Does Language Make Me Think the Way I Do?

I just got a new book Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy. One of the 20 questions (Chapter 7) is "Does Language Make Me Think the Way I Do?" I haven't read that chapter yet. However, a while back, I read a very interesting article:

Does Language Influence the Way I Think?

Something that I found particularly interesting was that certain primitive cultures have no words for "right" and "left." However, they have a much better conception of space than most English speakers do.

When I was first learning to drive, I was notorious for getting lost! I was very uncomfortable with maps, and always wanted directions to be given to me in writing, with relative directionals (ie right and left), rather than the cardinal directions. I simply was so accustomed to the world revolving around me (almost literally) that it was just very hard to get used to absolute directions. Perhaps this is somewhat excusable, as I grew up in Oklahoma where everything is FLAT, and there is nothing to orient oneself to. Here by the mountains, it is much easier, since they are always in view and are always West (though from a civil engineering point of view, the streets of Okla. are much more navigable). Anyway, if I had never known words for right and left, I would have, by necessity, had a much more absolute conception of directionality.

So, I have missed out on something by having such convenient words in my vocabulary. I have to wonder how, or if, our mental life would be impoverished if we didn't have words for "right" and "left"? It is actually hard to come up with anything. But, science fiction lends a few examples. In Flatland (or perhaps it was Sphereland?), there is a brief description of Flatlander dogs: mongrels and pedigrees. They were mirror images of each other, the only difference being that one had what might be called a "left facing" orientation, and the other "right facing." Within Flatland, they retained their orientation throughout their lives. When taken up one dimension, they could be flipped, so that a mongrel could become a pedigree (quite a lucrative change for the Flatlanders). I also read a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, Technical Error, in which a scientist was, it seems, mysteriously flipped in another dimension. The truth was only discovered when he began to starve, as his body could no longer use certain vitamins which had specifically left- or right-hand orientations. If some molecules really are like that (and I think some are), how would a cardinal-directions-only culture discover these classifications? I think eventually they would figure it out, and give it a name, but it would probably take longer.

Perhaps even more interesting was what happened when you gave speakers of different language types pictures from an obvious progressions in time (example: baby, child, adult, old person; seed, sprout, bud, flower; etc), and then ask the person to arrange the pictures in order. People who read languages from left to right arranged the pictures L->R, those who read from R->L arranged the pictures R->L. Those who read from top to bottom arranged them from T->B. In the cultures without words for right or left, something very interesting happens: they arrange the pictures from east to west, no matter how they themselves are oriented. A little thought shows that this matches the way the sun moves across the sky, and is perhaps the most natural and accurate representation of time.

It is one thing to say that language affects our definition and awareness of abstract concepts, but what this shows is how it affects even our definitions and awareness of the physical world!

I once watched a rather interesting (if mildly embarrassing - though he explains why I can't help feeling that way) talk given by Steven Pinker, about swear words. In addition to what he says about swearing, he also talks about what an alien culture might know about our perceptions of physical reality based on our language. Which was a rather unique point-of-view, I thought. Anyway, it just goes to show even more ways that language might affect (or at least represent) our perception of the physical world.

Since I live with someone whose first language is not English, I am aware, first-hand, of a few differences that language can make in our thought processes. One of my favorite stories is of a time Adrian and I were sitting down to watch a movie on our computer in the office. Adrian pointed towards the light-switch (unsurprisingly located right next to the door) and said "Close that." I gave him a weird look, but proceeded to close the door. He looked at me like I had lost my mind "What are you doing? Close THAT!" and pointed again. Feeling a bit confused and affronted, I began searching through the bookshelves (located just under the light switch and right next to the door) looking for anything that could be closed, as Adrian stares on in complete befuddlement. Finally I blurt out "There's nothing here left to close! I already closed everything that can be closed!" To which he exclaims in exasperation "The light!" Me: "Ohhhh ...you don't close a light!!!" Actually, Adrian's English is pretty good. But, it just so happens that in Romanian the words for close/open and turn on/off are the same. Though he knew the correct words, he didn't have separate concepts to assign them to. (Of course, it also doesn't help that he uses a non-specific pronoun and just points. Typical male behavior, in my experience. Sometimes I think he does it on purpose just 'cause he thinks I'm cute when I'm annoyed. Or maybe he really just doesn't like to speak in specifics.)

Kurt Godel once said "The more I think about language, the more it amazes me that people ever understand each other." I would agree. But, I think there is more to communication that language. It really helps to know the person you are talking too. For instance, my mother-in-law has trouble with English, and yet I am often able to understand exactly what she means (sometimes when neither Adrian nor her husband can understand), to which she always replies in delight "You guess me!" Similarly, when my little brother was first learning to talk, I was known as his "translator" (even within my family). To this day, we still think quite alike, and in a group setting often end up responding exactly the same way to conversations.

So is this ESP or what? I don't know. In the case of my mother-in-law, I think I may just be paying more attention to her than anyone else, and between knowing the kinds of things she would say, and having the right kind of imagination about what her words actually mean, I am able to communicate (though sometimes I do mis-guess). In the case of my little brother, not only do we have similar backgrounds, but I think somehow we just got very similar genes (perhaps even more similar than with my other two siblings). For instance, we are both known for misunderstanding things in exactly the same ways. Rodney was once telling me about a time he was driving with Tommy in the car, and they passed a sign saying "Correctional facility nearby. Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates" - to which Tommy responded: "Those poor hitchhikers! If we see any, we'd better stop and help them escape the inmates!" I found this funny, but especially because it's EXACTLY what *I* thought seeing that sign for the first time. So, in addition to knowing someone well and paying attention, good communication may be somewhat dependent on your brain being hardwired the same way as the one you are trying to communicate with. For instance, it is usually much easier to communicate with another human than, say, a cat. But, communication with a cat (also a mammal) is still much easier than with a reptile (at least for me, perhaps some people with more reptilian brains feel differently?).

I read a book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman. At one point in the book, he questions whether "Thou shalt not make any graven image" was meant to prevent a image-based culture (which postman says we now have, thanks to TV and other forms of mass media/communication), and the way that changes our thoughts. So, perhaps some forms of communication are more moral than others? Anyway, maybe someday the Tower of Babel will be reversed?

Zepheniah 3:9 (KJV)
For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.