Language & Thought

Question 1

Role of language in development of non-linguistic capabilities

Answer 1

• Differences between language and thought
• Does mastering particular language devices lead to emergence of relevant non-linguistic abilities?

Question 2

William’s Syndrome: language with impaired thought

Answer 2

• Low IQ but intact linguistic ability
• Dissociation of abilities
• Discrepancy between linguistic and non-linguistic abilities
• Special case: language “savant” –> patient learned 13 foreign languages

Question 3

Curcare/epileptic: good cognitive function with impaired language ability

Answer 3

• Language disruption, including inner speech
• Intact memory, object recognition, math ability, complex thought

Question 4

fMRI studies: thought and language in the brain

Answer 4

• Language areas of the brain are relatively distinct: Cognitively healthy adults engage brain areas when understanding a sentence and not in non-linguistic tasks

Question 5

Aphasia

Answer 5

• Global aphasia: no ability to understand or produce language, but intact cognitive ability –> shows that linguistic representations are not critical for human thought
• Aspects of thought engage different brain regions than language and do not depend on language ability

Question 6

Cognitive science and universalism

Answer 6

• Chomsky: thought precedes language
• Universalism: all humans and their cognitive functions are the same –> language reflects universality

Question 7

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Answer 7

• Languages vary in their semantic partitioning of the world & the structure of one’s language influences how they perceive the world
• Empiricist epistemology
• Prompted empirical testing of language knowledge, but had weak support –> redirected to processing potential rather than cultural differences
• Focus on unconscious grammatical patterning and cognitive effects of lexicon –> distinctions encoded in language from its onset help train our thoughts to make the correct distinctions
• Influences: Thinking for Speaking Hypothesis & linguistic mediation

Question 8

Thinking for Speaking Hypothesis (Slobin)

Answer 8

Linguistic structure affects thoughts that are mobilized for speaking –> thought is used to support speaking ability

Question 9

Vygotsky’s Linguistic Mediation

Answer 9

Language is a tool that enables use to achieve our goals more easily than with non-linguistic thought

Question 10

Elements that differ across languages

Answer 10

Spatial location, time, grammatical gender

Question 11

Language, cognition, and culture

Answer 11

• Culture shapes cognition and makes certain aspects of the world more salient
• Cross-cultural differences are reflected in language, given that we use language to convey our thoughts
• Cultural demands shape cognition and language –> rethinking directionality aspects of language and cognition