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The language of perception across cultures| old_uid | 9924 |
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| title | The language of perception across cultures |
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| start_date | 2011/05/06 |
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| schedule | 10h-12h |
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| online | no |
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| summary | To what extent is the encoding of perceptual experiences in languages a matter of how the mind/brain is ?wired-up? and to what extent is it a question of local cultural preoccupation? The ?Language of Perception? project tests the hypothesis that some perceptual domains may be more ?ineffable? ? i.e. difficult or impossible to put into words ? than others. The project is designed to test whether the proximate senses (olfaction, taste, touch) are more difficult to code in language than distal senses (vision, audition), as predicted by theories from the cognitive and neurosciences. A standardized set of stimuli of color patches, geometric shapes, simple sounds, tactile textures, smells and tastes have been used to elicit descriptions from speakers of more than twenty languages?including three sign languages. The languages are typologically, genetically and geographically diverse, representing a wide-range of cultures. The communities sampled vary in subsistence modes (hunter-gatherer to industrial), ecological zones (rainforest jungle to desert), dwelling types (rural and urban), and various other parameters. Our current analyses suggest that taste may, in fact, be the most codable sensorial domain across languages. Moreover, we have identified exquisite elaboration in the olfactory domains in some cultural settings, contrary to some contemporary predictions within the cognitive sciences. These results suggest that differential codability may be at least partly the result of cultural preoccupation. |
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| responsibles | Kern |
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