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A perceptual learning approach to the Whorfian hypothesis : Supervised classification of motion

Athanasopoulos, Panos LU and Albright, Daniel (2016) In Language Learning 66(3). p.666-689
Abstract
Recent research on the relationship between grammatical aspect and motion event cognition has shown that speakers of nonaspect languages (e.g., German, Swedish) attend to event endpoints more than speakers of aspect languages (e.g., English, Spanish). In this study, we took a perceptual learning approach to the Whorfian hypothesis, training native English speakers to categorize events either in an English-like way (same-language bias) or in a Swedish-like way (other-language bias), with and without verbal interference in English. Results showed that successful learning occurred in both language conditions. However, verbal interference disrupted learning only in the condition where the perceptual dimension to be learned was also salient in... (More)
Recent research on the relationship between grammatical aspect and motion event cognition has shown that speakers of nonaspect languages (e.g., German, Swedish) attend to event endpoints more than speakers of aspect languages (e.g., English, Spanish). In this study, we took a perceptual learning approach to the Whorfian hypothesis, training native English speakers to categorize events either in an English-like way (same-language bias) or in a Swedish-like way (other-language bias), with and without verbal interference in English. Results showed that successful learning occurred in both language conditions. However, verbal interference disrupted learning only in the condition where the perceptual dimension to be learned was also salient in the participant's native language. This revealed selective language influence depending on the associative or dissociative relationship between the linguistic features occurring in the observer's native language and the perceptual features of the stimuli presented to them. (Less)
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author
and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Language Learning
volume
66
issue
3
pages
666 - 689
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:84979585395
ISSN
0023-8333
DOI
10.1111/lang.12180
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
9d33a85c-2e97-46fa-8264-05cb4db6e14b
date added to LUP
2024-03-21 18:28:57
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:56:42
@article{9d33a85c-2e97-46fa-8264-05cb4db6e14b,
  abstract     = {{Recent research on the relationship between grammatical aspect and motion event cognition has shown that speakers of nonaspect languages (e.g., German, Swedish) attend to event endpoints more than speakers of aspect languages (e.g., English, Spanish). In this study, we took a perceptual learning approach to the Whorfian hypothesis, training native English speakers to categorize events either in an English-like way (same-language bias) or in a Swedish-like way (other-language bias), with and without verbal interference in English. Results showed that successful learning occurred in both language conditions. However, verbal interference disrupted learning only in the condition where the perceptual dimension to be learned was also salient in the participant's native language. This revealed selective language influence depending on the associative or dissociative relationship between the linguistic features occurring in the observer's native language and the perceptual features of the stimuli presented to them.}},
  author       = {{Athanasopoulos, Panos and Albright, Daniel}},
  issn         = {{0023-8333}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{666--689}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Language Learning}},
  title        = {{A perceptual learning approach to the Whorfian hypothesis : Supervised classification of motion}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/lang.12180}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/lang.12180}},
  volume       = {{66}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}