Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T05:28:03.616Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the linguistic shaping of thought: Another response to Alfred Bloom1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Donna Lardiere
Donna Lardiere
Affiliation:
Program in Applied Linguistics, Boston University, 718 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bloom (1981, 1984) linked the existence of specific grammatical constructions – for example, the counterfactual conditional in English – to the development of a labeled cognitive schema specific to counterfactual thought. He claimed that because the Chinese language lacks an equivalent grammatical marker, Chinese speakers do not develop the corresponding cognitive schema and thus process counterfactuals “less naturally” (1981:22) than English speakers. Whereas attempts to replicate Bloom (Au 1983, 1984; Liu 1985) questioned the extent to which such differences exist, this article demonstrates that where differences in counterfactual response patterns clearly do exist, they cannot be attributed to the presence/absence of a linguistic “counterfactual” construction.

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , June 1992 , pp. 231 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Au, T. K.-F. (1983). Chinese and English counterfactuals: The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis revisited. Cognition 15:155–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Au, T. K.-F. (1984). Counterfactuals: In reply to Alfred Bloom. Cognition 17:289–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, A. H. (1981). The linguistic shaping of thought. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Bloom, A. H. (1984). Caution – The words you use may affect what you say: A reply to Au. Cognition 17:275–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cantarino, V. (1975). Syntax of modern Arabic prose. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Cochran, J. (1986). Education in Egypt. Dover, NH: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Cox, J. R., & Griggs, R. A. (1982). The effects of experience on performance in Wason's selection task. Memory and Cognition 10:496–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
D'Andrade, R. (1990). Some propositions about the relations between culture and human cognition. In Stigler, J. W., Shweder, R. A., & Herdt, G. (eds.), Cultural psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press. 65–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gao, W. (1988). The open door and the reform of higher education. Chinese Education 21(1): 116–28.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. (1989). To open minds: Chinese clues to the dilemma of contemporary education. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Guo, H. (1988). Viewing key middle school education from all sides. Chinese Education 20(4):31–40.Google Scholar
Hawkins, J., Pea, R. D., Glick, J., & Scribner, S. (1984). “Merds that laugh don't like mushrooms”: Evidence for deductive reasoning by preschoolers. Developmental Psychology 20(4):584–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, S. B. (1982). What no bedtime story means: Narrative skills at home and school. Language in Society 11(1):49–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henle, M. (1962). On the relation between logic and thinking. Psychological Review 69:366–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983). Mental models. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kessen, W. (ed.). (1976). Childhood in China. (Report of the American Delegation on Early Childhood Development in the People's Republic of China.) New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Liu, L. G. (1985). Reasoning counterfactually in Chinese: Are there any obstacles? Cognition 21:239–70.Google ScholarPubMed
Moore, T. V. (1929). The reasoning ability of children in the first years of school life. Studies in Psychology and Psychiatry 2(2).Google Scholar
O'Connor, M. C. (1989). Aspects of differential performance by minorities on standardized tests. In Gifford, B. R. (ed.), Test policy and test performance: Education, language, and culture. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 129–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purves, A. C. (1989). International comparisons and educational reform. In The IEA studies and reforms in reading, writing, and literacy. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 87–98.Google Scholar
Qubain, F. I. (1966). Education and science in the Arab world. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Scribner, S., & Cole, M. (1981). The psychology of literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, H. (1988). Educating reason: Rationality, critical thinking, and education. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (in press). CAT: A program of comprehensive abilities testing. In Gifford, B. R. & O'Connor, M. C. (eds.), Future assessments: Changing perspectives on aptitude, achievement, and instruction. Boston: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar
Street, B. V. (1984). Literacy in theory and practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Szyliowicz, J. S. (1973). Education and modernization in the Middle East. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Thurstone, L. L. (1938). Primary mental abilities. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Totah, K. A. (1926). The contribution of the Arabs to education. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Tsang, C. L. (1989). Informal assessment of Asian Americans. In Gifford, B. R. (ed.), Test policy and test performance: Education, language, and culture. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 231–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wason, P. C., & Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1972). Psychology of reasoning: Structure and content. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wickens, G. M. (1980). Arabic grammar. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, R. W. (1970). Learning to be Chinese: The political socialization of children in Taiwan. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Zhang, J. (1987). Thought-provoking and worrisome aspects of our primary and secondary education. Chinese Education 20(2):40–47.Google Scholar