The largest whorfian study EVER! (and why it matters) - 0 views
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Ryan Catalani on 28 Sep 10Examining the results and methodology of a large Whorfian study (17 languages), which tested differences if there are differences in cognition between speakers of verb-frame languages (like Spanish, if the "Path is characteristically represented in the main verb or verb root of a sentence") and satellite-frame languages (like English, if the path is "characteristically represented in the satellite and/or preposition"). Important conclusion regarding study methodology: "Strong claims regarding the (in)validity of the Whorfian hypothesis in the encoding of motion events cannot be made on the basis of a limited number of languages or a restricted range of manner and path contrasts." They could have reached opposite conclusions if they only compared certain language pairs. This is made in contrast with studies by, e.g., Boroditsky, which had relatively small sample sizes.
