Barbara C. Malt
Psychology and Cognitive Science Resources
In addressing these questions, I combine evidence from controlled laboratory experimentation with extensive observation of word use in natural settings, and I examine language and thought across members of different cultures who speak different languages. My thinking is informed by theories and findings from linguistics, anthropology, and philosophy, as well as from cognitive and developmental psychology.
Some of the ideas guiding my work are these: that understanding entities in the world non-linguistically engages different representations and processes than talking about them; that patterns of use of a word in a given language are a function of cultural and linguistic history, not solely conceptual representations of current speakers; that linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge is therefore at least partially independent and so language and thought will not necessarily closely parallel one another; that the beliefs people express about the contents of their concepts and word meanings may not reflect the implicit knowledge they draw on in interacting with and talking about the world; and that only by carefully observing actual word use can we understand how word meanings come about and how linguistic knowledge is used to select words for purposes of communication.