“Language and the Representation of Number” by George Tsoulas, Senior lecturer from the Language and Linguistic Science Department at York University.
Whether our ways of thinking about and perceiving the world are determined, or at least influenced (and if yes, to what degree) by our language is a very old question that keeps being asked again and again in different forms, in different contexts and by different people. As can be expected concerning a question of such broad scope all or nearly all possible answers have at some point or other been proposed and debated. From the idea that our language completely determines our thought and perception on the one extreme, to the idea that the question itself is entirely meaningless on the other. Although I am not deluded enough to expect to be able to offer a complete new answer to this question, I will offer a discussion of it from one particular perspective, namely our perception and understanding of words that refer to substances (water, gold, coffee etc.) as opposed to those that refer to individual items such as pens, chairs or tables.
The distinction is easy to grasp and and seems universal enough, it turns out that languages are significantly different in the ways that they express it or fail to do so. What, if anything, does that tell us about our ways to conceptualise and perceive the world? Throughout, the concept of number is one that seems inescapable, both in terms of grammatical and natural number.
Wednesday 4th October in City Screen Basement
Doors open 7pm for 7.30pm presentation
Tickets are free and can be pre-booked by phone or on-line with City Screen (0871 902 5726).
City Screen York website
Alternatively tickets are available on the night of the event at the City Screen Ticket Desk.
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