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Asifa Majid is a
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
,
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingui ...
and cognitive scientist who is professor of language, communication and cultural cognition at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
, UK.


Biography

Majid's academic career began at the University of Glasgow, where she took first an undergraduate degree and then a PhD in psychology; she also worked there as a lecturer in 2000-2001. From 2001 to 2012 she was based at the
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics ( German: ''Max-Planck-Institut für Psycholinguistik''; Dutch: ''Max Planck Instituut voor Psycholinguïstiek'') is a research institute situated on the campus of Radboud University Nijmegen locate ...
in
Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about ...
, initially as a
Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...
fellow and later as a scientific staff member and senior researcher. In 2012 she took up a position as professor of language, communication and cultural cognition at the
Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century ...
, during which time she was also an affiliated principal investigator at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. From 2012 to 2017 she held an NWO Vici research grant to study olfactory cognition and language cross culturally. In 2018 she was one of eight academics appointed as Inspirational Research Leaders and full professors at the University of York. She has been an ordinary member of the
Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...
since 2013 and fellow of the
Association for Psychological Science The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...
since 2018. She has also been chair of the
Cognitive Science Society The Cognitive Science Society is a professional society for the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science. It brings together researchers from many fields who hold the common goal of understanding the nature of the human mind. The society prom ...
. In 2022 she moved to become Professor of Cognitive Science in the Department of Experimental Psychology in Oxford, where she is also a fellow of
St Hugh's College St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and acc ...
.


Research

Asifa Majid's research focuses on the psychology of language and how this relates to other areas of cognition. In particular, she has worked on olfactory language, and on the (non-)universality of word meanings across cultures. Her group has carried out research on the semantic systems of
Ryukyuan languages The , also Lewchewan or Luchuan (), are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. Along with the Japanese language and the Hachijō language, they make up the Japonic language family. Al ...
, the Avatime language of
Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...
, and languages of Europe. In general, Majid's research findings are consistent with the weak version of the
linguistic relativity The hypothesis of linguistic relativity, also known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis , the Whorf hypothesis, or Whorfianism, is a principle suggesting that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view, worldview or cognition, and ...
hypothesis: that linguistic usage and categorization may influence other areas of cognition to a limited degree. For instance, her work with the
Jahai people The Jahai or Jehai people are an indigenous people (Orang Asli) of the Semang people group found in Perak and Kelantan, Malaysia and parts of Thailand. They have dark skin, often curly-hair and Asiatic facial characteristics, and are stockily b ...
of
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
shows that these people are as proficient in naming odours as colours, whereas in English, which has a more restricted range of linguistic categories for odour, speakers find it easier to name colours than odours. Majid's research has been featured on Dutch television and on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
as well as at the Cheltenham Literary Festival and in ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' magazine.


Selected publications

* Majid, Asifa, Melissa Bowerman, Sotaro Kita, Daniel B. M. Haun, and
Stephen C. Levinson Stephen C. Levinson FBA (born 6 December 1947)LEVINSON, Prof. Stephen Curtis
. 2004. "Can language restructure cognition? The case for space". ''
Trends in Cognitive Sciences ''Trends in Cognitive Sciences'' (''TiCS'') is a monthly peer-reviewed review journal published by Cell Press. It is one of 14 journals in the '' Trends'' series. its editor is Lindsey Drayton. '' Journal Citation Reports'' (Thomson Reuters) lists ...
'' 8(3), 108–114. * Majid, Asifa, Melissa Bowerman, Miriam Van Staden, and James S. Boster. 2007. "The semantic categories of cutting and breaking events: A crosslinguistic perspective". ''Cognitive Linguistics'' 18(2), 133–152. * Majid, Asifa, James S. Boster, and Melissa Bowerman. 2008. "The cross-linguistic categorization of everyday events: A study of cutting and breaking". ''
Cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, though ...
'' 109(2), 235–250. * Majid, Asifa, and Stephen C. Levinson. 2011. "The senses in language and culture". ''The Senses and Society'' 6(1), 5–18. * Dolscheid, Sarah, Shakila Shayan, Asifa Majid, and Daniel Casasanto. 2013. "The thickness of musical pitch: Psychophysical evidence for linguistic relativity". ''
Psychological Science ''Psychological Science'', the flagship journal of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), is a monthly, peer-reviewed, scientific journal published by SAGE Publications. Publication scope ''Psychological Science'' publishes research r ...
'' 24(5), 613–621. * Majid, Asifa, and Niclas Burenhult. 2014. "Odors are expressible in language, as long as you speak the right language". ''Cognition'' 130(2), 266–270.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Majid, Asifa Women linguists Women psychologists Living people Academics of the University of York Alumni of the University of Glasgow Year of birth missing (living people)