Good Example Of How Language Shapes Thought: Article Review

The Languages We Speak Affect Our Perceptions of the World

Boroditsky, (2011) develops a logical and coherent analysis of how the cognitive thoughts and abilities of man are influenced by language. How man views the world and how he perceives worldly things is influenced by the way he speaks. Boroditsky, (2011) uses an illustration of how a small girl of five years old (in pormpuraaw which is an Aboriginal community in Northern Australia) is able to clearly point out the northern direction while most scientists at Stanford University Hall fail to clearly point out the Northern direction because they simply do not know or are afraid of stating the wrong direction. The article points out that such cases are prevalent, not due to knowledge acquisition, but, due to language. Since long ago, scientists and researchers have been able to establish that different languages influence different cognitive abilities to different extents. For instance, the author gives an example of two American linguists; Benjamin Lee Whorf and Edward Sapir, who think that the different way of speaking may relate to different ways of thinking. Nevertheless, Borodiditsky, (2011) notes that, there was “a near complete lack of evidence to support their claims”.
The article points out that phrases and sentences in different languages can imply different meaning. Words and sounds are used differently in different languages despite the fact that language in itself is used for one universal purpose which is communication. Significantly, Boroditsky, (2011) also notes that languages can be differentiated by looking at various aspects and elements that define them. He goes ahead to note that languages may be different from one another in different aspects but, the fact that people speak differently based on their language does not necessarily imply that they think differently. The author for example notes that “each language requires very different things from its speakers” (Boroditsky, 2011). This implies that the significance of language is more in the meaning rather that the thinking.
Furthermore, there are different ways of describing things and events in different language settings. The way an event is described shows how it can be interpreted and meaning established from the communication. The way an incident is explained in different languages brings the reality and exactness of the incident to question as to whether all the facts have been relayed or if some have been left out. Therefore, the way people talk is a manifestation of what they think. On the other hand, how they think is also a manifestation of how they talk. In essence, learning new things and memorizing events is characterized by the ability to think coherently and link thoughts to spoken words. Thus, the author concludes by noting that the way people speak is influenced by the way they think and vice versa (Boroditsky, 2011).

References

Boroditsky, L., (2011). How Language Shapes Thought: The languages we speak affect our perceptions of the world. Scientific American, pp 63-65.