How Language Shapes Thought: The Languages We Speak Affect Our Perceptions Of The World Article Reviews Examples

This article discusses how language influences cognitive thought and the human perceptions of the world. The author takes an example of how a five-year old can be able to easily and without hesitation point out the North direction of a compass point while many scientists with great experience cannot be able to do the same (Boroditsky, 2011). A five years role on one culture can do things that great and experienced scientists in another culture cannot be able to do. According to the author, it turns out that language is the influencing factor behind such scenario. Thus, different languages have different effects on different cognitive abilities and the same can be dated back to long time ago. Two American linguists, Benjamin Lee Whorf and Edward Sapir, according to Boroditsky (2011), proposed that ‘different tongues may think differently’.
Languages are characterized by the fact that one phrase in one language can have different meanings in other languages depending on the wording. Furthermore, languages are different in many ways. Boroditsky (2011), states “Languages differ from one another in innumerable ways but just because people talk differently does not necessarily mean they think differently." With an illustration of how different language speakers perceive time and directions, this article also points out that written directions in different languages influences how human beings organize time. Time representations across the world differ greatly basing on the different languages that people speak. For instance, for English speakers, the past is behind, and the future is in front, yet to come. Conversely, in Aymara, a language spoken in Andes, the future is considered to be behind while the past is considered to be in front. The language disparity depicts the different thoughts and way of perceiving things that people have.
How different language speakers use language to convey time messages also differs according to Boroditsky (2011). Furthermore, speakers of different languages have different ways of describing events. Describing events is characterized by difficulty interpreting and construing exactly what happened given the different linguistic wiggling. For instance, Boroditsky (2011) gives an example of how different ways of speaking could be used to explain how Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington during a quail-hunting quest. Different languages and ways of speaking explain the incident differently to an extent that the exactness and reality of the situation could be compromised. Such a case depicts the fact that the way of speaking actually influences what people think and their thoughts also influence how people speak. Thus, these linguistic differences influence how events are described and, therefore, have great consequences on the exactness of what really happened. Significantly, eye-witnesses memories are different especially given their different language patterns.
In essence, language does not only influence what individuals remember, but, language structures also determine how easy or hard it is to learn new things. Compared to how scientists previously supposed, language is an aspect that is involved in more mental elements of human life. While doing simple things like differentiating color patches, individuals rely on language. Limiting an individual’s linguistic ability or capacity to use a language is just like limiting their cognitive abilities and their perception of the world. It is, therefore, to understand the significance of language when it comes to world perceptions, worldviews and thinking ability. The article concludes that, the way people think is influenced by the way they speak and the way people speak is also influenced by the way they think (Boroditsky, 2011).
Boroditsky, L., (2011). How Language Shapes Thought: The languages we speak affect our perceptions of the world. Scientific American, pp 63-65.