The relation between language, culture and thought: the classical question

5 important questions on The relation between language, culture and thought: the classical question

What is the classical question which can be traced back to as early as the eighteenth century?

The relation between language, culture, and thought.

Do different language speakers perform differently in colour perception or recall tasks?

Language has some effect on perception, but it does not determine perception.

How can we explain cultural differences in cognitive style?

Cultures either prefer grouping by categories or by relationship. The language of testing activates different thinking processes.
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What are cultural key words?

These words are common to the language concerned and frequently used in semantic domains such as emotions or moral judgements. They can be studied as focal points of a culture. They reflect the degree of importance of a concept or an idea in the culture concerned.

What does Pinker argue?

The idea that thought is the same thing as language is an example of what can be called a conventional absurdity. People think not in any particular language, but in a language of thought known as mentalese.

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