Linguistic relativity

Lera BoroditskyCognitive scientist and professor at the University of California, San Diego

• Boroditsky says English and Spanish speakers remember different aspects of accidents, with implications for eyewitness testimony.

  “two people watch the same event, witness the same crime, but end up remembering different things about that event”

  TED Radio Hour: The shocking power of tiny things (Oct 9, 2026) · Listen from 27:52

• Boroditsky argues that language effects on early color perception imply influence on downstream cognition, rebutting McWhorter.

  “if it can influence something very early, that means it's influencing all of the other things downstream”

  TED Radio Hour: The shocking power of tiny things (Oct 9, 2026) · Listen from 27:01

• Boroditsky attributes renewed interest in linguistic relativity to the adoption of experimental methods.

  “we've started using experimental methods, like real scientific experimental methods, rather than just arguing back and forth about our intuitions”

  TED Radio Hour: The shocking power of tiny things (Oct 9, 2026) · Listen from 25:24

• Boroditsky argues it would be surprising if constantly speaking a language had no influence on the brain.

  “it would be, in fact, the most surprising thing that the thing that you do all day, every day, this practice of speaking language would have no influence on your brain”

  TED Radio Hour: The shocking power of tiny things (Oct 9, 2026) · Listen from 25:01