⅔ Rule: Lera Boroditsky’s ‘‘How Language Shapes the Way We Think”
Vocabulary Techniques Syn
tax
- narrow (adj.) instead of “small” - “I don’t know which way it is myself--- You
having a small distance from have not been a lot of help.” humour
one side to the (tone)
other, especially in comparison with - “(…) a jellyfish waltzing (…)”
the length personification (to add to the humorous
- quirks (noun) tone)
an unusual habit or part of - “Recently, in my lab and labs around the
someone's personality, or something world, we’ve started doing research, and
that is strange and unexpected now we have actual scientific data to weigh
in on this question.” Ethos
- Categorization of areas affected by
different language use Logos
Summarize/Paraphrase the Text
In her Ted Talk, "How Language Shapes the Way We Think," Lera Boroditsky argues that language
changes our behavior and our perception of the world.
She cites five main categories, the first of which is "big" and represents the perception of direction and
time. As an example, she cites the Aboriginal Australian community called Kuuk Thaayorre, who use
cardinal directions instead of "left" or "right" in their daily lives. This aspect of their language use has
helped them improve their orientation skills.
Next, she mentions "deep," which refers to the use of numbers. An example of this would be counting the
number of penguins in a picture. While people in Western countries most likely use the exact number
words, there are other languages that completely lack them. People who speak such languages,
therefore, have difficulty making accurate quantity statements.
She then talks about "early," which refers to the use and perception of color. While some languages have
many words to describe colors, others have only a few, and the linguistic boundaries between colors also
vary. As an example, she cites Russian, where "blue" is not used to describe all shades and variations of
color, but speakers must distinguish between the categories "goluboy" (light blue) and "siniy" (dark
blue). This leads them to be better able to distinguish different colors.
Next to last, Boroditsky explains her category "broad", which refers to gender perception. For example,
German speakers perceive the sun as more feminine because it is called "die Sonne," and the moon, "der
Mond," as more masculine because of the respective articles.
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