ABSTRACT
Languages are fascinating, complex systems that vary in terms of the linguistic devices and mechanisms that are available to encode our thoughts, ideas, perceptions, and experiences of the world around us. Moreover, the scripts used to encode these languages offer fascinating opportunities to contrast the effects of script-specific features on cognition. The aim of the current chapter is to examine some of the contrasting features of languages and scripts and to what extent they differentially affect cognition in observable and measurable ways. Advances in technology offer novel approaches to addressing these questions. Specific reference has been made to the characteristics of the Thai language and its script. The main characteristics of the Thai language and its script are reviewed prior to examining some research on the relationship between language and cognition. Initially, the focus is on expression of motion events in relation to (1) satellite-framed (e.g., English), verb-framed (e.g., French) and equipollently framed (e.g., Thai and Chinese) languages and in reference to (2) the presence or absence of durative aspectual marking. Subsequently, a focus on script-specific features is reviewed in relation to (3) linear-nonlinear spatial configuration of scripts and (4) the presence or absence of mirror letter pairs (e.g., b vs. d or p vs. q). We also make some suggestions for future research utilizing some of the distinctive features of the languages and writing systems of the Asian region.
