Tomisimo
September 17, 2008, 12:33 AM
These articles started me thinking. I believe that language permits us to have intellectual skills that are unique to humans. When I think, I generally
think in words. Part of the way we learn and solve problems involves categorizing, and words help us categorize complicated things that may be impossible to categorize without them.
I often wonder how other animals think and analyse without words. I wonder if Genie, who missed the language learning window, thinks in patterns that are more similar to that of other animals.
That's actually something that's studied in linguistics as well. What comes first-- language or thoughts? Is it possible to think without language? I read a study once about a language in the Amazon where they don't have numbers. The only "numbers" they have in the language are one, two and many (three or more). After trying to teach them the concept of other numbers, it became quite apparent that the way their language works permanently limits them and has kept them from understanding numbers in the same way we understand them.
think in words. Part of the way we learn and solve problems involves categorizing, and words help us categorize complicated things that may be impossible to categorize without them.
I often wonder how other animals think and analyse without words. I wonder if Genie, who missed the language learning window, thinks in patterns that are more similar to that of other animals.
That's actually something that's studied in linguistics as well. What comes first-- language or thoughts? Is it possible to think without language? I read a study once about a language in the Amazon where they don't have numbers. The only "numbers" they have in the language are one, two and many (three or more). After trying to teach them the concept of other numbers, it became quite apparent that the way their language works permanently limits them and has kept them from understanding numbers in the same way we understand them.