Does Language and Environment Shape Our Thinking?

[Växan]

the 19th century German Philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed that language was directly connected to thinking

that people around the world should actually think differently due to their native language

the American linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf based his (Whorf-Hypothesis)
on the idea that thoughts are controlled or influenced by the language we speak.

perhaps we can take this one step further into the science of Chorology
which is the relationship between thought and native environment

is our thinking shaped by our native language and native environment?

does the average person in China experience the same thought processes as the average person in Sweden?

does the average person who has grown up in a city surrounded by water such as Stockholm think in the same way as a person who has grown up in a dessert such as Saudi Arabia?

 

[DarkAnt]

I believe you can. I have a very hard time trying to translate complex (or at least to me) ideas to other people because of language. Its easy to think of an idea, but hard to put it into words.

 

[Dissident Dan]

You can. That is not to say that language, as a part of culture, which obviously influences thought, does not influence language.

For most of my childhood, I usually thought wordlessly. Some of my clearer thoughts have been without words. Sometimes, as DarkAnt said, it can be hard to put your ideas into words, sometimes even in your own language.

 

[Växan]

i've had this experience as well

sometimes a thought or emotion arises which has no obvious word to define it
and yet it can be overpowering

but is it possible to have complex thoughts without attaching words to them?
in the form of visual images maybe?

 

[Janitor]

Squirrels manage to think without a language, so I don't see why humans couldn't.

In grade school they showed us a black and white movie about Helen Keller once a year, in just about every school year. I got to where I knew that darn thing verbatim.

She was deaf and blind from an early age, and I am sure that before she learned to communicate by sense of touch she was still plenty sentient. She must have recognized, for instance, that the meal cooking on the stove and putting out the odor of spaghetti (or what have you) meant that within an hour she would be sitting on a chair at a table and eating spaghetti.

 

[Janitor]

sometimes a thought or emotion arises which has no obvious word to define it- Vaxan

I've long thought that English is lacking a good word for the feeling you have when you witness somebody else getting blamed for doing something (or for failing to do something) that you actually did (or failed to do). I wouldn't be surprised if there are other languages which do have such a word.

 

[franznietzsche]

I've long thought that English is lacking a good word for the feeling you have when you witness somebody else getting blamed for doing something (or for failing to do something) that you actually did (or failed to do). I wouldn't be surprised if there are other languages which do have such a word.

Thats oddly specific...

 

[BoulderHead]

the 19th century German Philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed that language was directly connected to thinking

that people around the world should actually think differently due to their native language

I wonder if he had any direct observational evidence to support his claim. Personally, I think he was mistaken, as I have known people who thought in different languages than myself, yet never noticed anything out of the ordinary (quite the opposite, in fact). Expressing thoughts in another language can come across seemingly queer (sideways is how I sometimes think it). There are words, even meanings of words, which may be absent from one language to another but generally there seems to be a way to arrive at similar conclusions, so I think they way humans think is similar. Culture can skew outcomes, but I think the process leading to those outcomes is basically the same.

…perhaps we can take this one step further into the science of Chorology
which is the relationship between thought and native environment

is our thinking shaped by our native language and native environment?

does the average person in China experience the same thought processes as the average person in Sweden?

does the average person who has grown up in a city surrounded by water such as Stockholm think in the same way as a person who has grown up in a dessert such as Saudi Arabia?

I would be cautious not to mix what I see as apples and oranges (cultural differences vs thinking processes). That’s my 2-cents, for what it’s worth.

 

[Janitor]

In answer to franznietzsche

I agree that it is specific. I think that the relative rarity of the situation may have to do with why there isn't an English word for it. But for me at least, it is an intense feeling when it does happen, the kind of feeling that leaves an 'aftertaste' for quite some time, if I can put it that way. It was particularly gratifying when it was my mother admonishing my brother for something I had done. I always carried with me a mental list of wrongs I had received at the hands of that little creep so on the rare occasion that I found myself overhearing that sort of thing happening, I was gratified in a way that the word "giddy" comes close to describing, though "giddy" covers a broader range of situations than what I am talking about. Giddiness mixed with a mostly-suppressed feeling of guilt maybe is closer to describing the feeling, along with a touch of dread that he would convince Mom that it was actually I who had done it. But if we just had a single word for it, like "globbly" to make one up on the spot, that would be dandy.

 

[energia]

I've long thought that English is lacking a good word for the feeling you have when you witness somebody else getting blamed for doing something (or for failing to do something) that you actually did (or failed to do). I wouldn't be surprised if there are other languages which do have such a word.

I believe this word already exists in english

'guilt'

17 entries found for guilt.
Entry: guilt
Function: noun
Definition: blame
Synonyms: answerability, blameworthiness, contrition, crime, criminality, culpability, delinquency, dereliction, disgrace, dishonor, error, failing, fault, guiltiness, indiscretion, infamy, iniquity, lapse, liability, malefaction, malfeasance, malpractice, misbehavior, misconduct, misstep, offence, onus, peccability, penitence, regret, remorse, responsibility, self-condemnation, self-reproach, shame, sin, sinfulness, slip, solecism, stigma, transgression, wickedness, wrong

 

[BoulderHead]

Energia,
Since Janitor did not detail how such an event came to pass, it's possible a prank was pulled on someone and a feeling of glee is experienced. I suspect he meant more the way you accepted it though. Still, combined with guilt might also be some sense of relief or other combination of emotion, dunno.

 

[Janitor]

Boulderhead, what I had in mind are situations that were not at all pre-planned to get anybody in trouble, if that is what you mean.

Thanks for doing the legwork, Energia. And yet... None of those synonyms really quite nails down the feeling I am thinking of.

Here is an example: When I was about 9 there was a family that lived across the street for a couple of years. They had a son about two years younger than I was. He had been playing with his tricycle out in the driveway in front of their house. I was too big to fit on the tricycle, but for some reason I held on to the handlebar with one of my hands and made it roll around a bit on the driveway, while my friend was engrossed in something else in the front yard. Then he called me over to where he was. Within minutes his father came out of the house and got in his VW Beetle to go somewhere. As it happens, I had left the tricycle right behind the back bumper of the VW, and the boy's father realized that when the back of his vehicle tipped over the trike and made the trike scrape on the concrete driveway. The man got out of his car and worked the trike out from underneath the car, and then walked over to where we were in the yard. He was all red in the face as I recall, and he said in an angry tone, "Danny! How many times have I told you not to leave things behind the car?"

So my friend got all the blame, and could not put up a believable defense for himself. I knew full well that I was the culprit. I also knew that the right thing to do was to speak up and take the wrath upon myself to get Danny off the hook. But I stood there stone-faced and did nothing. My feelling was more of a mixture of things than the word "guilt" or any of the synonyms for that word can convey.

 

[kcballer21]

the 19th century German Philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed that language was directly connected to thinking

I've often wondered if two people were able to communicate telepathically, how would they do it? Would they send images of words to each other, or would they transmit actual ideas? It seems unnecessary to have to send your "voice" to another person when communicating telepathically, afterall words are just a representation of our ideas, and usually a crude representation at that.

 

[energia]

So my friend got all the blame, and could not put up a believable defense for himself. I knew full well that I was the culprit. I also knew that the right thing to do was to speak up and take the wrath upon myself to get Danny off the hook. But I stood there stone-faced and did nothing. My feelling was more of a mixture of things than the word "guilt" or any of the synonyms for that word can convey.

I think that many people (children and adults) have had such an experience

now that you've made the situation more clear, I can't seem to think of a single suitable word to fully describe this feeling

 

[BoulderHead]

Perhaps something approaching a paralyzing state of shock ?

 

[mikesvenson]

autism----> thinking in pictures does not require words.
art-------> a visual idea manifested physically without words as in a sketch.

 

[Nicomachus]

All languages are not oral or written people. Let's think this through and while we think this through why don't we try to think about this without using language. Good luck to everyone. While it may be possible to cognize without language I highly doubt it. Nothing any of you have presented has disproven Humboldt's assertion.
*Nico

 

[Janitor]

When I was about 13 years old I tied a chunk of cheddar cheese to a thread, and then tacked the thread to the ceiling of the family living room, such that the cheese was suspended four feet above the floor. I let our hound dog into the house. In a few minutes he went into the room where the cheese was. He picked up the scent, and sniffed around the floor looking for it. After a couple of minutes of such futility he raised his head and sniffed again. Within seconds he looked up just above his head and saw the cheese there, and happy as a clam he raised himself up on hind legs to snag it with his teeth.

Even if you claim that dogs have a language consisting of barks, growls, yelps and wimpers, I don't think you can reasonably claim that dog language can convey the sort of thoughts that had to be processed by our dog in figuring out how to procure his cheesy reward. It is clear to me that he was thinking in a way that his language was completely inadequate to convey. I have to say, if a dog can think non-linguistically, surely humans can too.

 

[mikesvenson]

All languages are not oral or written people. Let's think this through and while we think this through why don't we try to think about this without using language. Good luck to everyone. While it may be possible to cognize without language I highly doubt it. Nothing any of you have presented has disproven Humboldt's assertion.
*Nico

i think in pictures most of the time, then i choose wether or not to convey verbally with language my idea to a friend. this is a very normal thing for me (thinking without mentally talking to myself). I hope I am not missunderstanding the point here. for example, I am a skateboarder, i visualize a trick i want to do, then i visualize myself doing the trick, then i go out and learn it. Thinking in words is far from necesary in all of this process.(unless ofcourse if i wish to describe my achievement to a friend!)

 

[Evo]

the 19th century German Philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed that language was directly connected to thinking

that people around the world should actually think differently due to their native language

the American linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf based his (Whorf-Hypothesis)
on the idea that thoughts are controlled or influenced by the language we speak.

perhaps we can take this one step further into the science of Chorology
which is the relationship between thought and native environment

is our thinking shaped by our native language and native environment?

language has nothing to do with it. It is the culture, not the "language".

Also, language is not necessary for thinking. Our ancestors were quite capable of thought before a formal language evolved. language is just the means of exchanging information between people in a uniform way.

 

[Växan]

of course humans and other animals are capable of visualising objects and events as graphic images (except those who are born blind)

but are they capable of complex analysis (abstract thought) without language?

can the blind think without language?

is mathematics possible without numbers?

can a mathematician process numbers without converting the abstract image of a numeral into a word representing a quantity?

as an experiment take a stopwatch and see how long you can think about the environment around you without a single word entering your mind

 

[Evo]

of course humans and other animals are capable of visualising objects and events as graphic images (except those who are born blind)

Those born deaf have never heard language. When you think, you hear yourself say words in your mind, it would be different for them. Those born deaf and blind have neither, yet they still are capable of thinking.

but are they capable of complex analysis (abstract thought) without language?

That would probably be a better question. Someone deaf & blind would have much more difficulty attaining a higher level of education.

Because we have language, it is difficult for us to imagine anything without it. But to say that the language you speak affects behavior is a bit "out there". I believe that it is not the language but the culture in which you are raised.

 

[Dissident Dan]

Those born deaf have never heard language. When you think, you hear yourself say words in your mind, it would be different for them. Those born deaf and blind have neither, yet they still are capable of thinking.

In recent years, I have been thinking with the voice more and more to the point that it has become an addiction, and I want to sometimes voice my thoughts out loud just for the hell of it. I sometimes miss times when I thought predominantly without the voice.

 

[confutatis]

"Language" is not a well-defined concept, so those kinds of questions are tricky. "Language" can be used to describe something as sophisticated as "upper-class British English" or as simplistic as "Fortran". It's really hard to see much in common between the speech of an English aristocrat and a few lines of code in a computer program, except perhaps for the fact that both are collections of symbols.

I think a better way to approach the issue of thought vs. language is to ask instead, "is it possible to think about something that cannot be communicated with language"? And to that question I think the answer is clearly "no". And that makes thought perfectly isomorphic with language - not the same thing, but exhibiting the same fundamental properties.

 

[Evo]

I think a better way to approach the issue of thought vs. language is to ask instead, "is it possible to think about something that cannot be communicated with language"? And to that question I think the answer is clearly "no". And that makes thought perfectly isomorphic with language - not the same thing, but exhibiting the same fundamental properties.

language can't always acurately describe things though. language is also subject to interpretation by the person listening or reading. I can think of many things that I would never be able to accurately describe, it could be an object or a feeling, so I don't use language when I think of these things.

Picture something imaginary in your mind. Do you just see it or are you using words to describe it to yourself? I just see it...no words. Therefore language is not necessary for thought.

 

[Kerrie]

i use a lot of pictures in my thinking to envision an idea or plan all the time. words in my thinking are used mainly when i need to convey a specific message (such as when I am conveying my ideas to PF). mikes said that autism is thinking with pictures, but is that really true? i use pictures all the time as i am highly involved with creative projects that require pictures in my head to become real.

evo~"language can't always acurately describe things though. language is also subject to interpretation by the person listening or reading. I can think of many things that I would never be able to accurately describe, it could be an object or a feeling, so I don't use language when I think of these things."

Ironic that you stated this in such a clear and concise manner. :)

 

[confutatis]

Langauge can't always acurately describe things though.

That does not mean you can't arbitrarily assign words to anything you think about. Whether other people can understand the meaning of the words you use is beside the point.

I can think of many things that I would never be able to accurately describe, it could be an object or a feeling, so I don't use language when I think of these things.

And I'm sure you can give names to every one of those things you can't accurately describe. I can think of a feeling I had last Saturday at 9:12AM and call it "cosmic reevaluation of primordial essentials", and even though you would have no clue what I'm talking about, the meaning of the expression would be as clear in my mind as the feeling itself. In fact, those philosophy boards are filled with people who make up undecipherable expressions which they think should make as much sense to everyone as it does to them...

Picture something imaginary in your mind. Do you just see it or are you using words to describe it to yourself?

I see it, and I can use words to describe it to myself. The former does not exclude the latter.

language is not necessary for thought.

Langauge is to thought what a shadow is to an object. The object exists independently of its shadow, and the shadow cannot exist without the object, but there is no object which does not create a shadow when illuminated. To argue against the isomorphism between thought and language is akin to claiming that one can see invisible objects - nonsense by definition.

 

[BoulderHead]

And I'm sure you can give names to every one of those things you can't accurately describe.

What would be the point assigning a name when clearly whatever name she chose to give it would neither enrich her own understanding or have meaning to anyone else?
After all, she did say that “I can think of many things that I would never be able to accurately describe, it could be an object or a feeling,…”.

…I can think of a feeling I had last Saturday at 9:12AM and call it "cosmic reevaluation of primordial essentials", and even though you would have no clue what I'm talking about, the meaning of the expression would be as clear in my mind as the feeling itself.

That appears good for you, but of what use is it to anyone (yourself included)?

In fact, those philosophy boards are filled with people who make up undecipherable expressions which they think should make as much sense to everyone as it does to them...

But this is truly meaninglessness for, as stated, the expressions are undecipherable and going further still those doing the uttering seem even to be self-deluded into believing others can understand. There is no point I can see why you should be suggesting anyone undertake such folly, yet that does appear to be what you recommend.

 

[BoulderHead]

To demonstrate a lone example, there is a feeling I experience when listening to the ambient, downtempo, music of Jose Padillo (in this case the track: Come back) which I cannot name. Were you, dear reader, to listen this music while putting yourself into this, or a similar, photo;

http://fp.superunknown.plus.com/images/cafedelmar_sunset2.jpg

…you might begin only to glimpse what I feel. To truly understand, and how I wish such a thing were possible, you would have to have shared much of my life and experience. It is more complicated than a name or mere words could describe, yet it is very real, even alive. I find in the isolation of our individuality that we are all alone, together. Words can help, but they are not the answer.

 

[Janitor]

"is it possible to think about something that cannot be communicated with language"?- confutatis

I am thinking right now about the taste and smell of a sizzling hamburger, fresh off the grille, with onions, mustard, ketchup and lettuce on it. I can do quite well at bringing the sensation to mind. But if asked to describe it in words, I can't come close to doing it justice. Maybe that just shows the inadequacies of my own personal verbal skills, I don't know.