Language & Thinking

Things inform each other, nothing ever seems to originate with itself.

Take intelligence and language, for example. Generally, the more words someone knows, the more “intelligent” they are; and the more intelligent they are, the more words they learn.

The thing is that thoughts (not mental images per se – after all, is a picture not worth a thousand words? -- but the typical banter that happens in one’s head, between oneself and oneself) cannot be formed without language. This leads to numerous points:

• In regards to the notion of just “thinking” in pictures rather than using words: The visual can only be experienced, not thought about. As soon as you try to explain it or study it or analyze it, you must resort to words, and now you are dependent upon your vocabulary for what you can say and describe. Thus even a visual vocabulary is in bondage to language and vocabulary, as soon as one tries to share or “parse” the experience.



• The more language one knows, the more options that are available to one – the more varied and rich that one’s thoughts can be. You can build a much more magnificent house if you possess a variety of materials rather than just one (such as plain boring brick or simple wood). The less language I know, the more my thoughts are restricted.



• How does a person without language even manage to think coherently? They can’t, really, in the sense that I mean it. They are forever a part of the Now, living in the moment and experiencing life directly rather than thinking about it. Language is what provides the opportunity to step back, to reflect upon our situation mentally – to actually CONSIDER something in internal dialogue with ourselves. In a way, language enables us to imagine the future based on the present.