Looking at the way different linguistic communities speak about a universally shared domain of experience raises questions that are central to the language sciences. How can we compare meaning across languages? What is the interaction between language, thought, and perception? Does linguistic diversity entail linguistic relativism? The literature on the naming systems of the body across languages have addressed these questions with little consensus. In the present study, we contribute to this debate with a comparison of body part terms in French, Indonesian, and Japanese. Using an updated version of the body coloring task, we observed both diversity and cross-linguistically shared patterns. Importantly, we also observed that speakers of languages which violate the wrist/ankle joint boundary rule do not collapse the distinction in thought. This key finding goes against the conflation of language and thought and leads us to conclude that linguistic diversity does not entail linguistic relativism. Methodologically, we advocate for the use of a culturally neutral etic space as a necessary tool in semantic typology. Theoretically, we propose that language is a multilevel phenomenon, which results from the interaction of non-linguistic and cross-culturally shared embodied motivations, context-specific situated language use, and culturally specific sedimented linguistic conventions.

中文翻译：

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在关节处雕刻身体：我们谈论身体的方式是否塑造了我们对身体的看法？

看看不同语言社区谈论普遍共享的经验领域的方式，提出了语言科学的核心问题。我们如何比较不同语言的含义？语言、思想和感知之间的相互作用是什么？语言多样性是否意味着语言相对主义？关于跨语言身体命名系统的文献已经解决了这些问题，但几乎没有达成共识。在本研究中，我们通过比较法语、印度尼西亚语和日语中的身体部位术语来促进这场辩论。使用身体着色任务的更新版本，我们观察到多样性和跨语言共享模式。重要的是，我们还观察到，违反腕/踝关节边界规则的语言使用者不会破坏思想上的区别。这一关键发现违背了语言和思想的混淆，并导致我们得出结论，语言多样性并不意味着语言相对主义。在方法论上，我们提倡使用文化中立的空间作为语义类型学的必要工具。从理论上讲，我们认为语言是一种多层次的现象，它是非语言和跨文化共享的具身动机、特定情境的语言使用和特定文化沉积的语言约定的相互作用的结果。