Hypotheses
- Geographic proximity is positively correlated with similarity in emotion semantics across language families (1519).Jackson, Joshua Conrad - Emotion semantics show both cultural variation and universal structure, 2019 - 2 Variables
Researchers looked at the meaning of various emotion concepts, 'emotion semantics' in an attempt to determine the patterns and processes behind meaning cross-culturally. They used maps of colexification patterns (where semantically related concepts are named with the same word), adjusted Rand indices (ARIs) which indicated the similarities of two community's network structures, and various psychophysiological dimensions to test relationships and patterns of variability /structure in emotion semantics. These methods shed light on the underlying mechanisms behind emotions, both their words and their meanings in languages across the world. Their findings show substantial difference in language families and relationships between geographic proximity of language families and subsequent variation in emotion colexification tied to an evolutionary relationship, while also finding cultural universals in emotion colexification networks with languages primarily differentiating emotions on the basis of valence and activation.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Certain psychological dimensions (valence, activation, dominance, certainty, approach-avoidance, and sociality) are positively correlated with emotion semantics (1519).Jackson, Joshua Conrad - Emotion semantics show both cultural variation and universal structure, 2019 - 7 Variables
Researchers looked at the meaning of various emotion concepts, 'emotion semantics' in an attempt to determine the patterns and processes behind meaning cross-culturally. They used maps of colexification patterns (where semantically related concepts are named with the same word), adjusted Rand indices (ARIs) which indicated the similarities of two community's network structures, and various psychophysiological dimensions to test relationships and patterns of variability /structure in emotion semantics. These methods shed light on the underlying mechanisms behind emotions, both their words and their meanings in languages across the world. Their findings show substantial difference in language families and relationships between geographic proximity of language families and subsequent variation in emotion colexification tied to an evolutionary relationship, while also finding cultural universals in emotion colexification networks with languages primarily differentiating emotions on the basis of valence and activation.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Many basic vocabulary items will be associated with specific sounds across world languages.Blasi, Damian E. - Sound–meaning association biases evidenced across thousands of languages, 2016 - 2 Variables
Scholars generally agree that, across languages, the relationship between particular sounds and the meaning of words is arbitrary. In this article the authors test this assumption, seeking patterned associations between sound and meaning in the basic vocabulary lists of a large, worldwide sample of languages.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Ambient humidity will be positively associated with vowel utilization.Everett, Caleb - Languages in Drier Climates Use Fewer Vowels, 2017 - 3 Variables
This study sampled over 4,012 language varieties, comparing their version of 40 generally universal words, such as body parts, water, the sun, pronouns, and common behaviors or animals. These language variations were tested in their association to "specific humidity," the variable used to represent ambient humidity of a language location. Results suggest negative association between the dryness of climate and the utilization of vowels, consitent with the idea that dry air affects the behavior of the larynx.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - "In addition to the fact that the stages of complexity of color vocabulary have a temporal ordering, there appears to be a positive correlation between general cultural complexity and complexity of color vocabulary" (16)Berlin, Brent - Basic color terms: their universality and evolution, 1969 - 2 Variables
The research presented in this book challenges the notion that languages develop color terms independently of other languages. Authors find a universal inventory of eleven basic color categories from which the basic color terms are drawn. Authors also find an apparent fixed sequence of evolutionary stages through which a language must pass as its color vocabulary increases. A postive correlation between cultural complexity and complexity of color vocabulary is observed.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - "In languages with a sex-linked grammatical gender, nouns representing objects that are either male or female symbols, but not both, will tend to have the gender of the sex they symbolize" (300)Minturn, Leigh - A cross-cultural linguistic analysis of freudian symbols, 1969 - 2 Variables
This article examines dream symbols that are classified by gender. Tests of six languages from six branches suggest that objects that appear as male or female dream symbols are represented by corresponding gendered words (i.e. masculine or feminine nouns).
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Users of language systems with differing (relative vs. absolute) linguistic frames of reference will use correspondingly relative or absolute nonlinguistic spatial problem-solving strategies (574).Pederson, Eric - Semantic typology and spatial conceptualization, 1998 - 2 Variables
The authors design and implement two tasks requiring linguistic and non-linguistic spatial reference across a linguistically-diverse sample in order to examine the relationship between language and cognition cross-culturally. The results, which indicate large conceptual variation in frame of spatial reference across as well as strong correlation between use of absolute descriptors and absolute cognitive representations within language communities, suggest that language structure may actively shape the systems of spatial representation available to different cultural groups.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - There will be significant musical variation between language families in India.Daikoku, Hideo - Musical Diversity in India: A Preliminary Computational Study Using Cantometrics, 2020 - 2 Variables
The authors examine musical diversity in India using cantometric data from 32 Indian societies with the goal of better understanding how music varies between and within cultures. They find very minor musical differences between language families, greater diversity between societies but within language families, and the most variation within societies.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Length of conversational turn-taking transition will vary between cultures independent of other predictors (10588).Stivers, Tanya - Universals and cultural variation in turn-taking in conversation, 2009 - 2 Variables
In order to investigate cross-cultural variation in systems of conversational turn-taking (who speaks and when), the researchers analyze the association of various contextual, verbal, and non-verbal factors with mean response time. Despite some variation in response time between languages, each of the explanatory variables is found to have significant impact on response time independent of language. A further test on subjective perception of ideal response time suggests that although similar factors act on response patterns cross-culturally (in support of a 'universal systems' theory), speakers are hypersensitive to even minor cultural variations in response time.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - The number of color terms in a society's language is strongly correlated with its level of social complexity (1118)Hays, David G. - Color term salience, 1972 - 2 Variables
This paper examines the Berlin-Kay color salience theory and offers four correlates of color salience: earliness of introduction, brevity of expression, frequency of use, and frequency of mention in ethnographic literature. All four correlations support the Berlin-Kay theory. The authors suggest that salience may be “an important general principle of cultural evolution” (1107).
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