ABSTRACT
This chapter is entitled “Conceptual Transfer.” You may already be asking yourself what “conceptual” means: What are concepts? Are concepts independent from language? Does this mean that animals can also form concepts? Or are concepts shaped by language? If yes, to what extent? Only when we use language or even when we don’t? And if concepts are shaped by language, what happens when we use two languages and these languages have very different concepts? Do we keep these concepts distinct, or do we favor one conceptualization over the other? Or do we mix concepts? Finally, how do these processes impact language in the long run?
