Homework #9

Posted Wednesday November 4th; due Tuesday November 10th.

This assignment is concerned with questions of meaning and how closely related language and thought are. The questions will be useful in helping you to prepare for next week's test. Bonus points will be available for especially good answers on both questions.

1. Frames of Reference for talking about Locations

In class we talked about different ways in which languages can express the relations between objects in space, using different frames of reference.

The position of one object (the 'figure') relative to another object (the 'ground') may be described using an absolute frame of reference (e.g. expressions like north, south etc.), a relative frame of reference (i.e. position described from speaker's perspective), or an intrinsic frame of reference (i.e. position described relative to properties of the ground object).

In each of the following examples, state which of the 3 frames of reference is being used to describe the location of the figure object relative to the ground object. If the sentence is ambiguous, and could be interpreted using either of two frames of reference, then point this out. As far as possible, you should try to give justification for your choice of frame of reference. (e.g. "if the speaker were to move, but the figure and ground objects remained in the same position, the sentence could stop being true: therefore the frame of reference is relative).

a. The car is in front of the house.

b. The ball is in front of you.

c. John noticed the ball to the right of the lamp.

d. The lamp is to the right of the chair.

e. The ball is about 3 yards to your right.

f. The airport is on this side of Philadelphia.

g. The airport is on the Wilmington side of Philadelphia.

h. The balloon flew above the town.

Note: if you are uncertain between two frames of reference, but are certain that you can exclude the remaining frame of reference as a possibility, then at least say this.

2. Language and Thought

Pinker discusses the idea of Linguistic Determinism or Linguistic Relativity in Chapter 3 of his book, especially pp.55-73.

• What is meant by "linguistic determinism" or "linguistic relativity"?
• What is Pinker's view of this idea?
• What kind of evidence does Pinker present to support his view? Are you convinced by his arguments?