Thought and Language

Eric S. WheelerYork University, Toronto, Canada

Language A means of thought

Categorize (animate vs inanimate...) Hypothesize (what if I did ...) Encapsulate (do unto others...)

Secondarily, a means of communicating thought

Active processing

Language is processed (said and heard) by an active, thinking, planning system (i.e. a real person) that knows much.

External language is only the “tip of the iceberg”Q: Do you know what time it is?A1: Yes.A2: I was caught in traffic.

Shared consistent world-view

We use language to get and keep a:

shared consistentview of the world.

Did you

hear?

No! I thought

...

Language as evidence Language is highly patterned

Some of the patterns are highly arbitrary (why is “pants” plural and “shirt” singular?)

The patterns can give evidence of the underlying thought categories

Mass/count, singular/plural in English

S P

Referent of fish:

•{Fish S} is a fish

•{Fish P} is several fish

•{Fish} is a fish-stuff

Mass/count, singular/plural in English

S P

Mass/count, singular/plural in English

+S a, an, each, every, one

+P plural nouns, plural verbs, these, those, both, many, few, two and higher, decimal fractions (.75),several

-S all, all of

-P this, that, am, was, 3rd sg. simple tense (e.g. runs)

-S-P

much (too much, so much etc,), an amount of, etc., ordinary fractions (e.g. three-quarters)

Mass/count, singular/plural in English The semantic features S and P fit simply

with the pattern of English Alternatives (such as Mass & S or Count

& P) only fit awkwardly with English. So, we conclude that English gives

evidence for an underlying semantics: stuff in the mass: much fish units (S): one fish sets of units (P): many fish

Theatre of the Mind A great

metaphor! Can we put

language on a stage, and show “meaning”?

Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill went up the hillTo fetch a pail of water.Jack fell down, and broke his

crown,And Jill came tumbling after.

-- Mother Goose

Jack and Jill

Key semantic concepts: Coming and going Going vs. fetching (causing

something to go) Up and down Modes of going: plain, fall, tumbleThere is a lot happening here!

Theatre IV – a prototype

Spatial orientationObjects and places can: Contain other objects Have up to 3 axes:

Major axis: Front to back Vertical axis: Top to bottom Lateral axis: Side to side

Have (implicit) surfaces and parts “top of”, “beside”, “in front of”,

“under”...

Next steps Make a “complete” spatial model Illustrate prepositions

(in vs. into vs. through) And allow the text to be the place

where entities are created If you refer to “Tom”, Tom becomes a

character in the play

Uses for the Theatre Teaching language concepts

L2 learning L1 literacy??

???? ????