Crosslinguistic Differences in the Spatial Domain

1. Crosslinguistic Differences in the Spatial Domain Moustache ON Face Telephone ON Wall AN? IM? Cup ON Saucer AUF? Lady ON TV UM? IM? Ring ON Pole

2. 1 2 kkita nohta put on put on 3 kkita put in

3. Basic Experimental Paradigm Superset Language: Language with 1 Lexical Term Subset Language: Language with 2 Lexical Terms English = Superset (“put on”) Korean = Subset (“nohta” and “kkita”) put on nohta kkita

4. Linguistic Condition 1 “This is an example of _____________.” nohta put on (Korean) (English) 2 “Pick out other actions like the example.” x put on take out put on English (Superset Language): x x Korean (Subset Language): nohta kkita kkenayta

5. Nonlinguistic Linguistic Condition 1 an action “This is an example of _____________.” nohta put on 2 “Pick out other actions like the example.” x put on take out put on English (Superset Language): x ? Korean (Subset Language): nohta kkita kkenayta

6. Instructions Example Item Instructions Linguistic Condition Hello. I am Miss Picky. I am VERY picky. I only like to do certain things. I like it when I can _______________________. put things on things nohta See?

7. Example Item Instructions Linguistic Condition Nonlinguistic Condition Hello. I am Miss Picky. I am VERY picky. I only like to do certain things. Hello. I am Miss Picky. I am VERY picky. I only like to do certain things. I like it when I can do things like this. I like it when I can _______________________. put things on things nohta See? See?

8. Test Item Instructions Linguistic and Nonlinguistic Condition (Miss Picky’s Friend Asks) Does Miss Picky like... ... to do this? (The above question is asked for all the test items in each table. Test items were randomized once.)

9. About Ss • 20 adult native English speakers (average age 19) • 20 adult native Korean speakers (average age 25) • About Item Presentation • 4 Conditions (Instruction by Language). • Instruction: Linguistic vs. Nonlinguistic • Language: Korean vs. English • 4 Videos of the 2 Tables made (1 for each condition). • 10 Ss assigned to each condition. • Each Ss saw both Table I and Table II. • For each condition, ½ of the Ss saw Table I first, • ½ saw Table II first.

10. Data (*Cells contain % Ss answered YES to “Does Miss Picky like doing this?”) Prediction(control test items) Actual Data

11. Incongruent Test Items Type * Cells contain % Ss said “Yes.” Incongruent WHORFIAN PREDICTION NON-WHORFIAN PREDICTION OR ACTUAL DATA: Paired t-test ïS.: p < 0.006 ïN.S.: p > 0.08

12. ANOVA (instructionxsetxitems) • (instruction = Linguistic vs. Nonlinguistic; set = superset vs. subset) • items effect p < 0.00001 • instructionxset interaction effect p < 0.00001 WHORFIAN PREDICTION NON-WHORFIAN PREDICTION OR Weights for the linear contrast: Tukey Multiple Comparison: F(1, 28) = 1.81, p > 0.19 Not Significant F(1, 28) = 26.40, p < 0.00002 Significant

13. ITEMS EFFECT SLIDE take out take off 100% Yes 40% Yes 90 % Yes 40% Yes *significant effect of Test Item Type EXAMPLES FROM LINGUISTIC CONDITION TABLE I (English = Superset) TABLE II (English = Subset) put on free description with another set of Ss: 10% take off (80% take out) 100% put on 100% put on 80% take off answer to question:

14. Rotation Experiment • (Brown & Levinson) • Language Gap • Dutch • Left/Right Preference • Tzeltal (Mayan Language Spoken by Tenejapans) • Downhill=North, Uphill=South, Crosshill=East/West

15. Subject Table 1 Table2 Subject Subject Table 1 Table2 Table 1 Table2 (Bird’s Eye View) Step 1: Ss memorize items Step 2: Ss rotated (right side, north side) Step 3: Where is the fish, bee, and frog? Ss recreate “same” as Table 1. Step 3 absolute tendency (Mayans) Step 3 relative tendency (Dutch) (right side in Step 1) Subject (north side) (north side) (right side in Step 3) Table 1 Table2

16. Table 1 Direction = Absolute or Relative Order = Absolute, Relative, or Error (Order of Animals) Table Adapted From Brown & Levinson (1995) Animals placed north, left in order pig-sheep-cow on table 1. Below are some possible Ss response when recreating array on table 2. RESPONSE-TYPE SCORING Direction: (north, right) -> Absolute Order: cow-sheep-pig Absolute Direction: <- (south, left) Relative Order: pig-sheep-cow Relative Direction: (north, right) -> Absolute Order: pig-sheep-cow Relative Direction: <- (south, left) Relative Order: cow-sheep-pig Absolute Direction: (north, right) -> Absolute Order: sheep-cow-pig Error Direction: <- (south, left) Relative Order: sheep-cow-pig Error Table 2 Absolute Tendency a b c d e f Relative Tendency Inconsistent Inconsistent Partial Error Partial Error

17. Estimated Absolute Tendency = x 100 • Dutch (n=37) • Tenejapan (n=27) Direction Order 100 100 80 80 60 60 Percentage of Subjects Percentage of Subjects 40 40 20 20 0 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 Estimated Absolute Tendency (%) Estimated Absolute Tendency (%) Figure 4: Animals Recall Task: Direction Figure 5: Animals Recall Task: Order # absolute trials # total trials Graphs From Brown & Levinson (1995) Direction Order

18. S(Uphill) House 1 2 N(Downhill) Problem • Brown & Levinson’s placement of tables for Tenejapans. • Hill or house may serve as landmarks biasing Tenejapans to perform • “absolutely.” • (e.g. Ss use cues such as animal is towards or away from house.) • Question: Is the Tenejapans’ response NOT result of LANGUAGE, • BUT result of surrounding environment and landmarks?

19. Tenejapans House 1 2 S (Uphill) S Condition 1: IRCS Room BLINDS DOWN Placing Americans in a setting like the Dutch. N N (Downhill) Library Walnut St Window 1 2 (room) Condition 2: IRCS Room BLINDS UP Placing Americans in a setting like the Tenejapans. Americans (University of Pennsylvania Students)

20. Tenejapans Building Church House Locust Walk 1 2 2 1 S (Uphill) S Building S Condition 1: IRCS Room BLINDS DOWN Placing Americans in a setting like the Dutch. Open Field N (Downhill) N N Library Walnut St Window 1 2 (room) Condition 2: IRCS Room BLINDS UP Placing Americans in a setting like the Tenejapans. Americans (University of Pennsylvania Students) Condition 3: Outdoors next to a tall building.

21. S S N N Library Library Walnut St Walnut St Window Window 1 1 2 2 (room) (room) Duck Ponds on the sides of tables as landmark. Condition 4: Relative Biasing Condition 5: Absolute Biasing

22. Brown &Levinson (1993b) Blinds Up vs. Down 100 Dutch 90 100 Tenejapans IRCS Blinds-Down 80 90 IRCS Blinds-Up 70 80 60 70 % of Subjects 50 60 % of Subjects 40 50 30 40 20 30 10 20 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 10 Percent of Absolute Trials 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent of Absolute Trials

23. Brown &Levinson (1993b) Outdoors 100 100 IRCS Blinds-Down Dutch 90 90 Tenejapans Outdoors 80 80 70 70 60 60 % of Subjects % of Subjects 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 10 10 0 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent of Absolute Trials Percent of Absolute Trials

24. Brown &Levinson (1993b) Duck Pond on Tables 100 Dutch 90 100 Tenejapans Relative Bias 80 Absolute Bias 90 70 80 60 70 % of Subjects 50 60 % of Subjects 40 50 30 40 20 30 10 20 0 10 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 Percent of Absolute Trials 0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent of Absolute Trials

25. 100 100 Japanese N=16 Locality of Tamil Ss: 90 90 Longgu N=13 (-3) Relative Ss N=20 -- city Arandic N=11 (-5) Absolute Ss N=41 -- rural 80 80 70 70 60 60 50 50 % of Subjects % of Subjects 40 40 30 30 20 20 10 10 0 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 % of Absolute Trials % of Absolute Trials Pederson et al. (1998)

26. Experimental Variation Teach groups PLACE or RESPONSE . Which is easier to learn? Place Response (relative) (absolute) or Maze Learning in Rats “Place-vs.-Response” -- which one is dominant? Experimental Setup 1. Training. 2. Test turn preference when maze rotated 180° Place (absolute) Response (relative) or