Does Language Influence Thinking Skills or Cognition - Essay Example

Does language influence thinking skills or cognition? Introduction It is evident that people all over the world communicate through amazing array of languages, each different from another in several ways. The questions thus arise concerning the language we speak and its effects to our thoughts. The question thus begs; what would it be like to have never learned a certain language for instance English, but instead learnt other languages such as Spanish or Japanese? Would there be an influence in the way we think? Another more thrilling case is imagining having been brought up without any language at all. Does learning new language influence the way we think? All these include some of the questions several philosophies within cognitive science are trying to answer. For a much longer period, the thought that language might influence thought was considered wrong. Several data analysis have been collected through most parts and the end results show that, individuals who speak diverse dialects do indeed think differently and that even grammar can intensely influence how most people perceive the world. To elucidate the stated thought, let us ask ourselves a simple question; how would our lives be if we had never learned any of the languages? Could we still have friends around us, hold any particular job, have a relationship or family, get an education, explore our gifting or maximize our potential? Language is thus essential and entirely part of our lives, that it’s even hard to imagine life without it. Language and its effect on thinking skills and Cognition A four-year-old in one society can perform a task with much ease as opposed to an intellectual in another society. This is a huge difference in cognitive strength and the surprising answer to this cause is the language. This theory goes back to the centuries with philosophers Sapir and Whorf emphasizing that, variances in languages such as English and Hopi, lead to the difference in thinking (Eysenck & Keane, 2000, p. 122-24). This thought however was met with serious criticism over time as philosophers argued that, the theories were not supported by much proof. However, decades later, it is still evident that language shapes thinking. The results have had a great influence in law, education and even politics. Speakers of diverse languages also vary in how they define events and, as a result, how they can remember who did what and so forth. All events, even instant accidents, are complex and need us to interpret what happened. Take, for instance, former vice president Dick Cheney’s accident, in which he unintentionally shot Harry Whittington. One could say that it seemed as if Cheney shot Whittington or ‘Whittington got shot by Cheney’, or ‘Whittington got peppered pretty well’ (leaving Cheney out). Cheney himself said ‘Ultimately I am the guy who towed the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry,’ intervening a long chain of events between himself and the outcome. President George Bush’s take ‘he overheard a bird blush, and he rotated and hauled the trigger and saw his friend get injured’ was an even more masterful discharge, changing Cheney from agent to mere witness in less than a sentence. The world has an approximate of 7000 languages and each language requires very different things from its users (Langer, 2013, p. 110-14). For instance, suppose i was to tell you that i saw aunt Teresia in Worthington. In other languages especially western Africa, the verb I used would tell if the event happened just now, yesterday or in the distant past, whereas in another country within Asia, the verb wouldn’t even tell if it had already happened or was still coming up. In other parts such as in most parts of Europe, the verb would reveal my gender. In other settings, the verb would have to specify whether the subject in this case aunt is paternal or maternal and whether she is related by blood or through marriage. All this interpretations of words seems to influence the way society settings think (Lund, 2014, p. 167-87). On the other hand, just because people talk differently doesn’t necessarily point that they think differently. How can we conclude that people from Africa, Asia, America and Europe perceive or reason about the world in different ways because of the influence in the language they speak? Results in many lab settings uncovers how language shapes even the most vital dimensions of human experience such as time, space, relationships and many others. Research by numerous scholars over the last two decades has proven that people who speak languages that rely on entirely directions are extraordinarily good at keeping track of where they are, even in unfamiliar territories (Lund, 2014, p. 67-72). They do it way better than their neighbors who live in the same setting but do not speak such languages. The demands of their language train their cognitive ability. It is also evident that people who think differently about space are also possible going to think differently about time (Pinker, 2007, p. 176). For instance, I once gave Hebrew speakers some set of different pictures that showed progressions that were temporal; a woman aging, a crocodile also aging and an apple being eaten. I shuffled the pictures then gave them to arrange orderly on the ground in the correct temporal order. They ended up arranging the pictures from right to left. This is clear evidence that writing direction in any language has a great influence in organizing time. English speakers assigned this task will arrange the pictures from left to right. Other speakers might arrange the same pictures based on directions for instance, east to west. Definition of time varies among different speakers (Carruthers, 1996). For example, English speakers consider the future being ahead of the past and vice versa. In other language such as Aymara, the past is considered to be in front while the future behind. Their body language goes hand in hand with their style of talking. Basic features of time perception can be affected by the language used. For instance, English speakers fancy talking about duration in terms of length for instance, that was a short interview, it didn’t last long. On the other hand, Greek speakers for instance prefer to talk about time in terms of amount, emphasizing much on words such as ‘much’, ‘big’, ‘little’ as opposed to ‘short’ and ‘long’ (Bloom, 1998, p. 88). It is thus important to consider if it is the the language itself that affects or causes these differences in thought and not some other features of respective cultures. This can be achieved through ways such as teaching different people ways of talking and see if that alters the way of thinking (Langer, 2013, p. 156-62) Things like patterns in language can indeed play a casual role in shaping how people think. This is to say that, when learning a new language, you are not only learning new ways of talking but also learning new ways of thinking. Language also influences the aspect of perceiving things, for instance; the ability to distinguish colors (Pinker, 1994, p. 56-59). Different settings of language have more distinctions than others. Studies have also shown the influence of language on how people identify events, track numbers, comprehend material substance, perceive and experience emotions, reason about others thoughts, risk taking choices and also the way of choosing their spouses (Eysenck & Keane, 2000, p. 59). The area of what shapes what is a crucial way to argue influence of thought on language and vice versa. These are just some of the many captivating results of cross-linguistic alterations in cognition (Bikerton, 1995). But how is the distinction in language cause differences in thought and the other way round? The answer evidently seems to be both —the way people think influences the way we they speak, but the effect also goes the other way (Bloom, 1998, p. 95-8). The past period has seen a mass of ingenious results establishing that language certainly plays a fundamental role in determining cognition. Research has shown that altering how people talk alters how they think. Teaching people new color words, for example, influence their ability to categorize colors (Langer, 2013, p. 67). It further proves that teaching them a new way of talking about time provides a new way of thinking about. An alternative way to get this question is to observe people who are smooth in two languages. Studies show how they perceive the world in relation to which language they are speaking. Two circles of findings issued in 2010 validate that even something as important as who one likes and do not like depends on the language in which you are inquired. Most of the findings by researchers have been widely adapted to measure spontaneous biases and how naturally effects such as positive personalities and ethnic sets seem to go together in various speaking minds. Language also seems to be twisted in many more structures of our intellectual lives than researchers had previously thought (Lund, 2014, p. 85). People seems to rely on linguistics even when undertaking simple tasks like distinguishing covers of color or dots on a screen. Many groups and distinctions that occur in particular languages are interfering in our intellectual lives largely. What scholars have all along thought appears to be a collection of both verbal and nonverbal processes. As a result, there might not be a lot of grown people thinking where language does not play a function. A symbol feature of human intelligence is its fitting, the ability to devise and reposition conceptions of the world to fit the altering aims and surroundings (Pinker, 2007, p. 96-102). One result of this tractability is the great range of languages that have resulted round the world. Each provides its own reasoning toolkit and summarizes the understanding and worldview established over thousands of years within a certain surrounding. Langer (2013, p. 89) acknowledges that each of this covers a way of perceiving, classifying and making significance in the world, an instrumental guidebook developed and sharpened by our heredities. Research outlines the way we reason and this has helped scientists to untie ways of creating information and construct truths and how people got to be as smart and stylish. This intuition, in turn, helps us appreciate the very essence of what makes us human beings. Taken together, these results show that linguistic processes are universal in most ultimate fields of thought, intuitively shaping us from the bolts of cognition to our proudest abstract concepts and main life choices (Bikerton, 1995, p. 81-3). Language is essential to our experience of being mortal, and the languages we use intensely shape the way we think and view the world and live each day. Conclusion There are many questions we have to ask ourselves in our conclusion of the influence of language on thought. However a great answer remains and that is, language influences the way human beings think. Is there an influence of language on thought in some other ways other than way people communicate? The answer remains false. What about a mild influence on communication? There might be. So many theories have been reviewed on mathematical thought, spatial navigation and many others and the conclusion is, they prompt more investigation since they are controversial. All in all language plays a major role in how human beings think, past its role in communication. There is a major similarity between language and vision. Both are excellent tools for the passing of information. This is evident since people who are blind find it harder to pick up certain things that pertain to the human culture. The reason is because they lack the access to books, television and other tools. However, it doesn’t mean that vision makes one smart. Language is as essential as the way vision is useful. Language is not a mechanism that propels the ability to generate these ideas in the first place. It is however evident that language does not really differ as much as people think they do. The fact that people who speak a certain language incline to different cultures does not mean that language has a deep influence on thought. References Bikerton, D. (1995). Language and Human Behavior. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Bloom, P. (1998) Language Evolution: Some Issues in the Evolution of Language and Thought. In D. MA: MIT Press. Carruthers, P. (1996) Language, Thought, and Consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Eysenck, M. W., & Keane, M. T. (2000). Cognitive psychology: A students handbook. Hove: Psychology Press. Langer, A. (2013). Language of instruction and cognitive development: Case-studies from Malawi. Lund, N. (2014). Language and Thought. Routledge. Pinker, S. (2007). The stuff of thought: Language as a window into human nature. New York: Viking. Pinker, S. (1994). The Language Instinct. New York: Harper Collins. Read More