Linguistic expression and conceptual representation of motion events in Turkish, English and French: an experimental study

Download

index.pdf

Date

2011

Author

Toplu, Ayşe Betül

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

267
views

141
downloads

The present dissertation reports the results of a multi-disciplinary experimental study, which combines psycholinguistic and cognitive methodologies in order to achieve two broad objectives. The first objective is providing a comparative psycholinguistic analysis of the expression of motion events in three languages, namely Turkish, English and French, taking Talmy‘s verb-framed language vs. satellite-framed language typology (Talmy, 1985) as the framework. The second one is investigating the relationship between linguistic representation and conceptual representation by taking motion events as the testing ground. In order to pursue these two lines of inquiry, five complementary tasks are conducted on three groups of adult subjects. The results of the first two tasks, the language production task and the language comprehension task, verify the Talmyan typology experimentally by showing sharp differences between the data obtained from native speakers of typologically different languages (English vs. Turkish and French), as well as remarkable similarities between the data obtained from native speakers of typologically similar languages (Turkish and French). On the other hand, the remaining three non-verbal tasks, the categorization task and the two eye-tracking tasks, present valuable insights into the nature of conceptual event representation by revealing a uniform pattern across languages. This latter result is inconsistent with the renowned linguistic relativity hypothesis (Whorf, 1956); however in line with the universalist view (Jackendoff, 1990, 1996), which suggests that conceptual event representation is language-free and independent of the linguistic encoding preferences of different languages.

Subject Keywords

Motion in language., Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12613559/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/21119

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

Fault detection and diagnosis in nonlinear dynamical systems Kılıç, Erdal; Leblebicioğlu, Mehmet Kemal; Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (2005) The aim of this study is to solve Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) problems occurring in nonlinear dynamical systems by using model and knowledge-based FDD methods and to give a priority and a degree about faults. For this purpose, three model-based FDD approaches, called FDD by utilizing principal component analysis (PCA), system identification based FDD and inverse model based FDD are introduced. Performances of these approaches are tested on different nonlinear dynamical systems starting from simple t...
Bridging Brain and Educational Sciences: An Optical Brain Imaging Study of Visuospatial Reasoning Çakır, Murat Perit; Izzetoglu, Meltem; Shewokis, Patricia A.; Izzetoglu, Kurtulus; Onaral, Banu (2011-10-22) In this paper we present an experimental study where we investigated neural correlates of visuospatial reasoning during math problem solving in a computer-based environment to exemplify the potential for conducting interdisciplinary research that incorporates insights from educational research and cognitive neuroscience. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technology is used to measure changes in blood oxygenation in the dorsolateral and inferior prefrontal cortex while subjects attempt to solve t...
Neural correlates of purchasing behavior in the prefrontal cortex an optical brain imaging study Çakır, Murat Perit; Çakar, Tuna (null; 2015-07-23) Existing neuroimaging studies in decision making predominantly employ the fMRI method. Despite its superior spatial resolution, fMRI is an expensive and impractical neuroimaging technology for purchasing behavior studies in the field. This study aims to explore the role of prefrontal cortex during purchasing behavior by utilizing functional near-infrared (fNIR) spectroscopy; a low-cost, non-invasive and portable optical brain imaging methodology. The findings suggest that fNIRS can be effectively used for d...
Concurrent validity and test-retest reliability of the information processing styles Baloğlu, Mustafa; Zelhart, PF (2000-12-01) To investigate concurrent validity and test-retest reliability of thr Information Processing Styles, 62 students majoring in social sciences evaluated the accuracy of the checklist in describing their dominant types. Each student had a friend who read the descriptions of thy dominant types(s) of the student and rated their perceived accuracy of that categorization. Analyses indicated the inventory is reliable and valid.
Language learning from the perspective of nonlinear dynamic systems Hohenberger, Annette Edeltraud; Peltzer-Karpf, Annemarie (Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2009-01-01) This article outlines a nonlinear dynamic systems approach to language learning on the basis of developmental cognitive neuroscience. Language learning, on this view, is a process of experience-dependent shaping and selection of broadly defined domain-general and domain-specific genetic predispositions. The central concept of development is (neuro) cognitive,e growth in terms of self-organization. Linguistic structure-building is synergetic and emergent insofar as the acquisition of a critical mass of eleme...

Citation Formats

A. B. Toplu, “Linguistic expression and conceptual representation of motion events in Turkish, English and French: an experimental study,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2011.