首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
In a paper just published in Science, Peter Gordon of Columbia University uses his study of the Piraha and their counting system
In a paper just published in Science, Peter Gordon of Columbia University uses his study of the Piraha and their counting system
admin
2013-06-10
56
问题
In a paper just published in Science, Peter Gordon of Columbia University uses his study of the Piraha and their counting system to try to answer a tricky linguistic question. The Piraha, a group of hunter-gatherers who live along the banks of the Maiei River in Brazil, use a system of counting called "one-two-many". In this, the word for "one" translates to "roughly one" (similar to "one or two" in English), the word for "two" means "a slightly larger amount than one" (similar to "a few" in English), and the word for "many" means "a much larger amount".
This question was posed by Benjamin Lee Whorl in the 1930s. Whorl studied Hopi, an Amerindian language very different from the Eurasian languages that had hitherto been the subject of academic linguistics. His work led him to suggest that language not only influences thought but, more strongly, that it determines thought.
While there is no dispute that language influences what people think about, evidence suggesting it determines thought is inconclusive. For example, in 1972, Eleanor Rosch and Karl Heider investigated the colour-naming abilities of the Dani people of Indonesia. The Dani have words for only two colours.-black and white. But Dr. Rosch and Dr. Heider found that, even so, Dani could distinguish and comprehend other colours. That does not support the deterministic version of the Whorl hypothesis.
While recognising that there are such things as colours for which you have no name is certainly a cognitive leap, it may not be a good test of Whorf’s ideas. Colours, after all, are out there everywhere. Numbers, by contrast, are abstract, so may be a better test. Dr. Gordon therefore spent a month with the Piraha and elicited the help of seven of them to see how far their grasp of numbers extended.
The tests began simply, with a row of, say, seven evenly spaced batteries. Gradually, they got more complicated. The more complicated tests included tasks such as matching numbers of unevenly spaced objects, replicating the number of objects from memory, and copying a number of straight lines from a drawing.
In the tests that involved matching the number and layout of objects they could see, participants were pretty good when faced with two or three items, but found it harder to cope as the number of items rose. Things were worse when the participants had to remember the number of objects in a layout and replicate it "blind", rather than matching a layout they could see. In this case the success rate dropped to zero when the number of items became, in terms of their language, "many".
And line drawing produced the worst results of all—though that could have had as much to do with the fact that drawing is not part of Piraha culture as it did with the difficulties of numerical abstraction. Indeed, Dr. Gordon described the task of reproducing straight lines as being accomplished only with "heavy sighs and groans".
选项
A、Gordon’s purpose in his study of the Piraha was to solve a language problem.
B、The Piraha would use the word "many" to describe the number "twenty".
C、Linguists had studied other languages before they switched to Hopi.
D、Whorf claimed that language did more than influence people’s thought.
答案
C
解析
这是一道是非判断题。依据第二段第二句话,是Whorf而非其他语言学家研究Hopi语言,所以答案选项不符合文章内容。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/CSd4777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Thewriterholdsthat_______.Activenoise-cancellationsystemsrequire______.
Thewriterholdsthat_______.Accordingtothepassage,anactivenoise-cancellationsystem______.
Howdidmobileradiosystemsfinditsbusinesscompetitiveness?Welearnfromthetextthatusersofwirelessproductsaremore
Howdidmobileradiosystemsfinditsbusinesscompetitiveness?SMRsystemsgainanedgeoverotherservicesmostlybyvirtueo
ThefederalentitycreatedbytheConstitutionisbyfarthedominantfeatureoftheAmericangovernmentalsystem.(1)_____the
ThefederalentitycreatedbytheConstitutionisbyfarthedominantfeatureoftheAmericangovernmentalsystem.(1)_____the
随机试题
企业投资项目要根据各类项目的()等属性确定是否核准或备案。
常见的天然石材中,硬度大、细密、耐冻性好,抗风化性强,适用于高强混凝土集料、道路路面的是()。
两个以上不同资质等级的单位联合承包工程,其承揽工程的业务范围取决于联合体中()的业务许可范围。
目前,财政部在上海、深圳证券交易所和银行间债券市场上以公开招标方式发行记账式国债。( )
按照股利的税收差异理论,股利政策不仅与股价相关,而且由于税负影响,企业应采取高股利政策。()
王某,男性,33岁,已婚,硕士研究生,单身在外工作(夫妻分居)。自我陈述:担心、紧张、烦躁不安、怀疑自己生病2年,自己就诊。2年前,由于工作应酬陪客人喝酒。可能是喝多的原因,我糊涂地与一个歌厅小姐发生了一次性关系,以后再未往来,也无其他类似
在新中国,外交政策()指在彻底清除旧中国遗留下来的帝国主义在华特权和残余势力之后再请客人进来,以免敌对者“钻进来”捣乱的方针。
13.11,19,32,55,98,()
马克思在1859年出版的《政治经济学批判》一书中指出:“无论哪一个社会形态,在它所能容纳的全部生产力发挥出来以前,是决不会灭亡的;而新的更高的生产关系,在它的物质存在条件在旧社会的胎胞里成熟以前,是决不会出现的。”这段话表明
江泽民指出,党要承担起推动中国社会进步的历史责任,必须始终紧紧抓住发展这个执政必国的第一要务。原因是
最新回复
(
0
)