'After scouring many datasets with millions of records on individual household savings behavior—along with a number of peculiar health performance metrics like grip strength and walking speed—I find that languages that oblige speakers to grammatically separate the future from the present lead them to invest less in the future. Speakers of such languages save less, retire with less wealth, smoke more, practice more unsafe sex and are more obese. Surprisingly, this effect persists even after controlling for a speaker’s education, income, family structure and religion.'
Note that English falls into that language category.
(h/t +Jonathon Barton)
Keith Chen: language that forecasts weather — and behavior | TED Blog
Keith Chen on a collaboration between linguists and economists, to explore how the way you talk about the weather influences you.