Grammatical Categories & Cognition: A Case Study of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis: 13 (Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language, Series Number 13) - Softcover

Lucy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521566207 ISBN 13: 9780521566209

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Grammatical Categories and Cognition uses original, empirical data to examine the Sapir-Whorf linguistic relativity hypothesis: the proposal that the grammar of the particular language we speak affects the way we think about reality. The author compares the grammar of American English with that of Yucatec Maya, an indigenous language spoken in south-eastern Mexico, focusing on differences in the number marking patterns of the two languages. He then identifies distinctive patterns of thought relating to these differences by means of a systematic assessment of memory and classification preferences among speakers of both languages. The study illustrates the distinct approach to empirical research on the linguistic relativity hypothesis which Lucy develops in a companion volume Language Diversity and Thought.

About this title

Review

'... the importance of [Lucy's] work lies primarily ... in his re-opening discussion and inquiry on the linguistic relativity hypothesis. Although others in the past few decades have also called attention to the linguistic relatively hypothesis, for various reasons attention to it has been of marginal concern ... Lucy's work will surely open the conversation. Its reopening is long overdue.' Times Higher Education Supplement

From the Back Cover

In this book, the author compares the grammar of American English with that of Yucatec Maya, an indigenous language spoken in southeastern Mexico, focusing on differences in the number marking patterns of the two languages.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0521566207
• ISBN 13: 9780521566209
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 228