摘要
此文论述语言学思想的发展,融合遗传、心理、认知神经学,诠释不同语言如何塑造大脑,并产生不同文化、感知。本文简短报告了汉语颜色词的实验,也探索了说声调语言者如何在绝对音高上占优势。利用EEG,我们发现内地和香港受试者对书写符号反应不同。近来随着认知神经学和脑成像的进展,语言学家终于具备了探究语言、行为的实证基础。
This essay traces the evolution of linguistic thought since ancient times,primarily from a Chinese perspective.It takes an interdisciplinary approach,incorporating contributions from genetics,psychology,and especially from cognitive neuroscience.Particular consideration is given to an interpretation of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis,which concerns how different languages shape the brain differently.This in turn produces different cultural behaviors,specifically perceptual behaviors.Following the work on color terms by Paul Kay and his associates,which they dub 'Lateralized Whorf',we report briefly some experiments on spoken and written Chinese.In collaboration with Diana Deutsch,we are exploring the manner in which speakers of tone languages are facilitated to have absolute pitch.Using EEG techniques,we discovered that Mainland and Hong Kong subjects respond differently to written symbols at the liminal level,due to the difference in their language experience.With recent advances in cognitive neuroscience as well as the newly developed brain imaging technology,linguists are at last in a good position to investigate language and behavior on a solid and cumulative empirical foundation,which is something Charles Darwin anticipated in 1871.
出处
《当代语言学》
CSSCI
北大核心
2011年第1期1-21,93,共21页
Contemporary Linguistics
关键词
演化语言学
声调与绝对音高
文化对感知的影响
偏侧化的沃尔夫
中国语言学
evolutionary linguistics,tone and absolute pitch,cultural influence on perception,Lateralized Whorf,Chinese linguistics
