Does our language shape the way we think?

A fascinating essay by Lera Boroditsky that explores how language shapes the way we think.

Mandarin speakers talk about time vertically more often than English speakers do, so do Mandarin speakers think about time vertically more often than English speakers do? Imagine this simple experiment. I stand next to you, point to a spot in space directly in front of you, and tell you, “This spot, here, is today. Where would you put yesterday? And where would you put tomorrow?” When English speakers are asked to do this, they nearly always point horizontally. But Mandarin speakers often point vertically, about seven or eight times more often than do English speakers.

Look at some famous examples of personification in art — the ways in which abstract entities such as death, sin, victory, or time are given human form. How does an artist decide whether death, say, or time should be painted as a man or a woman? It turns out that in 85 percent of such personifications, whether a male or female figure is chosen is predicted by the grammatical gender of the word in the artist’s native language.

 

More Baby pics!

Catching up on some of the baby pictures sent to me over the past few months.

Ethan at 2 Months

Ethan at 2 Months

Ethan at 4 Months

Ethan at 4 Months

Madelyn at 1 Month

Madelyn at 1 Month

Madelyn & My Mom

Madelyn & My Mom