full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lera Boroditsky: How language shapes the way we think

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Now, this has consequences. So, people who speak different languages will pay attention to different things, depending on what their language usually requires them to do. So we show the same accident to English speakers and Spanish speakers, English speakers will remember who did it, because English requires you to say, "He did it; he broke the vase." Whereas sspianh speakers might be less likely to rbeememr who did it if it's an accident, but they're more likely to remember that it was an accident. They're more likely to remember the intention. So, two people watch the same event, witness the same crime, but end up remembering different things about that event. This has implications, of course, for eyewitness tinmsoety. It also has iocaltpminis for blame and punishment. So if you take English speakers and I just show you someone bnaeirkg a vase, and I say, "He broke the vase," as opposed to "The vase broke," even though you can witness it yourself, you can watch the video, you can watch the cimre against the vase, you will punish someone more, you will blame someone more if I just said, "He bokre it," as opposed to, "It broke." The language gduies our reasoning about events.

Open Cloze

Now, this has consequences. So, people who speak different languages will pay attention to different things, depending on what their language usually requires them to do. So we show the same accident to English speakers and Spanish speakers, English speakers will remember who did it, because English requires you to say, "He did it; he broke the vase." Whereas _______ speakers might be less likely to ________ who did it if it's an accident, but they're more likely to remember that it was an accident. They're more likely to remember the intention. So, two people watch the same event, witness the same crime, but end up remembering different things about that event. This has implications, of course, for eyewitness _________. It also has ____________ for blame and punishment. So if you take English speakers and I just show you someone ________ a vase, and I say, "He broke the vase," as opposed to "The vase broke," even though you can witness it yourself, you can watch the video, you can watch the _____ against the vase, you will punish someone more, you will blame someone more if I just said, "He _____ it," as opposed to, "It broke." The language ______ our reasoning about events.

Solution

  1. spanish
  2. implications
  3. guides
  4. crime
  5. breaking
  6. broke
  7. remember
  8. testimony

Original Text

Now, this has consequences. So, people who speak different languages will pay attention to different things, depending on what their language usually requires them to do. So we show the same accident to English speakers and Spanish speakers, English speakers will remember who did it, because English requires you to say, "He did it; he broke the vase." Whereas Spanish speakers might be less likely to remember who did it if it's an accident, but they're more likely to remember that it was an accident. They're more likely to remember the intention. So, two people watch the same event, witness the same crime, but end up remembering different things about that event. This has implications, of course, for eyewitness testimony. It also has implications for blame and punishment. So if you take English speakers and I just show you someone breaking a vase, and I say, "He broke the vase," as opposed to "The vase broke," even though you can witness it yourself, you can watch the video, you can watch the crime against the vase, you will punish someone more, you will blame someone more if I just said, "He broke it," as opposed to, "It broke." The language guides our reasoning about events.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
kuuk thaayorre 3
stay oriented 3
dark blue 3
spanish speakers 3
english speakers 3
human mind 3
air vibrations 2
languages spoken 2
languages differ 2
organized time 2
linguistic trick 2
number words 2
russian speakers 2
german speakers 2
perceptual decisions 2
grammatical gender 2
linguistic diversity 2

Important Words

  1. accident
  2. attention
  3. blame
  4. breaking
  5. broke
  6. consequences
  7. crime
  8. depending
  9. english
  10. event
  11. events
  12. eyewitness
  13. guides
  14. implications
  15. intention
  16. language
  17. languages
  18. opposed
  19. pay
  20. people
  21. punish
  22. punishment
  23. reasoning
  24. remember
  25. remembering
  26. requires
  27. show
  28. spanish
  29. speak
  30. speakers
  31. testimony
  32. vase
  33. video
  34. watch
  35. witness