Linguistic Relativity: Does Language Shape Thought? (Discover Psychology)

Have you ever wondered if the language we speak shapes the way we think?
This question has lately been raised by the Oscar winning movie Arrival. This video examines the scientific research on the linguistic relativity hypothesis (a.k.a. the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) and presents the perspectives of psychologists, linguists and cognitive scientists on the topic.
Since that’s the first video we’ve made it would be great if you leave feedback. Share with us in the comments below if you’d like to see another video with more research on this topic. If you liked the video give it thumbs up, share it with friends and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to our channel: bit.ly/2oBn4bL
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In this video:
1. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis 0:17
2. The strong version (linguistic determinism) vs the weak version (linguistic relativity) 1:31
3. Linguistic determinism in science fiction. Arrival movie 2:11
4. Why the strong hypothesis has been abandoned in the academic field? 2:50
5. Experiment on color perception - blue color spectrum in Russian language - syniy/ goluboy 3:52
6. Perception of space - the Kuuk Thaayorre speakers 5:05
7. Experiments on time perception - do Mandarin and English speakers think about time in different ways? 7:07
FACEBOOK: / luscid
TWITTER: / luscidchannel
Research and script: Irina Georgieva and Nikoleta Staneva
Art, editing and narration: Daniel Stamenov
Music: Acoustic Breeze - Bensound.com
Sources:
[1] Effects of language on colour discrimination
www.pnas.org/co...
[2] Kuuk Thaayorre speakers’ concepts of Space and Time
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
[3] Mandarin and English speakers’ concepts of Time
logic.amu.edu.p...
[4] cs.um.ac.ir/ima...
[5] pubman.mpdl.mpg...
[6] onlinelibrary.w...
[7] www.academypubl...
[8] www.edge.org/c...
[9] www.abc.net.au/...

[@Ext4z9]

I just discovered your channel and I have to say that I find it great! This video is well structured, well paced, comprehensible while still covering the subject in depth. Also the captions and the time table in the description are a really nice touch, a nice attention to details. I'm definitely gonna check your other videos.

[@IQrius_sci]

Thank you! Your comment means a lot! Personally, I think that every bit of information in the video is interesting and worth sharing but some people find it overwhelming. I'm glad that's not the case with you :) Hope you will enjoy our other videos! Irina, Luscid

[@JustHelenS]

I’m so grateful I’ve found this research, the topic fascinates me and there’s not much information online, but It’s extremely difficult to focus on the plot because of the absence of any pause or intonation. Is there any chance you could remake the video with a better narration? Thank you

[@aisyahshaini]

this video helps me so much with my linguistic assignments!

[@ellmister]

I found it a little difficult to understand at times, I'm not very good with accents. Could I recommend adding the option for captions? (The auto-generated ones are never accurate)

[@IQrius_sci]

We are working on the captions, they will be ready till the end of the day! Thanks for the feedback, we hope you have enjoyed the video : )

[@kiuvas]

Go out and know people more often then

[@rea8585]

I just checked out this video and I kinda have my own experience to share. I speak 7 different languages and when I speak in each of them, I look and describe the world a little bit differently, it is really interesting to observe. For example, when I speak Russian I am more conservative and when in English more open minded, while neither is my native language. It is not a huge difference, of course, but it is very interesting to observe how some things seem to make more sense in one language or the other.

[@IQrius_sci]

ax, that's amazing! When did you start studying a foreign language and what's your native tongue? I'm asking because Boroditsky's research suggests that the earlier you start learning a foreign language the more influence it has

[@rea8585]

I started learning Italian in the kinder garden, that was my first conscious learning. Having some relatives from Croatia, I never had any problems understanding it, even if I didn't really speak or learn it at no point, it just kinda sank in I guess. My native tongue is Slovenian :) What is yours?

[@IQrius_sci]

Bulgarian :) Personally, I've been studying English since kindergarten and I used to study Spanish in high school but I'm far from fluent in it. Recently I've started studying French because I'm considering a master's degree in Paris. Languages are a treasure - they can help you experience the world from different angles and that's amazing! - Irina, Luscid

[@rea8585]

Cool, that is amazing! I hope you make it to Paris, that is for sure a great opportunity! I am learning French too right now, as my boyfriend (the other half of Quick Fix) is French :) As the matter of fact, we are currently living in Bulgaria, your country is awesome!

[@IQrius_sci]

While watching your last video I thought the landscape in the background was in Bulgaria but then I thought "what are the chances.."! Where exactly are you living in Bulgaria?

[@julialepoeva6966]

Great work, guys. Food for thought. I don't know about that topic, but I'd like to see you discuss another one, for sure! Great research, too. :))

[@margaritaruzheva1803]

great graphics and interesting topic! Subscribed!

[@rainbowbubbles4088]

would love another video on this topic. it was explained beautifully in this video.

[@BensLab]

How about non human languages? Certain cetaceans and birds have been recognised to employ their own "languages" and dialects. What research has been done on this?

[@IQrius_sci]

To be honest, I’ve never explored the topic of animal language in depth. I remember reading an article on it maybe a year ago. According to the quoted researchers animal communication lacks one of the key aspects of human language - the creation of new patterns under different circumstances, and that’s why using the term “language” might not be a good idea. It’s definitely an interesting topic worth the investigation though!

[@anggo2604]

Well done.

[@aiquesono]

Very very interesting!

[@jessicarose2162]

Ah ... ;-) “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Shaka, when the walls fell."

[@GuttlessKing]

Ayyyy let's go

[@stefanobernardi5583]

great video !

[@peasant8246]

Speak. Slower. Dammit. Thank you.

[@kyraocity]

Why not add deep links in your desciption with the time code for each section for instance 1:08 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Just write in the time code and when you hit save it will generate a deep link.

[@IQrius_sci]

That's a great idea! We will definitely do it. Thank you!

[@pollytheparrot46]

I'm not sure I get it. How is this a linguistic thing and not just a cultural thing? And for the record, there is are words for light blue and dark blue in English like the Russian example. Cyan and Indigo, respectively. Because English has so many different loan words and influences from other languages, we eventually just started calling everything blue, forgot cyan existed, and started using Indigo to mean purple.

[@IQrius_sci]

If what you suggest is that culture determines language and all of the differences are actually a product of the culture itself, I would say that there is no necessary a causal relationship between language and culture. For example, people who live in very different cultures speak languages with many of the same structural characteristics (like Hungarians, Finns) and, on the other hand, people who speak languages with very different structures often share much the same culture ( Germans and Hungarians for example). Is this what you are asking? About cyan and indigo - that's actually very interesting - I have not thought about it and I don't think that anyone has mentioned it in their research or critique. It might be because the indigo color is somehow closer to the red spectrum in comparison to the color marked as siniy. But if they are closer than priming English speakers with cyan and indigo would make an interesting study!

[@Goheeca]

It doesn't have to be only the hue difference. The color names seem to have some hierarchical structure and not just a flat structure, different languages easily can have differently shaped hierarchies with various degrees of significance.

[@Ben_D.]

Ironic that a vid about languages is so hard to understand. Im sorry mate. Im sure you had a lot to say. But I couldn't understand you. Captions would have been nice.

[@jessicarose2162]

I think this is deep and good. Wittgenstein would get it.

[@IQrius_sci]

We are glad you liked it!

[@mpflaherty1]

Hi, I really like what you're trying to do here but you should seriously consider a speaker whose voice is more readily understood by the average viewer. No offense, I like the animations and the ideas, just can't understand you very well.

[@IQrius_sci]

The narration has been our biggest problem since the beginning (we are not native speakers as you might have noticed) and we have been working hard on it. I hope you will find our latest video more understandable! Thank you for the feedback!

[@kiuvas]

I understood every word and i Im not a native English speaker, if you cant understand your own language guess its your problem

[@JustHelenS]

I guess that narrator is also the reason you’ve only got 100 likes from the thousands of people who watched this....

[@IQrius_sci]

We agree that the narration should be a top priority if we want to grow the channel. And we will definitely invest in a native narrator when we have the resources to do so. About the other comment you posted - we also find the topic of linguistic relativity fascinating and we've invested a lot of time and effort into the research (as you said the information on the topic is too fragmented) so we would definitely remake the video in the future. Thank you for the feedback!