Developing distinctions between different categories of “love” in Japanese and English

Introduction:

Different languages approach the concept of love differently by using different vocabularies to describe and categorize it. In English, it is just as appropriate to “love your car” as it is to “love your husband”. Contrastingly, the Japanese language necessitates different words to express the distinct positive sentiments one would associate with a car, a spouse, or a family member. The distinction between the maternal love felt by a mother towards her son, and the romantic love shared by a married couple, is usually very clear to most adults, however, this distinction is not innate (For example, it is observable in everyday life that young children report wanting to “marry” a parent or a childhood friend, grouping the concepts of familial love, friendship and marital love into an all encompassing definition of love). At what age does the distinction become clear to children? Is there a relationship between the age at which a child begins to differentiate between different variations of love, and the vocabulary associated with the languages they speak? Could the language one speaks shape thought?

The Whorfian hypothesis postulates that language can influence the thought patterns of its speakers, causing them to organize thought and categorize concepts differently than speakers of another language (Kay & Kempton 1984). This study directly relates to the Whorfian hypothesis, as it assesses the impact of different vocabularies of love on the respective language’s speaker’s conceptualization of love.

A book called Language and Cognition: A Developmental Perspectives compiles past research on this topic, focusing on the developmental issues associated with language and cognition, and emphasizing the importance of answering the question “How do children acquire the conventional meanings of words?” (Dromi, 1993). The accuracy and speed with which children learn new vocabulary (45 words a week at some stages in language development (Dromi, 1993)) indicate that the method by which new words are linked with their conventional meanings is not a process of memorization. Several theories have been proposed to explain this incredible phenomenon.

Initially, Piaget, one of the forerunners in developmental psychology, hypothesized that a “general, all purpose, inductive mechanism” (Dromi, 1993) was the explanation for how children correctly associate categories and concepts with terms with such speed. They theorized that the process by which children learned a language involved three stages. In the first stage, the child experiences an example of a concept linked with a word, and in response create an initial hypothesis of which category or concept that word refers to. This is the process that Piaget referred to as assimilation, the translation of incoming information into a form that the child can understand. Next, the child would adjust this hypothesized definition of the word in reaction to supporting evidence that their initial concept of the word is correct, or evidence which went against their original hypothesis. Piaget called this second process accommodation, as the child was accommodating new information into their definitions of words and concepts. Finally, Piaget argued that the child would reach the third and final stage of language learning, called equilibration, in which the child balances assimilation and accommodation to create a stable understanding of the word and the associated concepts (S. Johnson, public presentation, October 24 2007).

This hypothesis answered important questions in relation to developmental psychology as well as the focus of this study, but unfortunately, there are several problems with this notion of an “inductive language mechanism”. Firstly, this hypothesis did not explain the accuracy and speed with which the meanings of words converge among all humans. Although children were learning novel words at and extremely fast rate, their supposed “hypothesized definitions” were extremely accurate. Furthermore, this inductive language learning mechanism was used by 2 years olds much more effectively than by 6 year olds, leading developmental psychologists to believe that there was some constraints on human language learning that biased children in their hypotheses towards certain categorizations and concepts (Dromi, 1993).

For this reason, a new school of thought, which posited that Children are constrained to consider certain types of concepts before others, came into existence. This new school built on Piagets’ perspectives on language development, but placed more emphasis on the manner by which children created their “initial hypotheses” of a novel word’s definition through constraints.

One example of a language learning constraint is the taxonomic assumption, which leads children to connect a single word with an object, rather than a relationship, or descriptor. It is through these assumptions that a child will deduce that when you point to a dog and say “dog”, you are referring to the dog, rather than one of the dogs qualities (“furry”) or actions (“barking”)(Dromi, 1993).

Another example of this category of constraint is called the whole-object assumption. This constraint biases children towards consideration of the whole object rather than a part of it, when defining categorizations. To relate this assumption to the previous example, when an adult makes reference to a “dog” the child will assume that the word “dog” is associated with the whole dog, rather than just a part of it (“tail”) (Dromi, 1993).

The final constraint put on novel words is referred to as “the mutual exclusivity assumption”. This is the assumption that a word’s meaning relates to only one concept or object. For example, as children learn new words, they will assume that when you say “chair” you are referring to the single chair, rather than the table and tablecloth that usually accompany the chair (Dromi, 1993).

All of these assumptions have important implications for the study of the linguistic development of the distinctions between different categories of “love”. After the English-speaking child’s initial exposure to the concept of “love”, for example, current understanding of these three constraints leads to the conclusion that the child will conceptualize “love” as a whole object, which doesn’t include any of its associated parts. This could cause the child to ignore important subtleties of the term as a descriptor of a relationship, or the importance of distinctions in associated people, for example husband and wife, mother and child, or boy friend and girlfriend. The Japanese speaker, on the other hand, might be at a developmental advantage because the Japanese language makes these distinctions through different words for each category of “love”.

One study by Guiora, Beit-Haachmi, Fried, and Yoder in 1983 demonstrated a direct relationship between the language environment and gender identity attainment. The study examined the average age at which three groups of participants from Israel, Finland, and the USA, respectively, developed gender identity. Speakers of a language which emphasized gender within its structure, attained gender identity earlier on average than speakers of languages which did not emphasize gender differences (Gioura, Beit-Hallahmi, Fried, Yoder, 1982). This study has important implications for the results of the study of the effect of linguistic background on the development of the concept of love, because it demonstrates the developmental effects that language can have.

Another study that addressed the idea of differing concepts of love, examined the distinction between the neural correlates of maternal and romantic love through the use of fMRI. In this study, Mothers were shown pictures of their children, then pictures of their best friends and acquaintances as the control. The results showed that

"Both types of attachment activated regions specific to each, as well as overlapping regions in the brain's reward system that coincide with areas rich in oxytocin and vasopressin receptors. Both deactivated a common set of regions associated with negative emotions, social judgment and ‘mentalizing’, that is, the assessment of other people's intentions and emotions. We conclude that human attachment employs a push–pull mechanism that overcomes social distance by deactivating networks used for critical social assessment and negative emotions, while it bonds individuals through the involvement of the reward circuitry, explaining the power of love to motivate and exhilarate."
(Bartels & Zaki, 2003)

Although there are also overlapping areas of the brain that are activated by both emotions, the difference in activated regions suggest that there is a difference between these two emotions (Bartels & Zaki, 2003). This research, however, does not touch on developmental aspects of the neural activity associated with the word love, or the affects of language on cognition.

One study that does demonstrate a relationship between language and cognition is a study that examined the relationship between mental representation of abstract concepts in the mind and the language one speaks. In the study, participants were shown a growing line on a computer screen, then either asked to estimate the amount of time that passed, or the change in length of the line. Participants whose language refers to time metaphorically as a “long” time (English and Indonesian speakers) usually estimated that more time had passed when a line grew a longer distance. Contrastingly, Spanish and Greek speakers, whose language generally refers to a volume or amount of time, for example, “mucho tiempo” (much time), did not experience this affect (Casasanto & Boroditsky, 2007). This links between idiom and the conceptualization of abstract ideas, is indicative of the effect that language has on the conceptualization of abstract ideas.

Another recent study demonstrates the influence of language on perception. This research demonstrated that Russian language speakers are better at differentiating between dark and light blues than English speakers, due to the fact that the Russian language has words for dark and light blue (Winawer et al., 2007) From the results it can be concluded that language does have some affect on mental processes, however, language’s specific role in emotional development and the understanding of the concept of love is not evident in this study.

I predict that children who speak Japanese will be able to distinguish between the love felt between a mother and a son, a boyfriend and a girl friend, a husband and wife earlier in life than an English speaking child.

Method:

Participants: 200 American children who speak only English were tested, ranging in ages from 3 to 18,106 of which were girls, and the remaining 94 were boys. These children were invited to the study through advertising at day cares, day camps, and hospitals that offered 10$ for one hour of testing. 200 more Japanese and English speaking children were tested, ranging in ages from 3 to 17, 99 of which were girls, the remaining 101 were boys. These students were recruited from local Japanese American schools in the US. Finally, 200 more Japanese speakers from Japan were enlisted in the study, 120 of which were girls, and 80 of which were boys, and paid to participate. This group ranged in age from 4 to 18.

Procedures: There are four short children’s books that tell love stories that were translated into English and Japanese. The first story related the story of a mother and a child. The next told the story of two friends that love each other. The third was a story of a boyfriend and girlfriends that love each other, and the final story talked about a mother and father’s love for each other. These stories are extremely brief, and will the language appropriate word for love within the story (e.g. in the short story about the married couple they will say “I love you” or “aishiteru” at some point).

Each participant will be read all four short stories and then questioned afterwards in relation to the strength and type of love depicted in each short story. The Japanese monolinguals will be tested in Japanese, The American monolinguals will be tested in English, and the bilingual children will be randomly assigned to either be tested in English or Japanese.

Measures: The measures will be in the questions asked after the reading of the short children’s stories. Participants will be asked two questions: “Are the boyfriend’s feelings towards the girlfriend more intense than the Mom’s feelings toward her children?” and “Is the sentiment between the husband an wife different from the sentiment between the baby and the mom?” These questions are phrased so that in both languages they do no create framing effects that can prime children for a certain answer in either language. Next, participants will be asked to answer with certain set responses (For example, “The mom feels more strongly towards the child” or “The boyfriend feels more strongly towards the girlfriend” in response to the first question, and “different”, “same” in response to the second question) to make each response more comparable to the responses of other participants. The responses will be plotted and analyzed in order to see if there is a correlation between the language spoken by the children, and the age at which they begin to differentiate between different types of love.

Discussion:

If the results show a younger average age of attainment of the distinction between different categories of “love” for Japanese speakers than English speaking children, then the results would support the original hypothesis that word distinctions between categories of love facilitate the development of conceptual distinctions.

There are several possibilities that could support my hypothesis, but would have different implications, however. One possibility would be if the data were to show a statistically significant difference between the ages at which bilingual children attain this ability when tested in English versus Japanese (Fore example, participants tested in Japanese might pass at an earlier age on average than participants tested in English). This would lead to the conclusion that there is some priming effect due to testing language. It is possible that the difference in average ages of acquisition is due to the fact that the language that the story is told in emphasizes the difference in the type of love, because different vocabularies utilized during the stories, priming the children to answer that there is a difference in Japanese and priming the children to answer that there is no difference in English. If this were to be the case, the data could not support the hypothesis that there is a permanent change in cognition due to the language that a child speaks, but rather that language can implicitly cause a child to answer the question in a certain way, and create priming effects.

If however, the bilingual children are statistically better at distinguishing between different types of “love” than the monolingual English-speaking children, the data would support the hypothesis that language does have some affect on the development and conceptualization of distinctions within the concepts of “love”.

One of the strengths of this study’s experimental design is rhetoric of the questions, making framing effects less likely to alter the participant’s response. If the participants that were tested in Japanese were asked a translation of the corresponding English question “Does the boyfriend’s “love” towards the girlfriend more intense than the Mom’s “love” toward her children?”, questioners would be compelled to use two different words in place of the English word “love”, one for romantic love between a boyfriend and girlfriend and one for maternal love. This framing of the question in Japanese would most likely cause framing effects, leading to children to respond that in fact there is a difference, due to the fact that two different words were use to describe each type of love.

One weakness of the study is that there are many possible confounds. One possible confound is the fact that although the questions are formed in order to avoid framing effects, the Japanese translation of the mother/child, boyfriend/girlfriend, and Husband/wife stories must use different vocabulary, where as the English translations would not, possibly priming the Japanese children to make a distinction between the different types of love.

Recommendations for future research: As discussed in the previous section, the language utilized within each story could prime the study’s participants for certain response to the questions. To diminish this confound in future studies, it may be better to test the children through different techniques. One way this could be accomplished would be to show the children pictures of the corresponding relationships instead of telling them stories.

Another interesting study could broaden the scope of included languages. Greek, which also makes several distinctions among categories of love, as well as spanish, which also makes distinctions, but to a lesser extent, could be compared to Japanese.

References:

Winawer, J., Witthoft, N., Frank, M.C., Wu, L., Wade, A. R., and Boroditsky, L. (2007) Russian blues reveal effects of language on color discrimination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104, 7780-7785.

Bartels, A. and Zaki, S. (2003). The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love. NeuroImage, 21, 1155-1166.

Kay, P. and Kempton, W. (1984). What Is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis? American Anthropologist, 86, 65-79.

Casasanto, D., and Boroditsky, L. (2007). Time in the mind: Using space to think about time. Retrieved November 14, 2007, from http://www.psych.stanford.edu/~lera/papers/duration-cognition-2007.pdf

Dromi, E. (Ed.). (1993). Language and Cognition: A Developmental Perspective. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation.

Gioura, A. Z., Beit-Hallahmi, B., Fried, R., & Yoder, C. (1982). Language environment and gender identity attainment. Language Learning, 32, RetrievedDecember 11, 2007, from http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1982.tb00973.x.

The Body Language of Love

"The Body Language of Love" is an article detailing the pivotal role that body language plays in communication, and suggesting ways that men can use body language to send the right signals and improve their interactions with women. Smiling, holding the woman's gaze without staring, and taking a wide stance are examples of the various body gestures the article describes as "good when it comes to the opposite sex".

This article does have scientific foundation. Mirroring of postures, gestures while communicating, for example, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when someone copies your movements. You are more likely to consider that person to be agreeable and to want to get to know them better. Another closely related concept is "rapport", defined by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, as "a relation marked by harmony, conformity, accord, or affinity", is a possible result, which occurs in part due to mirroring. Studies have also shown that, from an outside perspective looking in on a conversation, posture mirroring is indicative of positive connection and communication in the setting of psychotherapy, doctor patient relationship.

Furthermore, I feel that advice columns of this kind are rarely applicable in all situations, and the reader must always question their validity to an extent. Although the boy language detailed in the article most likely correlates positively with a male-female connection during communication, it would be an over simplification to take this combination of gestures as a recipe for the perfect relationship. A great example of this can be found in an episode of "The Office", in which Michael, the eccentric boss of the office, wishes to use a Wikipedia article's advice on body language to convey his power during a meeting with one of his subordinates. Not surprisingly, he fails miserably.

This article compels me to ask to what extent "self help" articles like this can have application. I searched online but there was very little research, it seemed, on the efficacy of these types of articles. It would be interesting to look into this area of psychology.

The Body Language of Love:
http://blogs.smh.com.au/lifestyle/allmenareliars/archives/2007/11/the_body_language_of_love.html

Introduction to Psychology text book

NBC's The Office:
http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/

Idioms are a testimony to language's tortuous path

"Idioms are a testimony to language's tortuous path" is an article about idioms and their origins and evolution within a language. The term idiom encompasses everything from "the colloquial to a metaphor", and usually begins as a phrase describing some real phenomena, then develops a meaning of its own as its use is regularized losing its connection to that original reference (for example, "like a broken record" initially referred to the way a broken record skips causing repetition of sounds, and now means in general that something is repeated over and over again). Idioms are also sometimes associated with a subculture, or identity of its user ("like totally whatever" is the example given in the article).

This evolution of idiom relates to the idea of the development of profanity within a language as well. Initially the curse word literally references to a specific idea (for example hell), then the specific reference of the curse words becomes obsolete, leaving behind a more general application of the word, which is less literal (What the hell?). These parallels between idioms and vulgar language are indicative of the way language in general evolves.

Some interesting research relevant to idioms that I found interesting was actually done by our very own Lera Boroditsky. In one of her studies, she examined the influence of idiom on the conceptualization of abstract ideas, specifically, the conceptualization of time. Speakers of languages which referred to time as being "long" (in English we say, "that took a long time"), time is imagined as linear. Speakers of language that quantify time in volume (In Spanish it makes sense to speak of something taking "mucho tiempo" directly translated as "much time) will understand the time differently.

Idioms are a testimony to language's tortuous path:
http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-sundaylifeidioms.artnov25,0,2633476.story

Time in the mind: Using space to think about time:
http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~lera/papers/duration-cognition-2007.pdf

What is the language but its users?

"What is the language but its users?" elaborates on several obstacles involved in accurately defining words, and "capturing the essence of what a word 'is'". The definition of taste-sensations, for example, are notoriously difficult to capture, and are often defined by listing off things they are not, for example, sweet is defined as "not salty" and "not sour". And the prevalence of a word in everyday language does not facilitate definition. A great example is the word "time" and colors. A young child would easily understand the meaning of the word "play", however, in the Oxford English Dictionary it is defined 36 different ways. The article goes on the to describe the ways in which one dictionary entitled Johnson's dictionary goes about completing his definition by using illustration to complement the written definitions. Johnson's dictionary is based on the principle that:

"A dictionary of English commemorates the language as it has been written and spoken, rather than laid down and fixed by experts. Authority lies in practice." (What is the language but its users?)

This perspective language as something that can't be defined by authority, relates directly to the recent discord surrounding BBC's use of imprecise language. Some viewers are calling for BBC to install a language "watch dog" in order to prevent the misuse of words during broadcasts. From the perspective of the writer's of Johnson's dictionary, it could be argued that the reporters are in fact using words correctly, for it is common usage, not experts, who define words.

What I found most interesting about this article was that it leads you to the conclusion that one does not think only in words. When you imagine the sweet fragrance of flowers, you are not thinking in your head of a "not sour, not salty" scent. In introduction to psychology we recently learned about two cognitive models how meaning of words is organized in our minds. The first is the "definitional theory of word meaning", "which states that words are organized in our minds much as they are in standard dictionaries... as a bundle of meaning atoms, or semantic features" (Psychology). Each word can be stripped down to a set of necessary characteristics, and sufficient characteristics. The second theory is "prototype theory of word meaning" which hypothesizes that each word has a prototype that all meanings or examples of that concept can be compared to through a "family resemblance structure". An example of this is the definition of the word bird: we have a "prototypical" image of a bird in our minds and we relate other similar concepts to it. This article supports the second prototype theory of word meaning.

Furthermore, it would be interesting to look at what makes a word difficult to define. The article points out that commonly used words are often more difficult to describe verbally, however, this pattern is not very applicable in all situations are there are many examples of esoteric words which are also difficult to define. The answer to this question would be very telling of how cognition works, and the organization of the mind.

"What is the language but its users?":
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/11/9/lifefocus/16367630&sec=lifefocus

BBC 'requires language watchdog':
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7067054.stm

My Intro to Psychology textbook

Most voters say language didn't trip them up at polls

"Most voters say language didn't trip them up" is an article detailing recent voter confusion due to the awkward language on ballots. On the ballot, voting "for" the proposition meant prohibitting the contruction of a high-speed toll road, while voting "against" it meant that were in favor of the creation of a new road. Most voters, as the title sugjest were not confused by the language on the ballot, although many admit that the language was confusing. More uncertainty over the language arose due to the fact that campeigns posted around the city advertised, voting "yes" or "no" when the ballot actually instructed voters to take positions "for" or "against" the proposition.

What I found interesting about this article was not the fact that there was confusion over seemingly contradictory logic of the ballots. Misleading political langauge is nothing new, and neither are confusing ballots.

What I found interesting was that while language can be a powerful tool of manipulation, used to create possitive or negative associations (prunes vs. dried plums), language can become so obviously confusing that it make people hyper aware of the manipulation (Is anyone really tricked by the use of the word "unborn child" in place of "fetus"?).

Also, a question that was brought up early on in the class was, what makes euphemisms most effective in changing the associations of words.

Most voters say language didn't trip them up:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/local/stories/DN-confusion_07met.ART.State.Edition1.41c368d.html

Humor Lost in Translation?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CEdNlbwCERI

This cartoon, is hilarious, but you don't just need to understand Japanese to find this funny. There are a lot of aspect of Japanese culture that must be understood (formal vs. rude way of speaking, the role of the Japanese wife, use of broken english in songs...). Its just a lot funnier in Japanese than in English.

"Love of Language" details master calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya's contributions to the written form of art. Calligraphy relates to much more than just art however, it is an important aspect of Islamic culture, a form of worship. His form of calligraphy exists "with the primary function of proclaiming the importance of the written word through beautiful writing." Zakariya spent a total of 14 years studying this art form, but he speaks modestly about his skill, stating that a calligrapher is always learning.

What I found very interesting about this article was the fact that calligraphy in associating with a written language is not universal. This art of writing is emphasized in Arabic, Chinese and Japanese, but how often do you come across an English master of calligraphy?

One distinction I noticed is the emphasis of each form. Asian and Arabic calligraphy is connected strongly with spirituality. The only source of western calligraphy I found was based mainly on the art form, and emphasis of the aesthetic of the written words in and of themselves, rather than connecting it to a greater spirituality.

There are several studies on the effects of calligraphy writing on cognitive processing, which I found interesting. One had to do with the stroke sequence errors of Chinese children. In Chinese, the order in which a character is drawn is of great importance, especially is relation to calligraphy. One study, by the department of Curriculum Studies of Hong Kong, examined the "importance of and the possible educational implications for the teaching of stroke sequences in the teaching of handwriting based on the empirical results." If this aspect of the language has an impact on the manner in which student learn, then would students exposed to a language like English that does not place any emphasis on the order in which one writes encourage a different type of learning?

There are also studies that look at the benefits of a writing system that is based on phonetics. A written language that does not involved year and year of study actually facilitates language learning, argues Toh Su Ling of the National University of Singapore, and make language learning more wide spread throughout a culture or society, calling this outcome "The Alphabet Effect".

This article compels the reader to understand the role of written language within a culture. How does a culture’s written language affect cognition?

Love of Language:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/5269651.html

Children's stroke sequence errors in writing Chinese characters:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/tr11753670676705/

The Alphabet Effect:
http://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/writing/uwc2101c/suling/paper3/paper3.html#INTRO