How Language Shapes Thought

Shaped by quarrel What Comes First the Thought or the talking to Language, due to its unique(predicate) properties, is champion aspect that makes human beings unique in comparison to other animals and species. The concomitant that different terminologys can alter the way we perceive the world, and objects we view. From the perception of space, magazine and pull d consume nouns, speech communications changes the way we think. Countless studies show that linguistic processes effect even down to the most fundamental thought processes, which unconsciously mannequins our brain modify perception.Language is important to how we deal with hold with each other and how we view the world. Consequently, m any(prenominal) cognitive psychologists believe that spoken language may influence thought processes. Because of changing unpredictable of humans thinking in different cultures, it is ambitious to define effects of a particular language on a particular thought pattern. The questi on of language and thought has been debated constantly mistakable to the age-old question of what came first the chicken or the egg. Drawing on our experiences we must contemplate the original theory that language shapes thought.The hypothesis introduced by Benjamin Whorf, which is known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis or linguistic end has stood the test of time and is a beginning to any debate astir(predicate) language and thought. He believed that our thoughts are all limited by our language. A strong quote by Benjamin Whorf suggests that, We cut nature up, manoeuver it into concepts, and ascribe significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this wayan agreement that holds throughout our speech community and is codified in the patterns of our language (Whorf 213-14).This allows me to believe language is basically the need for a minded(p) group of people to communicate with each other. Another question to adopt when thinking about la nguage is what came first, man or language? The coat of ones world can shape the size of their vocabulary. disposed that man preceded language, every culture shaped different languages according to their specific milieus and needs. Resulting in that language is a human heathen that as a nation one helps to make evolve.Not only does their own language shape the culture, but also the interaction with other cultures. Language is a ferocity that allows humans to create ties that bind into a community, providing them social, individual, or cultural identification. In James Baldwin text, If Black face Isnt a Language, Then prescribe Me What Is, he refers language to being an unparalleled power by stating, Language is also a political instrument, means and proof of power. It is the most graphic and crucial key to identity (242).Baldwin draws points of languages importance to the experience of the African slaves. Having no common language, the slaves were unable to communicate with one another. They evolved a language, which they used to articulate their familiar experience and shaped their own community. The African Americans evolved a dialect of English that enabled them to describe their reality and establish their own distinct cultural identity. It is controversial how the humans think by figures or by concepts.In general, it is clear that thinking happens via ideas and imagination, which are expressed by words, and organised in speech. Sciences claim that thinking and language are so related, that changes in languages can organize thoughts, ideas, imaginations and human actions. The word butch shows the difference between thought and the language spoken in both English and Spanish. The quiz Americanization Is Tough on Macho written by Rose Del Castillo Guibault examines the cultural differences behind one certain word.When referring to a Hispanic who is macho resembles that he is a responsible, hardworking man in charge. Even though the language and th e word is the same the thought is different in English. The American macho has a negative reference meaning to the word such as brute, uncouth, loud, abrasive, and a chauvinist (238). When language is used in the normal way, the verbalizer has a thought with certain content and chooses words such that on the basis of those words the listener will be able to have it off that the speaker has a thought with that content.This example reiterates that once words and phrases financial support particular notions and thinking have been melodic lineed, they have the effect of embedding those notions and thoughts firmly and thus becoming cultural norms. Accepting the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in its strong form that language completely determines thought can be hard for any individual. Taking in the opposing views can show other avenues of the language and thought theory. Just as the chicken and egg question we as humans cannot know everything, or should know everything. Some things are lef t over(p) open for interpretation and personal views.So a more limited Whorfianism, that states that the ways in which we see the world may be influenced rather than completely determined by the kind of language we use, in particular our language can affect that we remember and what we find it easy to pay caution to (Chandler). As humans continue to grow on this earth our environment shape languages and languages shapes you as your instrument for thought. Work Cited Baldwin, James C. (1979). If Black English Isnt a Language, Then Tell Me, What is? The refreshful York Times, July 29, 1979 by the impudent York Times Company Chandler, David. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. N. p. , 18 Sept. 1995. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. . Guilbault, Rose Del Castillo. Americanization Is Tough on Macho About Language A Reader for Writers. 5th Ed. Eds. William H. Roberts and Gregoire Turgeon. New York Houghton Mifflin, 1998. 238-39. Whorf, B. L. (1940) Science and Linguistics, Tec hnology Review 42(6) 229-31, 247-8. Also in B. L. Whorf (1956) Language, Thought and globe (ed. J. B. Carroll). Cambridge, MA MIT Press