Does Grammatical Aspect Affect Motion Event Cognition? A Cross-Linguistic Comparison of English and Swedish Speakers

In this article, we explore whether cross-linguistic differences in grammatical aspect encoding may give rise to differences in memory and cognition. We compared native speakers of two languages that encode aspect differently (English and Swedish) in four tasks that examined verbal descriptions of stimuli, online triads matching, and memory-based triads matching with and without verbal interference. Results showed between-group differences in verbal descriptions and in memory-based triads matching. However, no differences were found in online triads matching and in memory-based triads matching with verbal interference. These findings need to be interpreted in the context of the overall pattern of performance, which indicated that both groups based their similarity judgments on common perceptual characteristics of motion events. These results show for the first time a cross-linguistic difference in memory as a function of differences in grammatical aspect encoding, but they also contribute to the emerging view that language fine tunes rather than shapes perceptual processes that are likely to be universal and unchanging.

[1]  Silvia P. Gennari,et al.  Motion events in language and cognition , 2002, Cognition.

[2]  Ronald W. Langacker,et al.  Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction , 2008 .

[3]  Christiane von Stutterheim,et al.  Cross-linguistic differences in the conceptualisation of events , 2002 .

[4]  D. Slobin.  LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT ONLINE: COGNITIVE CONSEQUENCES OF LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY , 2003 .

[5]  A. Paivio.  Imagery and verbal processes , 1972 .

[6]  Letitia R. Naigles,et al.  Motion-Verb Generalizations in English and Spanish: Influences of Language and Syntax , 1998 .

[7]  L. Talmy.  Toward a Cognitive Semantics , 2003 .

[8]  S. Levinson.  Space in language and cognition: Explorations in cognitive diversity , 2003 .

[9]  Mutsumi Imai,et al.  Re-evaluating linguistic relativity: Language-specific categories and the role of universal ontological knowledge in the construal of individuation , 2003 .

[10]  A. Baddeley.  Working memory: looking back and looking forward , 2003, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[11]  Allan Paivio,et al.  Mind and Its Evolution: A Dual Coding Theoretical Approach , 2006 .

[12]  John C. Trueswell,et al.  Perceiving and remembering events cross-linguistically: Evidence from dual-task paradigms , 2010 .

[13]  Anna Papafragou,et al.  Source-Goal Asymmetries in Motion Representation: Implications for Language Production and Comprehension , 2010, Cogn. Sci..

[14]  Mutsumi Imai,et al.  Language-Relative Construal of Individuation Constrained by Universal Ontology: Revisiting Language Universals and Linguistic Relativity , 2007, Cogn. Sci..

[15]  P. Kay,et al.  Language, thought, and color: Whorf was half right , 2009, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[16]  Emanuel Bylund,et al.  Effects of age of L2 acquisition on L1 event conceptualization patterns* , 2009, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.

[17]  Christiane von Stutterheim.  Linguistic structure and information organisation: The case of very advanced learners , 2003 .

[18]  Christiane von Stutterheim,et al.  Processes of conceptualization in language production: language-specific perspectives and event construal , 2003 .

[19]  Anna Papafragou,et al.  Does language guide event perception? Evidence from eye movements , 2008, Cognition.

[20]  B. Landau,et al.  Starting at the end: the importance of goals in spatial language , 2005, Cognition.

[21]  Alison J. Wiggett,et al.  Perceptual shift in bilingualism: Brain potentials reveal plasticity in pre-attentive colour perception , 2010, Cognition.

[22]  Alison J. Wiggett,et al.  Unconscious effects of language-specific terminology on preattentive color perception , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[23]  S. Goldin-Meadow,et al.  Thought before language: how deaf and hearing children express motion events across cultures , 2002, Cognition.

[24]  J. Lucy,et al.  Grammatical categories and cognition: References , 1992 .

[25]  Michele I. Feist.  Motion through syntactic frames , 2010, Cognition.

[26]  Teenie Matlock,et al.  On-line Interactions of Context and Grammatical Aspect , 2010 .

[27]  S. Levinson.  Covariation between spatial language and cognition, and its implications for language learning , 2001 .

[28]  Michael C. Frank,et al.  Russian blues reveal effects of language on color discrimination , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[29]  Terry Regier,et al.  Attention to Endpoints: A Cross-Linguistic Constraint on Spatial Meaning , 2007, Cogn. Sci..

[30]  Dan I. Slobin,et al.  Reference to Movement in Spoken and Signed Languages: Typological Considerations , 1994 .

[31]  S. Pinker.  The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature , 2007 .

[32]  Rachel S. Sussman,et al.  Event knowledge vs. verb knowledge , 2008 .

[33]  Anna Papafragou,et al.  Shake, rattle, ‘n’ roll: the representation of motion in language and cognition , 2002, Cognition.

[34]  Rolf A. Zwaan,et al.  How does verb aspect constrain event representations? , 2003, Memory & cognition.

[35]  Jon Aske,et al.  Path Predicates in English and Spanish: A Closer Look , 1989 .

[36]  A. Papafragou,et al.  Event categorisation and language: A cross-linguistic study of motion , 2010 .

[37]  Paolo Di Giovine.  Recensione a: Tense and Aspect in the Languages of Europe, ed. by Östen Dahl, Berlin-New York, Mouton de Gruyter 2000 , 2002 .

[38]  Scott Jarvis,et al.  L2 effects on L1 event conceptualization* , 2010, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.

[39]  A. Paivio.  Mental Representations: A Dual Coding Approach , 1986 .

[40]  J. Davidoff,et al.  The categorical perception of colors and facial expressions: The effect of verbal interference , 2000, Memory & cognition.

[41]  J. Davidoff,et al.  Color categories are not universal: replications and new evidence from a stone-age culture. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[42]  Emanuel Bylund.  Procesos de conceptualización de eventos en español y en sueco: Diferencias translingüísticas , 2008 .

[43]  Mutsumi Imai,et al.  Revisiting language universals and linguistic relativity: Language-relative construal of individuation constrained by universal ontology , 2007 .

[44]  Joseph P. Magliano,et al.  Verb Aspect and Situation Models , 2000 .

[45]  Pamela A. Downing.  Numeral Classifier Systems: The Case of Japanese , 1996 .

[46]  René Dirven,et al.  Cognitive English Grammar , 2007 .

[47]  D. Gentner,et al.  A cross-linguistic study of early word meaning: universal ontology and linguistic influence , 1997, Cognition.

[48]  P. Kay,et al.  What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis? , 1983 .

[49]  S. Levinson,et al.  Can language restructure cognition? The case for space , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[50]  Marta Kutas,et al.  Verb aspect and the activation of event knowledge. , 2007, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[51]  Leonard Talmy,et al.  Semantics and syntax of motion , 1975 .

[52]  S. Pinker.  The Language Instinct , 1994 .

[53]  J. Davidoff,et al.  Colour categories in a stone-age tribe , 1999, Nature.

[54]  Barbara Schmiedtova,et al.  3. Language-specific Patterns in Event Construal of Advanced Second Language Speakers , 2011 .

[55]  P. Kay,et al.  Color naming reflects optimal partitions of color space , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[56]  R. Langacker.  Foundations of cognitive grammar , 1983 .

[57]  Teenie Matlock,et al.  On the path to understanding on-line processing of grammatical aspect , 2008 .

[58]  Panos Athanasopoulos,et al.  Interaction between grammatical categories and cognition in bilinguals: The role of proficiency, cultural immersion, and language of instruction , 2007 .

[59]  D. Casasanto,et al.  Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Whorf? Crosslinguistic Differences in Temporal Language and Thought , 2008 .

[60]  R. Binnick.  Time and the Verb: A Guide to Tense and Aspect , 1991 .

[61]  Mercer Mayer,et al.  Frog, Where Are You? , 1969 .