Languages Support Efficient Communication about the Environment: Words for Snow Revisited.
The claim that Eskimo languages have words for different types of snow is well-known among the public, but has been greatly exaggerated through popularization and is therefore viewed with skepticism by many scholars of language. Despite the prominence of this claim, to our knowledge the line of reas...
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ftcarnmellonufig:oai:figshare.com:article/6616913 2023-05-15T16:07:34+02:00 Languages Support Efficient Communication about the Environment: Words for Snow Revisited. Terry Regier Alexandra Carstensen Charles Kemp 2018-06-30T08:36:37Z https://doi.org/10.1184/r1/6616913.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/Languages_Support_Efficient_Communication_about_the_Environment_Words_for_Snow_Revisited_/6616913 unknown doi:10.1184/r1/6616913.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/Languages_Support_Efficient_Communication_about_the_Environment_Words_for_Snow_Revisited_/6616913 CC BY 4.0 CC-BY Psychology not elsewhere classified psychology Text Journal contribution 2018 ftcarnmellonufig https://doi.org/10.1184/r1/6616913.v1 2019-11-18T10:34:44Z The claim that Eskimo languages have words for different types of snow is well-known among the public, but has been greatly exaggerated through popularization and is therefore viewed with skepticism by many scholars of language. Despite the prominence of this claim, to our knowledge the line of reasoning behind it has not been tested broadly across languages. Here, we note that this reasoning is a special case of the more general view that language is shaped by the need for efficient communication, and we empirically test a variant of it against multiple sources of data, including library reference works, Twitter, and large digital collections of linguistic and meteorological data. Consistent with the hypothesis of efficient communication, we find that languages that use the same linguistic form for snow and ice tend to be spoken in warmer climates, and that this association appears to be mediated by lower communicative need to talk about snow and ice. Our results confirm that variation in semantic categories across languages may be traceable in part to local communicative needs. They suggest moreover that despite its awkward history, the topic of "words for snow" may play a useful role as an accessible instance of the principle that language supports efficient communication. Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper eskimo* KiltHub Research from Carnegie Mellon University |
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KiltHub Research from Carnegie Mellon University |
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Psychology not elsewhere classified psychology |
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Psychology not elsewhere classified psychology Terry Regier Alexandra Carstensen Charles Kemp Languages Support Efficient Communication about the Environment: Words for Snow Revisited. |
topic_facet |
Psychology not elsewhere classified psychology |
description |
The claim that Eskimo languages have words for different types of snow is well-known among the public, but has been greatly exaggerated through popularization and is therefore viewed with skepticism by many scholars of language. Despite the prominence of this claim, to our knowledge the line of reasoning behind it has not been tested broadly across languages. Here, we note that this reasoning is a special case of the more general view that language is shaped by the need for efficient communication, and we empirically test a variant of it against multiple sources of data, including library reference works, Twitter, and large digital collections of linguistic and meteorological data. Consistent with the hypothesis of efficient communication, we find that languages that use the same linguistic form for snow and ice tend to be spoken in warmer climates, and that this association appears to be mediated by lower communicative need to talk about snow and ice. Our results confirm that variation in semantic categories across languages may be traceable in part to local communicative needs. They suggest moreover that despite its awkward history, the topic of "words for snow" may play a useful role as an accessible instance of the principle that language supports efficient communication. |
format |
Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Terry Regier Alexandra Carstensen Charles Kemp |
author_facet |
Terry Regier Alexandra Carstensen Charles Kemp |
author_sort |
Terry Regier |
title |
Languages Support Efficient Communication about the Environment: Words for Snow Revisited. |
title_short |
Languages Support Efficient Communication about the Environment: Words for Snow Revisited. |
title_full |
Languages Support Efficient Communication about the Environment: Words for Snow Revisited. |
title_fullStr |
Languages Support Efficient Communication about the Environment: Words for Snow Revisited. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Languages Support Efficient Communication about the Environment: Words for Snow Revisited. |
title_sort |
languages support efficient communication about the environment: words for snow revisited. |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1184/r1/6616913.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/Languages_Support_Efficient_Communication_about_the_Environment_Words_for_Snow_Revisited_/6616913 |
genre |
eskimo* |
genre_facet |
eskimo* |
op_relation |
doi:10.1184/r1/6616913.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/Languages_Support_Efficient_Communication_about_the_Environment_Words_for_Snow_Revisited_/6616913 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1184/r1/6616913.v1 |
_version_ |
1766403701394636800 |