ABSTRACT
Mayan speakers of Yucatec classify objects by paying more attention to substance (i.e., materials) than shape, contrary to what English speakers do (Lucy, 1992a). Yucatec is a classifier language,1 and, according to Lucy, most Yucatec nouns are mass nouns (i.e., uncountable nouns). Because the meanings of mass nouns universally express substance, Lucy suggested that this linguistic feature determines the characteristics of the Yucatec object classification system. In other words, language affects thought.
