Suchergebnisse

This paper distinguishes three phases in the popularization of linguistic relativity: the phase initiated by Benjamin Lee Whorf himself; a second phase during which linguistic relativity was formulated and tested as a research hypothesis; and the current phase during which language-relativistic assumptions have penetrated the mass media. To diagnose the spread of relativistic assumptions, 560 articles in both English and Greek print and electronic media were considered. The articles were published over the period 2010–2019. They fall, roughly, into eighteen categories. Some of the articles report explicitly on linguistic relativity research, while others presuppose language-relativistic ideas in handling issues as disparate as the effectiveness of managerial discourse, the appropriateness of political correctness, or the possibility of communicating with aliens. The large number of article categories as well as the tacit assumption of linguistic relativity in a growing number of articles are indicators of how popular linguistic relativity has become in folk-linguistic discourse.

AbstractUnderstanding symbols requires going beyond what they literally are, and figuring out what they're intended to communicate. For example, a drawing of a bird (or the word bird) could refer to a particular bird, a species, etc… The interpreter must decide between these intended meanings. We ask how children go beyond the literal meanings of communicative acts (i.e., compute pragmatic inferences), and whether these inferences are domain‐general. We tested 443 US 2‐ to 6‐year‐olds' inferences about the referential interpretation of ambiguous symbols. We manipulated the domain (e.g., word or a drawing) and task (interpret vs. create the communicative act). Children robustly identified the referents of ambiguous symbols and chose from among alternatives during linguistic and non‐linguistic communication tasks. There were no effects of age or domain on performance. These data provide some of the earliest evidence of children's computations of pragmatic inferences, and provide exciting evidence that pragmatic inferences may extend beyond the domain of language.