Testing Linguistic Relativity

These last few years have witnessed a renewed§interest in the theory of linguistic relativity .§This book reports the findings of a linguistic§relativity study carried out on English and Italian§speakers with respect to the semantics of manner of§motion. The two linguistic groups were found to§differ significantly in variety and frequency of use§of manner of motion verbs, but not with respect to§the degree of visual attention paid to manners of§motion. The study therefore provides evidence against§linguistic relativity. Along with a considerable§amount of empirical data, the book also contains some§theoretical discussions on various issues relevant to§the language-and-thought debate (e.g. the possible§existence of conceptual primitives, Slobin s concept§of thinking for speaking ). Special attention is§given to a set of criteria proposed by the author for§establishing what distinctive semantic features a§verb should have in order to justify classification§as a manner of motion verb . Students and§researchers who are interested in topics such as the§relationships between language and cognition, motion§conceptualisation, and semantics in general will find§this work useful.