The Linguistic Shaping of Thought : A Study in the Impact of Language on Thinking in China and the West

First published in 1981. Using his fourteen years of interaction with the Chinese language and its speakers the author has noted certain important differences between the Chinese mode of speaking and thinking and that of speakers of English. This study looks at the impact of these differences looking at how they increase the sensitivity to what Chinese speakers mean; how they heighten awareness of the biases implicit in the way English speakers speak and think; and how they challenge the assumption, currently lurking within the field of psychology, that languages have little impact on the shaping of cognitive life. A New Infrastructure For Language And Thought -- Overreacting To Whorf -- Opposing Assumptive Frameworks -- Cognitive Structuralism -- The Distinctive Cognitive Legacies Of English And Chinese -- Theoretical Extensions -- Linguistic Initiatives In The Shaping And Functioning Of Thought -- Language And The Shaping Of Our Cognitive Repertories -- Language And The Functioning Of Our Cognitive Repertories -- Cognitive Barriers To Cross-linguistic Communication. Alfred H. Bloom. Includes Indexes. Bibliography: P. 86-91.