Vocabulary
The hypothesis that language determines thought, with the result that speakers of different languages may, as result, think differently
What is linguistic determinism? (Chapter 8)
Caveats: Too extreme and simplistic
What is the main argument of the Gertner article? How does Gertner make their case? (evidence)
Argument: Language functions as a cognitive tool that enhances our ability to reason about abstract relationships, thereby supporting higher-order cognition.
Evidence: examining cross-linguistic differences, developmental studies, and research on homesigners.
What is the main point of Bialystok’s paper? How does the Swiss cheese example support it?
The relationship between bilingualism and cognitive abilities is complex and not as straightforward as some studies have suggested.
When treated as binary (bilingual vs. monolingual) and linked to a fixed outcome (the so-called “bilingual advantage”), all the nuance is lost.
Swiss Cheese= holes and imperfections in the bilingual experience, thus bilingualism may not always lead to a uniform or guaranteed cognitive benefit.
Alot of need for reframing what bilingualism means.
How does relational language play a role in augmenting human cognition? (Gertner)
Incr. ability to conceptualize, categorize, and make sense of the world around us.
relational language= allows us to think beyond concrete, isolated concepts by connecting them to broader, more abstract categories and relationships.
rich relational language environments = higher-order cognitive skill
Using what we have outlined from Bialystok, in what ways can code switching be a deficit? In what ways can it benefit cogniton?
Processing Demands:
Constantly switching between languages or dialects can place a higher demand on the brain's executive function system. This result in momentary slowdowns or errors where fast, fluent responses are needed. (translation)
Increased Executive Control:
Bialystok’s research shows that code-switching might play a role in strengthening systems relating to cognitive flexibility, inhibition, and working memory.
The mental process of matching two different scenarios by aligning how their parts relate to each other beyond the surface.
What is structural alignment? (Gertner 2016)
Ex:
When we compare two things (like Mickey loves Minnie and Donald loves Daisy), we don’t just focus on surface similarities (like both being Disney characters).
Instead, we align them based on shared relationships= structural alignment.
Structural alignment is the full comparison, and relational alignment is the specific step where the roles or relationships between parts are lined up.
What are the two examples identified that demonstrate how language helps children develop relational learning?
Spatial Language: "Although 3-year-olds can comprehend these spatial terms, the concepts are not so well entrenched as to come to mind automatically; so hearing the terms helps them apply these spatial distinctions to delineate the space."
Names (langauge) for spatial terms help children understand spatial relationships by providing a method to map and grasp concepts like direction, position, and relative location.
Number: When children learn number words, like "one," "two," and "three," they gradually associate these words with specific quantities, which helps them compare and understand the relationships between different sets of objects.
What is the relation between bilingualism and cognition?
The cognitive benefits of bilingualism arise not from language itself but from the need to manage attention and control interference between two active language systems, which engages general executive functioning systems.
bilingualism alone won’t guarantee cognitive benefits, it almost never results in worse outcomes
What is the specific process in which language has its effect on cognition?
Relational Language
Organizing and structures thinking.
Who stated: "Abstract spatial relations are the product of gradual metaphorical extensions of more concrete terms"
What did they mean by this?
Heine et al.
Abstract spatial relations (like "before," "after," or "beyond") are grounded in more concrete, physical experiences but have gradually extended over time into more abstract uses.
For example, many languages use spatial terms to describe time (e.g., "the future is ahead of us," or "the past is behind us"). Serving as an extension of the more literal spatial relationship of "ahead" and "behind" as physical directions in space.
Over time, these concrete terms for physical space are metaphorically extended to describe abstract concepts like time/ social relations.
The language of thought. This term is used to express the view that human thought processes make use of a language-like medium that is not any spoken language.
What is Mentalese?
Summarize: How does spatial thinking help kids acquire relational concepts?
Spatial terms like: “on,” “under,” or “left", vary greatly across languages and affect how speakers perceive and interact with space.
For example, English uses egocentric frames (“your right”), while languages like Tzeltal use geocentric frames (“to the north”), which influences spatial memory and behavior.
1) Namibian children (who speak a geocentric language) reproduced a dance using cardinal directions, while German children (egocentric language speakers) relied on left-right orientation.
2) children who hear and use spatial language early on perform better in nonlinguistic spatial tasks. Specifically, preschoolers exposed to spatial terms before a mapping task performed better than those who weren’t. This means that spatial language helps build lasting spatial representations.
3) Homesigners, who have no access to structured spatial language, perform poorly on spatial tasks.
Overall, the research supports the idea that learning spatial relational language strengthens spatial reasoning by promoting stable, conceptual representations of space.
Bilingualism may influence cognition even in monolingual contexts. Which study promotes this idea?
What is: (Kroll et al., 2012) both languages remain active
In what ways does bilingualism affect cognition?
different interactional contexts that engage various cognitive processes.
1. Cognitive Flexibility
2. Multitasking
3. Attention
What is the evidence for a relation between language development and Theory of Mind development? What are some possible interpretations of that evidence? (pg 356-358)
Studies show that children with more advanced language skills tend to perform better on false-belief tasks, a hallmark measure of ToM understanding (Milligan, Astington, & Dack, 2007).
Children with autism, who often experience language delays, also show delays in ToM development (Tager-Flusberg & Joseph, 2005).
Deaf children with hearing parents (who often experience language deprivation) are delayed in ToM, whereas deaf children with deaf parents, who acquire sign language from infancy, develop ToM on a typical timeline (Schick et al., 2007).
Interpretations: Language may provide the symbolic structure necessary to represent someone else's beliefs, esp false ones that conflict with reality. This allows children to hold two representations in mind: the truth and someone else’s mistaken belief (Astington & Baird, 2005).
Task Comprehension: Some argue that children with better language simply understand the verbal instructions of ToM tasks more easily. However, studies that reduce verbal demands still find a link between language skill and ToM, suggesting the relation goes beyond task comprehension (Astington & Baird, 2005).
What is a "better" brain structure?
Quote: "In these studies. more experience with bilingualism is associated with better test performance (...) and better brain structure"
*Hint Google it*
The frequent use of two languages is linked to structural changes in brain areas related to language control and executive function.
Summarize: How does numerosity (understanding quantity) support relational learning?
The Pirahã, an Amazonian group, lack precise number words. Instead of "one, two, three..." they use terms that mean "few," "more," and "even more."
Their performance on numerical tasks declines sharply beyond 3 items, indicating they do not possess exact number concepts.
The Pirahã rely on the analog magnitude system, which allows approximate estimation of quantity.
This system is common across species but is limited by Weber’s Law that describes a decrease in accuracy as quantity increases and ratios get closer.
The research (e.g., Gordon, Frank et al., Pica et al.) suggests that without number language, people do not develop exact number concepts.
Even in Western cultures, number learning is slow and effortful for young children.
Children may recite numbers before understanding them (e.g., saying "three" but not grasping what three items are).
They learn numbers by hearing consistent labeling of sets and comparing across contexts. Language helps form numerical meaning.
How should we define bilingualism?
varies from context to context, not a one size fits all.
How do we learn relational concepts?
Analogical comparison= comparing two situations helps us recognize and respond to relationships between objects or concepts.
Language supports this process by providing labels that help solidify/ extend relational understanding.
Bialystok has made an entire career about the cognitive benefits of bilingualism, yet she seems to sort of contradict previous research in this paper. Does that make you think about this paper differently knowing who the writer is and what they stand for? Where does that leave the study of bilingualism?
No right answer, but these are my thoughts:
- Willingness to reevaluate popular sentiments around what bilingualism is really shows her passion for producing credible science.
- Bilingual advantage no more? : learning a language can simply be enjoyable! it doesn’t need to provide a long list of cognitive benefits to be worth it.
What is Gertner & Bialystok's definition on cognition?
Gertner: "Higher Order", meaning relational concepts
Complex reasoning, like understanding causation in science, implication in logic, or commutativity in mathematics, all depend on the ability to understand abstract relationships.
Bialystok: Is not outwardly defined in this paper. Presumably, cognition is viewed as an adaptable and resilient system shaped by the bilingual experience.
According to Gentner, this kind of word is easiest for children to learn early on? What does it say about linguistic determinism?
Gertner (1982): "The early noun advantage results from an inherent semantic pattern: that it is easier to learn the mapping between nouns and individual concrete objects than to learn the mapping between verbs and their referents. Thus, it should hold cross-linguistically. This claim was initially disputed by researchers who argued that the noun advantage fails to hold in Korean (Gopnik & Choi, 1995) and Mandarin (Tardif, 1996), suggesting that it arises from specific characteristics of English, not from general cognitive factors. Subsequent evidence has largely supported the claim of a cross-linguistic early noun advantage, even in “verb-friendly” languages such as Korean and Mandarin. However, the degree of noun bias is influenced by linguistic and cultural factors.
What are the three kinds of interactional contexts that lead to different kinds of cognitive demands for the bilingual speaker?
1. Single language context: One language at home and a different language at work= minimal cognitive demands because there are clear cues for language selection.
challenge: staying focused on the goal and selecting the correct language without interference from the other.
2. Dual language context: using both languages in the same setting, but with different individuals.
Challenge: the bilingual speaker must monitor the language needed for each speaker, while also engaging in language switching, disengagement, and response inhibition.
This requires greater cognitive flexibility to maintain focus on the correct language.
3. Dense code-switching context: Both languages are used by all individuals involved in the interaction. Everyone is proficient in both languages, language switching does not disrupt communication. The focus on a specific target language becomes less important, as both languages are fluidly integrated into the conversation.
Challenge: Less emphasis on managing language choice and more on maintaining communication flow.
Bilingualism must lead to improved cognitive test scores, and when it does not, the entire argument is rejected.
What is reductionism?
While none of these papers support linguistic determinism, each one adds nuance to the debate. Describe one way that each paper contributes to this complexity.
Flaherty: The lack of exact number words in early NSL cohorts was associated with weaker exact number understanding= language scaffolds certain kinds of thinking, with obv a lot more nuance built in aswell.
Gertner: suggests that language enables higher-order thinking. Numerosity and spatial representations vary across cultures, indicating a clear cultural influence on how children conceptualize space and number.
Bialystok: bilingualism and cognitive advantages is messy and context-dependent= undermines any overly deterministic claims