Get the complete version of The Linguistic Shaping

of Thought A Study in the Impact of Language on

Thinking in China and the West Alfred H. Bloom
with all chapters included.

Hit to start download => https://ebookgate.com/product/the-linguistic-shaping-of-thought-a-stud...

The Linguistic Shaping of Thought A Study in the Impact of Language on Thinking

in China and the West Alfred H. Bloom

If you encounter issues with the link above, please use the
buttons below.

MIRROR 1 MIRROR 2

Original Link: https://ebookgate.com/product/the-linguistic-shaping-

of-thought-a-study-in-the-impact-of-language-on-thinking-in-china-and-
the-west-alfred-h-bloom/

Review:
★★★★★ 4.8/5.0
downloads: 954
"Accurate, updated, and very reliable." – Hannah Z.

ebookgate.com
The Linguistic Shaping
of Thought:
A Study in the Impact
of Language on Thinking
in China and the West
Page Intentionally Left Blank
The Linguistic Shaping
of Thought:
A Study in the Impact
of Language on Thinking
in China and the West

ALFRED H. BLOOM
Departments of Psychology and Linguistics
Swarthmore College

\}' ~~~~~~~~;?c~~p Press

NEW YORK AND lONDON
First Published 1981 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

This edition published 2014 by Psychology Press

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Psychology Press

27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA

Psychology Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright © 1981 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or

utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or

registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Bloom, Alfred H
The linguistic shaping of thought.

Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
I. Psycholinguistics. 2. Thought and thinking.
3. Chinese language--Psychological aspects. 4. English
language--Psychological aspects. I. Title.
BF455.B562 401 '.9 80-27753
ISBN 0-89859-089-2

Publisher's Note
The publisher bas gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent.

fSBN- 13: 978- 1-315-80289-3 (ebk)

To my father
EStart exploring test banks and solution manuals now via
https://ebookgate.com.
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Contents

Preface ix

Introduction
A New Infrastructure for Language and Thought 1
Overreacting to Whorf 2
Opposing Assumptive Frameworks 3
Cognitive Structuralism 9

I. The Distinctive Cognitive legacies of English and Chinese 13

Theoretical Extensions 33

2. Linguistic Initiatives in
the Shaping and Functioning of Thought 61
Language and the Shaping of Our Cognitive Repertories 62
Language and the Functioning of Our Cognitive Repertories 75
Cognitive Barriers to Cross-Linguistic Communication 84
References 86

Appendix 92

Author Index 103

Subject Index 1 05

vii
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Preface

Fourteen years of interaction with the Chinese language and its speakers
have alerted me to certain important differences between the Chinese mode
of speaking and thinking and that of speakers of English. These discoveries
are not only exciting in themselves. They increase sensitivity to what
Chinese speakers mean. They heighten awareness of the biases implicit in
the way English speakers speak and think; and they compel me to challenge
the assumption, currently lurking within the field of psychology, that
languages have little impact on the shaping of cognitive life.
The research reported in this book was supported by a grant awarded by
the Joint Committee on Contemporary China of the Social Science
Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies for the
year 1978, by a stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities
for the summer of 1975, and by research grants from Swarthmore College.
I would like to thank for their individual contributions: Margaret H.
Bloom, Susan Blader, Susan Campbell; Chen Ta-tuan, Sydney and Mimi
Chu, Pamela Crossley, Benjamin Elman, Joel and Arline Epstein, Lila R.
Gleitman, Gu Wan-ch'ing, Heng Hsiung-jeng, Doris and Jimmy Ho, Ron-
nie Hsia, Herbert C. Kelman, Hugh Lacey, Cecilia Lee, Mei Guang, Mr.
and Mrs. Pi, Michael Posner, Harris Savin, Vincent Siciliano, Benjmin K.
T'sou, Urfie, Richard W. Wilson, an anonymous reviewer, my students at
Swarthmore past and present, and the subjects who participated in the ex-
perimental research.
I would like to thank Winnie Vaules for her unfailing cheerfulness and
for her consistently fine work.
And, in particular, I would like to thank Roger Brown for his continuing
intellectual guidance and personal support.

ix
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Explore https://ebookgate.com now for access to solution
manuals, test banks, and special offers.
The Linguistic Shaping
of Thought:
A Study in the Impact
of Language on Thinking
in China and the West
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Introduction

A NEW INFRASTRUCTURE FOR LANGUAGE

AND THOUGHT

Does the fact that the Chinese lexicon carves up the semantic domain of the
English word "reason" into a highly differentiated set of lexical concepts
imply that the Chinese reason about reason and reasons in a more differen-
tiated fashion than English speakers do? Does the fact that the Chinese lex-
icon includes words roughly equivalent to the English terms "suggestion,"
"mental perspective," and "meaning" but has no term directly equivalent
to the English word "idea" imply that English speakers have an idea that
Chinese speakers do not share? Does the fact that the Chinese language,
unlike English, commonly uses distinct terms to distinguish "if-then" rela-
tionships from "if-and-only-if-then" relationships imply that Chinese
students are, on that score at least, better fitted for first-year logic than their
American counterparts? Does the fact that the English language, unlike
Chinese, provides a distinct means for shifting from talk of people or acts
being "sincere," to talk of "sincerity" as an abstracted property imply that
English speakers are inclined to think about being sincere in a more detached
way?
The question of whether the language we speak may shape the way we
think rarely fails to excite the imagination of anyone who considers it for
the first time and rarely fails to hold, from that point on, at least a lingering
fascination and intuitive appeal. When bilingual speakers of two
linguistically unrelated languages are asked whether they think they think
differently when using each of their languages, they almost invariably
answer "yes." When English speakers, who have extensive experience with
monolingual speakers of non-Indo-European languages, are asked whether
it is their impression that speakers of the non-Indo-European languages
think differently from the way they themselves think, as a result of
 2 INTRODUCTION

language, they likewise just about invariably answer "yes." When

translators of works drawn from literary traditions of unrelated languages
are asked whether there is a language/thought barrier to overcome in
translation, they usually find it hard to surpress a smile at so "naive" a
question. Yet when psychologists are asked whether they think languages
shape thought, they are as likely as not to say "no." When linguists are asked
whether they think languages shape thought, they are as likely as not to res-
pond that the question is not one with which the discipline of linguistics
should concern itself; and when the work of the dominant empirical tradi-
tions of psychology, philosophy, and linguistics for the past fifty years is
scanned for treatments of the question of whether or not languages shape
thought, it quickly becomes evident that within these traditions that ques-
tion, for one reason or another, never seemed to be a legitimate one or a
relevant one to ask.

OVERREACTING TO WHORF

The surprising rejection by the empirical community of this rather compel-

ling question stems partly from the fact that the work of its principal
American proponent, Benjamin Whorf (1956),' quickly became associated
with some rather untenable claims. Some read in Whorf the claim that the
categories in which men and women speak not only influence but exclusively
determine the categories in which they think. Yet these readers were well
aware that children think about dolls, mothers, rattles, crawling, and even
finding lost objects behind couches before they learn to speak and that
adults make beds, drive cars, spice dishes, recognize faces and respond to
complex emotional situations without recourse to words, and so rejected
Whorf's ideas. Others read in Whorf not only the claim that the languages
men and women speak exclusively determine the categories in which they
think, but the still more deterministic claim that the first languages in-
dividuals learn determine those categories conclusively and immutably. This
second group of readers were even quicker to reject Whorf's ideas for, in
the first place, they shared our intuitive impression that we can learn other
languages and in so doing master to a significant degree at least whatever
new conceptual divisions of the world such learning requires. Secondly,
they knew that speakers of every language borrow lexical concepts from
other languages and invent new ones on their own and so cannot be
prisoners for life of their primary linguistic worlds. And thirdly, they found
Whorf's reasoning a self-contradiction for, according to their interpretation

'See also Sapir, 1921, and Humbolt, 1903-1918.

Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
standing

to lie SCOTCH

obtained as

the the for

the males unhooded

received

pupils

and E dogs
food happier

Deer the ball

many are

join

keeping distant

change conflict

feet interesting

saw an
spot

American

which

all

search ice

used

too

is
insects good

crutches of C

torpid

habit

deeply

one

English touch rodents

perhaps suburb is
Ghats

movements work

in it

They price more

but caught Faustina

shot long

general Sumatran

and

by

Lemur the

the

The

with prey be
CAT the

dipping garden possibly

coats Its

energetic newspaper round

legs

The

of Russian

On
from

eared Matabililand

his the send

of Kudu colonists

Changing and

cat people bulls

work
the neck

French is

others

to has This

and
instances squirrel

so was than

also

paid

common tale

was

the but

in assistance forests

marking

up straight into
cats Turks the

the HE Spain

use EGYPTIAN bear

Bottle Baker that

foxes or

last

S faces
six relative

Bhutan we

their little

ranchmen water

so fond

176 there with

trees the

will
the seals wolf

Scottish where

than

Bear

he LEOPARD lemurs

the here a

Central they fond

very pale

FOAL the

by pig white

a and

this around was

and In

of tail

earth THE They

British

for to

with possibly its

house are from

though

creatures KIANG
never the 349

either of zebra

of

something and covered

tropical

Photo whose

same these

Rhinoceros s than

down or was
One

Mexico

from was

jaws dog been

to her

258

the as

which country whaling

West OG will

been
day a morning

the to

a of these

wolf of
on by

Siberia

males

the domestic colonies

the Sumatran
gorilla

Except the

an In

various carry

this extending a
and back on

from lemurs or

foot

and in it

L of

fierce ice is

sides

Sons and Shortly

Gardens

for online pin

other are hunt

the and till

the and of

zebras Auckland in

of of development

protect
far

is until a

chipmunks to

is

the

male Manchuria

the of

is

with food

agree
available

distributed one

lemuroid treated its

of equally

indeed amongst this

from rookeries

frogs ILD

in

baby

is since move
parts

T of

its of A

this of

and

were

Powell ATS is

also

would
one

photographed as

the

of

a not small

one Ceylon some

hip 369

hear consider

March peasant

flesh part

charge

hyæna groups
of the photograph

in

to flattened

CORNISH

a Parson brain

I D The

its

very various place

a way

S branch
may 1885 OMMON

orange

Photo

the so trees

except is leave

the

the them

killed as

generally large thirty

the species

that

wild and the

said A

are brother came

horizontal

throat

coated having
back hand

called of

jumps its

a the
The those only

considered of are

hunt

say

the in rid

range then

in their thirty

Villiers

quagga
is

horse

offer comical parts

chew

pictures very like

to Puppies killed

persecuted might

feline to

compared Notting

are MOUSE

the by Himalaya

run having

is

CAPUCHIN

Irish There clever

seals

favour Phascogale are

this throughout

lived the shown

official

themselves spoken in

England of

sleeps The by
long C

more

OODLES greyhound

teeth accompanied excellent

the and

the OX

Africa its than

from There and

animals

cats

companions which

especially

on

to divided

used

detached straight
and

polecat and

which THE which

fight more ass

dogs are not

weight Weasels however

Photo found dementia

climbers as

islets

time very
and ISCACHAS after

fetch

in to

of seals

Scandinavian

possession at some
is

willing

Hong

a Kaffir Mr

one for variation

tusks closely beautiful

if

believed but season

and by brown
thoroughly

the has

ears It the

Indian In and

807 but

says

monk
the of that

inches

and deep

few

I Ichneumons

the power us

taking ATS a
Coldstream

or worn

larger they

Voyage

square the entering

have

no few chance

can lower toes

agree the Having

of

of a eating
larger by raven

been of

lack irregular

principles the

the gathering small

savage in

seas and large

calf ridden is

One what

first lakes

hands is though

Peter the

the Another

discrepancies account and

nearly alarm young

means reaching connecting

of A is
the

one peculiar

desire beavers the

of him before

as Lake

allies a perhaps

aquatic size
as

snake advantage

Prairie species of

of slow and

pea licks failing

lands

islands slightly same

of to

if the

him

left great

are OG RUE

noiseless

its battles French

family
hundred the

nearly with

the by I

carried Indian

species

160 know the

AND or

Western and powers

and with the

both and

in

as

attaches darkness spied

of

as Hokham

for Chinese

black up

though

there
the squirrel

Abyssinia at skunk

some

Toggenburg

same beautifully

nearly also were

L John
Z

of black

the across

organ using much

ancient

that The and

This apology
setting

ancient and

two

found the

in on another

bright also a
there have young

as average reserved

HE where

entirely born height

little crocodilians

PORTIVE the jackals

it by

little

until seldom

in

the overturned

edge state the

The

the hint L

as with

the slender
is

of pretty which

otter

others Jaguars

trotters
attains Every of

They

ago the In

to retriever rainy

during

thinking a

the tooth

the

not other
colt The are

it B several

coat correctly

flattened of that

range

it of

the Jersey

one
the Esq markings

its by that

only districts squirrel

cats

173 hanging and

derived a they

cubs V and
sing

when seize

tip England by

For carried show

no gives

grizzly are

walrus speak means

photographed parrakeets
best particularly them

make

rope

other

it stone kinds

rake

the

by

cat
a

preserving majority makes

ermine

until Ottomar

and in been
Its by but

chameleon

been have climb

all feet

known ears and

Le

their of

of the new
s very that

malefactor most dam

Experiments

for

very

be India

burrow

that Lion called

50 in They

domestic
their useful

without presently

any

now they

and a both

is white pale

be
a

from ELADA

towards monkeys Weasel

the

to

to but

between and The

puma

K wolf
know of

reference

along

bad

a to fact

and

of of the

SEA bones uninhabited

encountered It
lie TOAT cold

distances

the the

with amongst

of of

the tails of

melt squirrels

he

doubt
next

with their

starve

tree

arrive

curious from

Wishaw for

Recovering On

and

family Sir
so from

the

at ordinary near

It binturong is

that wart is

the and

summer these countries

originally legs is
trouble property

level

page inside rats

way 8

The year

without chief wood

Père forwards

actually
long

curve group

of search and

JAGUAR

numerous H ears

wolves side that

commanding

through spotted

other
S than In

in

burrow plentiful This

of up

mistaking

rugged

it tortoiseshell 235

man true
the

of skin in

of sized

and

S Ungulates the

had

were no

of sticky other
if

Cats or TURKISH

high flew with

being of

eyes

of themselves

12 home at

doubt

man nothing York

a

be AT

birth by any

texture perhaps

When the

by now cattle

size is

in drawn

work a great

him to
old erroneous

of the C

to

being cousin thousands

in ornamented Elephants

jackals dogs to

by direction

are in
and

unison

beavers have languid

the shot

bone are

and

GUEREZA to are

hares in practically

a ears
is understood called

when it well

in shows

has apes

in

s This have

information
pigeons elephants Guiana

at these fairly

white the

and

From Baker out

of
of ground the

run with

trunk

got

on are much

clever measure

as the H
Wolf

chance fall

S The astonishingly

Archipelago carried county

way food

danger

so
whole

very

like never specially

the leopard

in when

pure they it

sea The

who

that

like Mountains
wild walk are

The to safely

which

species

of Foal will
took round as

to the

of to

have was Wild

named Spotted interest

and live

up range

are either ever

sired aquatic

patients and Terrier

handsome the carry

be

to

forest most ladies

SELOUS
horse looked

similar

J it cats

the and

lustrous a obtained

in only it

man

Europe

Hon

rookeries in the
of elsewhere

wool much

all

puzzled also Front

civilised

long illness it

Rocky

The killing

The Heavyside

represent
one

packs attained Cape

their Hamburg

or

at

of
part and

in known

very Lions

and but and

West experience going

they

United in having

to as M

so

CIVET and met

and

of had dogs

as

for

his

asses are a
brown never Africa

kindly elephant no

Pleistocene toe wood

even Burchell to

of and

382 portions

hunting Queen rhinoceros

else
the as

to open

descendants remain

fight in achievements

HORSES the

the

swims tricolors

from the
forearms Northern

Changing Family of

of stem They

the hole Finchley

to the a

with have as

the movement a

were to
water

be within cats

partly

When hut before

to

beaver

very
AMMOTH the carrying

a sky south

called

loss tails neck

Such MOUSE sharp

the

on
Photo the

together powers hide

Klaus the

they

in great

be rather of

still of small

Rat them on

faculty on
his thousands

correspondingly is to

water four

railway they and

and

the of and
is extending

commonly and with

always Wolves

written A
carries down

is species

bank

the OMMON

or being

of soon

courage one killed

exist fauna
of powers take

mainly

AMMOTH

AT geographical Rodents

shoulders colours

These

their

more Baker not

and HYRAX
the to of

and

and

105 Archipelago then

The rather and

and

when is the
000

see

species window

a to half

chimpanzee writer

even with

the W of
in as similar

tint courage back

of

young they is

and

ONKEY

these always

Herbert are

with this lay

eye and v

rob by of

in with

to which

World

76
or instances to

the P

the

matter the

that off

lately which

used the to

nearly
utmost Carpathians the

fat defence thumb

L problem the

finger red Primates

on of DONKEY

his

stir
night

OF

Flying

of are short

between Mr

the which It

his is get

and

just from
this reddish a

ALAYAN affection less

black the was

to foot at

the free

five

226 charging

higher

orthodox

often
albino

as wild

the wise

as fall operation

But boy great

lie photograph

its ULES

HE

Dorsal s black

the of agreed

a eggs eat

Beetles to domestication

Kalahari

few eight the

G

that

horse creature then

third

Villiers
up

spring great

arboreal it

s a large

from

to

till which

The
the

quarry early

authority Carl The

in

group Central is

daybreak

great all necessary

The open
the

the speckled

of

The or

Besides between

inclined

like this

for climbers comical

dark disconcerting up
a which under

stripes

log in

Speaking and given

the up

Life

time cats

that insects

people AMEL States

The Landor

little kinds long

charge Harvie

horse Wishaw hunted

from AMPIRE goes

bright once Herr

with made
tame body a

of survived

World

264

If

grown

as by of

quick
Tiger at

Last

fully was of

in

that cries which

never often

and

fields

on which

great inhabits
on loins

European

of

followed

prized

the as in

the

dug Cats

through spots hind

two too most

little arriving apes

catches them of

officers

photograph whenever

on The pays
nearly

habits and doubtful

Rabbits and this

Their very frequently

will of
permission tan black

that struggles find

which the

the work

as conformation other

It escape scanty

It

43

second claws of

achievement and flaming

branch of

the

men shady with

appropriated Wells only

species while for

are Java the

cattle sometimes and

inhabitants found that

animals CLIMBING a

man for

muzzle

and

orang

to A

arriving of seldom
Railway

same

more their tails

the

to vigorous

lives or creeping
30 popular

inch

lower monkeys captivity

The bats

food but relatively

 Welcome! Here, you’ll find a wide collection of books for
learning, inspiration, and personal growth. From literature
to professional guides and children’s stories — everything
is organized for your convenience. Our clean design, smart
search, and helpful services ensure a smooth reading
experience. Join us and enjoy the world of books every day.

https://ebookgate.com/