Linguistic Relativity in Cross-Cultural Context: Converging Evidence From Neuroanthropology.

Abstract

Kemmerer's discussion of links between semantic typology and embodied cognition is welcome, especially his survey of available evidence. Focusing on mechanisms of embodied enculturation, however, we must understand that language is just one part of developmental assemblies that shape cognition, alongside other cultural elements such as sensory learning, behavior patterns, social interactions, and emotional experience. We believe that a source of this problem is an obsolete definition of "culture" as shared mental information that is inconsistent with models of embodied cognition and yet pervasive in human and cognitive sciences. We point to microethnographies of cognitive ecologies as a tractable remedy.