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Constituent order in non-verbal representations: Describing events with pictures by speakers of Swedish and Kurdish

Vastenius, Anu LU (2014) SPVR01 20141
General Linguistics
Master's Programme: Language and Linguistics
Abstract
In this thesis the question concerning possible influence of language on thinking was addressed by investigating constituent orders in non-verbal representations of motion events. Forty-nine participants, 25 native speakers of Swedish with the default order SVO (or Agent-Act-Patient), and Kurdish with SOV (Agent-Patient-Act) were recruited in Sweden and 24 in Iraqi Kurdistan to take part in an experiment. Reconstructions of motion events were elicited with video-clips and picture cards to investigate whether the constituent (word) order in one´s native language has an impact on the used order in pictorial sequencing. Evidence for the influence of language in the non-verbal representations could be detected in both language groups. In... (More)
In this thesis the question concerning possible influence of language on thinking was addressed by investigating constituent orders in non-verbal representations of motion events. Forty-nine participants, 25 native speakers of Swedish with the default order SVO (or Agent-Act-Patient), and Kurdish with SOV (Agent-Patient-Act) were recruited in Sweden and 24 in Iraqi Kurdistan to take part in an experiment. Reconstructions of motion events were elicited with video-clips and picture cards to investigate whether the constituent (word) order in one´s native language has an impact on the used order in pictorial sequencing. Evidence for the influence of language in the non-verbal representations could be detected in both language groups. In addition, the model of “thinking for speaking” suggested by Slobin (1996) was supported by the results, especially in the Swedish group. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Vastenius, Anu LU
supervisor
organization
course
SPVR01 20141
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
constituent order, word order, Swedish, Kurdish, non-verbal, motion event, thinking for speaking, experiment, elicitation
language
English
id
4460828
date added to LUP
2014-06-10 08:19:18
date last changed
2014-06-10 08:22:23
@misc{4460828,
  abstract     = {{In this thesis the question concerning possible influence of language on thinking was addressed by investigating constituent orders in non-verbal representations of motion events. Forty-nine participants, 25 native speakers of Swedish with the default order SVO (or Agent-Act-Patient), and Kurdish with SOV (Agent-Patient-Act) were recruited in Sweden and 24 in Iraqi Kurdistan to take part in an experiment. Reconstructions of motion events were elicited with video-clips and picture cards to investigate whether the constituent (word) order in one´s native language has an impact on the used order in pictorial sequencing. Evidence for the influence of language in the non-verbal representations could be detected in both language groups. In addition, the model of “thinking for speaking” suggested by Slobin (1996) was supported by the results, especially in the Swedish group.}},
  author       = {{Vastenius, Anu}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Constituent order in non-verbal representations: Describing events with pictures by speakers of Swedish and Kurdish}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}