Linguaggio e Pensiero

"This thematic issue of RIFL allows us to speak of Rossi-Landi’s text Ideologies of linguistic relativity. It is probably the most merciless critique ever made of Sapir- Whorf’s thesis, although it remains, perhaps for this very reason, the least known, discussed and developed among the scientific objections aroused against linguistic relativity. Rossi-Landi points out its idealistic and bourgeois basis which brought its theorists to ideological deformations in their formulations, especially in their conception of the relationships between language and thought. Rossi-Landi demystifies them through his semiotics. He explains why what we call linguistic relativity could develop as a theory or a hypothesis through the study of American Indian languages. He shows a series of confusions and reifications it gave birth and suggests another way of considering the problems aroused by linguistic relativity: that one of a dialectical-materialist approach taking account of the alienated condition of speakers, of their material and linguistic exploitation through social models and programs, and of the possibilities of their emancipation."

(Italiano)
Abstract: Uno degli assunti fondamentali della linguistica e psicologia cognitive è che ogni percezione ed espressione è connessa alla nostra biologia, e più di quanto si pensasse in precedenza. Dopo una panoramica della letteratura cognitivista orientata per l’indipendenza tra linguaggio e pensiero, evidenzierò punti problematici di questa posizione avvalendomi di ricerche empiriche da un lato condotte in ambito neuro-cognitivista e dall’altro di tipo psicolinguistico. Proporrò degli spunti a favore della ‘contro-tesi’ per cui il pensiero implica la lingua naturale: linguaggio e pensiero, cioè, si influenzano l’un l’altro.
Questa posizione implica che la mente umana sia in corpore (embodied) in un corpo fenomenologico e strutturata dalle nostre esperienze, e gli stimoli esterni quotidiani offerti dall’ambiente in cui si è situati (embedded) formino dinamicamente il modo di pensare degli esseri umani. La mente intesa come prodotto dell’interazione delle proprie introspezioni con le interazioni quotidiane è influenzata, e in una certa misura persino condizionata, dalla lingua parlata e da come è usata. Conoscere la natura dinamica del rapporto tra linguaggio e pensiero permette una migliore comprensione della natura del linguaggio e di come la lingua motivi il modo in cui si ragiona del proprio mondo.

Parole chiavi: Sapir-Whorf, linguaggio e pensiero, linguaggio e cultura, embodiment, cognizione


(English)
Abstract: One of the fundamental premises of contemporary cognitive linguistics and psychology is that human perception and expression are intimately coupled with human biology, to a much greater degree than linguists and psychologists had previously thought. In this essay I provide an overview of contemporary literature from cognitive linguistics and psychology that posits language-thought independence. I also highlight the theoretical problems and the further neurocognitive and psycholinguistic empirical research specific to these issues which make this position problematic. I then provide evidence for the counter-theory, that thinking in fact involves natural language and that language and thought influence one another.
This position indexes the supposition that our minds are embodied in a phenomenological body built on our everyday experiences, and daily external stimuli offered by the cultural environment in which we are individually embedded dynamically form our way of thinking. The mind is the product of the interaction of introspections and daily interactions; it is influenced, and to a certain extent even conditioned, by language and how it is used. Understanding the dynamic nature of language and thought will guide us in better understanding figurative language in general and metaphor in particular as well as how they motivate our way of reasoning about our world.

Keywords: Sapir-Whorf, language-thought, language and culture, embodiment, cognition

On methodological issues in Basic Colour Terminology identification (refs to Italian and English).
(related to my D.Phil. work - Linguistics-Sussex University -
"Investigating Italian Basic Colour Terms: the “giallo”of the BLUES and the case of the subliminal ORANGE". 1987).