Language and Behavior

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis posits that the language that a person speaks can affect his or her cognition. Building on that hypothesis, past research has found that strong future time reference (FTR) languages, languages that... [ view full abstract ]

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis posits that the language that a person speaks can affect his or her cognition. Building on that hypothesis, past research has found that strong future time reference (FTR) languages, languages that mandate future tense markings, create a greater demarcation between the present and the future, causing speakers of those languages to exhibit fewer future-oriented behaviors. In my study, I question whether a strong FTR speaker exhibits short-term behavior because he or she is thinking and speaking in a strong FTR language at that very moment or because his or her language has induced long-term cognitive changes. Phrased differently, I ask whether the effect of language on cognition is temporary or permanent. I plan to carry out a survey at a college in Malaysia where students are bilingual due to the education system. By randomly assigning these students to answer in one of their two native languages, I examine if they will exhibit fewer future-oriented behaviors when prompted to respond in a language with stronger FTR.