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Abstract

m on the left side of the table”. In Kuuk Thaayorre this would be north-east or south-west, depending on the relative position of the North.These drawers not only exist in our language than, but become part of our way of thinking.This happens because language and thought are connected. While we can think out of the language, e.g. like when contemplating our feelings or we abstract, we cannot express our thoughts if not by mean of our linguistic skills.<h2 id="e544">We Think What We Speak (or we speak what we think?)</h2>Around 1930, American linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf suggested that speakers of different tongues may think differently. Though they had poor evidence at the time, recent studies hint that this could be true.Language is a product of culture, but we share and produce new knowledge by mean of the language. It is clear then how language and culture, like language and thought, cannot exist without each other.Whorfianism considers that the structure of a language, like vocabulary and grammar, has a strong influence on the way we perceive or reason about the world (<a href="https://books.google.fr/books/about/The_MIT_Encyclopedia_of_the_Cognitive_Sc.html?id=-wt1aZrGXLYC&redir_esc=y">Andrew & Keil, 2001</a>).This does not mean we can’t understand concepts that do not exist in our language or culture.An English speaker can understand the concept expressed by the German word Wanderlust even though English has no direct equal. Mandarin Chinese has no words for past, present or future, nonetheless, a Mandarin speaker can grasp the concept.All languages have the power to express any concept. So, why don’t they?<h2 id="0a9e">Different Language, Different Thinking</h2>Boroditsky in 2011 argues that languages can differ from one another in innumerable ways, but talking differently does not imply thinking differently.Languages have nonetheless an effect on our perception of the world.Studies have shown that speakers of languages who rely on cardinal directions, like the Kuuk Thaayorre language, can easily orientate themselves even in unfamiliar landscapes or buildings.Speakers of languages which are specific with pronouns gender, like Hebrew, are more likely to understand earlier the concept of gender than a speaker of languages which have neutral pronouns, like Finnish.The German language can easily form and create new compounds

Options

crushing two or more words together. We see how that helped German philosophers to express new thought-concepts in the 18th and 19th century.Think about an Arctic population which has never moved from their frozen home. If an African visitor tried to explain what a desert is, they probably wouldn’t understand at first. They would need to compare a new concept with the known reality they face every day.They would understand at last, but their language and culture would not orbit around the concept of the desert for survival.The big difference between languages and how they influence our thinking is how they focus the attention on a different aspect of the world around us.Every language encodes in grammar and vocabulary an independent classification and categorization, using different drawers for different concepts.Language evolves in diverse directions because every tongue adapts to focus on what’s important for the speakers of that tongue, hence the way they think.<h2 id="509a">Multilingual Speakers Change The Way They Think</h2>So, the question is: do multilingual speaker think differently depending on the language they speak?Short answer: YES, they do. But it’s complicated.Think about different musical instruments. They all use the same notes, but produce a variety of different nuances, tones, pitches.Some can play a note without interruption, some others produce sound with a sequence of short explosions of sound and pause between (e.g. drums).So do languages. They can wrap up similar concepts in different words, or have completely independent ways of seeing a specific aspect of the world.They modulate the way we think because they focus on a different nuance, which perhaps isn’t in focus or is neglected in another language.Humour, for example, is something that seldom translates in the same way in different tongues, as it is culture-specific.<h2 id="d3b5">Conclusion</h2>The language we speak and the culture we experience influence the way we think and how we see the world. As our senses do, they work as a filter for reality and give us the options we can then decide to use.The more language we speak the more options we have to express ourselves, and the broader is our capability to think concepts which aren’t part of our native language and culture.What do you think?</article></body>

What You Speak Influences How You Think — Here’s Why

Language is More Than a List of Words

Photo by Fabrizio Verrecchia on Unsplash

It is amazing how communication works.

We can use our body to give form to our thoughts without even articulating a sound. Using only 26 characters we can produce an almost infinite number of words to describe our world.

Even “how” we communicate can add or completely change the meaning of the message. Like when we use a different tone of voice to express anger or disappointment.

But what is a language and how does it work?

Language Is More Than A List Of Words

We learn in school that words carry meaning and we can use them to express our thoughts. Grammar rules define how words relate with each other and how to form complex sentences, paragraphs and complex.

Words and grammar are the results of millennia of human evolution. Men and women have categorized their world and named things to communicate with each other.

For a prehistorical man and woman, communication was life-saving. Being able to warn a peer that a wild animal was approaching or to cooperate while hunting was essential to their survival.

Also, language was a means we’re able to share knowledge and discoveries. This is true today as well, we use our language to share news, inform others, and ask questions.

Language is an agreement between parties, and thus different tribes started to develop diverse tongues.

Now as then, speaking (or writing) different languages does not imply using two different words to express the same concept but is having distinct sets of categorisations. Those are independent drawers in which we put what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think.

We have around 7,000 tongues in the world, and though they have some universal characteristics in common, many differ drastically. Some languages, Mandarin, for example, don’t have words for past, present or future.

Kuuk Thaayorre speakers don’t have left or right directions, but space is always relative to absolute cardinal points. We can say in English that “I’m on the left side of the table”. In Kuuk Thaayorre this would be north-east or south-west, depending on the relative position of the North.

These drawers not only exist in our language than, but become part of our way of thinking.

This happens because language and thought are connected. While we can think out of the language, e.g. like when contemplating our feelings or we abstract, we cannot express our thoughts if not by mean of our linguistic skills.

We Think What We Speak (or we speak what we think?)

Around 1930, American linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf suggested that speakers of different tongues may think differently. Though they had poor evidence at the time, recent studies hint that this could be true.

Language is a product of culture, but we share and produce new knowledge by mean of the language. It is clear then how language and culture, like language and thought, cannot exist without each other.

Whorfianism considers that the structure of a language, like vocabulary and grammar, has a strong influence on the way we perceive or reason about the world (Andrew & Keil, 2001).

This does not mean we can’t understand concepts that do not exist in our language or culture.

An English speaker can understand the concept expressed by the German word Wanderlust even though English has no direct equal. Mandarin Chinese has no words for past, present or future, nonetheless, a Mandarin speaker can grasp the concept.

All languages have the power to express any concept. So, why don’t they?

Different Language, Different Thinking

Boroditsky in 2011 argues that languages can differ from one another in innumerable ways, but talking differently does not imply thinking differently.

Languages have nonetheless an effect on our perception of the world.

Studies have shown that speakers of languages who rely on cardinal directions, like the Kuuk Thaayorre language, can easily orientate themselves even in unfamiliar landscapes or buildings.

Speakers of languages which are specific with pronouns gender, like Hebrew, are more likely to understand earlier the concept of gender than a speaker of languages which have neutral pronouns, like Finnish.

The German language can easily form and create new compounds crushing two or more words together. We see how that helped German philosophers to express new thought-concepts in the 18th and 19th century.

Think about an Arctic population which has never moved from their frozen home. If an African visitor tried to explain what a desert is, they probably wouldn’t understand at first. They would need to compare a new concept with the known reality they face every day.

They would understand at last, but their language and culture would not orbit around the concept of the desert for survival.

The big difference between languages and how they influence our thinking is how they focus the attention on a different aspect of the world around us.

Every language encodes in grammar and vocabulary an independent classification and categorization, using different drawers for different concepts.

Language evolves in diverse directions because every tongue adapts to focus on what’s important for the speakers of that tongue, hence the way they think.

Multilingual Speakers Change The Way They Think

So, the question is: do multilingual speaker think differently depending on the language they speak?

Short answer: YES, they do. But it’s complicated.

Think about different musical instruments. They all use the same notes, but produce a variety of different nuances, tones, pitches.

Some can play a note without interruption, some others produce sound with a sequence of short explosions of sound and pause between (e.g. drums).

So do languages. They can wrap up similar concepts in different words, or have completely independent ways of seeing a specific aspect of the world.

They modulate the way we think because they focus on a different nuance, which perhaps isn’t in focus or is neglected in another language.

Humour, for example, is something that seldom translates in the same way in different tongues, as it is culture-specific.

Conclusion

The language we speak and the culture we experience influence the way we think and how we see the world. As our senses do, they work as a filter for reality and give us the options we can then decide to use.

The more language we speak the more options we have to express ourselves, and the broader is our capability to think concepts which aren’t part of our native language and culture.

What do you think?