Rose

Hi there peeps!

My name is Rose ( as you can probably tell from the page) and people often tell me I have my head in the clouds.

I got into languages from reading. I was always a bit of a nerd and read copious amounts. Eventually it lead to discovering different cultures through literature, which then sparked the interest for languages. Following a few travels, which I love, I settled on taking languages in CEGEP and here we are now. Usually I'd tell you I took Chinese and Italian, but according to our teacher we have to make this original, so instead let me tell you a story about how I accidently ended up being my parent's interpreter in Costa Rica even though I didn't speak Spanish. Or not :P.

For my topic, I was thinking of talking about how language affects thought processes, comparing varying languages to each other to see how big the influence is. My base will be English since the course is in English, but for the compared languages my interests would be to use one of these: French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese or Korean.

You can ask me about Costa Rica if you ever get curious, that way I'll know you actually read my blog:).

By the way, the background picture is of my siblings when we were in the Bahamas a couple years ago.

Farewell fellow friends,

Rose

Entry #2

Today we talked about our final selected topics. I decided to go with how language shapes our thoughts using English and Chinese. This means that I will go into details about each language and the differences in thoughts from the experience of native speakers. Mandarin and English seemed to be a great pick because they are very different from one another and yet are both wildly spoken all over the world as international business languages. I have yet to hear the feedbacks of my peers on the topic, but I will come back to add to it after next class.

The reason I chose my topic apart from the fact it interests me is there seems to be extensive research already made on the subject and it seems to be conclusive.

Annotated bibliography:

Boroditsky, Lera. "Does language shape thought?: Mandarin and English speakers' conceptions of time." Cognitive psychology 43.1 (2001): 1-22.

This article compares varying tests and experiments to see how native English and Chinese speakers think about time differently. the author concludes that languages does indeed shape abstract thoughts, but that it also help shape habitual thoughts. This article seems reliable to me because it has been cited over 600 times by scholars and it puts the references of the studies at the end of the article. This source will be beneficial for me because not only can i use it in my paper to quote or paraphrase it , it also helps me go into deeper research. Should I need it, it allows me to go to the references looks at the studies myself.

Boroditsky, Lera, Orly Fuhrman, and Kelly McCormick. "Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently?." Cognition 118.1 (2011): 123-129.

This paper focuses on time perception for English and Chinese speakers from a language and cultural point of view. It reviews the evidence for and against the theory that language shapes time perception and it is concluded that they do perceive time differently. This paper states all his references as well as having been cited by at least 457 recognized academic individuals. The paper has diagrams I can use in my paper to illustrated the difference of vertical vs horizontal time perceptions and can be a stepping stone for me to gather sources both for and against the argument so i can be as objective as I can while writing my paper. It focuses on one specific type of thought and I could use that in one of my paragraphs as an argument.

Entry #3

The more I look into it I find that I might have gone a bit too specific when it comes to my research topic. I'm thinking of broadening my search into varying aspects of the way speaking two different languages affects the brain and not only when it comes to the way of viewing time. I find that most of the papers I find say roughly the same thing, but in different ways and I think I would have a had time making my paper argumentative instead than just factual. I am thinking that incorporating linguistic aspects to the research to explain why it affects the perception of time. I could also incorporate how culture plays a role and not only language and explain the difference between the effects both have on the brain. I think i will also have to vulgurise the content a lot for me to be able to fit into the word count assigned to this research paper.

Annoted bibliography

Fuhrman, Orly, et al. "How linguistic and cultural forces shape conceptions of time: English and Mandarin time in 3D." Cognitive science 35.7 (2011): 1305-1328.

Lai VT and Boroditsky L (2013) The immediate and chronic influence of spatio-temporal metaphors on the mental representations of time in English, Mandarin, and Mandarin-English speakers. Front. Psychol. 4:142. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00142

Entry #4

I found this very interesting paper that compared the way people with different languages describe how they see the position of an object. I think incorporating it into part of my paper would be very interesting because having perceptive form another language than Chinese would allow me to further prove my point that it doesn't only apply to Chinese-English , but to all languages to a certain extent. Its going to allow me to put more of a strong argument in my paper. I am pretty sure that I will incorporate cognitive impact as well and conceptualization as two ideas in my paper that are different from the time argument to diversify my points and to be as thorough as I can in my argument.

Annotated bibliography

Kulkova, Mariya Alexandrovna, and Milyausha Ravilevna Shaimardanova. "Evaluative conceptualization in paroemiology language (on examples of Russian and English languages)." Life Sci J 11.7 (2014): 485.

Pederson, Eric, et al. "Semantic typology and spatial conceptualization." Language 74.3 (1998): 557-589.

Entry#5

I didn't go to the peer review session, however I did ask my friend who used to be in the program (Kalina) her opinion on my thesis and on my topic sentence and she told me that I should make them more concise. I took her advice because if my sentence aren't concise enough it will be very easy for both me and the reader to get lost in the paper because it is so specific.

Therefore after having reconsidered how I wrote them here are my new tentative topics sentences and thesis statement:

Thesis: Abstract thoughts are affected by learning different languages as seen in the cognitive abilities, perception of time, and conceptualization of bilinguals or polyglots.

Topic sentence 1: Cognitive functioning is affected by the ability of bilinguals or polyglots to have access to multiple verbal codes.

Topic sentence 2: Mandarin and English are drastically different, and it is felt even in the perception of time.

Topic sentence 3: Languages and culture shape the way we can conceptualize.

Annotated Bibliography

Schonefeld, D. "From conceptualization to linguistic expression: Where languages diversify." TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS STUDIES AND MONOGRAPHS 172 (2006): 297.

Kiryu, Kazuyuki. "Conceptualization and aspect in some Asian languages." Tense-aspect, transitivity and causativity: Essays in honor of Vladimir Nedjalkov (1999): 43-62.

Entry#6

I think I should have written more on the blogs, but I didn't really know what to write because I am so used to working on my own and to not write down my thoughts. I've been writing down my blog entries in my paper journal and it feels quite strange to type it out knowing anyone can see. It's like someone is taking a look into my brain. I tend to compare my project to the ones my friends did when they graduated and I don't think mine is as good when it comes to blogs, but I think it probably has to do with habits and how you enjoy talking about your own work. I wrote down what I thought was pertinent in a summarily way instead of every single thought I've had about my project because if I had, I think I would just focus too much on the thought of having the eyes on the blog rather than just looking at the actual work and making up one's own opinion on it. I feel like having the annotated bibliography in each blog probably speaks more about my thought process throughout the project than my actual blogs because that's where I think is the most value. For someone in languages, I find my brain is a lot less artsy than most of my peers, but I think anyone who has an interest in languages will find the project interesting regardless of how artsy or long my individual posts are. I do think I have to come up with ways to make my content more entertaining, or more catching for the ordinary person that would fall onto my page.

Annotated bibliography

Gu, Yan, et al. “Which Is in Front of Chinese People, Past or Future? The Effect of Language and Culture on Temporal Gestures and Spatial Conceptions of Time.” Cognitive Science, vol. 43, no. 12, Dec. 2019. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=eric&AN=EJ1237802&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Kraska-Szlenk, Iwona, ed. Body part terms in conceptualization and language usage. Vol. 12. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2020.

Entry#7

I am wondering how I will fit 10 to 15 in text citation in my paper when I'm supposed to have a word count of around 1200 words i am very much used to only using 2 to 3 in text citations and using the rest of the word count in my own words. I am worried about the fact that less than 10 percent in papers is usually allowed to be citations.

I also am worried about being to it everything into y paper because I found an overwhelming amount of information on my topic. I am glad I chose it because even though it is a lot of work, I find the material interesting even at the end of the semester. I will have to write the draft a couple of times to make sure I can hand in my best work and pay a tribute to the amount of work that went into my research. I would be disappointed if my passion and effort into this topic didn't show in my final paper.

Bibliography:

Gleitman, Lila, and Anna Papafragou. Language and thought. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Entry#8

I thought that since i already have a lot of academic papers and books I could use a source in a different form. I found a ted talk by Lera Boroditsky, which is a scholar that already came up multiple times in my academic sources and I immediately clicked on it because what are the odds that she had a ted talk when i've read so much of her work this semester. To top all of it off her ted talk can be used as a complementary source to me because it isn't as specific but it still gives good examples an summarizes very well the importance language plays in our perceptions

I am excited about the rest of the semester and to see everyone's work because I haven't been to class much so for me it will be the first time I hear about most of their projects apart from me just snooping around their blog pages..

Bibliography:

TED. How language shapes the way we think | Lera Boroditsky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKK7wGAYP6k. 2018/05/02

Entry#9

I'm thinking of using most of the paraphrasing in my essay instead of doing hard quotes, unless absolutely necessary just because I find that it would flow better instead of always have a kind of stop whenever I quote something. I will also be easier for e to do so because I like doing writing spurs and its a more convenient way to just go back afterwards and quote the things I paraphrased and add some more if I find that I am lacking some at the end of my research paper. I am also thinking of just using 2 big body paragraphs instead of 3 smaller ones because i will have a better chance to explain my topic.

Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook. “The cognitive benefits of being bilingual.” Cerebrum : the Dana forum on brain science vol. 2012 (2012): 13.

Entry#10

I have yet again not been able to attend the peer review. However I did make my close friend who is a masters graduate in finance what he thought about my paper because i wanted to know if I had enough clarity while explaining my essay. He doesn't know anything about languages so I thought it was a perfect way to get help without affecting my content because whenever I talk to him about different language it's like I'm talking Chinese( which sometimes I am). He thought that what I wrote was too convoluted and he couldn't understand what my paper was explaining. so I decided that I will that more time to be more concise and that I want him to be able to understand my paper even with no background in languages.

I look forward to presenting my work to the class and seeing what they think about it. I have a feeling it might interest quite a few people.

The final Paper

Here's the link to a website with my final paper. The formatting will be a bit different from in my actual paper since it's a website, but it is the same writing. I didn't know how to copy paste the paper without messing with the whole formatting.

https://sway.office.com/cfQb0yEwVRKgzFSE?play

The Final bibliography:

Boroditsky, Lera. "Does language shape thought?: Mandarin and English speakers' conceptions of time." Cognitive psychology 43.1 (2001): 1-22.

Lera Boroditsky, Orly Fuhrman, and Kelly McCormick. "Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently?." Cognition 118.1 (2011).

Boroditsky, Lera. Lera Boroditsky: How Language Shapes the Way We Think | TED Talk, https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_shapes_the_way_we_think. Accessed 29 Apr. 2022.

Branch, Legislative Services. “Consolidated Federal Laws of Canada, Criminal Code.” Criminal Code, 28 Apr. 2022, https://lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/index.html.

Cummins, James. “A Theoretical Perspective on the Relationship between Bilingualism and Thought. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 1.” ERIC, 31 Oct. 1973, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED122584.

“English Dictionary, Translations & Thesaurus.” Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/.

Pederson, Eric, et al. "Semantic typology and spatial conceptualization." Language 74.3 (1998): 557-589.

Gleitman, Lila, and Anna Papafragou. Language and thought. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook. “The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual.” Cerebrum : the Dana Forum on Brain Science, The Dana Foundation, Sept. 2012, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583091/.

Mariya, Kulkova A, and Milyausha S Ravilevna. "Evaluative conceptualization in paroemiology language (on examples of Russian and English languages)." Life Sci J 11.7 (2014): 485.

Miles, Lynden K., et al. "Can a mind have two time lines? Exploring space–time mapping in Mandarin and English speakers." Psychonomic bulletin & review 18.3 (2011): 598-604.

Schonefeld, D. "From conceptualization to linguistic expression: Where languages diversify." TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS STUDIES AND MONOGRAPHS 172 (2006): 297.

Video presentation:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAE_3tKEiKg/7cNVDtkT1ZTZyPJJwOcd3g/watch?utm_content=DAE_3tKEiKg&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

Sources used in the video:

Video made on Canva

Lera Boroditsky, Orly Fuhrman, and Kelly McCormick. "Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently?." Cognition 118.1 (2011).

Miles, Lynden K., et al. "Can a mind have two time lines? Exploring space–time mapping in Mandarin and English speakers." Psychonomic bulletin & review 18.3 (2011): 598-604.

Photo: Bourgaize, Jessica. Saint-Lazare. 2016