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Spatial cognition of users of spoken Czech and Czech Sign Language: How cross-linguistic diversity affects non-linguistic thought
Jehlička, Jakub ; Chromý, Jan (advisor) ; Smolík, Filip (referee)
The thesis focuses on how different languages influence spatial cognition of their speakers, i. e., whether and how the differences in spatial language (linguistic representation of perspective, location, spatial scenes etc.) affect the non-linguistic spatial reasoning (orientation, spatial memory etc.). This issue has for a long time been a part of the studies of the relation between language and thouhgt under the flag of so called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis/Hypothesis of linguistic relativity. In the first half of the theoretical part of the thesis, I attempt to summarize the history of the concept of linguistic relativity since 1950s and to revise some critical claims about linguistic relativity by re-reading Whorf's works (chapter 2). The second half of the theoretical part (chapter 3) focuses in particular on the research of the interrelations between spatial thought and language. In section 3.1, I make a brief note on the notion of space in terms of cognitive linguistics. Section 3.2 provides an selective overview of the previous research of the crosslinguic spatial-cognitive diversity. Sections 3.3 and 3.4 connect the theoretical and the empirical part of the thesis. The research itself is presented in the chapter 4. It experimentally tests the hypothesis, that the language-specific...
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Spatial cognition of users of spoken Czech and Czech Sign Language: How cross-linguistic diversity affects non-linguistic thought
Jehlička, Jakub ; Chromý, Jan (advisor) ; Smolík, Filip (referee)
The thesis focuses on how different languages influence spatial cognition of their speakers, i. e., whether and how the differences in spatial language (linguistic representation of perspective, location, spatial scenes etc.) affect the non-linguistic spatial reasoning (orientation, spatial memory etc.). This issue has for a long time been a part of the studies of the relation between language and thouhgt under the flag of so called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis/Hypothesis of linguistic relativity. In the first half of the theoretical part of the thesis, I attempt to summarize the history of the concept of linguistic relativity since 1950s and to revise some critical claims about linguistic relativity by re-reading Whorf's works (chapter 2). The second half of the theoretical part (chapter 3) focuses in particular on the research of the interrelations between spatial thought and language. In section 3.1, I make a brief note on the notion of space in terms of cognitive linguistics. Section 3.2 provides an selective overview of the previous research of the crosslinguic spatial-cognitive diversity. Sections 3.3 and 3.4 connect the theoretical and the empirical part of the thesis. The research itself is presented in the chapter 4. It experimentally tests the hypothesis, that the language-specific...
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Language Relativity and Grammatical Gender in Czech
Matějka, Štěpán ; Chromý, Jan (advisor) ; Vaňková, Irena (referee)
The diploma thesis is concerned with the effect of the grammatical gender of Czech nouns referring to inanimate entities on their semantic meaning and conceptualization. The thesis looks into the question whether masculines are conceptulized as "men" and feminines as "women". The thesis is divided into two main parts. In the first part, theoretical insight into the question of relation between language and thought is provided. In this part, foreign experiments related to our research question are mentioned as well. In the second part, two experiments accomplished in the Czech language are presented. The objective of experiment nr. 1 was to choose such semantic differential scales which according to Czech speakers distinguish the "female and male principle" the best. In experiment nr. 2, feminine and masculine gender variants of nouns were employed (e. g. "brambor - brambora"). Experiment nr. 2 contained two tasks. The first task used the semantic differential method. In the second task, participants were asked to choose a woman's or a man's voice that the inanimate entities would have in a cartoon movie. The results of the first task indicate that the grammatical gender of nouns did not affect the decision-making as individual nouns were marked on the semantic differential scales. However, there...
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