Exploring the Dynamics of Language and Thought in the Multilingual Mind: Effects of Multiple Language Learning

近年来，随着一些新的研究范式的出现，我们所说的语言是否会影响我们的思维方式这一经典问题重新引起了人们的兴趣。经验证据表明，语言能够以一种灵活的、依赖于语境的方式对各种认知过程，如知觉、记忆、推理和归类等产生快速而即时的或普遍而稳定的影响(Slobin，1996；Whorf，1956；Wolff&Holmes，2011)。例如，语言效应可以是深远的，甚至可以影响基本的视觉知觉(Lupyan，2012)，但对于短期的实验操作，如语言启动(蒙特雷o-Melis&Bylund，2016)、任务指令语言(AThanasopoulos等人，2015)或语言干扰(Trueswell&Papafraou，2010)，语言效应可能是深远的。尽管来自心理学实验的令人信服的经验证据表明，我们对世界的理解和感知受到特定语言类别的影响，但关于语言-思维辩论的几个问题仍然没有得到解决。首先，所获得的证据在很大程度上是基于对单语者或二语学习者进行跨语言比较的调查。对两种以上语言使用者的研究仍然非常有限。由于多语言现象在世界范围内日益普遍(Aronin&Singleton，2012)，而且多语言语言表现出独特的语言和认知特征(Cook&Li，2016)，将语言和思维研究扩展到多语言领域提供了新的见解，并对理解额外语言学习的过程和效果具有重要意义。第二，尽管有证据表明，语言效应在很大程度上依赖于语境，并且在各种实验操作下具有延展性(Wang&Li，2019)，但这种效应是否会在不同的时间、语境和方式上产生长期和持久的影响仍不清楚。根据Sidnell和Enfield(2012)的建议，除了实验室实验之外，还应该通过考察自然发生的对话及其在情景动作中的附带影响来概述一种生态上有效的语言思维研究方法。因此，将认知心理学方法与自然主义行为分析相结合具有重要的理论和方法论意义。本研究旨在通过考察多种语言学习对空间表达和表征的潜在影响，将语言、空间和认知的研究扩展到多语言主义领域。将使用一种创新的多学科方法，将语言学、实验心理学以及自然主义观察结合在一起。具体地说，将进行一系列基于实验室的实验，结合在线(反应时间和眼动)和离线测量(语言产生和相似性安排)来评估不同形式的功能多语言者对运动的心理表征和视觉感知。此外，它还将进一步研究现实生活中与空间表达和空间认知有关的社会互动中多语言自然行为的实例。本研究旨在将当前关于语言相对论的理论和方法的争论扩展到多语言领域，并有助于我们理解语言学习和人类认知延展性之间的动态关系。它将阐明是否可以在教学中使用特定于语言的思维方式，作为促进多语言教育中语言学习的一种手段。此外，由于认知模式可能会影响与来自不同文化背景的人的交际互动，本研究对于促进有效的交际，特别是促进语言学习者和具有不同语言系统的本族语者之间的有效交际，从而更好地跨文化理解和人际社会互动具有重要意义。

The classic question of whether the language we speak influences the way we think has received renewed interest in recent years with a number of new research paradigms. Empirical evidence shows that language can exert rapid and immediate or pervasive and stable effects on various cognitive processes, such as perception, memory, reasoning and categorization, in a flexible and context-dependent manner (Slobin, 1996; Whorf, 1956; Wolff & Holmes, 2011). For example, language effects can be profound in the sense of affecting even basic visual perceptions (Lupyan, 2012), and yet venerable to short-term experimental manipulations such as linguistic priming (Montero-Melis & Bylund, 2016), the language of task instructions (Athanasopoulos et al., 2015), or verbal interference (Trueswell & Papafragou, 2010). Despite compelling empirical evidence from psychological experiments that our understanding and perception of the world are affected by language-specific categories, several issues regarding the language-thought debate remain unresolved. First, the evidence obtained is largely based on the investigation of monolingual speakers or L2 learners through cross-linguistic comparisons. Research on speakers of more than two languages remains very limited. As multilingualism is an increasingly common linguistic phenomenon worldwide (Aronin & Singleton, 2012) and multilinguals display unique linguistic and cognitive features (Cook & Li, 2016), extending language and thought research to the domain of multilingualism provides new insights into and has important implications for understanding the processes and effects of additional language learning. Second, although evidence suggests that language effects are largely context-dependent and malleable under various experimental manipulations (Wang & Li, 2019), it is still unclear whether such effects have long-term and lasting consequences across different times, contexts and modalities. As proposed by Sidnell and Enfield (2012), in addition to lab experiments, an ecologically valid approach to language-thought research should be outlined by examining naturally occurring conversations and their collateral effects in situated action. Thus, it is of theoretical and methodological importance to combine cognitive psychological methods with analyses of naturalistic behaviors.The proposed study aims to extend the research on language, space, and cognition to the domain of multilingualism by examining the potential effects of multiple language learning on spatial expressions and representations. An innovative multidisciplinary approach that brings together linguistics, experimental psychology, as well as naturalistic observations, will be used. Specifically, a series of lab-based experiments combining both online (reaction time and eye movements) and off-line measures (language production and similarity arrangement) will be carried out to assess mental representations and visual perceptions of motion in functional multilinguals across different modalities. In addition, it will further examine instances of multilingual natural behaviors in real-life social interactions with regard to spatial expressions and spatial cognition. This study aims to extend the current theoretical and methodological debates over Linguistic Relativity to the domain of multilingualism and contribute to our understanding of the dynamics between language learning and the malleability of human cognition. It will shed light on whether language-specific ways of thinking can be used in teaching as a means to facilitate language learning in multilingual education. In addition, as cognitive patterns may influence communicative interaction with people from different cultural backgrounds, this study can have implications for promoting effective communication, especially between language learners and native speakers with different linguistic systems, for a better cross-cultural understanding and interpersonal social interaction.