annotations_6638_Lera+Boroditsky,+How+the+Languages+We+Speak+Shape+the+Ways+We+Think_03 June 2022 14 13 44
start time name type role tags description
01:47 Sam Charles annotation student It is interesting how she references implanting a thought into one’s mind. Whereas that thought is actually interpreted by the listener using their learned experience. Have they ever seen a giraffe in real-life? Do they understand what ovulation is? Are they familiar with math 05:40 Sam Charles annotation student I would love for Lera Boroditsky to delve into why these languages use different verbs or tenses (etymology).
15:37 Sam Charles annotation student This example is making me think of an Indigenous training course that I recently took where the participants were asked who could state a greeting in another language. Nearly everyone said yes. Then they were asked who can state a greeting in the language of the traditional 16:42 Sam Charles annotation student This discussion of chronology makes me think of the script direction of languages.
23:57 Sam Charles annotation student Interesting to consider gender in these conversation as the construct of gender is evolving in society and perhaps we will all be buying two toasters in the future because gender will be eliminated from language.
33:48 Sam Charles annotation student This so well encapsulates the Neil Postman quote about language as a technology playing a central role in shaping human consciousness.
41:18 Sam Charles annotation student Tamara – I think the same can be true for politicians and corporate communicators as well
51:16 Sam Charles annotation student I can still recall my communications undergraduate courses focusing on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of a message. The speaker wants the message to be as direct as possible, but so many variables can come into place that distort or impact the message’s interpretation.
53:06 Sam Charles annotation student “All human languages have to be learned by humans and useful” (with similarities that include physics and physiology). Beyond those similarities, it does come down to lived experience to interpret meaning from the language.
55:22 Sam Charles annotation student Love the analogy of language as music. The melody or cadence of a language does make it more accessible to someone whose language also shares that same melody.—- Simin Rupa comment student Discussing color, also highlights how even within the language one may not be able to identify as many distinctions. I think of a painter compared to an account, both fluent in a set language however one spends hours and years being able to identify the different hues, contrast, 00:00 Tamara Jabbour annotation student test
00:34 Selene Joon annotation student Here, Lera Boroditsky opens her speech about how language can be used to plant ideas in each others’ minds. This leads to me towards the idea that the way people think of each other and the world that we live in — is all influenced directly by the language that the people
00:51 Selene Joon annotation student When she explains the physical aspects of speech and language, it really resonated with me, in that when someone speaks to us we can physically feel the vibrations of one’s thoughts which enter our bodies through one’s voice is something that allows us to absorb their
00:51 Jocelyn Fung annotation student Interesting how our bodies respond with other senses to these vibrations. We’ve heard the saying “That gave me goosebumps” after hearing something frightening or exciting. I wonder how this might apply to the deaf and hard of hearing community that uses sign language
00:51 Selene Joon annotation student Absolutely, ‘they’ do say that when we have all of our senses available to us, we do not utilize them at their highest levels. But I noticed one thing when I practice yoga, or slowing down my breathing and meditating from time to time, I am able to hyperfocus and use all of
01:02 Selene Joon annotation student The power of speech and humour creates a strong bond and connection between the speaker and the audience members and it resonates throughout the rest of Boroditsky’s presentation (eg. Trump reading, and the ovulating zebra riding on the back of a rhineceros, while
01:02 Elvio Castelli annotation student Hi Selene, I find the use of humour in speech very interesting. I also like to use it in my classroom. Ms. Boroditsky’s presentation has made me wonder if there is a connection between the use of humour and body language. Is humour solely a tool to connect to the audience, 01:02 Kayli McKay annotation student Selena, the power of speech is huge and humour plays a big role in that. I wonder how culture and language affect how speech and humour are used. Coming from an Metis/Cree Indigenous culture humour and teasing is often used as a way to discipline and correct peoples
02:56 Sage Capogreco annotation student This is a great example of how language shapes our reality. In different languages, we literally perceive time differently. As Borodisky states one language may have 5 different past tenses, whereas another may not even require a tense at all. You can see how this would effect
04:50 Tamara Jabbour annotation student In teaching French as a second language, this is a frequent problem encountered. Students have difficulty when they directly try to translate (word for word) from English to French or vice versa- and I can always tell when they have just copied and pasted text into Google Translate-
04:50 Sophy Chu annotation student This was a common issue that the instructors had at my institution when students were turning in assignments that were clearly translated directly from Google Translate! In some ways, it also illuminates the difficulties of technology “acquiring” language, and still remains
04:50 Jocelyn Fung annotation student Absolutely, there are certain nuances of languages that technology has yet to master. It is also important to consider the intonation of sounds when speaking. In Cantonese, one word can have various meanings using a different intonation (Ma= horse OR mom). Also, the expressive
04:50 Kayli McKay annotation student This also makes me think of when I was learning cree and how there is no he or she in the language instead you describe how many people are with you, or who you are talking about. It also focuses on weather things are animate or inanimate which shows the cultural relation
04:56 Selene Joon annotation student In Borodisky’s 2011 article, “How Language Shapes Thoughts,” the research in her lab and in many others has been uncovering how language shapes even the most fundamental dimensions of human experience: space, time, causality and relationships to others. For example,
04:56 Simin Rupa annotation student As soon as she began to speak, I realized I had viewed this lecture, and often quote or refer to it within my classroom or with peers. The nuance that language gives us is boundless, and as language t …
05:51 Kayli McKay annotation student I find it very interesting how different languages show importance of certain things by having multiple words for the same type of activity, this is similar to the Inuit who have multiple words to describe snow.
06:04 Sophy Chu annotation student I think what makes this interesting is how the specific information of mode of consumption is condensed into the verb-stem, unlike in English where there are different words for different modes of consumption. The underlying workings of syntax and morphology is really fascinating
08:20 Tamara Jabbour annotation student Is it true that speakers of different languages actually attend to the world differently? To what extent do language and culture guide what we see in the world ? This is such an interesting question. Not only do I teach French as a second language, but I also teach in a Ukrainian
08:20 Alexis Reeves annotation student Hi Tamara, I think your question about how languages may create different thoughts amongst the different speakers of those languages as echoed in Boroditsky’s (2017) video are important. For example, when I lived in Korea many years ago, the first thing I learned was that
08:20 Sage Capogreco annotation student That’s a really great point Alexis! I find the same thing using french in social situations. I have to become so much more aware of the grammar I am using to ensure I am formally addressing certain people. In that way, when you are speaking a language, you have to become
09:05 Jocelyn Fung annotation student There are no doubt advantages of multilingualism as indicated by these quotes. I found this article from the National Institute of Health looking into the bilingual effects on the brain suggesting that “bilingual children tend to be better than monolingual children at multitasking.”
09:05 Kayli McKay annotation student It worth thinking of giving students the opportunity to learn a language they are interested in, but it also makes me think of the importance of Indigenous languages in elementary schools especially Indigenous schools and for Indigenous youth.
09:30 Selene Joon annotation student When Boroditsky mentions how the attitude for some was shunning the idea that language actually shapes one’s cognitive abilities during the 1970s and 1980s really struck a chord with me. I remember when my parents, both of whom were highly educated and spoke the
09:30 Sophy Chu annotation student Your connection to Christine DeLuca’s video made me think of the preface that she made before reciting the first poem and how that connected to her frustration and anger that comes out towards the ending of the poem. She gave some context of collaborating with Nordic
09:30 Selene Joon annotation student I think it’s so vital for all of us to share our stories with one another because it really does reveal that we are all truly connected and share similar life experiences. I loved just hearing the Shetlandic dialect because it had such a beautiful lyrical sound to it. I hope that with each
12:16 Elvio Castelli annotation student I find the subject of reading left to right and right to left and how this affects how we see time very intriguing. I always wondered why they read right to left in Arabic. What about their culture or environment determines the direction they read and write? Does anybody know?
13:13 Agnes Plourde-Doran annotation student This was intriguing to connect gestures not only with alternate meanings but the idea that cultures have varying philosophies on concepts and assigned gestures to align accordingly. I found the idea of a gesture for the past to be in front of us because it is known and experienced,
13:29 Alexis Reeves annotation student Lera uses humour and many examples to relay to the masses a strong message here, that language shapes our thoughts and perhaps our behaviours as result. I found her example about how language and the way it is interpreted for example, in Arabic and Hebrew as it is
16:49 Alexis Reeves annotation student The notion of assuming time flows in the direction they are facing rather than what western populations think of time moving from left to right is interesting. This specific example of moving things in ‘order’ could be interpreted much differently than someone born to a different
16:49 Sophy Chu annotation student This is a very interesting comment, especially in the language education and literacy context, because of the diverse backgrounds of students and their experiences, they will arrive in the classroom with at different starting points for their learning. So much of language and
16:49 Alexis Reeves annotation student I couldn’t agree more. Cultural background is definitely something educators need to be more mindful of when assessing students and their knowledge. As we heard from Boroditsky it definitely has a strong impact on students and can be misinterpreted when not looking holistically
19:41 Simin Rupa annotation student As soon as she began to speak, I realized I had viewed this lecture, and often quote or refer to it within my classroom or with peers. The nuance that language gives us is boundless, and as language t …
19:44 Sage Capogreco annotation student Thinking about how different language speakers could potentially ‘see’ the world differently (i.e. be able to perceive colours differently) makes me wonder if there would be actual physiological differences that can be measured. For instance, would we be able to notice a measurable
19:57 Selene Joon annotation student In regards to grammatical gender, I always wondered how words were assigned a gender, especially when I was learning French, and then later I began to teach FSL as a teacher, where my students were perplexed as much as I was in regards to how and why words were
22:38 Tamara Jabbour annotation student The question then is, after learning a language that has grammatical gender, do you start thinking in those genders? I have been learning French since kindergarten (in immersion programming) and I have to say that I definitely don’t think it has influenced my thinking by having
23:34 Elvio Castelli annotation student When Ms. Boroditsky discusses how a Russian boy experiences the word flower differently depending on whether or not it was being spoken in French or Russian, I am reminded of Alexander MacDonald’s discussion of how every tap dancer adds their own touch to every
24:03 Sage Capogreco annotation student I think it is really interesting to uncover how gendered language affects one’s view of the word being discussed. But I would also be interested in how simply having a gender binary within language affects a person’s worldview. We obviously live in a society where we are constantly
24:39 Sophy Chu annotation student I think these examples really illustrate how much influence language can have an impact on our perception of things around us, whether we know it or not! I wonder what responses a multilingual person, fluent in languages with grammatical gender might respond on these
29:14 Tamara Jabbour annotation student What Lera talks about with how language influences one’s perspective on an event, is one of the biggest motivators to ensuring we are getting our information from reliable sources (and teaching our students and children to do the same)! Biased headlines and one sided perspectives
29:14 Jocelyn Fung annotation student I couldn’t agree more with the importance of explicitly teaching students how to discriminate and analyze biased news. I find it’s even more apparent in American news with polarizing headlines and how opposing networks address topics (CNN vs. Fox News) I think this also
30:59 Agnes Plourde-Doran annotation student When I initially watched this video, I wondered what the implications of the response to this question would be, in terms of witnesses in court proceedings. Does language perhaps impose bias that negates a testimony?
31:02 Sage Capogreco annotation student Coming from my background in History, this question of how events get shaped by language feels very familiar. From the very moment after an event occurs, it is only our memory and the language we use to convey the narrative of the event that actually exists.
33:39 Agnes Plourde-Doran annotation student At this point, Boroditsky (2017) emphasizes that the “grammatical forms” around us will influence our reception of language. Verbs, in particular, are identified by Boroditsky (2017) as influential in controlling details of an event, i.e. adding description versus generic expression.
33:39 Sophy Chu annotation student I think it is interesting to explore what kinds of information are already embedded into certain parts of speech in different languages, and how by proxy of using the language, makes you have to think about these aspects. For example, in Japanese, there is a big distinction
35:00 Agnes Plourde-Doran annotation student I wonder what prompted cultures to look outside the body to count, measure, or for number systems? Listening to the Word Guys (2020) podcast episode, most likely encouraged my curiosity about how the meaning of words or knowledge systems has transformed over time.
35:02 Sophy Chu annotation student This was part of an interesting conversation that came up between my friend and I the other day at an art show. It started with trying to look for something “universal” amongst the different cultures and we started exploring the concept of numbers. When I saw this section
39:45 Alexis Reeves annotation student This part made me think of how language can allow us to express or convey our thoughts to others but only if we have the available words, gestures or expressions to do so. Otherwise, it can confuse or distort true thoughts as well as oversimplifying or overcomplicating them
39:45 Tamara Jabbour annotation student This is so true! When communicating with my new students from Ukraine, because it is such a different language, I am unable to use words at all- I often use gestures and expresessions to help communicate 🙂
39:45 Sage Capogreco annotation student This also makes me think of how important it is to have words for the emotions/ feelings you have. If you can’t name them, it is infinitely harder to properly address them.
41:18 Selene Joon annotation student It goes to show how powerful words can be. Using powerful advertising words appeal to an audiences emotions. The specific words used become the foundation of our communication because all advertising is a means of communication and marketers use every media
41:18 Tamara Jabbour annotation student I agree advertisers are merely great linguistic manipulators!
41:18 Selene Joon annotation student Absolutely! I always taught/teach my daughter and students to question everything when it comes to being a consumer. Be curious as to how products are made/manufactured and advertised and do some background research on the stuff we buy! 🙂
42:53 Simin Rupa annotation student This reminds me of Christine, speaking how some words were accepted, such as “pub”, but only upon a certain tone or accent.
43:44 Tamara Jabbour annotation student Now in thinking about how language changes thinking… I am realizing its effect more and more. For example when writing in French, I do find that I use the gender of the nouns to influence my written description of that particular object (so in French vs. English my thinking
44:51 Alexis Reeves annotation student Both MacDonald (2016) and De Luca’s (2014) stories about language seem to tie together the different ways of expressing one’s self through different forms of language and text. These expressions tie back to Borditsky’s (2017) theory on how language (and its different forms)
45:22 Sophy Chu annotation student “Inventing and changing language and moving things in new directions” reminds me of the different ways language has evolved, not only in terms of how words are being used nowadays as Berkowitz mentions in The Word Guy’s episode, but also in a sociocultural aspect
45:47 Selene Joon annotation student I love how Lera Boroditsky shows words can be both powerfully persuasive and then talk about how language can also be used ineffectively-like when the U.S. government were politically motivated to rally the American people to revolt against France because they opposed
45:47 Tamara Jabbour annotation student I agree and you know what upsets me most? Is how people in power are able to get away so easily with manipulating our language (and therefore us) into fighting their battles for them! What about the French people that were living in the US at the time? Wonder how they
45:47 Selene Joon annotation student I cannot agree with you more Tamara!! Knowledge is definitely power, but to so many, they aren’t even aware of the level of manipulation, jargon and lies we are all being fed.
45:47 Sage Capogreco annotation student I also agree. And this is such an interesting topic – especially in regard to the Zenophobia aspect of it. I recently found out from a friend who experienced this – In France, after the war in Vietnam, all Vietnamese refugees in France were forced to “frenchify” their family names.
45:47 Kayli McKay annotation student Sage, just adding on to how language has been used to suppress Indigenous cultures and languages. It reminds me how many Indigenous names are not allowed as the government does not consider them names. We can also see it how things need to be Englishized to allow
48:43 Sophy Chu annotation student If anyone has any thoughts about this puzzle, please let me know as well, as I have been thinking about it and trying to figure it out! This is an challenging task, as it does not only require understanding morphology and phonology in some capacity to decipher, it also requires
55:40 Sophy Chu annotation student This research was actually done in Infant Studies Centre at UBC! It was found that after a certain critical period, babies are less capable of perceiving and distinguishing the sounds that are not used in their immediate language environments, and speech perception supports
56:55 Elvio Castelli annotation student An overarching theme for both language and Alexander’s step (if one is viewing them as different) is that they are never stagnant. They are always evolving and being innovated by the speakers and/or dancers.
57:45 Elvio Castelli annotation student I’ve been thinking about the rise of technology (text, Twitter, social media etc) and how often it is feared to be the end of language. This fear of new things goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks, as we learned in Module 1 when writing was invented, people feared we
58:38 Sage Capogreco annotation student This is such an interesting question and so relevant to our course. I hope going forward in this course to keep this question in mind: what are the patterns that may occur more often in a technological writing space vs pen and paper? Off the top of my head, a virtual space
58:38 Tamara Jabbour annotation student Hi Sage,I am thinking off the top of my head that when students are using technology to write- they are able to make mistakes that go unnoticed and leave no trace- making that environment more motivating for some students (from my teaching experience anyways). Whereas
59:48 Elvio Castelli annotation student The dominant culture’s impact on subservient languages and cultures is also seen in Christine de Luca’s story. We see her Shetlandic language is generally suffering as most people don’t learn how to read or write in Shetlandic but are expected to be proficient in English so
01:02:10 Sophy Chu annotation student One interesting thing that I realized when I was learning American Sign Language was that there were many similar handshapes, and depending on the way you move it, and placement of where you move it, or even how many times you move it, you would be creating different
01:02:10 Sophy Chu annotation student I think this question of “kinematic” language or also ties well into some of the topics mentioned in the “Oral Traditions” section. Relating back to the In the Ted Talk, Alexander mentions that one is “not merely repeating movement, they are incorporating their stories” as a form
01:02:10 Selene Joon annotation student I love that you learned ASL!! It is on my bucket list of things to learn. I do remember learning the alphabet many years ago and I was so very fascinated. Each language, whether it be spoken, heard, felt (Braille), or motioned is so unique and beautiful. Our languages define 1