Experimental situations are far removed from the complexities of real life, and it is
difficult to know how to interpret the results of the studies above. In some cases, it is
uncertain whether it is language that influences thought, thought that influences
language, or some other factor that influences both language and thought. On the
whole, however, the studies do provide support for linguistic relativity. Language
does seem to have a certain influence on thought.
How does this influence take place? In other words, which aspects of thought
are influenced by language, and which aspects of language may influence thought?
The psychological studies referred to in 1.4.1 indicate that providing a
linguistic label to an object reinforces (and sometimes distorts) our memory of that
4 This applies to the responses to version 3 of the text. The Chinese translations of versions 1 and 2 are
less felicitous and produced much worse results for the Chinese speakers.
object. They also suggest that linguistic labels help us in problem-solving involving
the labelled objects