Abstract—This research paper investigates and compares the
linguistics influences of shapes and materials between English
and Chinese speakers. One previous study compares animate
entities, inanimate discrete, and inanimate non-discrete among
English, Yucatec Mayan, and Japanese speakers. However, very
few previous studies investigate the influences of shapes and
materials on Chinese speakers. Therefore, this paper cited the
data of A cross-linguistic study of early word meaning: universal
ontology and linguistic influence Imai and Gentner, about
American speakers and collected new data about Chinese
speakers, comparing their different responses based on the
Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. The results show that Chinese
numeral classifiers are more forcibly used when referring to
substances than complex and simple object references. English
has its influence on those participants who, to some extent,
encountered English during their past studies. As users of a
language who does not require a numeral classifier adopt unless
referring to substances, English speakers are anticipated to
focus more on the material when addressing substances. Also, in
this research, Chinese speakers have fewer respondents on
shapes than American participants. It is a very meaningful study
that can imply the linguistics influences of English and Chinese
language on speakers’ thoughts.
Index Terms—Linguistics influences, shapes and materials,
English and Chinese speakers.
X. Zeng is with the Keystone Academy, Beijing, 100000, China (e-mail:
xinyu.zeng@student.keystoneacademy.cn).
[PDF]
Cite:Xinyu Zeng, "Comparing Linguistics Influences of Shapes and Materials between English and Chinese Speakers," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 133-136, 2022.