Does Language Determine or Limit Thought?

International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge

TOK - Mrs. Cope

This assignment is submitted in partial fulfillment of the International Baccalaureate/BISJ Diploma. I certify that this is all my own work, and that all sources used have been cited in accordance with school policy.

Signed ……………………… Date………………….……

Sheheryar Javaid

Life is divided between things that can make you feel, emotions, and things that make you think, thoughts. Language is the primary way for humans to express these feelings of thought and emotion. Language can be any form of communication that has a specific meaning which is conveyed to other people. With this, we are able to share ideas, knowledge, and skills. But can we express these feelings without language? If so, how can we? If not, then does language fully determine thought and is it the only factor which determines it? This essay will evaluate and answer these knowledge issues to resolve the extent to which language determines or limits thought.

Verbal and written communications are often considered as the main methods to express language. However, facial expressions, eye contact, sign language and many others are also forms of language, non-verbal language. But many different questions arise regarding these other forms of communication. Are there different limits on thought using the other forms of communication? Also, are the same factors that limit thought applied to more than one form of communication?

Written language for instance, can include ambiguity, vagueness, sarcasm, metaphors and irony. These are all used to create an effect in conveying the message. An ambiguous sentence can have a number of different meanings, therefore different people might comprehend the sentence in a different way from others. Does age play a role in how the sentence is comprehended? Will it be understood the same way by a seven year old as by a thirty year old? These questions often occur when dealing with written language, showing that it can cause limits in thought.

On the other hand, these can also apply to verbal language, if the person spoke without emotion. However, verbal language can include a variety of different tones, volume, pitch, and pauses, which all affect the way it is understood. Even silence can be considered as a language, to display anger towards someone. Another example showing sarcasm would be if my father told me that I was a thoughtful son. I might think that I am thoughtful or that I am not. However, do these techniques apply to all people equally? If this was said to me, I will probably understand the true meaning to the sentence, but if this was said to my seven year old sister, she would take the literal meaning of this sentence and think she is thoughtful. This proves that to different people and ages, language can limit their thought to a certain extent.

It has been proven that language might limit thought to different people at different ages, but will this apply to deaf and mute people? Deaf people find it difficult to speak and mute people cannot speak at all. Without verbal language, they cannot express their thoughts, so does this mean that their thought is limited? Their form of communication, mainly sign language, is also a form of language, partly because it has the word language in its name and partly because a message can be conveyed with this method. It is true that they cannot express most of their feelings without verbal language, but their thought is not fully limited as they can still use sign language.

Therefore, although different forms of communication have different factors that limit thought, some of these factors apply to more than one form of communication, like sarcasm applies to verbal and written. But, even though some forms of communication have the same factors that limit thought, one form might be more effective in conveying the message than others, like how verbal can be spoken with a specific tone to convey sarcasm.

There are many ways to communicate to a person and these are all a type of language. Animals do not communicate in words but in different ways. Both ...

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There are many ways to communicate to a person and these are all a type of language. Animals do not communicate in words but in different ways. Both humans and animals use a form of communication to express their thoughts. Humans can use many forms of communication such as verbal or written but all animals use a different method. For example, dolphins use echolocation clicks to communicate to different dolphins or detect detailed information from the world around them. Therefore, we cannot express feelings and convey messages without language as a form of language is required to achieve this.

Some think language is the main means of thought, as we think with language and communicate using it. This proves that it determines thought as the use of language requires thought and to express these thoughts we require language. The only case where this might not be true is for a sudden reaction. For example, if my father bought my younger sister a toy, she would instantly hug him. This also applies to instant reactions such as a reflex when touching a hot stove. This is because we do not think to ourselves that we should move our hand away from it but this happens instantly without the use of language.

Supporting this view is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which states that language determines thought. But it also states that the individuals thought is determined by their native language, which changes the way the individual interprets and views the world. If so, can someone learn a new language easier if there are corresponding words in their native language? My mother proved this when teaching my daughter some English words. By telling the words in our native language Urdu first, then the corresponding word in English, my sister was able to learn the words quicker. However, some thoughts in one language cannot be expressed equally in other languages.

Wittgenstein’s quote, ‘The limits of my language mean the limits of my world’, supports this theory in saying thoughts are determined in language so our thoughts are limited to the frame that language provides us. If the Sapir-Whorf theory states that language determines thought, then how come sometimes we have a thought to express, but we cannot find the right words to express it? Love and hate, these are some examples of feelings that sometimes cannot be expressed in words. I believe our thoughts happen in split seconds, but it takes much more time to express them in words. The theory suggests that if you do not have to words to convey your feeling, then you cannot experience the feeling at all. But, if we do not have the words to express thoughts, then this means that thought comes first. Then if language cannot express all feelings and thoughts, are there others ways to express thought, such as emotion in this case? I believe sometimes spoken words are not complex enough to express the true feelings of the mind. If so, what are the other Ways of Knowing to express thought? Or is language the only way to express thoughts?

The other three Ways of Knowing are Emotion, Reason and Perception. Reason and perception can only affect thought through language. It is the medium which allows us to think of these. However, emotion is a feeling that can directly affect thought, without the use of language. We could usually describe emotions within a few words. If someone was told to describe their feelings after being proposed to, they might say their happy and excited. But these words are not enough to describe the whole feeling which is felt by the person, thus language at times might not be enough to fully describe our emotions. But then does the amount in which you can express your emotions depend on your vocabulary and creativeness? I believe it can as I might be able to express joy better than my younger brother.

However, most people think that language is just a way to express thoughts and does not shape the way you think and behave. If this theory were true, then does this mean that if someone learns a new language and adopts it, they will change the way they think? Also, does the amount of fluency a person has on the language affect the way the person thinks? The amount of fluency a person has should not limit their thought. To test the Sapir-Whorf theory, I tried it on my parents. We speak our native language Urdu at home as well as English. When asking my mother, what should friends do to each other? She replied with the same answer, they should help each other, in both Urdu and English. She is fluent in Urdu but not fully fluent in English. But, as Urdu is her native language, she always thinks in Urdu. So when she was asked the question in English, she thought the answer in Urdu in her head, and then translated it in English, proving that the Sapir-Whorf theory is not always true.

CONCLUSION

Word Count -

Extent to which language determines and limits thought

but is language all that determines thought? (emotion can determine it as well e.g………………………………………………… How can other WOK’s determine language?

SAPIR There is a simple test for the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. If it were true, there would be a large number of sentences which could be readily expressed in one language, but would be near impossible to translate into some others.

No such sentence has ever been found: for all practical purposes all languages have the same semantic scope. WHORF – he suggested that language determines thoughts

Counter claim to Whorf - e.g try on my family

Can amount of fluency someone has on one language determine their thought?

ANY OTHER WAY TO EXPRESS THOUGHTS? W/Out language

Link to AOK – Natural Science – how language determines thought for animals

Link to Aok – Human science – obviously but compare human and animal language and thought

For ambiguity and irony and sarcasm …. Use book pg 55 - 58

Ambiguity – define (written words can have 2 meanings e.g. give example

--- Maybe talk about different types of language – spoken + written (maybe written can be ambiguous OR spoken can help give clearer and express it better (sarcasm) ++++ EXAMPLES written can go deeper = tone etc..

Written can go deeper , even SILENCE can be languge, SILENT TREATMENT, (give personal example like my dad gives me silent treatment)

Commonly, nonverbal communication is learned shortly after birth and practiced and refined throughout a person’s lifetime. Children first learn nonverbal expressions by watching and imitating, much as they learn verbal skills.

Use ------------→ http://www.bizmove.com/skills/m8g.htm (but don’t cite)

Best site for communication

http://www.fhsu.edu/~zhrepic/Teaching/GenEducation/nonverbcom/nonverbcom.htm

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LIMIT

Limit – we cannot express all of our feelings into words, the greatest feelings can’t be expressed → blah blah love and stuff

Determines/limits for kids as they don’t understand irony and sarcasm as compared to adults - proving irony and sarcasm can limit thought…

Also relevant to mute and deaf ppl as there sign language is also communication. Repeat definition for language (eg it is communication so sign language is also communication) and connect it.

The Sapir-Whorf theory also states the language reflects the culture it was formed at.

Talk about guys quotes , witendignsten

Wittgenstein(1889-1951) mean when he said

'the limits of my language are the limits of my world'?

We think in language. Therefore or thoughts are constrained by the frame that language provides.

Philosophy. If you do not have a word for a specific feeling, emotion, idea in your language, then you cannot experience that emotion, feeling, idea.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - that language in some way conditions the reality we experience, and that our world of experience is therefore bounded by our language - was mainly the work of Benjamin Lee Whorf.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/20126734

http://philosophytalk.org/pastShows/LanguageThought.html

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Language empowers primarily because it is the medium through which you can express your thoughts to others. A command of language gives you the ability to express your idea simply and clearly, and also to employ rhetoric to add emphasis to your presentation when desired.

Language is inevitably connected with cultural and usually ethnic heritage. These enrich our experience of life, but may also limit expression because of the built-in ways that languages can work. The very sounds of certain words, and the inherent associations with other words in the same language can cause a subtle pressure toward a certain analytic bias.

Even structural differences between languages, and the logics employed in building a thought can influence the thoughts themselves. The tonal language of eastern cultures are examples.

Language is a set of symbols that is used as a form of communication and language performs different functions. Can language be well used without knowledge? For a word to have a meaning in a language knowledge is needed, but this is only for the knowledge needed to write. There are many other languages that are used (eg: Handspeak). Ambiguity is the doubtfulness, particularly as to the meaning of language, arising from a word having more than one meaning and vagueness is when words are not expressed clearly.

There are many different kinds of language, written, verbal….

Many techniques that can be used to limit language for each particular type of language:

Written → ambiguity

Oral → sarcasm and irony

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Van de Lagemaat, R., 2005, Theory of Knowledge, Volume 5, Cambridge, United Kingdom, pages 55 - 8

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