Language and Perception

This week’s readings focused on the influence of linguistics on perceptions, and specifically about how the words we use to communicate both effect our own perceptions of the world and the world’s perceptions of us. Lupyan’s paper explores the concept of categorization, and how we are “conditioned” to see the world in different ways according to the language we use to describe objects. Rickford’s paper focuses on socioloinguistics, and specifically the African-American vernacular from both a structural and quantitative standpoint as well as the societal perceptions of this language being “less than” Standard American English. Both pieces expound on the link between language and perception and how words and language are powerful tools for communication about our world and communication about ourselves to the world.

The Lupyan article describes the effect of word labeling on our perception. He argues that labels are effective in activating a more categorical perceptual state. Through a series of experiments, it was shown that the words we use to categorize the world change our perception. When told to draw a three-sided polygon vs a triangle, participants drew more equilateral, up-pointing triangles for the “triangle” prompt, which I found very interesting. This article dives into the connection of linguistics and cognition, which is something I’m also studying in SymSys right now. This idea of a Mentalese—or the language of the mind in perception is influenced by the words we use to describe and categorize all that we experience. I found this connection to be very obvious here—people associated the word “triangle” with the canonical, equilateral, up-oriented three-sided polygon, and described that as the most “triangley triangle,” which demonstrates how the words we use dictate our perception and mental prototypes of objects.

The Rickford paper covers African American Vernacular English (AAVE). He notes how much the field of sociolinguistics has learned through studying AAVE, but also how the field has given little back to these communities that they have learned so much from, which has resulted in an underrepresentation of African Americans in the field of linguistics. I found his commentary on the prejudice associated with AAVE particularly interesting, especially as someone growing up in the South. I have noticed first-hand discrimination associated with the way someone talks, and I hope that the sociolinguistic field continues research, especially within discriminatory practices within the job search process. It is unfortunate that assumptions about one’s education, socioeconomic status, or personality can simply be judged by the presence of vernacular differences, and I hope that the field of sociolinguistics can give back, through more research and efforts in the courtroom, to the communities that they have learned so much from.