Interesting piece on how language may influence the way you look at the world, a interesting phenomenon this blog’s linguistically talented readership will no doubt find interesting and may have experienced themselves.
Does language influence the way you think?
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WNYC’s Radiolab had a great episode on this topic entitled Words- its well worth downloading through iTunes (or their website).
Roboseyo did a post about this same thing recently. Coincidence? Or just the limits of language?
http://roboseyo.blogspot.com/2010/08/language-changes-how-we-think-article.html
I’ll quote Wittgenstein again, because saying “I’ll quote Wittgenstein” makes me feel like I’m smart. Ahem:
“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”
Very interesting article. I’ve often thought Americans must have a better sense of the cardinal points of the compass than Brits because they seem to refer to them more often when giving directions. Generally I haven’t a clue which way is which unless I look and work it out. Even when the sun is rising or setting, I still have to think about which way is north or south.
I doubt, however, that there’s anything earth-shattering to be revealed from such research. Just another aspect of the observable fact that in every culture people tend to be good at doing or noticing certain things but not others.
Yep, must of us are just plain “waygoogin”. There’s no difference!
P.S. Please refer to the Criminal Statistics thread. Thank You.
So the Korean language obliges us to think about stuff like age, gender, education, familay relations, social status, etc. No surprises that Koreans are hyper socially conscious. And no surprise that some non Koreans have so much trouble fitting into Korean society. Some of them simply can’t read the social situation and end up commiting social and/or professional faux pas repeatedly without realizing it. And those of a socially inept disposition have practically no chance in Korean society.
Hmnn tinyflowers, I would venture to guess that what you just described — Korean culture and language pressuring a Korean to be “hyper socially conscious” in order to survive — that is, always pressuring one to think two or three steps ahead regarding how people may react to comment or behavior — is one significant reason for the super high IQs attributed to Koreans as a whole.
Just like Twain to lament female turnips. He ight’ve been an aquaintence of my ex-wife’s great grandmother, providing she was the source of that turnip gene.
Wallowing in a semantic cesspool….
Oh Mr. Marmot, why have you changed over to this tiny, cramped typeface?
Trying to read it makes me feel small-minded, hunched over, irritable, and ungenerous.
Or was this to drive the point home about not only language but the writing system as well influencing how we think?
Please be more considerate of older people’s eyes.
Better?
I saw this guy at a conference at Berkeley, and was fascinated but came away wishing for more, or for a bolder conclusion. I guess this kind of thing is in its beginning stages. Maybe at some point it’ll be possible to compare actual structural differences in the brains of speakers of various languages. For now we can only guess, and it seems too easy to misjudge the role of language in culture, and of culture in individual formation, though clearly these are fascination topics.
Should I have a hard time saying to someone, “You’re obviously thinking that way because your language has forced you to”?
Also, when we discuss “language”, what about non-verbal? These would also seem to shape our views of “the way things are.” Isn’t bowing kind of the same as using an honorific grammar form? How about norms of dress? And indeed at the Berkeley conference (on “neuro-aesthetics”) some non-verbal communication was brought up, like nodding vs shaking heads, to try and see how universal these things were.
And then, to blab a little more, I can remember that language changes to meet new cultural needs, and that language can evolve quickly. Listen to old radio recordings in English and you see, so language would seem to follow cultural needs as much as it creates them. Or maybe we could say from one view that language is the solidification of cultural changes. Or something like that… maybe I’ll find something more satisfying later. OK, thanks once more for reading my drool!
Keep it coming, Mr. Hedge.
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