.E95 2000
417'.7--dc21 00-021104
ISBN 90 272 3705 o (Eur.) / 1 55619 976 7 (US) (Hb; alk. paper) CIP
© 2000 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other
means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. ♦ P.O.Box 75577 • 1070 AN Amsterdam • The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America • P.O.Box 27519 • Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 • USA
Contents
Preface
Susanne Niemeier and René Dirven vii
Introductory comments
John A. Lucy ix
Part 1: Evidence from Language: Production, Interpretation,
and Change
Linguistic relativity in speech perception: An overview of the
influence of language experience on the perception of speech
sounds from infancy to adulthood
Ocke-Schwen Bohn 1
Equivalence and mismatch of semantic features: Collocations in
English, Spanish and Dutch
Jan Schroten 29
Can grammar make you feel different?
Michael Maratsos, Demetra Katis and Annalisa Margheri 53
Semantic change as linguistic interpretation of the world
Gábor Györi 71
(Micro-)categorization, semantic change, and the Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis
Richard A. Rhodes 91
Part 2: Evidence beyond Language: Cognition, Discourse, and Culture
Verbalized events: A dynamic approach to linguistic relativity
and determinism
Dan L Slobin 107
vi CONTENTS
Universal ontological knowledge and a bias toward
language-specific categories in the construal of individuation
Mutsumi Imai 139
Grammar and social practice: On the role of 'culture' in
linguistic relativity
Balthasar Bickel 161
"S'engager" vs. "to show restraint": Linguistic and cultural
relativity in discourse management
Bert Peeters 193
Grammar and the cult of the virgin: A case study of Polish
religious discourse
Elzbieta Tabakowska 223
Subject Index 235
Language Index 241
Preface
Most of the contributions to this volume were originally presented at the 26th
International LAUD Symposium entitled "Humboldt and Whorf Revisited.
Universal and Culture-Specific Conceptualizations in Grammar and Lexis".
The conference was held at the Gerhard-Mercator University in Duisburg,
Germany, from April 1-5, 1998. Thanks to the generous support by DFG
(German Research Foundation) many internationally well-known scholars
could participate. All papers were selected for inclusion only after a lengthy
process of refereeing and in some cases, extensive revision. Due to the large
number and the heterogeneity of the contributions, the organizers of the
symposium decided to divide the accepted papers into two volumes: one
volume dealing with "Explorations in Linguistic Relativity" edited by M.
Pütz and M. Verspoor (to appear in the same series), and one focusing on
"Evidence for Linguistic Relativity", the topics of which constitute the pres­
ent volume.
The editors of this volume would like to acknowledge a great debt of
gratitude to several persons. The volume would never have been possible
without the willing and enthusiastic support of both the authors who wrote
the papers that appear here and the colleagues who refereed them. We would
like to extend our deepest gratitude to each of the following colleagues who
read a paper for us offering valuable advice both to the contributors and to
the editors:
Michel Achard, Antonio Barcelona, Wallace Chafe, Stephen J. Hannahs,
Paul J. Hopper, John E. Joseph, Sydney M. Lamb, Penny Lee, Robert E.
MacLaury, Gary B. Palmer, Klaus-Uwe Panther, Gisela Redeker, Francisco
J. Ruiz de Mendoza, Gunter Senft, Dan I. Slobin, Elzbieta Tabakowska,
John R. Taylor, and Friedrich Ungerer.
Beyond these, we would like to thank the organizing LAUD team of the
symposium, in particular Tatjana Pawlow-Wroblewski, Ingke Carstens, and
Jörg Behrndt. Special thanks are due to Birgit Smieja, who - once again -
did a marvelous job in designing the layout of the book and in taking care of
correction work, indexing, and the laser print-out. Finally, we would like to
thank Ms. Bertie Kaal of Benjamins, Amsterdam for her kind assistance and
cooperation with this venue.
Bremen and Duisburg, December 1999
Susanne Niemeier (University of Bremen)
René Dirven (Gerhard-Mercator University Duisburg)

Introductory Comments
JOHN A. LUCY
University of Chicago
Through most of the last century, the linguistic relativity hypothesis, the pro­
posal that the particular language we speak influences the way we think
about reality, has not been subject to a sustained program of empirical re­
search in any of the concerned disciplines. As a result, the validity and proper
scope of the proposal have remained largely in the realm of speculation1.
However, over the past decade interest in the empirical assessment of the
hypothesis has now emerged in several disciplines, and we have entered a
period of considerable debate both about what is meant by linguistic relativ­
ity and what, in fact, would constitute adequate evidence for the various
formulations (Lucy 1997a). The studies in this volume contribute a range of
voices to this new empirical enterprise.
1. Characterizing linguistic relativity
The linguistic relativity proposal forms part of the general question of how
language influences thought and can, therefore, be defined in contrast to
closely related but analytically distinct questions. Potential influences of lan­
guage on thought can be classed into three types or levels (Lucy 1996). The
first, or semiotic, level concerns how speaking any natural language at all
may influence thinking. The question is whether having a code with a sym­
bolic component (versus one confined to iconic-indexical elements) trans­
forms thinking in certain ways. If so, we can speak of a semiotic relativity of
those aspects of thought with respect to other species lacking such a code.
The second, or structural, level concerns how speaking one or more particu­
lar natural languages (e.g., Hopi versus English) may influence thinking. The
question is whether quite different morphosyntactic configurations of mean­
ing affect some aspects of thinking about reality. If so, we can speak of a