Classifier Categories Reflect but Do Not Affect Conceptual Organization

Autor/inn/en	Speed, Laura J.; Chen, Jidong; Huettig, Falk; Majid, Asifa
Titel	Classifier Categories Reflect but Do Not Affect Conceptual Organization
Quelle	In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 47 (2021) 4, S.625-640 (16 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0278-7393
DOI	10.1037/xlm0000967
Schlagwörter	Classification; Knowledge Representation; Mandarin Chinese; Indo European Languages; Evaluative Thinking; Language Role; Concept Formation + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Classification system; Klassifikation; Klassifikationssystem; Wissensrepräsentation; Indoeuropäisch; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung
Abstract	Do we structure object-related conceptual information according to real-world sensorimotor experience, or can it also be shaped by linguistic information? This study investigates whether a feature of language coded in grammar--numeral classifiers--affects the conceptual representation of objects. We compared speakers of Mandarin (a classifier language) with speakers of Dutch (a language without classifiers) on how they judged object similarity in 4 studies. In the first 3 studies, participants had to rate how similar a target object was to 4 comparison objects, 1 of which shared a classifier with the target. Objects were presented as either words or pictures. Overall, the target object was always rated as most similar to the object with the shared classifier, but this was the case regardless of the language of the participant. In a final study using a successive pile-sorting task, we also found that the underlying object concepts were similar for speakers of Mandarin and Dutch. Speakers of a nonclassifier language are therefore sensitive to the same conceptual similarities that underlie classifier systems in a classifier language. Classifier systems may therefore reflect conceptual structure, rather than shape it. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01