Language and Culture

March 17, 2008

I. Lost in translation – a brief trip into poetry

You

What “is” is

Direct vs indirect knowledge

Calling words

II. Culture, Language, and personality: Learn a new language, get a new soul.

Spanish and English: Big 5, verbal, and non-verbal behaviors

III. Culture and thinking: Nouns and verbs

Whorff Hypothesis

Nisbett hypothesis of east versus west

Nouns and verbs (philosophy, structure of sentences)

IV. Social and clinical questions

Code switching – marking emotional versus colder topics; swearing

1^st versus learned language: writing and therapy